No one could to the same level on our budget and more importantly willing to sit and wait. Whereas up front and out wide, we need someone to potentially come into the starting 11, and in defence we are an injury away from having no real alternative. Compared to those 3, having Baker as immediate cover is considerably less of an issue.

It is, its time for the owners to finally spend a bit considering our position and recent sales proceeds. But they wont, they never do. I have no idea who we should sign and there are people that should be in a much better position to me to come up with someone, although Gestede's last effort wasnt very good.

Hes a dickhead. Arrogant, constantly smarmy and thinks he is better than he is.

Assist stats clearly arent concrete enough to base an opinion as to whether a striker has been effective overall, thats the key. Goals is a bit different because you are the one getting them, but assist is such a sliding scale of involvement, whether its putting one on a plate, merely happening to play a 5 yard pass to someone who then scores a wonder goal or an accidental touch. He has 5 assists, but I think you have to judge assists beyond just the number. His first yesterday was good play but Cozier Duberry has scored a goal by stopping, turning and then shooting and obviously the second was an embarassing miss. The one for Sigurdsson v Oxford was turned from nothing much into something by a clever turn. And the header v Burnley was well won but its a 30 yard half volley. The one against Norwich was where he slipped Hedges in on goal so a bit different. But those 5 contributions are in the main quite minor in terms of the actual goal or in one case, actually an example of terrible play, so I dont think personally that they change the narrative to his work being a pleasant surprise or being effective overall. A striker who has 1 goal with 1 game left before christmas having missed numerous sitters is not good enough. There have been some occasions of bits of good play and signs of good hold up, but im not having that he overall has been anything other than poor.

I dont get how they are taking the piss though. Theyve signed a player and dont deem him to be good enough to play. Maybe that is a mistake by the manager (we cant judge either way by stats) but either way, they shouldnt play him to pacify us just as we would be annoyed if a player we loaned played to pacify the parent club. Playing as much as he did last year was not necessarily because he was up to it. Wharton was sold, Travis fell out with JDT so like in other positions with Markanday and Telalovic, a player not up to the level played too often. It was hoped that he would be able to warrant regular football at League 1 level but it hasnt happened. Hopefully he will get a loan elsewhere and prove his worth.

Because in the main, he hasnt been. The stats show the 2nd yesterday as a positive contribution, missing a tap in but it hitting his foot slightly and a team mate cleaning up his mess.

I think Ange is more irritating than Russell Martin to be honest. Martin is a dick but not as much as Postecoglu. Going to support the champions isnt paying off this season.

Brown's knees were shot so he rarely if ever got into shooting positions. Overall he may have been worse sure, but as a finisher, never seen one as bad. Its one thing being up there before Christmas but as we have seen another one sustaining it until the end of the season. January can allow to sign players with 6 months left on their deal or bring in loans as 2 potential options. But we need more. We need more of a goal threat to push us further, we wont win every game to nil. We need some more pace which could again push us on. And we are an injury at centre back away from a really big problem.

Yesterday, he missed an absolute sitter, lets be honest. His knock down for Weimann was a good one but I was just highlighting how assisting x amount isnt as linear as that. The main stat for a striker is goals scored and he is sorely lacking there.

But you say this about every manager, so its not a case of you being ahead of the curve. You was insistent that Tomasson was right to stick to his principles, angry when he left and then when he did, you did a 180 degree turn. I dont think that the evidence was there last season to suggest what has happened this season. But we could say that this season. No point praising him, the season hasnt finished. We judge as we go, not at the end of every season only.

The 3 standouts: Beck - brilliant loan 9/10 Cantwell - a real player of quality, perhaps an 8/10 at the moment but could go higher if he starts chipping in with goals Batth - someone brought in as cover, but has been needed far more than we intended due to another Carter injury. Has been a rock - 9/10 Weimann and Ohashi are handy squad players, certainly as opposed to players that should start every week and compared to the likes of Markanday and Telalovic from last year. Ohashi has had to and has not scored for so long and often struggles to offer much, but thats a symptom of transfer failings elsewhere. Probably give Weimann a slightly higher mark, 6.5 for what we signed him for, maybe a 5 for Ohashi. Baker has only really had cameos, but filled in well at Hull. Again, last season we would have probably used Garrett. Hard to mark at this point. ACD has barely played but looked good yesterday, impossible to mark yet. Toth hasnt played a minute and I dont buy that his addition has pushed Pears to do better. McFadzean is a glorified cheerleader, good in the dressing room im sure but we needed a viable alternative and look short in that position. Gueye would be a 3, glimmers of hold up etc but woeful in front of goal. Would have been 1 or 2 prior to the last 2 games so hopefully he can push that right up.

