Chez

The 21/22 shirt harks directly to the Hummel shirt of 1989 - see the pinstripe between the stripes, plus also the black chevrons on the sleeves. Strangely I really like that 89 shirt, maybe cos Jimmy Case wore it, and everything is better from ye olden days. Note the collar on the 89 shirt ties in nicely with the chevron design. The 21/22 collar doesn't tie in well at all.

would be boring if we all liked the same thing. I had a rather nasty red white and back striped carpet as a kid in the 80s and it may have left an indelible mark.

After bigging up Hummel all summer, I have to say I'm pretty disappointed. I saw the Denmark third kit earlier in the week and it looked tremendous. I was `excited' about our new shirt design, but they have failed to deliver the same wow factor. I like the Chevrons down the stripes, but really hate the black pinstripes between the red and white stripes. I guess it harks directly back to the 89 kit, but I really don't care for the black in our colour scheme - so there will be no pleasing me if its used in the shirt and not just the shorts. The collar is not great too. Just looks weird. I guess its original, so maybe I will grow to like it. It's certainly an improvement on the dreadful UA designs, but I was hoping for something a bit classier, but maybe its not possible when using red, back and white, as that is just a bad colour combination.

didn't we spend £20m on him when he had a year left on his contract and a far more serious (recent) injury record?

We all want him to be he next Mane and he has time on his side, but right now he doesn't seem to have any idea what he is meant to do and the output we get is almost non existent. If he could blossom, then a lot of our problems in the final third would be solved, but something has to change with him, be it his approach, confidence and coaching or all of those things, otherwise we will continue to create very little and suffer as a result. I know it's the modern game, but I just cant have his crying and feigning of injury. It's embarrassing and if it was an opposing player he'd get dogs abuse from me.

Fair point and they have to get a lot of recruitment decisions right, which everyone knows you just don't. It will be very interesting to compare us with them next season. We have both been pretty shit this season and star players Ings and Zaha are both potentially off. We can't do much in the market and they have to. They can clear dead wood and remove failure, we must retain ours but perhaps can pull things together once more. I wonder who will finish higher next season.

the only issue I have with this is that it isn't this summer. Finding new players is not hard. Signing them can be tricky of course, but the real issue is when you have players you don't want but cant shift. The new manager at Palace may have a massive rebuilding job to do, and perhaps 16 players out of contract is a lot to deal with, but at least he won't now have the likes of Wickham, Kelly and Ward eating wages despite being championship at best. Imagine if we had 15 players out of contract right now. That would be a godsend.

the point is, Ralf is stating openly that we have no intention to do that. Maybe he has no choice but to say that in order to maximise the value in the event of an enquiry for one fo them.

maybe that's our problem - trying to play like Barca, but with players ill equipped to do that? That said, god knows what are tactics are these days.

any links to keepers must be bollocks if, as Ralf is quoted as saying here, Forster and McCarthy will fight it out to be no 1 next season: https://www.hampshirelive.news/sport/football/transfer-news/southampton-goalkeeper-newcastle-united-transfer-5449511

for the Xth season running, out hands will be partly tied until we offload Hoedt et al out on loan again. No one signs these types at the start of the summer, instead waiting until the end (thereby saving several weeks of wages) when teams like us get a bit desperate and start to up the percentage wages awe are willing to cover. My guess is there are funds to buy a left back whenever we can, and maybe one more. Beyond that it will depend on players going out on loan etc.

we fill empty slots, no more, no less. Every signing has to be spot on to recover from the mare we had. Sadly they players like Djenepo have yet to shine.

I'd like to see him live. The goal at Newcastle was pretty special, but I've watched games and he hasn't been visible. He does make a lot of runs that are not seen...not sure about him to be honest. My concern is not so much Minamino, and more that we need to evolve during the summer, as we have been poor for a long time now, but to me it looks like we replace Bertie and sign a reserve full back. Not exactly a rebooted line up.

If we sign Theo, Minamoto and two fullbacks (one to replace Bertie and one to cover both sides) are we going to improve much on this season? Same players, same coach, same outcome? I guess Tella will probably improve and we wont have another major injury crisis... What will be the same is that we will struggle to shift the loaned players out on loan again. And I don't see anyone else leaving that we don't want. Who is going to buy Gunn or Long or Djenepo or Obefemi...?

Lloyd Kelly the obvious candidate. He looked talented. I've not seen him play for a while though - anyone able to provide an up to date assessment?

blimey. That's taking subtle advertising to the limit. Hummel doing everything possible not to be visible on that shirt. I like these guys.

Not sure how its possible to have a root and branch clear out when players have years left on contracts, are on big wages and no one wants them. That kind of player goes out on loan with us paying a percentage of wages, usually. With spending always at the max, preventing wholesale changes and big squads, all that happens is the odd player becomes out of contract, they leave and we fill that slot. Lemina, Hoedt, Elyounoussi...they will all be back in a few weeks time claiming those wages and will be hear all summer until we loan them out again, desperately paying god knows how much of their wages.

Bellingham is a good player. Better than Philips and Winks already and could become first choice for England.

both horrible sides and seasons. I wonder which side would beat the other.

this, this and more of this. We are all set up to allow them to prosper and for us to kills teams on the break, but neither happens. We need individual talents, that can dribble , have tricks and pace and power and ability. They can then get on with things, allowing defenders to defend more often, and stop us getting hit on the break ourselves. Finding and acquiring that talent is tough though.

A new cast of flair players is needed. Boy do we need Tella to keep progressing.

What a load of bollocks. IMO he was right to take them both on. It was him being positive, and no reason why he shouldn't take the shot on. Redmond is not greedy enough sometimes.

Yes we dominated, and were undoubtedly the better side in the first half, but the genuine chances in the second half were theirs and it could easily have been four in the end.

I know we were chasing the game towards the end, and Stephens could easily have scored, but how on earth are we one vs four?

stuffed home and away by Leeds. Fortune for it to only be two.