Search results

Consider the source etc but yikes

We’ve barely had our first choice XI available this season though? We’ve had injuries to key personnel all year, and yet we’re top of the league. People like to talk about that as if it’s an accident, it’s not - it’s because the squad and coaches are good.

I think the six months of training he’s done in front of the coaching staff will mean more than a 40 minute cameo last Saturday. He handled himself well when he came on but we still have very little idea what we actually have here.

I think a young prospect with the potential to play at a higher level makes a lot of sense for a loan deal, this team needs occasional support not urgent improvement. Our existing first team is in a good grove and is head and shoulders above the rest of the league already, established players...

Tbh I can imagine this goes pretty hard if you’re 13 (sorry about the biased caption)

Money and squad places aren’t infinite, even in the Premier League. I want to maximise our chances after promotion.

If Sunderland think they can do better than Dan Neil then that’s what we should be aiming for too.

See above - I’m happy to bring in a new signing if they’re PL quality, but I don’t expect we’ll sign more than one of those in January and CM wouldn’t be the place I’d say that’s most in need of investment. Our midfield is great.

Various people saying we need to bring in a backup CM to give Grimes a break etc?

If you think we need to sign more Championship-quality players in January and fewer PL-quality players in the summer then you have things the wrong way round.

Who says we’re not capitalising on it now? My concerns are about capitalising on next season - bringing in players who are worse than what we already have doesn’t help us with that.

If you can’t be confident of promotion when you’re 11 points clear of third place at Christmas, when can you be?

What do you know that the bookies don’t? They have as near-certainties for promotion. I’ll say it again - we should definitely bring in a winger next month. But pretty much everywhere else we are in good shape - that’s why we’re top of the league!

This is just how squads work though? We’re not going to sign carbon copy replacements for every member of the team. If we do get injuries (and lord knows we have) then we have to bring in different players - we’re lucky that we have expensive and/or experienced options in almost every position.

Because if we’re almost certainly going to need to upgrade on most of our first team in the summer, I don’t want to spend money now on players who aren’t even good enough for our first XI in the Championship.

BTA and Dasilva are pretty good examples of why I don’t buy the narrative that multiple signings are a must. Two players who people insisted we needed to upgrade on to have a chance this season - give them a run in the squad and they’ve done really well. No-one thinks Eccles, Allen, Bidwell etc...

Play Eccles or Allen… Alternatively, how much are you prepared to pay for a backup CM who’s better than Eccles, and what are you planning to do with them next season?

The plan? Turn the Premier League Package into a new episode of Nathan For You.

I think to say we’ve “fallen off” is doing a massive disservice to a squad that is still generally playing well and more often than not getting good results against the league’s strongest teams, even with a raft of injuries.

Tbh I think we will end up signing a few players - I’m just not sure we need to. Someone’s gotta worry about Mrs King’s new handbag this Christmas.