Really guys, those of you that are in panic mode right now, what exactly has you worried?

I read so many complaints that we have sat and fiddled whilst our competitors have gone out and strengthened their squad. So who, in the other ten teams around us in the league, have actually seriously strengthened their squad. All I see is this:

Aston Villa: They have got in a decent left back where the incumbent was truly dreadful. However, it is up front they have problems and I very much doubt Grant Holt is the answer. Dealings to date: 4/10

Cardiff: Lots of talk but only three Norwegians who may be good next year but this season…er…unlikely. If they sign Zaha then good luck to them – a young lad with zero Premier League experience who has hardly played a competitive match all season. They are also now heavily linked with Ramis, a very injury prone central defender and maybe they will get Sissoko – a midfielder who has played no football for about eight months. They are also heavily rumoured to be doing a swap deal with Stoke sending Odemwingie back to the Midlands in exchange for Kenwyne Jones. Cardiff are likely to have about eight new signings, none of them appear to be players who will hit the ground running and we all know what a bucket load of signings does for squad harmony – not that Cardiff have any. Dealings to date 3/10

Fulham: Clint Dempsey – is he really going to make them a better team? Dealings to date: 4/10

Hull: Two strikers in Long and Jelavik who both have experience at this level. However, Jelavik has hardly features this season and I am sure has not scored a league goal for some considerably time. Long is a decent player but again has hardly been hitting the net regularly scoring only three times this season, eight last season and eight the season before.
dealings to date: 6/10

Norwich: Jonas Gutierrez – no doubt bags of experience but he has played two games for Newcastle all season. dealings to date: 3/10

Stoke: Agudelo for whom they cannot get a work permit so have loaned him out and Ireland who was already with them on loan. The only other is the loan of Guidetti from Manchester City who has made zero appearances this season. He is only a young lad and I cannot see him crashing in the goals. Also (see Cardiff) they are likely to swap Jones for Odemwingie which will make precious little difference to them. Dealings to date 3/10.

Sunderland: Alonso is a decent if not great full back. Ustari is a back-up keeper. Vergini is a defender who has no experience of this league and precious little experience of European football. Dealings to date 4/10.

W.B.A – no players in yet. Dealings to date; 0/10

W.H.U – The sinking ship that is West Ham continue to sign players whose names look good but whose ability is average. Moreover players need time to adapt to this league – at least a couple of months –and they cannot spare that time. Gordon from Posh is for the future and, well, they are welcome to Roger Johnson. dealings to date 4/10.

So when all is said and done all teams have added players to their squads except WBA and us so far. However, are any of them really that much better off for their acquisitions? Sure some of them may sign some decent players next week but then so may we.

Edited by james03 (26 Jan 2014 8.41am)

The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made. Groucho Marx

Cases could be made for all of those players not being very good and only hindsight will tell us whether they are worthwhile buys or not but obviously the individual club managers feel that the purchases are worthwhile.

Let's not forget the media coverage at the beginning of the season when we signed Chamakh as everyone and their mother stated quite firmly that he was a huge failure and we were stupid to buy him..

Likewise Barry Bannan fulfils many of the criteria that you have used on the other clubs as he hadn't played for a year

another positive point to no sigings...

when TP took over he said he would only buy players who will instantly add to the starting 11.

if we havnt been able to do that, then its good we havnt just brought for the sake of it...weve got numbers, just not quality.

‘Football isn’t instant coffee. You have to work at it. You must grow the bean, grind it.’ Ian Holloway

Barry Bannan is a good squad player we need a match winner/changer they are not easy to find. Time will tell if Hull have made good buys or wasted 20m. I would bid for Zaha a player we know and who can change games a money back offer might test Man Utd after they have spent so much on mata.

And that's the problem finding him in January.
Within Budget and wants to play for Palace.
Will want starting point £35K a Week.

None of the clubs mentioned will be instantly better with one or two signings but more than 3 of them (and that's what matters) will as the season progresses, and we've got to get results (not lose) at their grounds.

COYP