I get the point, and we are never going to have hundreds of million pounds of players sat on the bench, but its not an excuse to manage a squad as badly as we have.

We've had 1 left back for what 3 seasons now, just hoping that he never gets injured. Genuinely how mad is that.

Jairo is STILL on the payroll. Tomkins is STILL on the payroll.

Clubs around us picked up decent loans, we got nobody.

Clubs around us signed wide men for similar money to what we signed Franca for

Although we got one, there were plenty of decent free transfers around.

So no we don't have millions and millions, so we need to be smart. And we havent been.

And also, selling players is a fact of life, strategically with his age, we should be actively looking to sell Anderson this summer to maximise his fee.

So yeah, injuries are particularly bad at the moment, but we've done nothing to mitigate it.

Jairo is apparently a great personality and is good with the U21 players. The fact Richards is starting ahead of him tells you everything about how he's rated as a first-team player though. No idea why Tomkins was kept on other than possibly because he accepted a low wage?

Relegation is suddenly looking like a very real possibility which in a strange way might not be a bad thing as it might force the board to act. If we were going into the new year with over 20 points on the board (which seems unlikely now) then they might be more conservative. They can't afford to be now, whether that's a couple of loans or permanent signings. With Ayew gone for AFCON in January they also need to act early. The only issue is with most clubs suffering significant injury lists they may be more reluctant to loan out senior players.

Worry not dear friends - The Transfer Window opens in under 3 weeks !

Jairo is apparently a great personality and is good with the U21 players. The fact Richards is starting ahead of him tells you everything about how he's rated as a first-team player though. No idea why Tomkins was kept on other than possibly because he accepted a low wage?

Relegation is suddenly looking like a very real possibility which in a strange way might not be a bad thing as it might force the board to act. If we were going into the new year with over 20 points on the board (which seems unlikely now) then they might be more conservative. They can't afford to be now, whether that's a couple of loans or permanent signings. With Ayew gone for AFCON in January they also need to act early. The only issue is with most clubs suffering significant injury lists they may be more reluctant to loan out senior players.

Palace have one of the highest wage bills (as a % of revenue) in the Prem and this has limited our transfer activity over the years. Transfer fees are only 1 part of the total player package and so SP must take some of the blame for paying too much and giving players too long contracts. Similarly the big purchases and wages of Benteke and Sakho restricted our transfer activity for the next 4 or so years.

Jairo is a classic example. He is in his 7th season with the club yet has only played 70 odd league games, and many of those were as sub. To give him a 2 year extension when he still had 18 months left of his original contract was bizarre.
He clearly could go back to Holland yet knows he will have to take a massive pay cut so seems happy to take his £50k a week. The fact that he is a LB and DCM, areas where we have injuries now, and he still can't get a game speaks volumes.

Tomkins is the same. Has now rarely played for the last 4 years (including the season before MG and Andersen were signed), and when he has, has looked off the pace, but keeps getting renewed.
He must still be on a decent wage else he wouldn't renew and it must be more than say Champ sides could offer (as for example both Cahill and Dann dropped to Champ after we released them).

When i look at players like Hughes i can see why Watford weren't prepared to give him a payrise and he left to come to us. He's 28 and should be at his peak. He should definitely be able to cover for Doucoure, yet he's so off the pace it's embarrassing.

When you buy players from Arsenal and Man U (Holding and Hendersen) you know they will be on big wages so to give them parity they need to be first teamers. The fact neither has played 1 minute of league football for us speaks volumes.

Yes we have injuries in midfield but on paper this is probably the area we have the most cover - the fact they are not good enough is the issue.

CM - Doucoure and Lerma are first choices. Options include Schlupp, Hughes, Jairo, Ahamada and also young Ozoh. The 1st 3 are all on over £50k a week and the 4th cost over £10m.