Rousseau

Half a Tamundo?

... and c) I believe he's predominantly just a goalscorer; he doesn't seem to do much else. I understand where you are coming from, but I wouldn't bother with Dessers, personally. Hopefully he does score 40 goals for us.

Yeah, but I've made the point elsewhere - I even made it its own thread - I don't think our DoF had as much influence as he should have. The managers (SG, GvB and MB) seemed \ seem to have too much say in who to sign and who to keep. Which might come from the board? Maybe that's the DoF model they want? Personally, it's not what I'd like to see.

What's the point in scouting then? We'll just draw names from a hat and see who we get. In my opinion, spending £3-4M on a 28-year-old is not the best use of resources. We can agree to disagree.

It's a somewhat moot point, though, because our DoF was involved in the planning and set-up of our signings for this window. If not, what the f*ck was he doing? I admit I'm in the minority, but I want the DoF to have a lot more say in recruitment.

I did say 'aging squad'. You're the one that picked starters to suit your argument. I don't mind the odd experienced player, but I wouldn't want us spending money on them. Butland on a free was fine. I'd take a 28-year-old Messi for £4M. We could sell him for £200M six months later. That's the job of the scouting department. Personally, of the names linked, Maja is a better profile at 24 (I think?). In our situation, we really need those that we're spending money on to have potential resell value. That's just me, though.

I just wrote a long reply then exited the page by mistake... Suffice to say, we must have a more joint-up approach. Players and managers must suit a club's philosophy. It's no good catering to the whims of individual managers. I will die on this hill, on my particularly high horse.

You conveniently omitted Jack, Barisic, McLaughlin, Roofe, etc., and Lundstram is 29. I did say 'aging squad'. Even taking your starting XI, that's 6 players that we're recouping nothing on. Dessers is not old per se, but it's not good business to spend £3-4M plus on a 28 year-old that we can't resell.

Have you got a source?

I thought it was a running gag? I'm not the only one who uses 'Tamundo'. We all know who it's meant to be.

'I know it's not Rangers Chat [per se]'? I didn't know that.

I know it's not Rangers Chat per se, but it's notable, so we'll keep this thread here for now.

I can only speak for myself but, because MB played Sakala and Tamundo up front despite having Colak on the bench?

Could work. I don't think MB likes him, though. Another reason why managers should not have 100% say in recruitment.

Oh la la

A Dessers-like player, but younger.

4-4-2 diamond is what MB was using towards the latter part of the season. A Christmas tree could be used too, as we do have a few #10s. I see us playing with two mobile, pressing forwards. Lammers suits that. Sima suits that too, being a winger and a striker. (It even suits Sakala and Matondo - even if the latter is not a forward.) I would still like a goalscorer.

Worried about it being low? It is low, but that's explained by him being in a team that finished 20th, by quite some way. It doesn't really matter what the xG is. What matter is how it compares to his actual goals. You want someone that hits or over-performs their xG consistently. I wish I had Morelos' data in Finland. I would think that he would have a high xG, being in the top team, but his actual goals would be lower than his xG, because he's wasteful.

I didn't look into his minutes and fitness issues. That's a wee bit worrying. I don't think we're going with wide forwards. I'm even starting to suspect we're not going with a main goalscorer; rather, we're expecting a number of players to chip in with a decent number of goals (10-15) - did you make that point before?

He had a bad time with injuries at Stoke, but then he played 37 games (pretty much every game) for Angers last season. I'm not worried about his low goals. He hits his xG.

Apologies. I was just having a wee bit of fun.

Sima interests me more. He was an exciting talent at Slavia Prague - enough to warrant Brighton making a move for him. He's still only 22. He's quite versatile, too, being able to play along the front line. 6 goals in 37 games looks poor, but he hits his xG and was his clubs top scorer as they were relegated. He carries the ball well, dribbles well, presses well, and is decent in the air. Guess who he's similar to? Sam Lammers. Again, it fits with MB playing a front two in a 4-3-1-2. If this is a loan to buy, I'd be happy.

Have you watched him extensively, BSRT? All we can do is trust Beale.

We have an aging squad. We don't need any more auld yins. Especially when we're forking out significant cash on the deal.