qwertyell

The people responsible for utterly torpedoing last season, with the knock on effects drastically undermining this one as a consequence, got the club's full backing - to the cheers of that fan base, wibbling on about sticking two fingers up to Henry Winter or something.

Down to the Zs already. When they tell us to fuck off too, do we start again with Aarhus?

But we still did a poor job of it that needed rectifying in January.

We needed an upgrade on Stephens to partner Harwood-Bellis, but the likelihood is we'll end up with a downgrade on Harwood-Bellis to partner Stephens. All very Sainsty.

Got what we deserved. Looked piss poor against a team that'll finish in the bottom half. At least people can stop banging on about last season's unbeaten run as though that entitles us to promotion this time around. We haven't just stood still, we've weakened the squad - with more weakening to come. No positives.

Shite going forward, shambles in defence, midfield nonexistent. Stephens has been awful, culpable for both goals. Bragg will not be "fine" as a Charles replacement. Spaffing our limited funds on Dobbin looks terrible business - he's been poor. No physical presence in the middle of the park allows cloggers to push us around. And a chronic lack of pace in defence leaves us desperately vulnerable to the counter attack. And we're bracing ourselves for selling our better players. Exciting times. Enough to get you off your seats.

Wonder what happened to Baylee Dipepa. Seemed to get overshadowed by Oyekunle in the u21s but he was considered quite the coup when we picked him up. Princewill Ehibhatiomhan is probably still knocking about too.

Not particularly enamoured with our wing options either, Scienza aside. I was hoping Dragan's bullish talk of absolutely going for it this season would have looked a bit more ambitious, but I guess he said all the right things before season tickets went on sale, and here we are. The squad's good, and we should certainly make the top 8. But the league is stronger this year, so standing still is not going to cut it.

Akachukwu-wu, push pineapple, shake the tree.

Big dog, by a nose.

HMS Piss the League Two.

Maybe he thinks he's from Chilly.

Didn't take long from Dragan Solak promising we were going to build a team that will "take you out of your seats" and win promotion, to trying to convince ourselves that Brereton Diaz will be fine.

And brings his own tree to terribly hide behind/beside.

Chelsea turned themselves in - the new owners took a look at the books and the dodgy practices the previous ownership employed, and immediately self reported to the FA. Up until then, the FA had no idea what the club had been up to. Chelsea's transparency and relative honesty earned them some brownie points and a soft landing. Perhaps if our own club had shown a similar level of integrity, we wouldn't be in this mess.

10 minute interview uploaded by the club an hour ago. Read into it what you want.

They conceded more goals per game with him in the defence, when he joined them on a January loan two seasons ago. When he joined them permanently this January, they again conceded more goals per game with him in the defence. Their fans might well rate him, but it's a curious coincidence that their defence plays better when he's not part of it. I don't think weak in the air and slow across the ground is a great combination for a centre back. But hey, good luck to him.

But then they'd have to post their own thoughts - and that's a sinister, garbled can of worms you don't want to open.

Don't do the lottery this week.

Tuchel absolutely fucked it. Southgate would've been buried for that tactical disaster class. His entire reputation has been built on parking the bus to an unlikely champions league win with Chelsea. He was shite at PSG, and is about the only Bayern Munich manager in 15 years to not win a the one team Bundesliga. Aimlessly throwing on more defenders - none of whom could block crosses or mark shorter players in the box - was amateur hour. Just handed all the momentum to Argentina. Another Harry Kane no show, by the way, at the business end of a tournament. Total passenger out there. Happens every time: fills his boots in the groups, then disappears as the stakes rise. Got what we deserved, unfortunately.

Unlike the clueless Argentina manager, who has (checks notes) won the World Cup.

We're definitely the 4th best team of the 4 semi finalists. You can't keep scraping by and saying "we can play better" - at some point you actually do have to play better, or conclude that, in fact, the performance level was the best you can do. Expectations are pretty low for tonight, but you never know. Argentina aren't too amazing either.

Yeah, I'm less worried about strikers who miss chances than strikers who are nowhere to be seen when the chances arrive. I think it's probably easier to improve the former than the latter.

No-one going to make an Ivan the Terrible quip? I guess I'll have to step up, then. (Seems a decent hold up player and physical presence - which is what we need - and with a season of Championship football under his belt, should be well-adjusted to the league. Not the worst link.)

I'd take Ashley Phillips at CB whether anyone leaves or not. He's a unit and a half, and unlike Quarshie doesn't look like he's got clown shoes on the wrong feet whenever he's got the ball.