Polarboy

The thing about Gordon is that it's probably unfair to judge him on this season at least in terms of his form. His diving and general demeanour are a separate issue. He's still very young at 21 and he's been playing in a shit team that can barely string a few passes together in forward areas. He has Lampard as a manager and seems to have had a falling out with him. I can't see Lampard benching him like he has if something personal wasn't going on. It's not as if Lampard's squad is overflowing with options. If Ashworth and Howe think there's potential in Gordon who are we to judge.

Everton are supposedly close to brining in Danjuma on loan from Villarreal. He can play Gordon's position so it will be interesting to see if there's any movement on him early next week once Danjuma is fully singed off.

I very much doubt Moyes will be adventurous in his tactics against us. And look you may be right about how teams line up against us, but again it seems odd that it's seemingly taken them this long to cop on.

I'm talking about our league position. What we've achieved in the league cup, which is great, wasn't relevant. And I hope you're correct that we'll copy the first half of the season and go on a winning run after a run of draws.

Nobody is saying it's an accident or not by merit that we're third. A hell of a lot of hard work by Howe and the players has led to our current position, but hard work sometimes isn't enough when you are lacking that bit of inspiration and ruthlessness in front of goal to turn those draws into wins. As another poster was saying teams are playing a low block against us, but I think it's a combination of that added to a general lack of elite quality in front of goal that's led to so many draws.

He's "looked" dangerous all season but he only has two goals and two assists to his name which is pretty poor for a player who's our attacking mid pretty much.

I agree and I disagree. This team without Howe getting every drop out of players like Almiron, Longstaff, Joelinton, Willock etc aren't top four. We'd be doing well to be top 8.

I think that's plausible, but surely teams would have cottoned on to the way we play and our form sooner than the last four games. And we obviously drew a fair amount of games in the first half of the season.

Firstly I do believe we are where we are on merit, but at the end of the day the amount of draws we're collecting could do for us come the end of the season. If we continue drawing a lot of games and some of the teams below us go on a winning run they could soon overtake us. Chelsea are unlikely to over take us, but Liverpool have a game in hand and then seven point becomes more doable. It would be a mistake to assume that Spurs and Liverpool can't string together a run before the end of the season given the quality of their squads, or at least the quality of their big players in Spurs' case. I'd say one goal is four and three draws to along with our general propensity to draw this season compared to our rivals is a worry. The problem is the missed chances. The missed chances are a sign that we don't have enough players who are clinical when in good positions. Longstaff is the prime example. He's a good player with many laudable qualities but he's not quite good enough to be a top four level player, and he won't be unless he turns around his conversion rate. I hope it's the case that players like Wilson, ASM and Almiron get their shooting boots back on soon and this mini drought in front of goal is just a blip, and or Howe and Ashworth make some clever signings or loans to bring us up a level in front of goal.

All mackem noncery aside, the draws, Wilson's form since the world cup, Almiron's downturn in form, ASM hasn't really looked at the races although maybe he needs to start a run of games, and just our general total lack of being clinical in front of goal is a major worry. At least two of those three could start scoring and Isak could chip in as well, but I can't help thinking that how successful our transfer is will dictate whether we finish in the top four or slide down to fifth or six. We need a defensive mid, we also need somebody who can match Bruno in terms of threading a pass but also more consistently chip in with goals, that's obviously Maddison ideally, we need cover at full back, we need wingers/forwards who will at the very least compete with ASM, Joelinton and Almiron although I think ASM will leave sooner than later, and we need to replace Wood with someone who can contribute straight away as Eddie has said. We won't do all that before the end of this month and probably not even by the end of the summer. I think we can cope without almost everything except the replacement for Wood and the goalscorer from midfield. Ziyech could be a very interesting loan to the end of the season given that he largely played in an attacking mid role for Ajax where he had a lot of success. Willock has given us a lot of energy from midfield but not a lot of end product lately. Talent wise at least Ziyech should be able to steal his place in the lineup. A replacement for Wood is difficult, but if rumours are to be believed Gordon is high on the list. The two aforementioned would give us a lot of flexibility given they can play in multiple positions.

Seeing some people compare Gordon to Bellamy in terms of the type of player he is, as in annoying little twat but absolutely rapid and potentially a very good player with a decent coach behind him. If we actually sign him and he's as good as Bellamy was for us I may learn to live with his rat features.

Yeah, him and hairy hands bleating on about the Russian co-owner actually being the real person in charge, which maybe he is.

I'm currently watching Keys and Gray. Top quality menopausal punditry 🤣

I didn't see your post, but in fairness you were dealing in mere rumour, I had the cold hard BBC football facts.

Guimaraes starts 😍, same team that played Fulham.

The next few weeks couldn't be more crucial to us securing top four. Chelsea and Liverpool have just played out a 0-0 and could be 12 points behind fourth place by the weekends end, we have three winnable fixtures coming up, Spurs have just lost to Citeh, are away to Fulham on Monday and then play Citeh again, and we have our business to get done in the transfer window. Beat Palace and then the 'ammers next week, get a young, exciting and versatile forward, who isn't Master Splinter's lovechild, in to replace Wood, buy a number 6, secure that young attacking mid Brazilian, and perhaps get backup at full back and we'll be absolutely flying.

His rat like face is enough for me to not want him at the club, quite apart from his attitude and diving. With Schar, Bruno etc in our team his rodent like visage would stick out like a rotting thumb. Hopefully Everton play silly beggars and price us out of it.

He was in the final year of his contract at Brighton I think. His wages will likely be eye watering.

Back five if memory serves. Pretty sure they'd only play James or Azpilicueta in a flat back four.

The Gazette are saying we're considering DCL as a Wood replacement. It's quite likely just them recycling transfer rumours of course. Everton would need to be mad to sell DCL at this point in their season. That is unless they can't see any other way of generating funds to strengthen their squad for the relegation run-in. I don't see how he'd fit into our current squad. He surely wouldn't be content taking Wood's place in the squad in terms of being third choice. And then of course his injury record over the last 12 months has been atrocious. He has potential of course, but any fee would need to reflect his aforementioned injury record.

He's played right wing back for Chelsea a decent amount of times.

It's a bit early to be calling Isak fragile after one injury. His injury record before he joined the club was fine. I do agree though obviously that we'd need to replace Wood if he goes. Buying a player of the profile of either Depay or Thuram would obviously be the best choice, as in someone who is comfortable playing through the centre and out wide.

Big Keef has poured a bit of cold water on the ASM comment that was attributed to him.

Doubtful given he plays like a rotting stump.