Yeh it was a good pass, just a little difficult to control any better than was done. I think the touch was good really, took the ball to the right spot for me. Just needed more oomph in the shot, but it wasn't an easy one to score. For me, the only way things could have gone better really in terms of the setup for the chance is if Dolan was quicker than he is. Gueye is a very handy player. Just need him to start getting on the scoresheet with more regularity, but he makes things happen.

That was my first thought, but on reflection I think the touch was about as good as could be expected. The only alternative was taking it wide with his left foot, where a cross under pressure becomes the only option. The pass was a bit close to his body too, so I think he did well considering. Agree a shot lashed up at the top left corner would have been best though, but the keeper was pretty well set to react up or down at that angle. What was needed was power whichever way he went, and tbf he was on his weak foot.

For me, the spirit of that rule is about not getting up in the officials' face to try force the issue. Gueye was miles away from them. The ref should have also been booking the lad, once you've sent Gueye off for asking for it it's pretty obvious you're booking the dingle cos he deserved to be booked and not cos you were coerced. That foul was far worse than the one Gueye got his first yellow for! Which was another joke of a decision. All wrong from this crap ref. Gueye needs to show more restraint with things like that though.

And Weimann was absolutely wrong to fume about it. Firstly the pass would have been harder to pull off than the shot due to players closing down the angle. Secondly, if he had instead stayed alert rather than fuming about it he might have had the chance to sneak a goal in when the ball came back down near that post a moment later.

Finneran wasn't playing. As far as I can see, his only appearance for them so far was in the PL Cup, and he was subbed off after 46 mins. Not sure if it's injuries or what.

How can he be released but be on loan?

He has gone further so far than Finneran, but if he leaves before the pro deal it won't be much different. I'd say there is one other chance he doesn't sign the longer term deal - if he doesn't quite fulfil his great potential and starts going backwards. Wouldn't be the first.

For our emotional and mental wellbeing, I think it's best we just all accept right now that he's going the way of Finneran or Phillips and we'll never see him on a full length pro deal that doesn't have a cheap clause.

Gambling the entire existence of their club on it potentially, yeh. I wish our asshat owners had shown far more ambition financially, but not to the ludicrous level Brum have. I really hope they don't do this double promotion people are mentioning on here, this type of recklessness shouldn't be rewarded. 15 million when you've already broken the League One transfer record twice is just obscene. In relative terms, it's orders of magnitude bigger than what even City did in the Prem!

That's not what I was saying. As has repeatedly been said, we announced Maguire and it fell through. So the poster being in a hurry to hear an announcement might find it's better to wait until the deal is truly truly done before hearing it is.

I think after the last window, they'd rightly think it's best to wait until they get confirmation from the league before announcing anything...

I refer you to last summer.

Are there though? Many accounts? Stating he definitively will be a dud? I must have missed that.

We should be able to pre-contract him right now if his contract is up in January. Except for the little matter of the ESC slots of course...think we need to get Siggy's permit done to have a space?

Wannabe ITK fud? You may not be aware, but Fabrizio Romano is hands down the most reliable transfer guy in the business. Not to say that everything he says pans out, but he's as close as it gets.

Last year our budget was even worse. The bulk of our recruitment team is probably still the same anyway, though two or three of the higher placed ones have changed, which has hopefully improved the filtering process. I don't think it's necessarily a Leo vs Balazs debate btw, more that they fit a similar profile that carries a large degree of risk in a position that is by far the most important this summer because our alternative there is quite frankly crap. And that one shiny highlight reel that isn't any better than the last lad's shiny highlight reel doesn't make him something to get excited about. It's very much a 'wait and see' with Balazs, which is fine if it works out, but I was hoping to be coming into the last day of the window feeling confident that we had a reliable number one for the season ahead.

Exactly. That reel isn't any worse than the new lad's was. I've no idea why you've got two downvotes there, it's a very fair point.

I don't actually consider any of those saves 'exceptional'. Most keepers would have some saves like that on their reel. Some of them are very good saves but there wasn't one that made me go 'wow'. The key will be how consistently he can make saves like that and minimise errors. Based on what we've heard from the guy Jackson spoke to in the LT, I'm also a bit concerned about him getting involved in that tippy tappy crap we like to play at the back. He said the Hungarian league is a lot slower with less pressing, so I expect he may struggle playing the ball around in defence (not that I like that aspect of the modern game anyway).

That's absolutely insane.

Been touted as permanent.

I don't agree with that whatsoever. A shot from Messi is very different to a shot from Chris Brown. A cross from Beckham is very different to a cross from Jake Batty, or even someone like Conway who was very good at them. Power, accuracy, swerve. The positioning and aerial ability of the opposition players in the box. All of these things and many more differ between professionals and leagues. A league ranked about 12 below ours I think it was, and with a lot less money in it, is going to be poorer in these aspects and both saves and catching crosses will inevitably be easier. If we followed your logic he'd be one of the best keepers in Europe, clubs would be all over him, and he wouldn't be available at anything like a million. Maybe he turns out brilliant at this level too, but it absolutely is a punt. One I'm not too comfortable with given our goalie situation. If we were also selling Pears and bringing in a proven performer like Iversen, Rushworth etc, I'd be very happy with it, but now we desperately need the lad to be much better than Pears.

We will be getting a lot less for him in January than we would now. With 6 months on his deal he can sign a pre-contract. A club would only pay for him if they don't want to wait and get a guaranteed freebie. Only a foreign club can do the pre-contract I believe, but I'd say going abroad is by far his most likely destination.

Baker actually has 18 goals in 86 Championship games for Stoke...so he just typoed it.

Particularly strange when it's just Baker...doesn't seem like a signing we'd have to worry about being gazumped for within a couple of hours.

Exactly. We have brought in experienced players, and that's definitely something the club needed, not questioning that. But it's almost all we've done, in a year we brought in 40 million in sales (and allegedly have no impediments to funding the club, but they're clearly not putting anything in). I'm happy with most of the signings so far, think the recruitment team have boxed clever with them to a degree given the scandalously shit budget they've been given, but where is the next development for a big sale coming from to keep us funded at even this bollocks level? Mafoumbi seems like the closest thing to that, but he's not pulling up trees so far even at youth level. Hoth is a decent enough age, but keepers at this level don't net big fees even if he turns out ace, hell we sold someone as good as Kaminski for 2.5 mill. The only other one with a potential for very high resale would be Gueye at 26, and whilst I like him and think he will be a very useful asset for us, I don't see that turning into an 8 mill plus sale, as I think he'll be a menace at this level but not prolific enough for those numbers. I understand the recruitment team have their hands tied and we have probably chosen to bring experience to ensure we stay up, but the longer term strategy doesn't seem to be here. God we need rid of Venkys!