Saint Garrett

Indeed. You look at Everton's mids/fwds who aren't their first choice. Delph, Sigurdsson, Gbamin, Davies, Gomes, Besic, Walcott, Iwobi, Sandro, Bolasie, Tosun, Bernard, Gordon, Kean....

They're shopping in a different market to us tbf, we're in the pound shop whilst they're in Mulberry.

Don't mind Tom Davies as a player, but definitely not as a DM/CM, Could see him giving us depth behind Armstrong though.

Nice to have an actual link...sounds like he'd be a Boufal replacement, assuming hes off. Not sure where we're getting the money to fund that though... Not a CM though. Slightly concerning that his highlight reel consists of him giving the ball away...A LOT.

Supposedly the Barca president have now blocked it.

McCarthy is nowhere near good enough, but I don't think Gunn or Forster are either. Really, we should be looking to get rid of two of these, and bringing in a proper no 1. But thats wont happen. Pretty sure there must be a few better keepers in the championship.

McCarthy, KWP, Vestergaard, Bednarek, Bertrand, Romeu, JWP, Armstrong, Djenepo, Adams, Ings. This team for me, Stephens was appalling yesterday, and we're lucky we have a bit of depth in that position where we can change it. The rest of the team picks itself.

We need, Starting CM, Depth in the wide positions/starter, Redmond, Djenepo and Armstrong are ok, but we have nothing in those positions off the bench, Tella isn’t there yet New keeper if we’re going to play this system, Forster or Gunn aren’t the answer either. Another CB with pace to partner Salisu Highly likely we’ll get one CM who won’t end up being first choice...

Dont think he had a choice tbh, Pierre had decided he wanted to move on, earn more money, and play with better players. I don't think there was anything we could offer him to stay.

How'd he get on?

You say there was no time for pre season friendlies, I think most other clubs had 3 or 4, we had 1. We look miles off the pace, confirmed by Ralphs comments regarding the fitness/sharpness that the players have come back in... I've been saying the squad is far too thin for months, and last night proved that. We have no alternatives.

If we were selling him yes...think it's overpriced in reality, but in today's market it's probably fair enough. Good keeper too.

And we all know, that Zaha can't take being wound up by the fans, as the last few seasons have proved.

At least it's during the transfer window...really we signed Djenepo and Boufal to be first choice wide players but neither have been good enough or consistent enough to be first choice, appreciate Boufal was signed for a different system. I'm sorry but Redmond, Armstrong and Djenepo is not enough depth to last the season IMO. That's not Smallbone's position, especially if we're needing him to attack, and Tella is a gamble given he's an unproven kid. If Boufal goes, we should absolutely be bringing in another player who will push those 3, and cover for injuries, given Armstrong and Djenepo seem to spend quite a lot of time injured.

Thats just not true is it,.

Out of context, given you don't include outgoings...

Stupidly cheap given how much it would cost us to replace him, and how thin the squad already is

An interesting one, no-one seems to know who owns him, as he's on a two year loan with an obligatory buy after x appearances...be interesting to see how that one plays out...

Think we need the "First XI" need as many minutes as possible...need to get up to speed as a few of them look off the pace at the moment.

We know how this ends - sadly...

Might see a bit of him picking up the ball and pinging out to Armstrong or KWP then....

Actually think they've recruited quite well though, and actually we might get unlucky in that Zaha might still be there. Regardless of him being a total prick, he's still a decent player, and with him Eze and Batshiuyi, they've quite a dangerous attack. Still should win though, we're away.

Bloody Telegraph paywall!

Including this weekends?!

If we were mid season I'd predict a saints win every time, but first game we're normally poor. However it does feel different under Ralph... "Usual" team so: Mccarthy; KWP Bednarek Stephens Bertrand; JWP, Romeu; Armstrong Ings Adams Redmond. Fingers crossed we can start off with a win. The lack of pre-season minutes worries me, but I'm expecting us to be fitter than most other teams to start with.