SKD

Leicester and Everton heavily linked with Sigurdsson. Why is he an unrealistic target? Lets be honest, if Bournemouth can spend £20m on a CB, there should be no reason why we can't spend £30m (especially given half of that will be Jay-Rod money) for a player we've needed and wanted for years (a goal scoring midfielder). If we want to move forward and break into the top 7 next season we need to go for the best we can attract, not the cheaper option.

Leicester and Everton heavily linked with Sigurdsson. Why is he an unrealistic target? Lets be honest, if Bournemouth can spend £20m on a CB, there should be no reason why we can't spend £30m (especially given half of that will be Jay-Rod money) for a player we've needed and wanted for years (a goal scoring midfielder). If we want to move forward and break into the top 7 next season we need to go for the best we can attract, not the cheaper option.

It's hard not to look on at Everton with envy at the moment, but obviously this can all change as the window develops. They've got a good manager, good director of football, making good signings that would have improved our squad / starting 11, have a sh!t load of money (which they're spending) and they've taken our crown as best of the rest. A few clubs showing their hand early in the window, I just hope we don't leave it too late and miss out on targets. It'd be very interesting to know our transfer budget (excluding player sales).

It's hard not to look on at Everton with envy at the moment, but obviously this can all change as the window develops. They've got a good manager, good director of football, making good signings that would have improved our squad / starting 11, have a sh!t load of money (which they're spending) and they've taken our crown as best of the rest. A few clubs showing their hand early in the window, I just hope we don't leave it too late and miss out on targets. It'd be very interesting to know our transfer budget (excluding player sales).

Still no news of who and when we will be playing pre-season then. A real shame as was looking forward to a trip to Austria and/or France, however it's getting very tight for time now. Pretty poor really as I'd imagine the club know the plans and if they don't, they've left it very very late.

Fair summary, which I agree with. Under the right management, I'm sure he'll find some of his old form and score enough goals to warrant the price tag, but in reality only 1 manager only managed to really get anything out of him. No longer good enough for us, but good luck for the future, Jay. A decent bloke who's had terrible luck of the past couple of years.

That's not true though, isit. People were, rightly IMO, unhappy with the style of football, lack of entertainment / value for money at home and disharmony in the dressing room. It appears the 'Puel in' camp are still making things up.

Other than having age on his side, he is no better than Defoe. If I had the choice for the next 2 seasons, it'd be Defoe every day of the week.

Nope, tune hasn't changed. Had Puel and his backroom staff (assuming these are gone as well) remained then yes, he would have definitely been off. As would a few others. Who knows what the new manager will bring? The squad may instantly fall in love with him and never want to go. As things stand, assuming an acceptable offer is made and we don't have another Fonte situation (player wanting to go to x club and x club never making a serious offer), he will go.

I've done charitable work, not in Sierra Leone, closer to home in the UK. I've also never been arrested for assault, nor knocked someone out in the middle of town for absolutely no reason (honestly, it was for no reason). Oh and FWIW, neither have people that I know are suffering from the illness. I'm not judging him, honestly.

If I had the choice of finishing 13th (17 points off 7th) or 8th (15 points off 7th), whilst feeling like I have got value for money, and enjoy going to St Mary's again, then I would take 13th every day of the week.

Look at the last 2 windows, Everton have signed Schneiderlin, Pickford and Klaassen (agree it is yet to be seen how he will adapt to the PL). They're also about to sign Keane and have been heavily linked to Sigurdsson. All of these would make an instant improvement to our squad. They've also invested heavily in young talent for the future (Lookman, Calvert-Lewin and the Nigerian lad, who was playing in Belgium). Bournemouth finished behind us only on goal difference last season. They have considerably strengthened their squad this summer with Ake, Defo and Begovic. Based on that, I would expect them to improve on last year. Obviously it is yet to be seen how loosing Lukaku and EL will impact Everton and of course it is yet to be seen how much / if we improve this season (which I'm optimistic we will). Of course any prediction at this stage is based on a "hunch", unless you can see into the future? and every season throws up a surprise (i.e Leicester). I've looked at both squads and last seasons performance and made a judgement (of course this will change with any signings / sells we make, which I why I said as it stands). Strange response, which makes you look about 15 years old, and doesn't really add anything to the debate. At no point did I say they will never have a disappointing season again and at no point did I say they've cracked the formula for 'building success every single season'. However what I did say, and stand by, is that we stood still last summer and a number of teams have now caught up / over taken us.

