today's team:

Mandanda; Ward, Dann (c), Delaney, Souare; Townsend, McArthur, Cabaye, Puncheon; Benteke, Wickham.

Subs: Speroni, Tomkins, Kelly, Boateng, Ledley, Lee, Zaha.

HT 0-1

yet another dreadful half at home. My patience has run out now.

FT 1-1

we absolutely hammered them in the 2nd half, that was so one-sided it was incredible! and just when it looked like we would get nothing Dann the man scores a beauty.

that was deserved and hopefully we finally have lift-off.

Still only 2 wins in 24 mind.

Thought we were destined not to score with the chances we missed in the second half. The relief at the goal was crazy.

It's amazing that we can have two completely different halves like that, but we're so much better when we can play at a fast pace.

That was a complete Jekyll and Hyde performance.

First half was garbage. 4-4-2 clearly didn't work, there were huge chasms in our midfield that Bournemouth exploited over and over again and we were perhaps lucky to only be a goal down at the break.

Second half was brilliant. The switch to 4-3-3 made all the difference, suddenly we looked comfortable, composed and a lot happier. Everything was so much better except the finishing. On another day we would have scored 4 or 5 in that half alone.

Benteke and Townsend look class. You can see how they have that something extra.

Loved Mandanda. Big and imposing, made a couple of terrific and vital saves and his distribution was excellent.

Cabaye. Really don't know what's up with him. He's looked out of sorts all year and at times is more of a hindrance than a help. I knew he would miss the penalty and he really needs to be taken off them - it made much more sense to let Benteke have it.

He needs to be taken off corners & free-kicks also as they have been rubbish for ages.

A few reports doing the rounds including from Sky that Loic Remy is about to join us from Chelsea on a season long loan deal.

If confirmed that will sort out our front line, we just need to get in that creative midfielder by Wednesday. Another left-back would be handy too but I don't see that happening.

Confirmed now - Remy a done deal.

Old Loic gets around doesn't he?!

Blimey, how many clubs do you think he's had?!

Just checked.. Only three in England before you guys... It felt like more to me... Not that promiscuous after all!

Benteke and Remy upfront? On paper that's pretty crazy.

Just need people who can set them up now.

if he can actually stay fit then Remy could be an excellent signing, even more if he clicks with Benteke.

still waiting in this creative midfielder though.

We're being heavily linked to Tomas Rincon but he plays as either a defensive midfielder or right back.

Still amazed that we've managed to acquire 2 strikers before deadline day. I'm actually not that excited by Benteke, however Remy I am really looking forward to seeing.

Saw that Bamford is now at Burnley, good luck to them.

8.5 hours to go, I reckon 1 in 2 out, as the final bit of business, and glad that the loan deals have to be completed same day too, should make an interesting night.

I'd be surprised if anybody else comes in now before the window closes.

I can't believe we have wasted most of the day on that sicknote Wilshere when we should have been concentrating on getting in a creative midfielder on a permanent basis and one that can manage more than half a dozen games a season.

Went to bed last night with the excitement that we may get Wilshere. Or maybe that Venezuelan guy. And surely we'd be looking at a creative player.

What a disappointing day.

Forewarning - I'm about to have a rant.

First up I'm one of the few that are glad we didn't get Wilshere. After all the injury problems of last season the last thing we needed was a player made of glass coming in. But it begs the question, where were the alternatives? Why was no one else lined up? We've all known for an absolute age that we needed a creative midfielder so where were the targets in this area (neither Rincon or McCarthy were the answer to this) Just what does out scouting team do all year? Once again this glaringly obvious problem has not been addressed.

Secondly we failed to strengthen the defence. We can only name 7 defenders in the 25 and that will include Fryers who has hardly kicked a ball for us.

In fact I can only name 23 senior players (remembering U-21's do not count towards the 25), so how do we even name a 25?

Then to top it all off we once again offload the majority of our most talented younger players out on loan again. But when I say younger I no longer mean teenagers.
Kaikai (21 years old) to Brentford;
Williams (22) to Ipswich;
Anderson (21) to Bolton;
Boateng (20) to Bristol Rovers;
Inniss (21) to Southend;
Croll (21) to Exeter.

At those ages they should be gaining first team experience with us not spending yet another 6 months to a year in the lower leagues. How the hell are we ever going to know if they can hack it if we never play them? I'm not saying they should be first-team regulars but surely we should be finding out if they can sink or swim at this level by now?

For all his faults at United LvG didn't hesitate with Rashford. When he was needed he just threw him in at the deep end and we've all seen the results. But it seems that ever since we got promoted we have gained an aversion to bringing through out best youth players, we'd rather keep sending them out on loan year after year whilst buying in dross like Sako, Mutch and Campbell and paying them stupid wages.

Of course it's not all bad, we've brought in some terrific signings but if we suffer injuries and suspensions between now and Christmas we will once again be relying on the aforementioned players in the previous paragraph because our squad is simply not deep enough.

Probably wasn't wise signing Remy then. Will be interesting to see how many games you get out of him.

Ha, yes, valid point!

At least if Remy gets injured we have other strikers but Wilshere would have been our only player for the position Pardew wanted him for hence my moan about not having any alternatives.

Yes, I think if you were placing too much faith in Remy it would be more of a concern. At least with Benteke you're not completely reliant on him.

Is there an option in place to buy him at the end of the season, if it works out?

Yeah, I believe it's a £3m loan deal with option to buy next summer. So fingers crossed he stays fit and scores a fair few.

If you can keep him fit it could end up a smart piece of business. Didn't quite happen for him last season, but the season before when we won the title he did a good job when called upon.

you make some good points.

I'm guessing that Kwesi Appiah will be one of the 25 but that still leaves us a man short. they must have known that so it makes all those loan deals even more baffling. Kaikai, Boateng and Inniss should definitely have been kept especially Inniss seeing as we are low in numbers with the defence.

there is talk that a free agent might be coming in to bolster the ranks but like a lot of others I am concerned about strength in depth even though we have had an impressive window in certain departments.

You are right about Appiah, Tusk.

Squad has now been confirmed and we are a man short. The 24 are...

Kwesi Appiah
Christian Benteke
Yohan Cabaye
Fraizer Campbell
Scott Dann
Damien Delaney
Zeki Fryers
Wayne Hennessey
Martin Kelly
Joe Ledley
Chung-yong Lee
Steve Mandanda
James McArthur
Jordon Mutch
Jason Puncheon
Loic Remy
Bakary Sako
Pape Souare
Julian Speroni
James Tomkins
Andros Townsend
Joel Ward
Connor Wickham
Wilfried Zaha

Not naming a full 25-man squad is fairly common though, isn't it? The biggest teams seem to do it every year.

Admittedly they might have some quality younger players they can rely on.