O'Brien is becoming our new Igor Tudor/Luca Toni. He's not coming, it's an easy name to chuck in given the history but very little chance he's coming

Gueye has certainly improved in his work off the ball and build up play, his ability to hit the target and/or test goalkeepers is sadly not improving

The minute I read ‘bid for’ I instantly rule it out

I’m delighted for Markanday that he’s found a level where he can be successful, he’s not championship quality

The combo of Xg and xAg is a useful stat, if you also look it in tandem with shot contributions and progression stats they read the same re comparisons of Gallagher and Ohashi and Gueye. Whilst I agree there are things you can see with your eyes, that stats can’t disprove. Sats provide very useful context to certain players and situations. Whilst Gallagher was a disappointment, it was largely because he has the tools to do much more. That said his contributions to goals and progression up the pitch is massively underrated on here.

When you look at the stats of either in terms of contributions/goals then I'd disagree. Whilst Gallagher by no means set the world on fire his stats for goal contributions and goals were in the top 20 in the league year on year. There is admittedly some context to that and we could all see things with our own eyes but stats wise he does well. I wouldn't say Gueye or Ohashi are classed as competent championship CF's, if they get in double figures this year maybe but we're a long way from that in my opinion. Ohashi's current non penalty xG and xAG is 0.26 and Gueye's is .38, league average is .46. Gallagher had a NP xG and xAG for 10.8, 9.6, 8.6, 10.5 and 7.1 whilst at Rovers Gueye is 5.2 (skewed by assists), Ohashi 4.3. Not trying to say Gallagher is good, but more that as he's considered incompetent, Ohashi and Gueyes stats are inferior so must also currently be classed as incompetent

The recent purchases of unknown names from overseas that have been suggested have in the main been very poor. Telelovic and Wahlstedt a disaster, Ohashi and Gueye the jury is very much out, Toth hasn't played enough to form a proper opinion. Tronstad being the only success, however playing in the Eridvisie for Vitesse he's played at the highest level of all our European imports so you'd expect him to do relatively well.

Gestede can get bent, it winds me up no end that someone who refused to play to engineer his move is now a member of staff.

Agreed, a good player is a good player at the start, middle and end. You can judge a good buy and a bad buy at any point in time. I can say now that Sanderson is a mediocre buy, will try hard put some big tackles in but overall it's clear there is a reason he's at Birmingham and not a top team. Forshaw, again been a decent player and for 20 minutes will do a job. Don't expect him to be covering every blade of grass running the game. He will come on to shore things up, always show for the ball and pop it sideways and backward to take the sting out of the game. So 2 uninspiring squad fillers. Sanderson an upgrade on McFadx due to mobility, Forshaw a downgrade on Baker for the same reason. So thus far a neutral window on signings. However due to lack of activity in filling key areas, resulting in point losses, injuries, obvious mental fatigue on the manger, playing staff and fanbase the window is a huge negative and would take an enormous signing to turn it into a positive.

The wait until the end of the window is totally flawed logic. If you've identified your targets, you will have done your homework (via agents) on what you can buy for, contract price so why not buy early and have the player for an extra month. We've sacrificed 9 points and possibly more to come, plus risked the fitness of several players due to our inactivity in the market. Very poor all round and to argue otherwise is nonsense, the idea that the bet business is done at the end is a work of fiction.

We've got a couple who are adept at making a Pigs Ear

Hi Suhail

Whilst I couldn't give a shit about PNE and barely give them a second thought in the rivalry stakes, them having a pop at our crowds is a bit rich.

Play Buckley further up the pitch would be another option, I think he's had some unfair criticism in the couple of games he started. Bearing in mind he's barely played 300 minutes in 18 months I think he's actually done remarkably well. There has been loss of possession through delaying but he's also created some chances and looked relatively dynamic going forward. Most notably he seems to have been improving as each game goes on, which is to be expected given the lack of playing time. Shaky first 10 before growing into the game and being subbed at 70 (match fitness).

I get what you mean, it’s not like people were queuing up to sign Kenna, Gale and Slater. People just look to shearer but fail to see/open their eyes to the importance of our cogs in the wheel; Wilcox, Sherwood, Ripley et Al

The money suggestion re 94-85 is such bollocks, so easily swallowed by idiots. United, Liverpool and several others spent more than us, we bought unbelievably well amd turned some solid players into champions with a sprinkling of stardust. People go on like we were throwing money around like florentino Pérez, utter shit.

We’ve controlled the game 2nd half, but have zero quality in the final third and a goalkeeper who wouldn’t get a game in league 2. That’s what is costing us, at either business end of the pitch we’re shite

If he does drop Cantwell I think it’s a good move managerially. He’s been poor of late and regardless of how thin the squad is we should never have automatic starters. There has to be a consequence of poor form

Sigurdsson won’t be going anywhere this window, only thing we can hope for at this stage is a move to the Middle East or gets his contract paid up. He’s barely kicked a ball this season and from his recent Instagram postings has been struggling with illness all year whether that’s his ‘injury’ or football related injuries are in addition to illness we’ve no idea. I feel a certain level of sympathy for the lad as what looked a promising career has effectively been derailed by the Russia/Ukraine conflict. Admittedly at times he hasn’t applied himself to the levels we expected, he’s now looking at a career that’s on a massively downward trajectory.

Championship really is a poor league this year. It’s a great spectacle as it’s so open but the top couple of teams are really poor in comparison to those who’ve been promoted over the last 6 or 7 years

Costing me a fortune is the new sky deal, I’m passing up overtime to watch us put in our worst performance of the year (it always is) to watch PNE once again beat us at Ewood with Dolan doing his best job of showing them they missed out on absolutely nothing

Agreed, he maintains shape extremely well. He’s clearly an intelligent player and with the game in front of him I think he’d do a decent job. Didn’t he play RWB for a period under JDT?

To make the playoffs we need Batth, Hyam, Brittain, Beck and Pears to stay fit first and foremost. We then need to get Travis back and up to speed. Without doing that it matters not a jot who we bring in. That said we still need a striker who scores regularly, a wide player (ideally with pace and can beat a man), left back cover.

I don’t hate Hedges at wing back

the most frustrating aspect of our owners/executives ability and/or willingness to act is that this year the championship is a really poor league and the best chance of a non parachute team getting promoted. The top 3 teams in Leeds, Sheff Utd and Dingles are rank average with Sheff Utd being the only team with a plan B. Sit deep and give Leeds and Burnley the ball and they look bereft of ideas. Anyone who goes up this year will get slapped all over the Prem but it really is a golden opportunity to go up given the relative lack of quality in the league