verlaine1979

My assumption was that Gunn's reputation is such that they're assuming there's a very strong possibility that he'll be a top-rank, £35m+ keeper in a couple of years tops. In other words, bought for the return-on-investment potential as much as anything else.

BM were just so much better than us. Quick, technical one-touch stuff, great movement, great energy. In contrast we looked absolutely lumpen with no idea of how to move the ball. Five at the back with two up front isn't making us any more defensively solid or creating any more chances - ditch it and go back to a variation of the formation used by pretty much everyone that doesn't have Hazard or De Bruyne in the team. And as an aside, is it just me, or does Elyounoussi really lack pace?

We've got a lot of centre backs on the books, but does anyone really believe that our squad is suited to playing five at the back? As an emergency measure last season to try and stop us shipping goals long enough to lurch over the line, sure, but it's not as if the ones we've got are so good compared to the rest of the squad that we need to build the team around getting as many of them on the pitch at once as we can.

Aside from Lemina, Gabbi and occasional flashes from Bertrand out wide, we look so lumbering from back to front. BM are so much more energetic (and technically accomplished on this evidence). They remind me a bit of us under Poch - not really star-studded, but playing with a very clear strategy & identity.

Three slow CBs at the back maybe gives us a false sense of security? Seems like any turnover with the fullbacks out of position is going to leave us vulnerable almost every time.

Hoj made a huge difference when he came on - hopefully this will be his breakout season. Armstrong looked good, and if he keeps up the inclination to drive forward in possession, that'll make a nice change. Aside from the tap-in, didn't see a lot from Elyounoussi, either in terms of pace, control or vision, though Tadic would probably have put it wide...

Just like Redmond - always cutting inside...

I hope I end up eating my words, but that's about as dull a side as I can imagine we're capable of putting out.

We can't compel him to leave though. With his current deal, FF has no disincentive to sit a year out. He's only 30, on an extremely good wage by all accounts, and his reputation is unlikely to suffer through inaction. Even if he decides to honour his contract and sit on the bench (or the bus) for the next four years, he's entitled to do so.

Is he really at risk of not being named as our third choice keeper for the season? It's not as if not naming him in the squad would relieve us of the burden of paying his wages.

Yup, nor can you really see FF being okay with dropping to the Championship.

You could argue that it was lucky that Swansea's points per game collapsed at the same time as ours perked up? If they'd kept their post new manager/new year bounce going one game longer we'd have been toast.

I'm afraid the days when highly paid players signed from major European leagues with the expectation of being first team regulars give 100% in reserve matches are long gone. Boufal is far from the only senior player considered to have not given much of a toss when turning out for the under 23s.

I think the problem is that in addition to not seeing a lot of goals/genuine quality, I don't see much of the kind of defensive solidity and physical presence that tends to underwrite achievements like Burnely's. In contrast, most of the players in our spine are either small, clumsy or slow (or some combination thereof) and I just can't see us putting together a quintessentially 'hard to beat' side from our current squad.

Not exactly - plenty of people have been saying Redmond isn't up to the job of being one of our main attackers ever since he joined, while chances are Austin WILL be out for long stretches of the season. Meanwhile, as promising as he sounds, Elyounoussi is completely untested in the PL. Whatever you thought of Tadic and Boufal, at the moment we've sold/loaned out two international standard players and replaced them with one international standard player. Same with Carillo really - rubbish as he proved to be, our squad is now one £20m striker lighter than it was at the end of last season. We need two more first team quality attacking recruits, but the noises coming from the club suggest that the only way we'll get them is if we sell. But since Lemina and Bertrand are really our only saleable assets now, selling them would just create another hole in the squad. Difficult to see how we're not going to start the coming season without serious deficiencies somewhere in the first XI (unless of course the club have more money than they're letting on, which is a possibility I suppose).

Unless the mooted new signings are a real cut above, that's a squad that will dice with relegation. A lumbering and error-prone defence, a ponderous and goal-shy midfield, a profligate and injury-ridden attack.

And yet he still has a significantly better goals per minute ratio for Spurs than Shane Long does for us... (225 [6 goals] vs 307 [27 goals] for those interested).

Squad has a definite whiff of late-vintage QPR about it. If our up-and-coming types like Lemina, Hoj and Elyounoussi do well, we should be alright, but otherwise we're relying on a couple of disillusioned fullbacks and some increasingly creaky PL journeymen to carry us through.

Looks like an absolute giant on YouTube, though his stats say he's only 6'1. Lots of headed goals.

I guess if we get d*cked by Celta Vigo it'll be at the same point in our preparations as the Augsburg game last season, and we can all start to worry legitimately about a repeat season...

What were Stoke's pre-season results like last year?

Thinking about it, the two note-worthiest teams making a success of playing 5 at the back do both have Eden Hazard in them. Maybe there's something in that.

At the absolute peak of his performances for us, he only made the 2014 French squad as a standby after Grenier was injured and only made 8 starts across the 2.5 years he was in the squad. Deschamps clearly never really rated him.

Much as I like having a genuine flair player in the squad, I'd swap Boufal for Lookman in the squad without much regret.

Fonte was a liability our first season back - remember a particularly egregious howler for Wigan's second when they schooled us at home soon after we came up. He got better, but the idea that he made the likes of VVD, Toby and even Lovren look better than they were is just mental. Moreover, during his last full season with us, but for a few very generous refereeing decisions, I think he'd probably have set a single season record for penalties given away. He led a very charmed life during that period from what I remember.