Ex Lion Tamer

We've still got a month to go until our first game, and eight weeks until the window shuts, keep the faith

I think Marksfc's expectations are way over inflated but it surely also doesn't make sense to assess next season on the basis of something that definitely won't happen, i.e. we don't sign any more players

While I agree that we should set our expectations low, the league always looks tougher before the season starts than it turns out to be. I think Brentford will be in the relegation mix this time with the three promoted clubs. I'm not sure Everton will improve much under Lampard and Leeds are selling their two best players. And someone else may well surprise by underperforming, perhaps Palace or Brighton

Looks like he's converted to a wide midfielder now but still not exactly a great goal return

One of the most important signings of the summer if we can tie him down

It makes a lot of sense. All of these players are investments so should pay for themselves in the long run. But we need to spend up front to get the conveyor belt going

Rightly or wrongly, I can remember pretty widespread speculation on SaintsForever that he must have a clause in his contract which said he had to play every game, because it was inexplicable that he wasn't being dropped. Also his ineffective throw ins used to get absolute pelters. You're right that he wasn't totally out of his depth. But there were too many misplaced passes / soft challenges for a regular starter

He was definitely a level up from Ripley, Kenton and McCann, I'll agree with that. I rated Fernandes too.

I don't want to dump on the guy but he really was bad and I would have wanted him out of the team regardless of how much he cost

I'm not convinced he was ever offered a new contract. A lot of people making assumptions based on a few words in the PL retained list. Has been a good servant for us, wish him well

Both only had a year left on their contracts so you can pay more really

The new signings may be raw and won't be the finished article, but we have a few players like Perraud and Salisu who should continue their development and be better than last season

You can tell it has been put out by his agent because there's no way someone from the club would say "we are the most impressed with him"

This will be another acid test for whether the new regime corrects the mistakes of the past - have they realised that quality strikers cost more than players in other positions?

I expect they're all excited to get their hands on the money sooner rather than play the long game but he surely ought to have some faith in himself, stay grounded and wait for the rewards to come

And yet they were conceding goals until Forster came into the team

The other spin on it is that a lot of the young players 11-18 seem to want the experience of being at the big clubs and believe they'll get the best development there (plus the money helps), but when they start getting to 19/20 or so they realise that they need first team football so we come into the picture. It's a shame that we have to pay £10m or so for the privilege of bringing them over but that's the lay of the land. Dibling going to Newcastle does seem purely money motivated and is outside of that pattern

I can see his (already limited) pace dropping off around the age of 32 and him seeing out his career in the Championship. Hopefully not with us!

He needs a loan spell

His passing looks good but then I thought that about Diallo so who knows

Our best bet is that he does well on loan in the championship and restores his value so we can sell him

I know it's not all about money but shouldn't a player stepping up to the Premier League be worth more than this? He has three years on his contract

I imagine Ralph's approach is 'do the pressing and fitness work like I ask, or you're nothing to me'. Hard discipline which has casualties

How do you know when it hasn't been tried?

https://www.theguardian.com/football/the-set-pieces-blog/2022/jun/23/secret-man-management-football-redknapp-ferguson-mourinho-klopp-benitez This article is worth a read: it talks about how Gerrard was motivated by Benitez's frostiness and Terry worked harder to recover from injury because Mourinho would ignore him. Other players need a different approach though