sockeye

By that logic, every team we will ever play against is our rival. A rival is someone you are of similar ability to and you want to surpass. I don't consider the likes of West Brom, Coventry, Boro, Norwich or whoever else rivals for that particular season - because we had an extreme amount of financial muscle and better players on average than everyone except Leeds and Leicester. Ipswich of course were also rivals in practice because they ended up performing at a comparable level to us. In regards to your remarks about the unbeaten run giving the opportunity for us to reach the play offs, obviously if you pick up points consistently you will be in the mix at the end of the season. But the trouble is that we were (afaik) aiming for automatics, and if we weren't then we should have been. We had the squad for it. If we had not been unbeaten and instead lost more and won more, we would have been in a better position. It takes 3 draws to equal a win, and doesn't help your GD much either.

That’s lovely. Of course we have to see whether the new signings actually bear fruit, but we’ve done well this last week to reshape the squad.

The unbeaten run gets overrated. It was full of draws, which don’t help you move up the table at all. The master architect of this unbeaten run is unbeaten at his current club and finds himself sat in sixth.

Ah, didn’t see that

Obligation to buy, please

Wasn't expecting another LB, maybe Welington's injury forced out hand? I know nothing about him. Hope he's as good as everyone says.

Donnarumma is coming tomorrow. Keep the faith 10 letters in name = 10th signing

Really enjoyable end-to-end match at Anfield so far, lots of energy from both sides.

The principles are more like a brand to market himself with. He can recognise the games where he is required to perform seriously and abandons them accordingly. So he's not totally stupid. Personally I think he's just a mediocre manager but by leveraging his brand and character he can get jobs way above his station. I reckon he thinks that too.

I think Scienza will be the finale, unless we have an unusually large exodus (like 3+ plus) that would gather enough for an extra body in MF. Good luck to BBD, never really did anything here and needs to find his feet again

Hearts will win the league this year 😎. This is a premonition I had based on there being no Shankland to Saints link this summer.

I'd love to know what went on, and his thought process throughout.

It really is miserable isn't it.

Boro top followed by West Brom. Sheffield United dead last, with Ipswich hovering above the relegation zone. And of course, Saints mid table. Been a weird start to the season.

Confirmed we will be below them for the derby

Just sell him tonight.

This club is a joke.

Wonderful!!

Also with Portsmouth in the lead, we need to score again to make sure our GD is superior. I'd feel sick if we were to go into the derby below them.

Half-time. The first first-half performance I'd describe as decent this season. Defence feels a bit wanky but you can tell we're starting to gel a bit. I fancy us snatching a couple more in the second half.

Very nice pass to Azaz

ARCHERRRRRRRRR

Slippy B...

Fawanews.sc has served me well so far this season

We were firmly still in it until about a month before the end of the season.