Funes Mori resumes light training

Mind you, Allardyce hasn't shown any caution with either Bolasie or McCarthy and will be interesting to see how he treats Seamus on Wednesday, so anything is possible.

You are relying on an awful lot of luck if you try to run a sporting enterprise using some sort of ‘dead man's boots' rule on headcount.

We haven't been that lucky and it's becoming obvious that we still don't have anywhere near the financial backing or planning necessary to try to compete at the top of the table. You don't spend all your money when you have gaping holes in the squad.

But I guess he is a long way off yet.

Or it will be the same old undisciplined Funes Mori we got so frustrated with.

Let's not forget he can also play at left-back, as he has done for his country on a number of occasions.

While he still seemed to be finding his feet for us and was guilty of errors, he also displayed competence in certain games. Here was a young player coming to terms with the Premier League. For me, he showed promise, he was learning his trade. As has already been said, he also scored with a few excellent headers for us. And make no mistake, you don't get to be an Argentinian International player if you lack skill.

Consider the options. We are all aware of our central defensive problems and the left back deficiency. A fit Funes Mori could be the answer to both prayers! We could go out and splash loads of cash on a so called 'Star' and still not find the answer. Van Dijk for Liverpool at present seemingly being the perfect example.

So let's get Funes Mori back and give him his chance to prove he is the player we believed him to be when we signed him.

He was also a total liability.

He'll fit right back in, no problem.

And the forwards... the manager and the director of football. And the stadium... Not forgetting the worst cheese pies in the world.

Those of the "cheese pie" persuasion should be subject to the same laws as suspected witches during medieval times.

No offence mind :-)

Cheese..... pies?

Amazing to think we have spent close to £60m on centre-backs in the last few years and yet still can't find a semi-decent pairing.

I hope Funes Mori can push on and perhaps between him, Holgate and Keane we might yet find a combination that works. Though as others have said the Argentine may yet be needed at left-back this season.

Desperation and incompetence at having no left-back makes even this lad look like a decent option.

He's a far better prospect than Williams. And as Jagielka gets older and Keane is not the answer, I hope we keep Funes Mori.

The best you can say about him is, as John Marshall alludes to above, he's no worse than the rest of the mediocrities in the current squad.

Vegetarians don't have a choice. They keep them in plastic and warm them up so the cheese burns and sticks to the base. They should include it to the bullet points for the new stadium.

If it's any consolation, what they do with the meat pies is irradiate the inside and heat the outside by conventional methods. When you bite into the normally heated pastry, the irradiated filling oozes out and burns your lips, tongue and mouth and then inevitably your chin as you panic to spit out the offending material which behaves a la The China Syndrome.

You'll notice, certainly in the Top Balcony, patches of damaged concrete where meat pie filling has fallen to the floor and begun to burn through.

If only Martinez had stick to his guns and bought Van Dijk and Robertson. At least we'd have ended up making a large profit on both of them.

You can see the reasoning I suppose... We had Stones and a still half-decent Jagielka. Bobby Brown Shoes didn't think we needed another right sided centre-back.

Funes Mori was brought in to replace the left-sided Distin and Alcaraz.

Lefty centre-backs are a rare breed – that's why the likes of Gibson and Mawson have had silly money price tags put on them. Didn't West Ham have a £25m bid knocked back for Mawson recently?

We were quoted the same for Gibson last June... Maybe Besic could be a makeweight in a deal?

I think Funes Mori will give us something extra at the present depressing time. Still hope we sign someone decent today. All we seem to be doing is getting rid of expensive players who don't play. Hopefully we don't have any regrets. Perhaps this will give a chance to some of our young Under-23s to show what they can do.

Still think we need to put some much needed points on the board

We desperately need Funes Mori back at his peak – that's the measure of our playing resources (I felt we needed to do something to counter his absence as soon as it was obvious how long he'd be out for). I'd play him as soon as he is fully fit; if he's matured a bit mentally then that would be a bonus.

I love a good cheese (and onion) pie, although homemade tends to be miles better than shop bought which are massively bulked out with potato in the filling.

Mangala... I wondered about him. I hope If we get him we can play 3 at the back with Coleman and Bolasie on the wings.