qwertyell

He has to be sold this summer if we want full value for him. He's only got two years left on his contract. If there's no news of him signing an extension in the next handful of months, I'd assume he's going. Because there's no point in signing him cheap, training him up, and then selling him cheap because his contract was winding down. That's the antithesis of our model.

He's definitely turned things around for himself. I suppose it makes sense, in Hasenhuttl's formation, that the best number 10s for us are actual number 10s - technical players - rather than converted wingers like Redmond, Djenepo, Walcott, Tella etc. Still wish we had more quality in that position, mind you.

A 2-0 battering. Really should've been 5 or 6. Not a lot of fight in this Everton side. 32 points. That's enough, I think, to say we can look forward to another season in this league and start focusing more of our resources on giving the FA Cup a red hot go. Watford and Burnley winning makes the bottom 7 or so look a horrible place to be dicking around with - glad to be well out of it.

No Perraud.

Not sure about that. I think he's pretty much at our level. Fantastic at driving through the midfield with the ball, but his end product and decision making in the final third leaves a lot to be desired.

Cheeky. Great effort to get through this run of fixtures (City, Spurs, United) unbeaten and bank 5 points. Could've nicked it too. That's City, United, Spurs and West Ham played twice this season without defeat. Let's start putting the lesser teams to the sword now.

Not quite at it today - the sharpness of touch and movement from midweek isn't there. Very open at the back - feels like United could run away with the game if they were more ruthless. But it's only 1-0 and we've cobbled together some chances ourselves. Wouldn't count out a cheeky point. Not betting the house on it, though.

Is it brave or stupid to be so wide open against a team that put nine past us last time out? Doesn't feel like the Spurs game where we were always playing well...

Might as well burn off my last post before the inevitable second half disappointment to say we've been terrific - Perraud in particular looks well settled in now and a great outlet going forward. Best of luck everyone.

Big Bro. Basketball game here.

How many own goals does Bednarek have on his slate now? He's certainly more prolific than Adam Armstrong at the other end. All very familiar - we're playing quite nicely but the opposition have all the quality going forward.

He won't. He's got a relatively reasonable release clause that kicks in this summer. £65-70m or so. Chump change for the major teams.

Yes, it literally says that in the article I found on him. For reasons unknown, my brain read McMillan (the name of his manager) as Millwall, and I made the fatal error of trusting it - in spite of a historical pattern of letting me down at every turn. Tottenham interested too. In Lawrence, not my brain.

18 year old CB at Millwall, and 18 year old midfielder at Spurs (along with twin brother Matthew).

Good to get his debut out of the way - as long as he uses it as a very stark learning experience. He was okay on the ball, grew into the half as it wore on and put in a couple of crosses. But out of possession he was all over the place. You wouldn't necessarily expect a 17 year old to have immaculate positional discipline, but his seeming lack of effort and intensity when being asked to defend was a red flag. Nervous energy is supposed to make you charge around like a headless chicken, not jog about like a warm down session. But at least he and the manager have a solid idea of where he's at and where he needs to get to now. I don't think he'll be starting any more first team games this season - and probably looking at a loan next season. It has only been one game, of course, but he doesn't look close to being ready for men's football. Speaking of loans, Jake Vokins has started the last 12 games for Ross County after recovering from his broken foot. Seems to be doing pretty well, and contracted to us until 2024. I wonder if he comes back into back up contention next season.

What to make of that? Got the W, so that's the main thing. But at the cost of injuries to Lyanco (hamstring), possibly Livramento (seemed to have a problem with his side/ribs) and Broja (knee). Horrible performance, generally speaking, and the likes of Walcott, Long and Adam Armstrong aren't good enough to play for us. Or shouldn't be. Tough debut for the kid, Small. Didn't like his work rate off the ball - too often jogged/walked back into position - but he was actually growing into the game a bit towards the end of the half when he got hooked. All good experience at 17, though. We need some creative players in the summer. What we've got on the books is garbage.

This post could've been made any time in the last four years. We're a counter attacking side. We don't know what to do when the opposition lets us have the ball and asks to be broken down. Nothing new here.

It was coming. They've looked miles more dangerous going forward than us. Long, Walcott and Armstrong are a horrible front three - they're all embarrassing on the ball in build up play. We can't create a thing. Not impressed with Small's athleticism. Doesn't have a sprint in him.

Stephen Green in old money. Pretty boring name all in all - not really worth getting hung up on.

It's complicated. (Apparently) Vitoria only ever owned 50% of Edwards' economic rights. Spurs still retain 50%. Sporting have only bought out Vitoria's stake. Were Edwards to move to a league that doesn't allow joint ownership (the Premier League, for example), the buying club would have to strike a deal with both the selling club and Spurs, doubling the cost. Something like that, anyway. It's complicated. Good little player - when he can be bothered.

Have they done decent business, though? Sure, they've improved their squad a little bit, but not in a major way. Wood is their only attacking signing, and he's got three goals this season. Trippier's a good player, but Burn and Targett are back up options at most clubs in the league. Not to mention Howe's historical inability to organise a competent defence. I'm not convinced they're going to gel into a particularly impenetrable unit any time soon. Guimaraes is a big upgrade, but you wouldn't expect a holding midfielder to have a massive impact one way or the other on their season. Time will tell, of course, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were in the bottom four places all the way to the end of the campaign.

They've got a very talented young keeper, Bayindir. Not that swaps ever happen these days, but anyway...

They also loaned Diallo out to Rangers. That would be four attackers out the door (or in the clink), none in.

Don't see why Chelsea would be remotely interested in doing Newcastle any favours. They've got a nice little unthreatening, potentially mutually beneficial relationship with us going at the moment - I doubt they'll blow that up for the Saudis.

Jankewitz got his first start in the Swiss super league. Played for an hour. Two assists in a 5-1 win. Didn't get sent off deliberately.