05 Jan 2020 22:49:33
That ended up being a reasonable win as we got to grips with what we needed to do in the second half.

There were some positives, including 2 x Pablo goals!

Moyse - 2 games, two wins, six goals scored, none conceded. That’s simplistic, I know, but you can only play who’s in front of you and it’s a very decent start.

Fredericks was terrible tonight. His injury (unfortunate for him, of course) will add to the pressure to add a far better RB this window. Johnson was heir apparent, but is also injured.

Masuaku continues to frustrate. He simply cannot defend and his frilly surges forward rarely create chances.

So that’s both full back positions that need attention and we also need CM reinforcement. Berge would be my favourite - the lad can really play.

Finally, we can’t put all of our striker eggs in the Haller basket, otherwise we’re an injury away from a serious problem. Antonio can be good, but is far too inconsistent to be reserve CF.

There is Gabigol talk in the media and, I think he could do really well in the PL, playing either with (if Moyse goes two up front) or instead of Haller as the squad rotates.

In spite of the terrible last few months we had in 2019, I’m still optimistic about the rest of the season.

I wonder what funds the David’s will make available for both this window and the summer.

1.) 06 Jan 2020
06 Jan 2020 11:15:02
Morning Mark just 1 point Johnson returned to the u23s in November unless he is injured again.

2.) 06 Jan 2020
06 Jan 2020 11:57:05
I've seen that Chelsea are also interested in Gabigol - if that's the case, then he won't be signing for us!

I agree with the other points though Markro.

3.) 06 Jan 2020
06 Jan 2020 12:54:42
Good points Markro, given Moyes's 3 at the back vs Gils we can assume he will adopt this in some/ most PL games as well. I agree with the full back assessment 100%, but i think this is not the time to fix it. I'd like to see Johnson play some more before the end of the season, and Fredricks' injury may now pave the way for his development. Zaba also looks better as a wing back now than as a Full back, as his lack of pace can be slightly covered by the third CB.

For me, its CM for immediate focus. Snodds does not look comfortable there, and Sanchez is also not up to it, leaving us just Nobes and Rice. Get a solid partner for Rice and imagine the freedom we could give the attacking players. We should go all out to loan Gedson Fernandez with an option, and then also replace Sanchez (with e. g. Sander Berge or Abdoulaye Toure) . We would need to free up a non-UK place in the squad to get Fernandez though, which is why Randolph is coming in. Just fixing CM blows the budget i reckon, and leaves nothing for a striker. My ideal realistic Jan based on players we are linked with.

In: Gedson Fernandez (loan with option), Sander Berge £15-£20m, Randolph £3m.
Out/ terminate (or just don't register in squad) : Roberto, Sanchez
The fact Randoph is close to coming tells me neither Diangana or Cullen are coming back to us in Jan. Up front we will have to make do with Haller, Ajeti, Antonio and Yarmo (for me Yarmo may do better up top with less defensive work to do) . Supported by Anderson, Lanzin, Fornals and Snodds. We should be ok IMO.

4.) 06 Jan 2020
06 Jan 2020 21:49:36
Merce, I think you are right. Claret&Hugh are reporting that Fredericks is out for 6 weeks and that Johnson is training with the first team.

5.) 07 Jan 2020
07 Jan 2020 08:29:17
Morning All,

Rice is class but I think now he needs to add more to his game, IMO he has more ability to what he is actually showing and although his comfortable on the ball I feel he is hesitant to push up and, he seems to give it sideways or back far to often, Moyes should encourage a more dominant role, I have seen glimpse of him start to take a more prominent role when pushing up but not enough, I appreciate its been hard for him to do nothing but defending to way we were playing but just want to see more improvement, hopefully DM will give him a little more freedom

I don't want him to be another Eric Dyer who frankly IMO has just gone backwards.