Chez

I get your point, but Carvalho considered Hull, in the Championship. No reason he won't consider us. Doesn't mean he will come off course.

What on earth are you talking about?

Cheers. Left of a three?

Honestly would be very happy with Carvalho. O'Riley signing won't make or break us.

We're in a group of three. Everyone else looks more likely to survive than us, which makes us a tough sell even if we can afford them.

Are we genuinely looking for a keeper? Same question regarding a striker? I know what the fans want, but do the club feel the same?

Is speed really the deciding factor? If Celtic want £25m and we don't want to spend more than £20m, how does going fast help? I'd say patience is often the key. They are in no rush to sell, and can just wait until they get a £25m bid. However, they may come down if no one else reaches their price. If someone values him higher or simply have more cash to burn, you just have to accept that's the order of things at the moment.

I've been on this forum and it's predecessor for god knows how long now, and the 'inactivity' and 'speed' we do things is just a standard gripe from frustrated/eager fans in every window. From the snippets in the press, we seem to be very active. We also seem to be linked to a couple of players the majority quite fancy. Very exciting couple of weeks ahead.

Ah. I missed that. I wouldn't be surprised if we were interested in him and will keep an eye on him. However as he is a 25 year old with a five year contract, I think it's ships passing with that one.

Sara is the guy, but he'd be another £18m that we probably don't have.

The one thing about losing the ball when you have hit it long is that you have everyone behind the ball, so should be set up correctly to stop `easy goals'. When you lose the ball in you own half and perhaps with fullbacks pushed up, there is a lot of space behind. So, its swings and roundabouts. Less goals conceded on the break and when we are short, but more regular defensive work to do, because we have the ball less. For this reason, a McTominey type midfielder or an extra DM like Sara would be handy. In terms of doing more with the ball, the long and short of it is having more quality up there. Carvalho, Asprilla and dare I say it Brooks/Sulemana types that can unlock defences. I'm intrigued by the BBD signing and where we are going to play him. He played with Archer in a two. Are we really going to play with him in a 3 man forward line?

We will just need to adjust. If we can adjust to Russball, we can adjust to Russball+Macca. We have not choice. I don't think there were too many Saints fans unhappy that McCarthy put his foot through the ball more often. I think many are worried about replicating Burnley's issues of losing the ball and conceding. The problem though, is if we turn over possession more (when McCarthy clears) will our defence cope having to stop more attacks and will our attack create enough, with less of the ball.

I think the 3 center backs will be required to minimise space for opponents and not because we have a keeper is less comfortable on the ball. I actually think McCarthy's distribution is OK. He pings a decent ball out wide. Not always perfect, but not horrific. He also seems to make reasonable decisions as to when to boot it and when to play. That could help us, as was the case in the play offs. He's not a sweeper though, so we will lose out there.

Did Brighton have European football when they got Fati? I would guess that helps a little. A relegation threatened side like us is a tough sell to a Barca player I should think.

It's hard to say. In addition to O'Riley, we have supposedly made a bid for Rak-Sakyi, who so it could be both. Rennes have had a £25m bid for Asprilla accepted. Talent doesn't come cheap, even from the championship (Crysencio Summerville price was also £25m+). If we somehow got Carvalho that would soften the blow of missing out on him.

Ouch. That's a sizeable fee. Liverpool signing players on the cheap (almost free in his case), not getting tune out of them and then selling for huge amounts is bloody annoying. Even when they fail they seem to make money. Fair play to them I guess, but we obviously tried to get him on a free too and were blown out the water.

very true, but it worth noting that Callum McGregor has previously played further forward in their midfield, so a holding midfielder would allow him to do that again

On holiday, so not keeping up with the pre season - has BBD played yet? Was he left wing or up front? Also have we played three or two up top?

Atalanta and Saints not bidding at the level Celtic hoped, so create a Chelsea link to show the kind of market they're in. Yeah, bollocks. As if they need another attacking midfielder.

It's a no brainer for me. Carvalho is just the kind of realistic upgrade we need and Ramsdale sorts out our utter mess of a goalkeeping position.

Hull was a good option. They were building a decent outfit, as we saw ourselves. If he was willing to play in the championship last season, why wouldn't he fancy a Prem gig this? Obviously if he is part of Liverpool's plans he ain't coming, but is he?

What if the choice was O'Reily or Carvalho and Ramsdale?

Unless we play two up top BBD and AA?

He started about half the games before going out on loan. Not sure he did enough to justify more. RM seemed to lose faith in him.

Exactly. Like the good old days. All fan expectations need a reset. It will be fun. every game will be tougher than anything we faced last season. Which means any points we get will be celebrated big style.