Jordan Ayew - sold to Swansea

[amfy]

Benteke threatened to go on strike didn't he?  He turned out to be okay.

Benteke turned out to be looking to leave almost from the time he arrived, but, yes, he did do more than OK for us both in terms of the goals scored and the profit made. I'll be happy enough if he turns out the same, just saying you can see what you're getting.

His statement of really wanting to be here doesn't actually mean anything different to Gueye's of wanting to go 'bigger' - it shows when they want a move they will go after it. Being where we are at the moment, this is OK. Players who will do well enough for us to help us step up whether they stay or go is what we want, and hopefully what we are getting.

[brian green]

What has to be remembered is that new players are not like new cars.   They don't simply start when you press the button.   The Beast attracted quite a lot of criticism in his first few games while other players, Didier Six for example go like shit off a shovel in their first games then become invisible.  August is always a phoney war with freak results and in my opinion it is not worth skewing your whole team building strategy to be second in the table after three games and the worst team in the Premiership by a country mile in February.

[silhillvilla]

Granted, but equally if we hadn't gotten off to a good start last season in August we'd have finished bottom of the league and would be looking forward to the championship now .

[warleyboy]

Yes, August is a strange month, but I'd rather we take the wins than draws or losses.
We are in no position to throw any points away, we have a new backbone to the team, and they need to gel damn quick.

[luke95]

Spot on, we are a fickle bunch*


*No more fickle than any other set of fans

[Chris Smith]

What has to be remembered is that new players are not like new cars.   They don't simply start when you press the button.   The Beast attracted quite a lot of criticism in his first few games while other players, Didier Six for example go like shit off a shovel in their first games then become invisible.  August is always a phoney war with freak results and in my opinion it is not worth skewing your whole team building strategy to be second in the table after three games and the worst team in the Premiership by a country mile in February.

I agree, Brian. The majority of business usually gets done in August, with players and agents taking their time to assess options. We are looking for players for 3 years, not 3 games.

[Dante Lavelli]

Granted, but equally if we hadn't gotten off to a good start last season in August we'd have finished bottom of the league and would be looking forward to the championship now .

As someone posted previously, the team we played versus Stoke was one of the worst we used all season.

I'd prefer we made the right signings rather than worry too much about the timing.  After all they are typically on three/four year deals so it is daft to focus too much on the first six or so games of that potential period.

[villa `cross the mersey]

Personally, I think Liverpool will come in with a late bid and he will be referred to by the locals as "Ayews"

[Goldie.7]

This is where we, as football fans, show our double standards (and I include myself in that). If one of our players did this we would be calling him all sorts of bastards but as we are the ones looking to benefit we don't give a toss.

'Some of us'

[brian green]

Sil, I hear and respect what you are saying about those early points last year but my view is that they only became absolutely essential for our survival because we left it too long to dispense with the services of Paul Lambert.  Nothing remotely like that is going to happen next season, or hopefully ever again now that we have woken up to the necessity of having structure and order and forward planning at the club.

[Clampy]

Granted, but equally if we hadn't gotten off to a good start last season in August we'd have finished bottom of the league and would be looking forward to the championship now .

Being absolutely shocking until we decided to get rid of Lambert played it's part in that.

[Toronto Villa]

Get in. Onto the next one ASAP.

I thought you said you were glad we could be missing out on him?

With just 2 weeks to season start we are now in a "beggars can't be choosers" situation . We need at least 3 more in after this guy.

The transfer window is open until the end of August. We've got plenty of time.

I made the point before , we have 3 winnable games in August , we could do with getting off on the front foot .

We have 4 games in August. They are all winnable or have you given up on one of them already before the season has even started?

[Smoke]

We have 38 winnable games infront of us at the moment.

[Legion]

40, including the first game in each cup.

[SamTheMouse]

Looking at the Lorient forum, it seems opinion is divided. Some wouldn't be fussed if he left, while others quite like him. Apparently he was shite to begin with, but then went on to have a good season and scored some important goals, despite playing in the CAN.

Although they all agree that if we're bidding anything over 12 million euros, Féry should bite our hands off.