CB Fry

An absolute masterclass.

We sacked our last manager for finishing eighth - therefore we can only conclude that finishing eighth is not good enough for those running the club. To finish better than eighth I'd say winning away at Stoke would not be an unreasonable expectation, as would picking up a fair few more points from a very simple opening run of fixtures. We need significant improvement very quickly.

Puel was clearly a very competent manager, could stick a team out that was solid and competitive, and steered us to eighth and to a cup final despite missing a key striker and our best player across the two halves of the season, plus huge fixture congestion before Christmas. The season ended badly, and it did feel a slightly harsh but understandable decision to sack him. But the issue is the replacement of him with a flavour-of-the-month unproven replacement. Clearly Les had the "he's found another hidden gem" headlines already written in his head but it is not looking like he is anywhere near the standard required. He's certainly not the step up we were led to believe we were getting after sacking a manager for finishing eighth. Thankfully I think we have enough quality in the squad to stay up especially when clearly there are worse teams than us about, but it's going to be a long season and feel we will be rolling the dice, Watford style, all over again in the summer.

Fingers crossed for this afternoon.

I don't think this is quite true just yet.

You do realise you've posted this nonsense on a thread called Led Reed OUT?

How he has become the only undroppable outfield player in the squad beggars belief.

#fiveyearplan

The decision to not replace Rodriguez looking like a catastrophic error right now.

What, you think they are trying to get more money to make it easier to sign players from West Bromich Albion and Burnley? You think that's the motivation? Seriously? How about they want more money because all big businesses want more money. They want more money because there's a watertight case that they deserve it. And they want more money because it should, in theory, make them more competitive at elite European level. But no, it won't make much difference to their relationship with the bottom ten clubs in the Premier League. As I've said previously, they are replaceable and irrelevant.

Whelk's point is we are already there now, any changes won't really make much difference. They've got richer this summer and we still held on to VVD. Its very difficult for nondescript Premier League clubs to put on the woe-is-us poverty routine when any bog standard Prem club has more spending power than the likes of PSV and Ajax and Napoli and Celtic and Porto and so on.

We'll, be fair, from your perspective 6 wins in 13 matches is a really solid foundation for the lads to build on so you've got to be really optimistic for yet another successful season for your boys.

Last season, in winning the league, Chelsea lost to Arsenal, Liverpool, Man U and Crystal Palace. Spurs, in finishing second lost to Chelsea, Man U, Liverpool and then one loss to West Ham. So a top 2 with one defeat each against non "big clubs". It's a bit of a myth really that the PL is some mega open league where anyone can beat anyone. Not really. The main appeal, as they know, is the fact that we have 6 really big clubs who make the top end of the league competitive, they're the ones playing and beating each other. The bottom ten clubs are completely replaceable and, in a global sense, irrelevant. No one watches Formula 1 to see Force India, and in the PL, that's what "the rest" is.

Murdoch newspaper in puff piece for Sky shock revelation. Sky never wanted European football really, honest they didn't. UK viewing figures for two competitions that aren't the Premier League doesn't really have anything to do with international TV deals for the Premier League does it?

Have to say it looks like a disappointing result from what I was led to believe was the perfect football club.

They do need someone to play, but they are utterly replaceable. Say Forest, Leeds, Villa, Norwich, Derby, Ipswich, Wolves, Hull, Sunderland, Fulham. Whip out the bottom half and replace with those clubs and absolutely no impact whatsoever on international audience or revenue (if anything would improve things based on better heritage of Leeds Villa and Forest). Like it or not, the smaller clubs parasite off the bigger ones and get a pretty decent deal now from the international contracts. We'll see how long it lasts.

In principle they're right because the international viewers aren't tuning in to watch (and the international TV companies aren't paying to have the rights to) Burnley and West Brom and us.

Hey Disco Stu, have you heard of the hot new bands on the scene? They're called Babylon Zoo. Looking forward to watching a new episode of Friends on Channel 4 tonight with a delicious bottle of Hooch. It's new.

This made me actually laugh in real life.

I'm trying desperately to believe in Redmond but he needs dropping. Gabbi in his place and Charlie up front, if fit. At least that feels like a side that might just score a goal. Failing that drop Redmond for Long or Boufal or frankly anyone. Maybe Redmond coming on as an impact sub might help build his confidence. He probably suits that role better than Boufal who seems to cause chaos with our side when he comes on.

It was very good, and Langham was excellent in it (as he was in The Thick Of It). Terrible business with him, probably means it never gets shown anywhere like Gold.

Why don't you just go full "I was there first" and recommend People Like Us, either on Radio 4 or BBC 2. Even even better better.

Saw it. Nice to hear so many players name-checked in a BBC comedy.

His anti Koeman rants do come across as pretty deranged. Whatever happened before or after his time at Saints, he was a superb manager for us, by any yardstick and by any measure. Also, pretty obvious he was central in the signings of Tadic and Pelle. Mane and Toby and Long and Bertrand and the rest, who knows but I am sure he had significant input.

This post makes sense up to this point. Of course, it's you doing the rewriting of history.