No excuses now guys

[West Derby Villan]

The chairman has supported the manager to the hilt. Wouldn't have believed it three months ago that we would of shifted some much dead wood out and brought so much experience and talent into the club. Now RDM, the players and us, the fans, have to get us up.

[Chris Smith]

I was a doubters about Dr Tony and his claims of wealth and support.

Without wanting to sound like a Moaning Minnie, let's wait and see what happens to the club's finances at the end of the season (or financial year) so we see where the money has come from.

I can understand the caution but for now I want to be a fan rather than an analyst and just enjoy the ride. If it goes tits up then I will deal with it but so far our Tone has been as good as his word.

[Deano's Mullet]

We lost on Saturday but I've enjoyed this season so far and with the signings we've made I honestly think this could be a very very successful season now.

[itbrvilla]

Couple of back to back wins and an away win will do us the world of good

[Toronto Villa]

I was a doubters about Dr Tony and his claims of wealth and support.

Without wanting to sound like a Moaning Minnie, let's wait and see what happens to the club's finances at the end of the season (or financial year) so we see where the money has come from.

Quite. There are only a limited number of options.
He's throwing the cash in as extra equity as Lerner did with some of his investment.
He's loaning the cash to the club from Recon at nominal interest.
He's borrowing the cash from a third party at commercial rates.

As we saw, even with options 1 and 2 there'll be a pain threshold at some point, unless he's got access to Abramovich / Mansour type cash.

The less said about option the better, although interest rates will never be lower than they currently are.

option 4 is that he actually has the money and he's making an investment in his new business. It is possible that he's not some shyster that has to borrow or leverage himself to the hilt. At the end of the day it appears he will have spent some 130-140m on buying the club and investing in player/staff etc. If he 's done it in a way that compromises the club then he's taken a lot of people along for the ride, starting with Hollis.

[Dave]

I was a doubters about Dr Tony and his claims of wealth and support.

Without wanting to sound like a Moaning Minnie, let's wait and see what happens to the club's finances at the end of the season (or financial year) so we see where the money has come from.

Quite. There are only a limited number of options.
He's throwing the cash in as extra equity as Lerner did with some of his investment.
He's loaning the cash to the club from Recon at nominal interest.
He's borrowing the cash from a third party at commercial rates.

As we saw, even with options 1 and 2 there'll be a pain threshold at some point, unless he's got access to Abramovich / Mansour type cash.

The less said about option the better, although interest rates will never be lower than they currently are.

option 4 is that he actually has the money and he's making an investment in his new business.

That's the same as option one.

[adrenachrome]

Dr Tony and his team have team have done exceptionally well, but we should not forget they inherited a squad which was rotten at the core. The reconstruction required is massive.

Back to the Prem in 2 years is the reasonable goal in my opinion.

[KRS]

Well RDM has a nice headache now when selecting our attacking lineup. Competition for places much...

McCormack
Kodja
Adomah
Grealish
Ayew
Gestede

...we were lacking pace up front but we could now pose a frightening and daunting prospect for most Championship defences.

We're still lightweight in middle but we've still been dominating games in the first half, and we should be quite rightly out of sight by half time...theres no excuses for not putting those chances away now.

[ozzjim]

I was a doubters about Dr Tony and his claims of wealth and support.

Without wanting to sound like a Moaning Minnie, let's wait and see what happens to the club's finances at the end of the season (or financial year) so we see where the money has come from.

Quite. There are only a limited number of options.
He's throwing the cash in as extra equity as Lerner did with some of his investment.
He's loaning the cash to the club from Recon at nominal interest.
He's borrowing the cash from a third party at commercial rates.

As we saw, even with options 1 and 2 there'll be a pain threshold at some point, unless he's got access to Abramovich / Mansour type cash.

The less said about option the better, although interest rates will never be lower than they currently are.

option 4 is that he actually has the money and he's making an investment in his new business.

That's the same as option one.

I hope and want to believe it is this. I think he has done well and seems to be trying to build the club back up.

[Drummond]

With Steve Round in as Tech Director as well, we have a lot of football knowledge and experience around. We should do pretty damn well when it all beds in.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Lest we forget, we also managed to shake off Samuelson.

[Matt Collins]

So with everyone fit, I reckon we're looking at:

                      Gollini

De Laet      Elphick  Chester   Cissokho

                 Jedinak    Tshibola

Adomah           McCormack      Ayew

                        Kodjia

Subs:  Bunn, Baker, Amavi, Bacuna, Westwood, Grealish, Gestede

We've got options and will need to rotate. I'd definitely have grealish in and let ayew / adomah compete for the other place, based on form to date. I'd start ayew v forest

I'd also play bacuna at right back. And I think Westwood will need to play in some games as - despite the consensus - he offers much better forward passing than the other two.

[Clampy]

Dr Tony and his team have team have done exceptionally well, but we should not forget they inherited a squad which was rotten at the core. The reconstruction required is massive.

Back to the Prem in 2 years is the reasonable goal in my opinion.

I agree. After everything that's gone on, two season's is a fair enough timescale.

[Matt Collins]

The squad isn't perfect but it's definitely better than all but Newcastle's. That means RDM has three key jobs I think

- sort the defending out: the defensive unit, the keeper, team shape, resilience under pressure
- sort the mentality out: a combination of form leading to more confidence and leadership
- find the right attacking blend

I've seen some say our attack has been dis functional this season. I don't agree at all. It's lacked width and pace, but the main problem has been finishing chances. We've created loads of them. He's got a great set of options now (heading threat, pace in behind, craft, set pieces, dribbling ability). Part of the challenge will be whittling down the options so that we can be robust enough. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the best blend we find means one of the supposed big hitters having to sit out. Money's on ayew at the moment, but it could be grealish or McCormack.

[WarszaVillan]

It looks very promising so far. However, the parachute payments were meant to be around 40m pounds, so with the sales of players Tony hasn't actually spent any extra money yet. This isn't a criticism as I don't think the club could have done any more, but what the long-term investment in the club will be is yet to be seen.