January

[Zippity]

Barkley would be a terrible signing. Arrogant person who has to be the big fish in a small pond to perform to his best. Great player when he is the main man though.

Our midfield balance has been poor all season, desperately poor when Big Jo is injured. We need a proper holding midfielder. Bruno is wasted in that role. Kalvin Phillips on loan is probably the best we can hope for in January. Should be priority in the summer.

Basically we’re going to have to make do with this squad until the summer so the players, and coaching staff, need to sort themselves out. Players are feeling sorry for themselves and many of them have lost the hunger that served us so well last season. Eddie and his staff need to crack the whip because the away form is an embarrassment for a club with expectations of European football. I don’t buy the tiredness excuse, the top clubs manage every season.

Always good points from you, man, but I do disagree about the tirednes thing.

It's got to be affecting the way we train, too, given that they'll only be able to use-and therefore overuse-the fit players. As these games are about small margins, every little factor that tips the balance can have an effect and not being able to spread the workload has led to the tiredness we're seeing.

Top flight professional sport is all about the fine margins-and that includes luck-and the margins would appear to be against us this season.