CB Fry

Blabbing off to a Dutch newspaper qualifies as official channels so probably fine.

This stuff is only disgraceful tapping up that the authorities should be doing something about etc when it's other clubs doing it, right?

That is beautifully scathing.

As long as we talk vaguely about "dreams " and "ambition" he will definitely stay. That's all you need.

Anyone who signs for us would have been touted round every other big club. I am sure Koeman gets calls and emails and DVDs about players who aren't good enough for us, so why wouldn't a broker or agent connected to, say, Tadic tout him to Man United, City and Chelsea?

This. We have a cover in central midfield. If three or four are out at the same time we struggle but so would Chelsea. If we sign another CM it will just mean we'll be getting shot of Cork. [edit: just seen the Cork news, we won't sign another C/DM then.] People can bleat about our apparent weak squad but it ain't ever going to get better than this: we are never, ever going to have the 24-26 top 6 class players that the biggest clubs have. Not going to happen.

In fairness your prediction that we would lose all our games against the big boys has been bang on so far. Well done.

Not sure anything can match the "eighth place fever" that swamped the whole city last year, you couldn't move for bunting and street parties that final weekend. It's such a magical thing to achieve a placement about two thirds of the way up the league. Just magical in a way that no other achievement in domestic football can ever match.

...

This. Morgan, Wanyama, Cork, JWP, Davis, with Alderweireld (we now know), Tadic and Reed as emergency cover in those spots. There's our midfield options. We're not going to ever have an infinite squad, that kind of cover is all we can reasonably expect. If we sign someone in January it will be in anticipation of someone going - ie we may sign someone we think is better than Cork in Jan, and/or to replace Morgan in the summer. We're are never going to have a squad that can calmly cope with three or four key absences in one position. Chelsea and Man City would struggle with that too.

They can't wait for us to lose. Or something.

LOL. You think the club can afford to have another two £10-5m quality central midfielders mooching around just waiting for injuries. Get over it. We're not Chelsea, we will never have a 24 man mega squad. That's the lesson you should have learned last summer. S hit happens.

I like it when you wheel out this one from your "everyone's a hypocrite" arsenal. Doesn't make any sense whatsoever, but I like that you still try and use it.

Just someone dull and easy at home. Be nice to go on another decent cup run, but hopefully we will be in the semis of one competition by then anyway.

So not your expectations but some other people's expectations that you've decided they had. Not you, you're clever, just them others. And you're one of those "realists" who thinks our season would be better if we had lost a few more matches. So what is the "realist's" view? 6 less points than now? 9? 12? What would be the ideal? Do let us know.

Harrison Reed quickly acquiring Gaston levels of mythical game-changing ability on this forum. Guess we might just see soon.

If your expectations were raised to an unrealistic level, then that is nobody's fault but yours. What good "losing some games early on" would have done god only knows.

No.

You could protest really effectively by taking out a second subscription but never using it. That'll show 'em.

This. Let's stop beating ourselves up about not having a 24 man squad of top quality top 6 superstars. We haven't, we never will have, ever, get over it.

What does this even mean? We might be down to fifth or sixth, or even seventh? That's 'curtains' is it?

Losing to Arsenal is the kind of thing Arsenal would do so don't worry about it, we'll finish fourth anyway or something.

There's your match winner coming on right there.

No he doesn't. Just his little comedy troll routine. The same joke, every day or so, for about seven years.

Pure comedy gold. You is so funny. How do you do it?