woodsaint1

Cant have been a surprise that Pompey got in our face, were physical, were direct and just tried to stop us playing. Yet we had no answer. Too slow and ponderous in the final third, too many hopeless high balls up the pitch or into the box. Set piece deliveries were pathetic too - lost count of the amount of times Manning couldnt beat the first man. I must have watched a different game to those who said that Fraser was one of our best performers. Its the same every week from him - he doesnt have the pace to beat a full back, yes he creates a half yard to get a cross but its nearly always a loopy ball into the box which is no good for anybody. We have Scienza and Robinson out that side so he shouldnt be getting a look in. It was always going to be a scrappy game but I expected so much more from us. Willing to give WS the benefit of the doubt in that hes inherited a team on its arse confidence wise and we've alot of new players to integrate. But if we havent closed the gap to the automatic spots after the next 5 games then serious questions will need to be asked

I do agree its slightly strange, but then its hard to turn Newcastle down (and he knows Eddie Howe). He was still in the England squad when he was second choice at Arsenal. Better to be competing at a top 6 PL side instead of starting at a Championship team

Fuckin hell. Just score the window as you see it. Don't need to score it in the hope of digging this post out in 9 months time to say 'Ha I told you our recruitment was average'. Im scoring it a 8.5 total Incomings 8/10 Azaz, Fellows and Scienza look to be the exciting, creative players we've been crying out for. Jander looks an excellent prospect and could displace Downes if his wee tummy isnt up to it. Quarshie, Roeslev and Jelert look like solid young additions who will focus on defending first. For too long we've relied on 'defenders' who didnt do much defending. Downs I think just needs time. His finish in pre season showed that theres plenty of quality there, although it will be tough beating out Archer, Stewart and AA for one spot in 4231. Plenty of competition which hopefully brings out the best in them. If I'm being greedy, I would have liked a new starting GK, as Bazunu and McCarthy have plenty of flaws. That being said we got promoted with them both before, and we wont be as defensively wide open this season under Still. Outgoings 9/10 Genuinely believed we would have kept Fernandes, but if he wanted out then we needed to cash in. To get over 80m for him and Dibling after the season we just had is great business. Better still, to get rid of the likes of Sulemana, Onuachu, Bednarek, BBD, Smallbone, ABK Bree, Taylor (and likely Edozie and Aribo), and some for sizeable sums is impressive. Yes we can all pick a 'deadwood' player who is still here, but we were never going to be able to completely clean house in one window. It will take a few. We need to build a PL team between now, January and next summer and this has been a good start

We werent keeping Ramsdale. With a WC next year he was determined to move. Would have ended up at another PL team

I know Scienza is Brazilian (or half Brazilian, half Luxembourgian), but given the time hes spent playing in Germany - hopefully our German links with Spors/Lederer and recent German league signings makes us more appealing to him than Paris FC. Although will likely come down to who pays the highest wage

Issa Doumbia seems to be the next one

Spors and our scouts must have been busy watching the Euro Under 21 Championship in the summer. Jander, Jelert and Fellows all featured, although we would've been aware of Fellows already. I wonder if there were any other players who caught our eye

Spors took some shit on here at the weekend and hes delivered a couple of great signings in the space of 1 day. Hopefully we can add another two or so by Monday evening - as well as clearing out Aribo, BBD, Edozie and ABK (if he hasnt already gone)

Fabrizio Romano

Not sure Spors has anything to do with the sales. Did Dragan not say Ankersen was leading on sales? He deserves a promotion if so....

Derby County actually. And hes already injured

Yeah because Stoke and Boro will be the leaders come the end of the season

Great piece of business by the club. Extracted another 5-7m from Everton and a big sell on clause - for a player who didnt want to sign a new contract. A super player yes, but not convinced he would have had a big impact for us in the Championship - especially if his desired PL move didnt happen Most importantly its about reinvesting it wisely to improve us in the final third

We may not have had all the incomings we wanted so far, but at least the club are moving on (or trying to move on) the players many of us felt were not good enough

We're light years away from Leeds.....😂 Very good chance we'll be passing each other again come May

Tbf any promoted side who is organised defensively and works hard, will easily reach our total by Christmas

Personally dont think its a penalty, but it is a perfect opportunity to let the ref have a look at it on the monitor. It happens so quickly theres no way him or the lino could be 100% sure its a handball

Who is the geezer pretending to be Fabrizio Romano?

Preferably the one on the shorter contract dont you mean?

Feel for those people paying for a sky subscription. Its desperately bad. Soccer Saturday is pathetic with the level of 'expert' opinion on offer

You just know that all this delay/posturing will result in somebody more appealing swooping in at the 11th hour to sign him. Brighton are letting O'Riley go it seems so may be on the lookout for a creative midfielder. Or Leeds who appear to target the same players as us.

Insane signing

This is key for us in the summer and January windows. While we all hoped we would have made more signings by now, at least we're not buying Championship level players for the sake of it like last time - Fraser, BBD, Manning, Rothwell and Stewart all come to mind. It is more difficult persuading PL level players to join when we're in the Championship, but that should be our focus

Not sure Newcastle need Dibling. They've signed Elanga and already have Gordon, Barnes and Murphy for the wing positions. Osula can play there too

Tbf some of those Rangers players deserve to be called out. Celtic have won the title the last 4 years without breaking sweat (and equalled Rangers record for the number of league titles along the way) Not sure doing it in the first game is a wise strategy though 😂😂