SNSUN

Won 3 games (Tunisia just, a poor Panama and a blunt-in-attack Sweden), lost 3 games (Belgium twice and Croatia aet) and drew once against Columbia. (Winning on penalties.) Ok that’s being petty but we’ve had a 50% win ratio and come 4th. It’s been great for England to do well this tournament and see the country somewhat united behind it, and it’s been good for the economy, but let’s be honest, there’s a long way to go to make this team good enough to win trophies. There have been good points to it, some players cementing their positions like Trippier, Pickford, Stones, Maguire, Kane and I have more faith in Southgate than I did, but we definitely got lucky with the group and the lay of fixtures. Enjoyed the tournament though despite my newborn little girl taking up my entire time through it but I’m looking forward to getting back to domestic matters.

Personally I think we are 3 players short, another centre back (if we plan on playing 3 centre backs, as Yoshida and Stephens are versatile), another attacking midfield player or winger, and a striker. We can do without the extra centre back but are only two injuries away from a Stephens-Bednarek-Hoedt situation which I would like to see rectified. Even if we plan on using Sims and Hesketh this season, we need another attacking midfielder. I worry about our fire power, although despite our strikers not scoring many between them, I’m more confident they’ll score a few more with decent supply. Outs should be: Boufal, Clasie, Forster, and I suspect McQueen (keeping Targett) and Gallagher (though I’d prefer Long) will be sold. Davis is a possibility but I’d worry we’d then need another Central midfielder. Still work to be done but if Hughes is fairly happy with the squad then in him we trust. If we can get improved performances out of Hoedt, Lemina and Gabbiadini, that’ll be like strengthening the backbone without spending any money!

Depending on the outs, the 3421 formation and cover could look like this: McCarthy/Gunn Yoshida/Stephens, Vestergaard/Bednarek, Hoedt/Jones (or new/Bertrand) Cedric/Reed, Lemina/JWP, Romeu/Hojbjerg, Bertrand/Targett Elyounoussi/Armstrong, Redmond/Sims Gabbiadini/Austin leaving: Lewis, Rose, McQueen, Davis, Hesketh, Long, Gallagher, Valery and Flannigan as back up/squad players, expecting Boufal, Forster and Clasie to leave. IMO we should still bring another centre back in, and class Stephens as versatile squad filler or replaceable, bring in another first choice attacking midfielder for competition, and sell Long and bring in a first choice striker, with Gabbiadini classed as versatile to the attacking midfield positions. I also think there will be a big player that wants out, but that’s the nervous Saints fan in me.

Fulham sign Seri. Jealous of that signing.

I'm not normally impatient but I'm still waiting for this to be hijacked at the 11th hour... I think this is a cracking signing if we complete it. Genuine competition for McCarthy who did very well last season coming in and assisting with survival, did very well at Norwich last season. I think he'll be courted by huge clubs in the next couple of years, but for now it strengthens a position which we are always normally weak in. More of the same please Saints... Shame to see Forster lose confidence, (irrespective of how poor he is, it's obvious his confidence is shot), didn't we once have another keeper who did he same? Might've been Ian Andrews. Still I hope we can ship him out soon enough.

Agree with most of this. Adding Gunn to those 3 if the reports are true, then so far we have done some good business. We’ve started by signing a couple of attacking players, then in Vestergaard and Gunn it looks like we’re trying to strengthen the spine. That’s why I’m glad Hughes stayed on, as he had a couple of months to see the flaws in the squad, over a manager we’d have just appointed. We did need refreshing with a rebuild this summer, and I still think we are short in attacking midfield and up front, so more work needs to be done there, and as per every summer there will be a player that wants to leave shortly before the end of the window. (Bertrand, Cédric, Gabz, Lemina are the front runners here IMO but I hope they all stay as they are vital to doing better than we did last season). There should also be more players being shipped out to make some space: Davis has been loyal and decent, but should be allowed to move on, Boufal will obviously go, and I expect one of Targett or McQueen to leave. I don’t think we will bring in a third choice keeper unless there is space in the squad, nor do I think there will be a back up right back brought in (unless it is a very young talent, we were linked with one earlier in the window but I forgot his name) as Reed can play there.

Gallagher to Sheffield United when we sign Ings from Liverpool according to reports... I'd keep Gallagher as 4th choice personally but there we go...

I really want Sterling to be as good as he is for City, but he’s had me saying “oh for ****s sake” a lot so far... England need to keep their heads. Kane been very good so far.

Argentina, Portugal, Germany, Spain, all big teams out. Yes there's a few left but this tournament is open for us now to at least make the semis. (Cue loss to Colombia!) France vs Croatia final IMO with France winning.

