Quite literally the post I replied to said “the 100% stark reality is that the only way we can play attractive/attacking football AND stay in the premier is to invest hundreds of millions”. If the barometer is playing like Man City, that might be true.

I want to distinguish between expansive and entertaining - entertaining football doesn’t have to be expansive; there are a lot of direct teams who’s plan is getting the ball forward quickly and overload with crosses.. this can be exciting without ever being expansive. We are neither, for clarity.

It doesn’t matter when it was spent, it’s indicative of the quality of the squad. Our squad is as good, if not better, than most of the bottom half.

That is simply not true and, as Willo pointed out, we have a lot around the thirty mark. It's also the age that niggling injuries persist. Defensive players can generally eek out a bit longer but we've got an age problem and complete lack of attacking depth or players with the ability to travel with the ball.

Could not agree more, just look at Zaha he looks like he in decline at 27 and yet Cahill is still good at 34/35!

As I understand the U23s are bottom of their league which isn't exactly full of big names. Richard Shaw made some fairly sobering remarks before he left as I recall.

Still I truly hope Roy will not be so stubborn, there must be some youngsters (incl. Meyer and Riedewald) for the remaining games. We are out of European contention and guaranteed (at least) one more PL season. High time to shake up the ageing team and see what the youths are made of.
It can not be any worse than in the last few games - and we have got nothing to lose. We will end up 14-16 whatever results...