Chez

Pretty fair assessment. If Romeu can rediscover his form of the first half of last season then he starts, simple as, but if we get more of the second half fare, then we need Lavia to step in and be immediately brilliant. Tough ask. Diallo needs to work out how to play in midfield. He seems to have forgotten what to do and where to be. He was terrible as a three man midfield and pretty poor as a two man. He needs to rediscover what made us sign him in the first place. A dynamic DM that broke up play and burst out from deep to get breaks started quickly.

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/ruben-vinagre-everton-latest-breaking-24590502 Not sure what our left back status is with KWP providing cover, but when I saw Vinagre for Wolves I was massively impressed and really surprised he didn't get more games and then was allowed to leave. Big yes for me, especially if he is available as a loan, which would suit us I think?

Really tidy footballer. I wonder though what his best position is. As a wide player does he deliver enough? Could he transition to CM like JWP did perhaps. He's a little like Moi. He's one of those footballer that could play for a top side and look right at home as his first touch is quality, but if you want him to really impact a game, grab it by the scruff of the neck, I am not sure he does that. Would he improve a shit side like us? Does he make things happen? Wonder how much the fee and wages are.

Incredible? Not IMO. Some good, some bad. He has always been a below average Prem keeper in my eyes. No saying he is terrible or even bad, just not great. Each to their own of course.

Its only because we don't see him every week and don't care if he lets goals in that it goes under the radar. I've been saying this for several seasons. Schmeichel ain't top class, makes too many mistakes (lots of near post goals for the McCarthy lovers out there) and may have been one of the most overrated keepers in Premiership history IMO (behind the Spurs keeper). In recent years many Leicester fans have quite rightly not been impressed. If he had been at SMS performing as he has recently, he'd have been absolutely slated on here.

He was bloody great for us in the lower leagues. Just how many pens did he save in the promotion seasons? It seemed to be almost all of them at one point. Great servant to the club, and sticking with us instead of moving to West Ham was just one of a number of key parts to our rise back to the top table.

poppycock.

The tweet doing the round is: "Braithwaite: There are offers from Getafe and Rayo Vallecano plus two from Premier League."

Very. He looked good in the Euros IMO and if he was cheap then he would offer decent backup to Adams (but is that what we want?). I was reasonably impressed, having heard of him, but never seen him play, but not sure he offers anything different to Adams (plays with his back to goal quite well) and certainly no more of a goal threat. He was injured or on the bench pretty much all of last season. The season before, he started 11 and scored 2. Lots of sub appearances, but no additional goals. Goals don't seem to be his thing. Barca are desperate to lose people from their wage bill. I suspect agents will be placing stories left right and centre to try and drum up interest. Unless they are at the club already or a keeper, being 31 years old immediately puts him outside our scope.

Yeah, United will be gutted they only get £75m a year from Adidas and only 7% of every shirt sold.

business is business. Senior players know the score and will all have done the same - move for a shed load more money.

It would be very interesting to know who our third and fourth choices are (behind Broja and Delap), but I should imagine its another 19-24 year old striker on the continent rather than a 30 year old Prem player. We shall see.

Training is training. Its not the real thing. But its very competitive indeed. If you cant beat Dias or Laporte every now and then, then you ain't gonna get picked for City. That will ensure your levels are sky high. In terms of choice between the two, its a no brainer. All the players want to play games not train. The choice for Delap is tough. Who would want to leave the `best' side in Europe. You are that pinnacle. You don't leave the club until they don't want you (ie they don't play you). I'd of thought he'd want to stay another year.

