Oslo_Syd

A lot of people seem to be forgetting that Wilder has completely overhauled the team, and I mean COMPLETELY. Five of the starting players weren’t there last season – seven if you count the substitutes. Nobody, certainly not CW or SG said that we were going to be promoted this season. It might well happen even given our bad start but this is a total revamp of Boro and it hasn’t finished yet. As a project, it’s in its very early days but people want instant results. Never going to happen.

I'd still take him.

That sounds sufficiently off the wall to be true.

No, just my reaction to the futility of human existence. Better now.

AAAAARGH!!!!!!!!

I don't think we've heard the last of the Larsen saga. Spanish football is very different to what he's used to and he's only 22.

I tried Googling Boost and Dettol but all I got was Dettol from Boots.

I think that's assuming a lot considering that Larsen has not expressed a preference. He just wants out. He hasn't put in a transfer request, probably for the reasons given above, but refusing to turn out for training this morning is sending a very clear signal to his club. I think it would take the full 12 million euros PLUS add-ons to get Groningen to part with him.

One minute ago in Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf: GRONINGEN (Neth.) - Jorgen Strand Larsen (22) is furious with the club management of FC Groningen. On Tuesday morning, technical director Mark-Jan Fledderus refused an offer of 10 million euros fixed and one million euros in more or less guaranteed bonuses from Celta de Vigo. After that, the Spanish club switched to another striker. The Norwegian does not understand the – in his eyes – greed of Groningen, who could also receive a resale percentage of 15 percent. Never before has FC Groningen got more than 10 million euros for a player. The record

One more Matt and we'll have a Carpett.

It will be interesting to see how Larsen plays tonight.

I’ve just been doing the rounds of Dutch media on the Larsen situation. There’s a lot of feeling that Groningen should cash in and at least one pundit was saying that they should be rubbing their hands. Fans seem to be a bit divided though. One of them made the point that our offer was 6-7 million euros with the rest as bonuses – probably promotion to the PL being one of them. As it’s by no means certain that we will get promoted, Groningen are less than enthusiastic to part with JSL. They see it as 6 million + a lot of uncertainties. And it also doesn’t seem that manager Wormuth is actively l

I can't see Groningen doing that. The Dutch drive a hard bargain, and the northern Dutch even more so. They will cut off their nose to spite their face. Larsen has made the mistake of complaining about them but continuing to play his best. That's admirable, of course, but it's not exactly sticking your heels in and shouting "I want out!"

Now we've got Giles and Clarke, can we have Lorimer and Hunter please?

To be fair, Boro at the moment is very much a work in progress. Wilder is overhauling the team and the transfer window is still open with further adjustments a certainty. I'm disappointed by the poor start too - who wouldn't be? - but there are still 40-odd matches left to play.

You wasted only 8 minutes? I lived in Holland for 20 years and speak the language fluently but even I had problems with this. First off, he's German, so he uses German words in place of Dutch. Groningen is in Friesland, where they speak Fries, not Dutch. The gist of it is that Larsen seems to be showing no mental problems in training, neither on or off the pitch. He's performing well. Wormuth says that of course Larsen must be wondering what he can do - can he leave? But that's business. If he has signed a contract for 4 years, he can only go if another club pays the asking price. Wormuth has

From what I've read on Dutch media, Groningen would accept a bid over 10 million. From their point of view, that would be daft money and hard to turn down.

I do speak Dutch, so here goes: Fledderus says they're enormously proud of his development. He says (short version) that he ticked all the boxes when we saw him play in Norway although he didn't score many goals at the time. It's great that other clubs are showing interest in him but FC Groningen are very ambitious . We've made a lot of money on the transfer market in the last three years but finally we're a club that wants to perform, so we want to keep Larsen. We made that very clear at the end of last season when I sat down with him to discuss his development. I told Larsen that this year t

Judging by the comments at the bottom that article, Groningen fans are backing a sale for 10 million.

Re Jørgen Strand Larsen. Apparently the real sticking point is that when he transferred from Sarpsborg two years ago he was relatively unknown and there was therefore no buyout clause in his contract. He still has two years on his contract so it makes sense for Groningen to hang onto him for at least another year before selling, during which time his value will probably go up. Boro have offered 100 million kroner (about £9m) and that is not considered enough. Groningen might have relented if they had managed to sign Nigerian striker Victor Boniface, but he has just signed for the Belgian outfi

Words to that effect, yeah.

Call it a senior moment if you like, but I'm still doubtful about this Larsen thing. I'll believe it when it's official. But even as things stand, without any further incomings, Larsen and Forss would be a Forss to be reckoned with. A Nordic front line? Who would have thought it?

Only what I've seen on YouTube, which is probably no more than anyone else. He's well regarded here but I don't really follow Norwegian football, funnily enough.

Where has all this Larsen stuff come from anyway? All I can see on Google are rehashes of the same article in soccernews.nl, which is hardly the fountain of all knowledge. Personally, I can't see it happening, though I'd love to be wrong.

In the first half, WBA allowed us plenty of room; in the second half they muscled us off the ball too often for comfort. Giles, Jones, Lenihan and Dijksteel stood out for me. Steffen looked comfortable, which must give the rest of the team a bit more confidence.