Either way, its hardly a manipulation of stats considering the lack of wins and the lack of any real bounce from him initially (in terms of wins certainly) to suggest that results are the key difference as to why there was varying levels of skepticism (some defiantly wanted out, some perhaps more constructive but still with the jury out) back last season and why he is receiving widespread praise now. I dont think it warrants going back and calling out the fanbase as if its a case of I told you so.

There was obviously a toxic atmosphere when he arrived anyway. But people had doubts to varying degrees because results didnt improve. And obviously people comment game by game, he didnt win any of his first 9, he won 0 at home and 2 of his 3 wins only came right at the end when judgements were already being made. But prior to that, there was clear uncertainty as to whether he was capable of keeping us up. Peoples opinions naturally change on results. And he is well liked across the board now because results have been very impressive this season.

The assist stat in general is not the most meaningful. He also (admittedly he at least did this one on purpose) got one for winning a header at Burnley before Weimann thumped one in from 30 yards on the half volley. Hardly on a plate for him.

When Pickering plays we tend to play that way, its hardly Guardiola level tactical knowledge. We need some pace and goals far more than a central midfielder. As @islander200 says Baker is probably as good as youll get knowing that youll never start unless Travis or Tronstad are unavailable. Ideally we would get another to replace Buckley who rather than being a £10m man is not up to standard but that is down the priority list. We need a striker who is capable of scoring a reasonable amount of goals. Gueye might be able to hold the ball up but in front of goal he is as bad a finisher as I can remember us having. Ohashi seems better suited as an option just off him and he hasnt scored since early September. And we badly need more pace. ACD showed great promise yesterday as opposed to having the likes of Hedges trudging up and down but we dont know how sustainable he will be at senior level and we need another pacy option to either play on the opposite side or even so one starts and the other comes on. Our solid base is key to our chances, we could do with cover at centre back to add to Carter. But if we had an actual goal threat up front and more pace to counter teams then that would potentially push us on a level.

They have had the ups and downs of promotion and relegation and have come down and arent slightly off it but closer to relegation with 7 away losses on the bounce. Feels like a case where they need fresh ideas. He wasnt responsible for either goal.

Why would top of the league sell us (when fit) their main striker?

There may have been reasons why results werent very good last season, but point being, of course the narrative on Eustace has totally changed. Last season, what has happened so far this season couldnt have been forseen logically. When results change as they have, of course opinion will change accordingly. Last season, he certainly didnt take over a quality side full of confidence but we actually slid further towards the drop zone, we didnt win a single home game and most of those opinions came prior to those 2 late season impressive wins. This season, totally different story because results have been very good.

It isnt really strange that people were critical when he couldnt buy a win and now are praising him when he has won 6 on the trot and us 5th in league.

Was Kaminski suspect? Didnt do anything wrong. Luton fans reading the comments underneath seem to want a change of manager. Maybe things need a fresh face and a different approach with the previous one not proving as effective. Jacob Brown is a striker rather than a winger.

Ive no idea who would replace him, why would I. That squad should not be on 9 points from 16 games, with a run that includes a home loss to Ipswich, a 4 nil thrashing to Everton, a home battering to Bournemouth including 3 penalty concessions through trying to pass it out and a loss to out of form West Ham. They have conceded 20 goals in 16 from set plays and in the last 2 games have seen 2 seperate players totally lose their head and their discipline which isnt symptom of a together camp. They appear destined for relegation so I dont see why youd double down and back him.

Apparently Ipswich's winner was the 20th theyve conceded from a set piece this season. O'Neil is a very lucky man if he manages their next game.

He is very capable going forward but impressively for a young full back he is good defensively too.

We have a couple of selection dilemmas now, Brittain had been very good but JRC has come in from the cold somewhat to put in 2 excellent performances and the shirt I suggest will be his until he either is unavailable or if his form drops. Cantwell is a key player for us but I wonder who will make way. Ohashi looks better suited playing off the front but I would assume he would be the one to make way. Having ACD able to run in behind might really benefit him. Luton were really poor and Edwards must be fearing the sack. They seemed very top heavy with Morris, Adebajo and Brown all playing. They maybe lack some physicality in midfield when they had Mpanzu and then Nakamba joining last time as key players, and Doughty is a big miss. Chong is a good player but not sure he suits their team.

Did Beck play solely as a left back for you? He is sometimes used by us (including today) further forward, and is very capable there too.