Very interesting. City don't need the money. They obviously want THE best players in the world. They don't want to let one slip through their fingers (although a buy back option would prevent that), so losing a few bob (not sure they will) by keeping him another year ain't a factor.

makes sense, but why wasn't Foden loaned out? Did Pep ever explain that? I've attended first team training sessions and when its games and attack verses defence scenarios, its all in. Dias and Laporte will not be going easy thats for sure, thus ensuring a good hour or so of intensive match situation football against the very best players. Go out on loan and there is a obviously going to be a drop off in quality, ability, speed, intensity etc. Multiply that by 3 or four days a week, for 30 weeks...

if he scores say 15 league goals this season, perhaps due to a change on formation/tactic/position, us being better and more chances being created, my post won't age well. Is that likely or even possible? We need options and without question he is going to be one this season, so lets hope that's exactly what happens and he and Saints flourish. Fingers crossed.

if you are Delap and every day you are training (with Pep running things) and playing against Dias and Laporte, does that test you and help you improve more than if you were at Saints, with Ralph and Bednarek? You are right that the general consensus is that first team loans is the better way to improve players, but not doing so doesn't seem to have harmed Foden, hence I wonder if its accurate.

Agree with your comments, but I got the feeling Pep felt that him staying and training (which includes a lot of actual football games) with the quality players at City was more beneficial than going out on loan and playing/training with lessor players. The fact he's now bloody brilliant possibly justifies that decision, but we will never know. On a similar subject, does, say 20 games out on loan at a lower league really develop you as a player? OK, so you need some first team games with big crowds and high intensity matches, but these guys train every day at high intensity and that plays a huge part in their development. Perhaps getting young guys into mans football is essential, but putting that aspect to one side, is first team games the be all and end all in terms of player development?

One footed players don't become two footed in their 27 year. I am not sure why Saints fans in general like Adams so much. The best performance I've seen was when he played for Scotland against England and he basically held the ball up really well that night, and gave Scotland an out ball. I don't recall too many games when he was in the picture for man of the match (unless you are one of those that gives MOTM out to the guy that scored). He's scored a few goals, a couple of blinders in fact, but he's very `middling'. And before we get into a discussion of whether `middling' is exactly what a small club like us wants, I mean, he ain't woeful, but he ain't all that either. He does a job, but is that job as good as Ings or other Saints strikers? I'd say no, so there is no reason not to want or indeed expect better. If we sold him, I wouldn't be all that fussed, but of course it would be down to the success of the replacement.

It was like he had just eaten a massive Sunday roast and needed an hour and a half to `walk it off'

Was chatting to a United fan over the weekend and discussing the signing of young talent. He mentioned Rooney being the obvious success at their place and that it was a no brainer decision to sign him as he was a rare talent, but pointed out that he had played well over 50 games for them showing that talent off. The flip side of the coin was Amad Diallo, who had only played three or four games for Atalanta before United spent £25m (and a huge amount of add ons) and he obviously has yet to shine. I think both were 19?, so both young, but with very different amount of senior experience. I find it hard to get my head around United spending that much on a player with s few games...and not being immediately brilliant after making the move.

also attended. Big Saints following, big expectation, woeful display. Mane was rubbish and you wondered what the hell we had bought, but the likes of Fonte and Gardos were equally poor. We played Bertrand in midfield and he was crap too. I think Mayuka and Isgrove came on and were even worse than the starters. It was a complete and utter shit show both from players and management. I think criticism was right. They were outworked and outplayed by a league 1 side. There was absolutely no quality shown by any player. The skill/forward players were just a waste of space. They looked like the league 1 players...at best. I don't dare look at what I posted about Mane. He didnt look like a Prem footballer that night, thats for sure. I was seething afterwards too. I suspect I gave plenty of players stick on here though. It wasn't just Mane. Gardos...jesus, fucking useless.

Austin certainly got some abuse in the away end, and rightly so, for his pitiful display at Craven Cottage. a few drinks, attending the game and seeing a complete lack of effort are not a good mix for `balanced and measured' comments from fans.

I am loving the sound of that...not the headphones bit, obviously.

while the `i' newspaper reported that West Ham were not longer interested. It's hard to keep up with all these stories. It feels like a lot of rehashing of old news takes place rather than them all being in the know.