Fabrice Fernandes no.1 fan

Depending on our kit colours, they wouldn't make bad keeper kits for us.

If he does sign for us (looking rather likely) I think he will be our first ever Gavin

BBC article states that: There are no meetings between the Premier League's so-called 'big six' on weekend of 12-13 November - the one before the World Cup - following a request by the Football Association. We have liverpool the game before the World Cup, not quite sure why the FA would request this, or why it makes any sense. Half the England Squad will be on the benches for the big six anyway, so might be nice for them to all be playing each other so they can bond while warming up all game.

Good reminder of quite how young he is, there aren't a lot of first team minutes in that squad, even at the lower levels.

This was also the game that showed us Kelvin probably wasn't the keeper we needed either

Insanity! I appreciate Man City rotate more so have less stand out players but there are some odd choices there. How Son doesn't get included is beyond me

Bayern Munich have won 10 titles in a row, probably the closest to a truly one horse league at the moment. In 2020/21 2nd to 5th was separated by 5 points and last season 4th to 7th by 6 points so there is very close competition there for European places. Every league in the world is competitive in some way, teams don’t just win because they have more money or better players, those players still have to play the matches and get wins. If we are scouting players from seemingly lesser leagues or loaning players to those leagues there will be a reason for it. When we loaned Stephens to Coventry in 2016 as a 22 year old people would have questioned his future ability to be part of the first team squad but he’s certainly been as asset.

Probably too much black for us, but the Bilbao kit is pretty lovely red and white stripes

Think keeping him depends on his wages and expectations. If he is paid to be 4th choice, and happy to be featuring from the bench as a squad player then keep him. He offers some creativity at times, and can play both sides and in the middle if needed so is useful there. If he wants to be playing every game and is paid in the top 10 earners at the club then it makes sense to try and move him on.

I've heard their owners bought under leveraged buyout where they took on a significant proportion of debt for the club, and relegation triggers a repayment of that debt to the owners. Not sure exactly the mechanics of it, but to me they are a club who need cash soon. If they don't get 40m for Pope, an offer of 20m but lots of it straight away might help!

Agreed, I guess the thought process is that he's been in a training camp already, he won't surpass Walker, TAA or James anytime soon, and when fit Chilwell and Shaw are the preference at left back, so get someone different in for this run (James Justin) to see how he works in the squad. Still, KWP as a left back based on performances this season should be in the squad.

Linked below it makes good lunchtime reading to compare the opinions across the leauge. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/61493522 Ours is done by Ray of In That Number Hard to disagree with most of it, but Kalvin Phillips really isn't a playmaker or what we need in my opinion.

I think this is wholly sensible. Really ever so glad we won and got promoted, but think about if we lost and had to basically do the same thing all over again, just to be in another play-off. As you say, Wolves won so many games this year, and clearly are a Championship level club, if not very close. Hopefully a fairer structure can be put in place over the coming years, to help those clubs further down the ladder too.

Interesting team choice, not what I expected! Griffiths and Collett must have impressed in training the last few weeks because they’ve not featured as much as most others. Looks like Kendall will play further forward, hope she still sees a lot of the ball, she could be the key

Everything about this is perfect. The horrific football played while he sings just makes it even better, and the way he slips out of the song when Drogba has a chance at the end. Ignoring what went on in 2005, a partnership of Phillips and Crouch, with Camara too was bloody fun

Think the issue might be counting 1992 to 2003 in "Division 1" as the top league, when actually it was step 2 with the Premier League coming in above it.

This is bang on, but also interesting to consider. At this point I think we need someone who can defend first, and play the right sort of angled passes second. Salisu does play nice angled passes with his left foot up to whoever is playing left back, but he also seems to love giving away penalties and scoring own goals. Playing Vestergaard on the left didn't create issues because of what foot he was, he could still play lovely diagonals to KWP, he just couldn't stop the ball going in our net, the same issue we seem to have now. The three examples you've given are interesting though because they give great examples of defenders complimenting each other, all seem to have some muscle and some grit, alongside a player who reads the ball well to intercept and can pass but both players could do a bit of both if needed. They may have all been right footed, but they did all also have their favoured side too. Cambell, Terry, Vidic and Van Dijk all seemed to favour the left side, with their partners on the right. The issue that made was if they needed to swap sides, it was unfamiliar, and changes defending angles and partnerships with full backs and midfielders around them. They didn't move very often for their club side, but Terry and Campbell at Euro 2004 didn't make the most convincing partnership compared to their club form, because they both were used to playing from the left hand side, and Terry was moved to the right in Ferdinand's absence. If we really want to address our centre back issue, we need to decide if we're sticking with Salisu on the left, and want a new right-sided partner for him. Bednarek and Lyanco both seem to favour the left side too, whereas Stephens looks most comfortable on the right. I do think something we lack is a consistent, dependable back line, where players know their role and their position, and others can slot in and out. Ideally we want to start next season knowing our best defence, and letting them build an understanding.

