One Injury From A Crisis

Reports that Joe Willock is out for 4-6 weeks joining Joelinton in the treatment room leaves Matthias Jaissle with a midfield crisis just waiting to happen.

Our only fit mids in the current first team squad are Miley (just back from a long injury), Ramsey, Steur and Bamba.

Given that most fans were not expecting 18 year old Steur and 20 year old Bamba to go straight into a starting eleven that leaves just Miley and Ramsey as players who can be expected to be ready and up for the challenges the team will face in the PL.

When you consider that whoever Jaissle picks on Sunday from what he has available our midfield will be up against McAllister, Szoboszlai and Wirtz - men against boys is not an exaggeration.

If we get one more midfield injury, and especially to either Miley or Ramsey, that becomes a full blown crisis unless Wilson brings in reinforcements pronto.

What is going on with Paulinha?

After the 'will he won't he' saga with Holjberg that ended with him turning us down we appear to be back in the same hokey cokey situation with Paulinha.

There is a desperate need, now critical, to bring in an experienced mid.

Villa are apprently out of the picture for Paulinha because they can't afford to sign him and Bayern won't sanction a loan. Benfica and Athletico Madrid are also reported to be interested in a signing.

We are either interested in signing Paulinha, or we aren't

He is either interested in signing, or he isn't.

Wilson has had long enough to answer both questions, yet as it stands nothing appears decided and no other experienced mid appears to be close to signing.

Wilson may, of course, be about to pull a rabbit out of the hat and surprise us all - but whether he does or not we are getting too close to clubs holding a gun to our heads on fees as the window closes down fast.

That same situation led to what many fans believe were panic buys at inflated prices last summer and, if the same mistake is made again, how amatuerish is that?

Even before we lost Gordon, Tonali, Bruno and Trippier this summer's transfer window was deemed a critical one that we had to get right.

In response we have signed an 18 year old and three 20 year old's with Dedic still to be confirmed. That's nearly as big a gamble as hoying a few quid on the lottery.

In short, it's simply not good enough.

Jaissle may have wanted to assess the squad and have an input into signings but Wilson had to balance that against the fact that time to do deals was running out fast.

Fans aren't just running out of patience, worse, we are running out of confidence.

Our new manager was already in a difficult position when he arrived in La Mange.

Now, with injuries and no further signings confirmed he is even worse off.

For the second time; it's simply not good enough.

Enter Martoon's Prediction Game

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