We had ample opportunity to "utilise the loan market" in summer.

Players who know they won't be dropped, players who are not good enough and even worse, players who looked like they didn't even wanna be there. We've got Liverpool to look forward to now with probably Clyne and ward as our full backs. I don't even blame Roy, he was only appointed as he was an easy option to try and cover the cracks, we all knew a couple of injuries would see the wall start falling down. We chose not to address it in the summer, if its not addressed in January we only have ourselves to blame.

Bournemouth were last season arguably one of the worst teams in the division. Gary O'Neill performed a minor miracle keeping them up. To try and prevent this happening again they have spent 137m Euros on new players according to Transfermarkt, and that excludes the fees for loan deals. In comparison we have spent 38m Euros, and the only one of those arrivals that is a regular is the free transfer Lerma.
Its an arms race every year to get new talent, and our transfer activity this summer was really poor, with money spent where it was not needed. In my view it is a combination of the injuries to key players and the lack of overall quality in the squad that is the real problem and we are now being found out big time.
Sacking Hodgson won't resolve this, unless we do what we have done in several previous years by taking on a new manager and spend panic money in January.
There is no doubt however that we are in trouble. Luton are beginning to show a bit of form and and Everton will easily overcome their 10 point deduction.

Going to Palace now is just not enjoyable. Every game the tactics are the same, the free kicks are the same, the corners are the same and at throw ons nobody wants the ball. No invention, unable to pass the ball through midfield to attack. We have 4 England internationals when Eze is playing, a Danish, Columbian, 2 Ghanaians, American, and a French under21. If you can't get these players firing on all cylinders then there is a problem with the coaching. We rarely gain a foothold in a game and seem to be on the back foot from the start. Why we didn't get Ross Barkley on a free, the mind boggles. The sort of player we need to control the centre of the park.

Going to Palace now is just not enjoyable. Every game the tactics are the same, the free kicks are the same, the corners are the same and at throw ons nobody wants the ball. No invention, unable to pass the ball through midfield to attack. We have 4 England internationals when Eze is playing, a Danish, Columbian, 2 Ghanaians, American, and a French under21. If you can't get these players firing on all cylinders then there is a problem with the coaching. We rarely gain a foothold in a game and seem to be on the back foot from the start. Why we didn't get Ross Barkley on a free, the mind boggles. The sort of player we need to control the centre of the park.