Hopefully Lenihan can put in a good word given he may have been on international duty with Obafemi as well

I think we'll get an answer on whether Obafemi wants to come or not pretty swiftly. Because sounds like the Armstrong fee is dependant on that transfer happening or not and Southampton will want to get Armstrong done and dusted pretty quickly.

I'm worried about us picking up more injuries at the moment, think temptation will be to play our strongest 11 obviously with it being a big game. But to me, Rothwell, Holtby, Armstrong and Nyambe are all potential risks due to the amount of games they're playing back to back, workload they get through or existing niggles. Especially with games coming every 3 days now I think we could see some surprise omissions from starting 11 and I wouldn't be against it. Last thing we need is these guys being out for any length of time. Can easily see Downing coming into the starting 11 for example, thoughts?

Great win today, the ones that you grind out which aren't deserved feel better than the comfortable ones sometimes! Fingers crossed Ayala can come in for Wharton for the Millwall game. Imagine with it being a head injury, Wharton will be ruled out. Johnson and Gallagher to start in midweek I reckon too. I imagine we may see some other rotation to keep players fit and fresh as well. Potentially Brereton due one.

First match I've been on live for a year or so. My observations: 1) Williams - Seemed very rusty and distribution poor for someone who has played LB for long periods and isn't just a big ugly CB 2) Desperately need some genuine width in the side when we come up against teams like Wigan today. I like Rothwell but he's more effective centrally and end product not there often enough. Armstrong was woeful, seemed lazy and completely ineffective. Would have hooked him at half time. The amount of times he left Nyambe completely isolated on the right wing was painful. 3) We got overrun in the middle of the park, Travis and Evans never managed to get their foot on the ball and feed our creative players unfortunately. 4) Fingers crossed Dack isn't too seriously hurt, I was in the Riverside and the cries of pain weren't making it look too good. Merry Christmas all!

Walton has to save that - poor

Nyambe playing right in front of TM too. Hopefully the start of an extended run in the side!

Best football I've seen us play for some time, great to see Nyambe taking his chance!

Playing well, Downing looks a class act. Nyambe getting forward well is letting Holtby come inside and look dangerous. Set the ball well for Dack's goal.

How lucky? High pressing won the ball back.

Back level now, good high pressing. We've dominated the game and unlucky with a shocking refereeing decision for the penalty so far!

They sold Wan Bissaka for £50m

They were drinking, don't you worry haha

Don't think Nuttall will be going anywhere today, he's currently sat in a beer garden in Manc with Dack, Brereton and Armstrong!

Great insight, thanks! Which of the above do you think would benefit most from a year out on loan? And any that you most think could make a break in the first team this year?

I don't think getting in a genuinely commanding keeper is as easy as many people seem to think. Even in the prem, how many keepers can you list that would fall into the category? Fairly happy that Walton is at least Raya's equal. Fingers crossed we can now get a good CB in and then trim the squad down, seems massively bloated to me!

Good job we didn't burn poor Tony at the stake!

Have you considered not everything at the club rests on TM's shoulders? A player could have backtracked on wanting to move, selling club suddenly backed out or wanted more money, deal done but just waiting on final paperwork before going public etc etc. Feels like a witch hunt sometimes, with whenever something doesn't work out perfectly, someone needs to be hung out to dry!

Way I see it, not much difference between Raya and Walton. If we get Walton in with a view to buy in a year if he does well that's good business in my book. If he doesn't excel, can easily move onto other targets in a year. Not an awful situation given it sounds like we've missed out on a few targets before Walton. Then it's just a case of how the £3m from Raya is spent. If we end up getting a CB in on a permanent, pretty sure we'll be better overall as a result of Raya leaving and that was the biggest area of concern judging from reactions on here!

Interesting to see where the GK situation ends up leading. Maybe Fisher is highly thought of? So idea could be to not want to stand in the way of his development by making a long term investment in a GK? Thought being, get Walton in for a year on loan, who's not much better or worse than Raya, and allow us to spend £3m elsewhere on our team (Gallagher, hopefully another CB). Thoughts?

Surely, we're not crazy enough to convert a 35 year old into a wing back? Most demanding position on the pitch!

At this point it would seem silly to buy and more forward players and we haven't used up any loan spots yet so can very easily see us targeting defensive reinforcements on loan. Key to this for me is making sure we get the right type of player in, ideally need someone with some experience or pedigree rather than a youngster - tough part is figuring if anyone filling that criteria is available from a prem team and then fighting off the inevitable competition for them! Eg Villa signing Mings/Tuanzebe on loan last year worked out well for them, can anyone think of anyone that might fit the bill for us?

The over reaction on here is embarrassing. Get the disappointment but some people way too quick to get the knives out as soon as things take a bad turn

Good article, nice find. Only problem I see with that conclusion is if they're already looking for another CB and can't name a full subs bench like it says in the article then surely they'd be mad to be selling Bauer at the 11th hour?

Agreed. I only got on one match last year because of where I live now and other commitments, Bristol away. Graham barely had a kick. He obviously did the business majority of the time though, would still like us to get someone in to compete with him though!