The difference is that they finished 7th and built/building on it. We finished 7th, lost our manager and 3 vital (if not best) players. As it currently stands, wouldn't surprise me if Bournemouth finished ahead of us next year as well. Next season will be an interesting one. I think the top 7 will remain as it currently is, with us, Leicester, Bournemouth, Stoke, Palace and Newcastle fighting it out for 8th down

I'd snap their hand off at either of them deals if i'm honest. Ultimately, both want to leave (I would be very very surprised if we still have Bertrand come the end of the window) and whilst they would be missed, they are easier to replace (especially with £50m...) than finding a forward of the quality of Iheanacho. Who, if you ask me, is top class.

I assume the sticking point would be city wanting a buy back clause (seems to be the 'in thing' at the moment with Chelsea looking to do the same with a lot of their players)?

The reason that he never played was due to him receiving a suspension for said incident. That is a fact. If his mental health played a part in this, I guess we will never know, but of course that is a possibility. I suspect, again we will never know, the fact he hadn't played for months, also played a major part in that woeful performance against Liverpool (he generally wasn't that bad up until that point). I'm branding him a di*khead because from what I've been told (from a number of people), and the fact provided, he is. It has nothing to do with his mental illness, which credit to him for coming out and taking the first steps admitting it, I hope he beats it.

I've had family members who suffer with this exact illness. I have friends who have lost relatives to this exact illness. I know people who know him (Caulker) and trust me, the bloke is a tw*t. If he is suffering from this illness, which I have no reason to doubt he is, then I hope he beats it. However I'll never have any respect for him as a person.

That may have been the case, I can't confirm nor deny that. However, I know the facts and the facts are he was suspended for assaulting someone in town. I suspect that this had a major impact, as well.

If we can get to around 250 with 2 sessions to play, it could be game one. Not sure what we've learnt about the pink ball (other than it was very hard to see on Monday night) as we've not seen a great deal of cricket. Looking at other scores it appears to be a mixed bag with Surrey and Essex scoring over 500. A lot more practice needed before I Ashes.

The blokes a d*ckhead. The reason he never got a chance with us was because he sparked some lad out over town, for practically no reason. A suspension and a handsome fine to pay the victim off shortly followed. Mental illness is a horrible thing and one that needs much more attention, however this is not the reason he was sh*te for us.

I always see people say we played a high pressing game under Koeman, when this just clearly wasn't the case. I do wonder if those that say it, ever went or actually watch us play under him. Koeman's tactics were and are to be defensively solid and hit teams with pace on the counter. Often using a target man, such as Pelle, to play off. I would say Koeman's style was closer to Puel's than Poch's.

Lets get it right Pelle - Lambert replacement - successful Bertrand - Shaw replacement - Successful Romeu - Wanyama replacement - Not as good, but I would consider a successful replacement Lovren - replaced by Toby - replaced by VVD - Successful Clyne - Cedric - Not as good, but I would consider a successful replacement Boufal - replaced Mane - yet to be seen, I still believe he has the ability to be a success in the PL. Lallana - Tadic - Not as good, but solid enough, even if the jury is still out. Of course some such as Clasie who have underwhelmed a little and is a clear downgrade on Morgan, however at the time, Morgan would have been very difficult to replace and pretty much anyone would have been a downgrade. Personally, I think the strategy is fine (Dortmund, Monaco and Athletico Madrid as examples), however at our level you need exceptional scouting ability, which I feel we have lost since Mitchel left (is it any surprise Spurs are now finding these gems...).

No Be interested to hear your argument to suggest he is.

The trouble is, desperate teams such as Liverpool would offer him that, just to sit on the bench (i.e Ings who I've been told is on c.£80/£90k a week). It's teams such as Liverpool, City and Chelsea who are causing player demands to increase and making average players unaffordable for clubs like us.

What are you basing this ridiculous assumption on? Please tell me a recent summer transfer window when we haven't brought, at least 1, first team player in?