This is a squad short on leaders, creativity and goals

Stekelenburg, Coleman, (Kenny / Connolly) Jagielka, Williams (Galloway), Baines, Gueye, Barry (Davies), Barkley, Mirallas, Deulofeu (Tarashaj / Slimani), Lennon (Dowell)

Koeman will hesitate and reasonably so, until he has not only explored the market for what is available but also to assess from who is available, who is suitable.

Rom and John are already gone, just a matter of when.

Talking of matter, yes Mata probably at Christmas, with a surprise Walsh package.

Our position at Christmas? 10th. Our position at the end of the season? 7th.

Depressed? No. Patient? Yes. COYB

Strange isn't it how we all acknowledge the importance of the managerial regime and what it brings. 3 years of defective training from one regime, and we expect the same raw material to be turned around by the incumbent team in 2 months? Also significantly the squad are 3 years older than they were when Martinez inherited them so the aging factor has a part to play.

3 years is about 30% of a players career. bad habits die hard. Coleman has flagged that and he is probably right!

You would have thought, with most if not all the senior players' careers on the line, that we would have seen a more positive attitude but it seems each game has shown less and less interest.

Friday and Saturday games, the Boss looked very glum indeed... I just hope it doesn't lead to panic buys; however, buys we definitely need. What's the saying: "Let's see where we are after 10 games..."

I actually think we're still in transition. We didn't really know it at the time but the 5th place in Martinez first season was the last hurrah for that squad.

That squad got old and some of the stalwarts of that era are yet to be replaced at all. We have no genuine options in some positions and need some players in. The midfield options badly need sorting, as there are none.

People saying this is the best squad are way off beam.

We basically have 10 top 8 players, a few back up players, and some good prospects. We desperately need to bin some dead wood.

It really is not about what we need to !ose, it is all about what needs to be added:

'Keeper.
Centre Half.
Defensive Mid.
Playmaker.
Striker.

And, those must be serious upgrades on top of what we already have.

A keeper is paramount to success IMO,as we don't have a keeper at the club who is even close to any of last seasons top clubs.

A centre half is only needed if Stones leaves, as Funes Mori and Jags are both better than most who we are linked with. We have a lot of talented youngsters at centre half too, so if our three mainstay centre backs stay we should be fine.

Defensive mid is huge too as Barry is 35, and was our best player last season, that in itself is worrying IMO.

A playmaker is a must, as Barkley, Deulofeu and Mirallas are all talented, but without any threat on there positions, they would be on easy street. Finding a player above there level will be expensive, but hey, that's what the money is for.

As for needing a striker, that all depends of Rom. If he stays we need backup to replace Kone and Nias, if he goes we need to move for a striker who is proven within the league. Players like Bony, Giroud and Benteke pretty much guarantee 15 goals plus if they get a fair run of games.

Freeing up wages may become important though, as the league has rules about teams outgoings.

Getting shut of dead wood will free up millions of pounds a month. Niasse, Kone, Oviedo, McGeady, Gibson, Robles, McAleny, have to be earning around 𧶲,000 a week minimum, a cool mil a month. Freeing up there wages would increase our financial power when negotiating with potential new players, this may be a huge incentive as we cant offer any form of European football, but money talks.