Two creative players in... seems somebody in power has recognised where our failings lay last season. Welcome Mo. Still work to to be done, before any outs we still need a reliable striker and a big centre back. Then ship out the likes of Forster (if anyone will take him), Davis (been good for us but now knocking on), Boufal (I really want the slate to have been wiped clean and for him to have a future but after being dropped by Hughes I can't see it) and one of the strikers (Long perhaps) and replace any leavers (looking at you Cedric, Mario and Ryan) and we should be back to fighting for Europa next season!

After a quiet start to summer, it appears we are now starting to trim the fat in the squad and start bringing in new players. A long way to go yet but positive signs from Hughes and co.

I fancy us to beat Japan so I hope we win the group. If we get to the quarter finals then we shouldn't fear Brazil (or Mexico, no disrespect here!) so I hope we win tonight and win the group. While the quarter final might be easier if we finish as runners up, I don't fancy us to beat Columbia. Decent players. And Barcelona don't want Yerry Mina, we should be all over that! Well done to Bednarek too, scored the winner. Hope he gets better for us next season and plays a key role.

Wow about Lanzini. Still plenty of time to replace him but that's already a blow for the Hammers.

Missed out on him on a free last summer, but £7million isn’t a lot of money for a goal scoring midfielder. I don’t think he’d be Tadic’s replacement if Dusan leaves as they’re different types of player, more a Steven Davis replacement. If we still stand to lose Tadic and Boufal, we still need to bring in at least one more attacking midfield creator, if not two, with the second being more of a Promes type winger. I hope Armstrong is over whatever injury he had last season - on the face of it this is a very smart transfer however we still need a few more - still papering over the cracks as it is.

I’d be gutted if this happens, Dusan is, while not at the same heights as shortly after he joined, still our best creative outlet. Major surgery needed on the team this summer if this happens, and Armstrong better not be his replacement... (not a slant on Armstrong but they’re different type of players and I see Armstrong more as the Davis replacement.) We definitely need a new creator if Tadic goes. £15 million seems a bit cheap too.

Forster would have signed it but he dropped the pen. Long started signing it but couldn't finish. Boufal didn't turn up for the signing of this card or the next 12 but my God was his signature amazing on the 13th...

------------------------Pickford------------------------ --------------Walker---Stones----Cahill-------------- Trippier-------------------------------------------Rose -------------------------Dier--------------------------- ---------Sterling--------Alli---------Rashford--------- -------------------------Kane-------------------------- For me as the starting line up, though I suspect it'll be Sterling OR Rashford with Lindgard getting a midfield spot. (Similar to the line up against Nigeria but with Rose, who looked impressive yesterday, in place of Young.

Klopp only wants him because he's cheap and thinks he can probably make a profit on him in a year or two. Frankly if Shaqiri decides to go to Liverpool where he will clearly be a bench warmer, over us or another club that can offer him first team football, then he's not the sort of person we should have here anyway. He is, however, an upgrade on the likes of Ings, Solanke, and probably even injury prone Sturridge and Lallana, so he would strengthen them. I still think we can do better than Shaqiri anyway.

With the top 6 unlikely to finish anywhere but in the top 6 from now on, it does smack a bit of rich getting richer. However now more than ever is the time to be in the Premier League, financially more than anything, and why we were lucky to escape relegation.

Lazy, inconsistent little turd. Shaqiri out. Shaqiri and Promes and we would mean business. Won't happen.

If we can keep Lemina and Gabbiadini, and actually play them regularly and to their strengths, I think we will have a very good season next season. They were all badly mismanaged by Pellegrino. I'd say the same for Boufal but I think he's already burned his bridges with Hughes. Agree though, that even with an average first season behind him, he's still one of the jewels in the squad.

Agree with the notion we need 5 at centre back if we play a back three. I also have faith that Hoedt will get better, remember he wasn't first choice at the start of the season and is still relatively young for centre back, plus he improved in the last few games when the pressure was on. So I'd keep him and hope he improves further with a better centre back alongside him. So we have Yoshida (who's said he's staying), Hoedt, Bednarek and Stephens. We need one new centre back, a first choice, complete, decent centre back to partner others. Yes, 5 centre backs is a lot if we play a back 4, but we need strength in depth (unless we have faith in Alfie Jones) and Stephens is fairly versatile in that he can play right back and defensive midfield.

Shocker, and I very nearly put him in my Fantasy Football team! Surely one of the better players, or players that have had an exceptional season, to miss a World Cup not through injury? Gazza/Tiss '98? There must be others...

I'm in - Mané as a midfielder is like printing money!

My World Cup guesses: To win - France or Brazil. You can't look past Brazil but France have some serious talent in it. Argentina could be in with a shout if Messi shows up and Aguero stays fit but they seem disorganised so I'm ruling them out. To do worse than expected - Germany IMO will be the big ones (big call that), Belgium under Martinez, Portugal. To surprise people - Uruguay can't be written off with Suarez, Cavani and Godin in their team, Senegal have Mane (nuff said), and England will win one (at least) knockout game after qualifying from the group. What are your predictions? (Bored Sunday at work...)