I understand we've spent about fifty

[redgunamo]

million billion quid on our squad.

No good if so many of them are unavailable; it would be great to see even more of that money on the pitch

[Peter]

million billion quid on our squad.

No good if so many of them are unavailable; it would be great to see even more of that money on the pitch

Think we only have 4 players unavailable. That's about right. You don't want to have everyone fit. There isnt room for them.

A limited number of injuries allows a degree of rotation.

[redgunamo]

Think we only have 4 players unavailable. That's about right. You don't want to have everyone fit. There isnt room for them.

A limited number of injuries allows a degree of rotation.

I'm certainly not complaining. Far from it.

No, I would like to see though, the manager's thinking if, and when, he has everybody available. I mean, aside from winning matches and keeping clean sheets, what does he imagine his team is supposed to be doing, how are we meant to be playing; what's his intention, what is his vision.

It's my own riff on your "performances" guff from the last couple of seasons, I suppose

[Ganpati's Goonerz--AFC's Aboriginal Fertility Cult]

Think we only have 4 players unavailable. That's about right. You don't want to have everyone fit. There isnt room for them.

A limited number of injuries allows a degree of rotation.

I do. Imagine we'd needed a goal today? Would have loved to have had Odin, Kai, Noni and Jeez on the bench as well as Gabby.

[Peter]

I do. Imagine we'd needed a goal today? Would have loved to have had Odin, Kai, Noni and Jeez on the bench as well as Gabby.

When we need a goal we just load the flanks and try to win corners

[Peter]

I'm certainly not complaining. Far from it.

No, I would like to see though, the manager's thinking if, and when, he has everybody available. I mean, aside from winning matches and keeping clean sheets, what does he imagine his team is supposed to be doing, how are we meant to be playing; what's his intention, what is his vision.

It's my own riff on your "performances" guff from the last couple of seasons, I suppose

If everyone is available, Havertz and odegaard come in. Everything else stays the same. Including the performances.

Poor Ben White. Has a great season at centre back and then Saliba arrives. Has two great seasons at right back and then Timber is fit....

No wonder he is considering playing for England again. He needs a few games under his belt.

[redgunamo]

I do. Imagine we'd needed a goal today? Would have loved to have had Odin, Kai, Noni and Jeez on the bench as well as Gabby.

Absolutely right! People cannot have it both ways.

It's no good having a billion pound squad if half of them, or even just four of them, remain in the treatment room; all the while blandly talking up the former point and ignoring the latter whenever we drop points.

[redgunamo]

When we need a goal we just load the flanks and try to win corners

Freddie was really good at winning corners. I cursed his poor finishing as, at that time, we didn't actually WANT corners.

[redgunamo]

If everyone is available, Havertz and odegaard come in. Everything else stays the same. Including the performances.

Poor Ben White. Has a great season at centre back and then Saliba arrives. Has two great seasons at right back and then Timber is fit....

No wonder he is considering playing for England again. He needs a few games under his belt.

Right. Could we get any money for him? Could be a case study.

[Peter]

Right. Could we get any money for him? Could be a case study.

Could probably get 8 million or so.

[Peter]

Freddie was really good at winning corners. I cursed his poor finishing as, at that time, we didn't actually WANT corners.

Oh god, no. We hated corners then. We were too busy playing football.

[redgunamo]

Could probably get 8 million or so.

Good Lord! Does our reach continue to exceed our grasp? We are still paying Champions League money for non-Champions League standard (according to the rest of football apparently anyway) players.

That will need to be sorted, right after we've fixed all the injuries

[Peter]

Good Lord! Does our reach continue to exceed our grasp? We are still paying Champions League money for non-Champions League standard (according to the rest of football apparently anyway) players.

That will need to be sorted, right after we've fixed all the injuries

Only two solutions to that. Either find better players or pay lower wages. Ideally both.

Otherwise we'll never be able to sell anyone. We'll end up with a big squad of great players. Then we'll have to win something...

[redgunamo]

Only two solutions to that. Either find better players or pay lower wages. Ideally both.

Otherwise we'll never be able to sell anyone. We'll end up with a big squad of great players. Then we'll have to win something...

And that's when the REAL spending will begin.

It occurs to me that we must actually be absolutely loaded right now and that things are only going to get worse. We apparently spent over a quarter of a billion quid in the last transfer window!

[Peter]

And that's when the REAL spending will begin.

It occurs to me that we must actually be absolutely loaded right now and that things are only going to get worse. We apparently spent over a quarter of a billion quid in the last transfer window!

Yes, and yet we still have huge holes in the squad. We only have two proper corner takers. We need two more.

If Saka and Rice get injured we'll have to start scoring from open play. And we definitely can't afford the players we'll need to do that.