Ex Lion Tamer

Transfer speculation was always fun (in my time anyway). It's just now it's all crammed into two short spaces of time

Maybe things are different now but it's worth remembering that last time we got relegated from the Premier League, we did better in our second Championship season than our first. So I'm not sure it's all or nothing, although obviously better to get promoted this year if we can. One nightmare scenario that is in my mind is if Man City, Chelsea and Everton all get relegated for financial irregularities. Then we'd have a heck of a job getting promoted, unless they get relegated and a points deduction in the Champ

There is talk that parachute payments will be reformed. There's certainly a lot of clubs who think they give an unfair advantage

I had forgotten until recently that the last time we were looking to bounce back to the Premier League after relegation, we sold Niemi, Walcott, Ormerod, Delap, Quashie and Fernandes all in the January window. We picked up 1 win in 9 after that point, not that we had been going great beforehand. Hopefully we got our sales out of the way in the summer this time, but I do wonder if there will be any more disappointments to come - have we recouped the money we wanted? Will we stand in KWP's way if he gets a big offer? Being optimistic, Che might leave and be replaced, but i don't see too much other action. I think we'll keep faith with Manning. Maybe some random youth players will come in.

We should have the same points as Leicester and 10 more than Ipswich. Anything else is a failure

He seems to be starting in the Europa League but hasn't got more than 20 minutes in a league game. He'll get his chance at some stage I'm sure

Give the guy a break. His confidence and actual abilities has been shattered by playing at a shitshow like Everton and it can take time to turn something like that around

Yes I thought Che looked motivated today

I'd honestly just give him a few minutes at the end, get back into things

A manager can put in the players that he thinks are the best, but sometimes it takes time to work out the right balance across the team as a whole. Bree's more defensive approach is working and Martin seems to have recognised that

You've got to like the consistency in team selection at the moment. Feels like we haven't had this for a long time

When a man is tired of Saintsweb, he is tired of life

It seemed last season like Ten Hag was starting to get the best out of players like Rashford and Wan-Bissaka who had stagnated under the previous poor management. But the signings have been shocking and I'm not sure calling players out publicly is the way to go

On the angle behind the goal you see what a smart finish it was. I'm not sure many of our other players would have guided that in

Very much depends what league we're in next year doesn't it. Maybe he'd be a useful squad player in the Prem but not much more

I'm hoping our squad depth will really give us an advantage as the season progresses

Are you sure?

According to Transfermarkt, Piroe has been playing as an attacking midfielder, which seems bizarre

I don't have any detailed justification but it didn't feel like a penalty to me. I'm very much enjoying the absence of VAR. I do wonder if it's because we're now a big team in this league and getting all the favourable decisions.

Alcaraz has underperformed my expectations even relative to the other players around him. He doesn't look the player we saw last season

Adam is now halfway to target 😁 Can't say much for my other predictions, of course

Pochettino was a great systems manager who got us overachieving and laid the ground for Koeman. The fact is that if you look at our squad, it probably is playoff level. We've got too many players with big potential but who aren't ready now. Maybe our new striker will make a difference, but at the moment we've got Sulemana, Edozie, Bazunu, Charles, Alcaraz alongside some decent Championship players like Smallbone, Bednarek, Manning. So while i'm not sure the system is helping us to overacheive, I'm not sure it's the big hindrance people think it is. We are where we are because that's the level of our players.

I'm still in the dark about what actually happened

I forgot all about this kid. Looks like he's finally nailed down a starting spot in the Swiss Super League by going on loan to FC Winterthur.

We've had four managers in 15 months, we can't keep going like this