Really like this team, but my concern is their full backs would have acres of space before doubling up against our wing backs with their forwards. I'd play the same players as above, but Broja through the middle, A Armstrong to the left of him, S Armstrong to the right so they can split wide to the full backs if needed and form a 5-4-1. I'd also swap Lyanco and Salisu, I think Salisu would do a better job throwing himself in front of everything in the centre, and he's weaker on his right side than left, so Salah cutting back inside would be onto Salisu's weaker foot. The plan then is that we sit deep, give Salah Mane and Diaz no space to run into, make them play through us. Romeu and JWP sit in front of the 5, making sure their midfield have no time to make their little triangles. Then as soon as we win the ball, play it deep into the channels behind their full back, ideally avoiding VVD for Broja to chase, win and score. Then after 60 minutes when we're 1-0 up, we bring on Adams and Long for Broja and Armstrong to hold the ball up, waste time and generally be annoying. When is my interview for the upcoming vacancy?

Obviously we would cheer on the English club, we are all proud to be English. That is why I for one will sit on my Swedish sofa, eating my Indian takeaway, drinking my Belgian beer, watching my Japanese telly, supporting the team owned by Americans, spearheaded by an Egyptian and managed by a German. Ideally we want an enjoyable final, unlike most of the last few years

He plays more as a left wing-back too so probably unfair to put too much weight into end product. Also looks like he has bulked up while at Crawley, probably a decent championship or league one player in there, but probably not quite our level. Would be interested to see how he compares with Vokins and Small, we have a few players of similar tendencies there.

Make sure you've given all your favourite players fun nicknames too, like Hendo, Big Virg and Robbo. Also the highlight reel has to include shots taken of your own face from an uncomfortably close angle talking about how wonderful Jurgen's press is. As a bonus, while recording yourself, you can loudly get Saints players confused, like saying how good Ward Prowse would be in the Liverpool midfield after Armstrong has played a pass. How lucky you'll be!!

I actually have quite a good understanding thanks. Both of our strikers are expected to create for one another, and to finish too, and to press. I literally did mean the striker who scores second most, which is a reasonable expectation of Broja this season. You would hope for more goals from Adams but 6 in a season isn’t a bad output. What are you expecting from them, what is a reasonable amount of goals from a striker before you think they’re good?

Actually Obafemi scored 3 goals and 2 assists in 658 minutes, the 957 figure includes his FA Cup, EFL cup and Premier League 2 minutes. Please get your statistics correct. The season you are quoting (19/20) was one where Obafemi showed promise beyond being championship level, and at times was the preferred partner to Ings. Since then has played another near 2 full seasons and shown himself to be of starting chamionship level, and could well play premier league minutes further in his career. Regarding Broja, he has 6 goals and a goal created (away at West Ham he won the penalty, some people will call that an assist, others won't). Adams is our main striker, Broja has been number 2. Looking at the league most second strikers are around that figure (Lukaku, Jiminez, Wood, Lacazette to name a few). He has added to the squad nicely, and offers a different set of attributes to the other strikers we have with some added physicality and height. If I were picking the team, he would continue to get minutes alongside Adams, in the hope he can perform again as he has shown earlier in the season he can.

Such an odd team shape to just persist with, so much of the game they’ve had 2 men (full back and wide midfielders) doubling up on our wing backs, or we’ve used our 10s to cover them and had 9 behind the ball and still done nothing

Great game, and great atmosphere too! Saints have some really good players in that squad, 17-Kendall looks like she could have real quality, played some passes to switch play I haven’t seen at St Mary’s since Schneiderlin was at his best. Interested to see how we fare against Wolves, haven’t kept up with the northern section so no idea how they compare