Sheaf Saint

That's what we all assumed when Valery and Vokins went out on loan in January. Given the club's record in recent years of letting players leave without signing a replacement, it's not a given that we already have one lined up. However, it's no secret we are in the market for at least one new fullback, and if we start the new season having not signed one it will be suicidal. Good luck to Kayne anyway. Seems like the obvious path for him right now.

Plenty of people can, it seems.

England's attacking play in that first half was infinitely better than it was against Scotland. Very impressed with Saka. He looks a real threat every time he gets the ball.

The only England player to score so far in this tournament 😉

How on Earth did Sterling stay on the pitch for 90 minutes? He was woeful. Total lack of fluidity and coherence from a very lethargic England. Once Armstrong came on, I was willing Scotland to win. Wouldn't have been undeserved.

Want the number of a decent glazier?

Adams' sale price will have gone up by another £5m after tonight.

England really haven't been great, but all credit to Scotland. Was obvious they would be well up for this, but the way they have set up and approached the game can't be faulted. They just haven't allowed England to get into any kind of rhythm.

Gareth Southgate wearing what looks like a flasher coat 😐

If only England had someone with better set piece delivery.

Big LOL at Che Adams trying to make it look like he knows the words to The Flower of Scotland! 😂😂😂

You forgot Norwich.

No I don't personally know his agent, so I obviously don't know for certain what I said is true in this particular case. But I do know, having spoken at length with my sister-in-law who has dealt with multiple agents on behalf of my nephew, that this is how they work. No agent is going to advise their clients to accept the first offer that presents itself, in any walk of life, because it's not in their own interests. So no, I have no idea if this is the reason why Perraud hasn't signed yet. But my comment was meant as more of a generic one that is true in most cases. A club of our size and history doesn't have the pull to make players desperately want to sign for us. If, as reported, we have agreed terms with Perraud but he's holding off from signing it yet, then the likelihood is he is waiting to see if he gets a better offer first.

This is the unfortunate reality for clubs like us. His agent will advise him to hold out until the very last minute to see if he can get a better offer. That's just how they work these days. That's why all our signings seem to go through very late on in the window.

And in those few appearances his failings were obvious for all to see. He's simply too slow and technically limited to be effective in the PL. No amount of additional game time is going to change that fact.

Christ, that is a depressing read.

So was KWP injured or was it a tactical change? If the latter then it was a pretty bizarre one.

I take your point though. Brighton or Burnley below us could have stayed up on 29 points. I think the previous record low anyone stayed up on was 32 wasn't it? Edit: no, it wasn't. It was WBA on 34, when we went down in 04/05.

The problem is that if we had not won another point after reaching 29 in January, then we would have lost to Fulham, so we would have gone down on 29 points with them getting 31.

It wouldn't have done, because it would have meant us losing to Fulham, who would then have finished on 31 points instead of 28.

Second season of Love Death and Robots out now on Netflix. For those unfamiliar it's an anthology series of animated short sci-fi films, and apart from a few not-so-good ones here and there, it's mostly excellent. The animation in season 1 was very good but in season 2 it's incredible.

I don't think the back for per se are the real problem. Yes they all have their limitations, but the midfield protection in front of them since Romeu got injured has been pretty much non-existent, and they have been badly let down by having a crap keeper behind them. I'm still utterly at a loss to work out why Ralph thought it was a good idea to keep rotating the keepers towards the end. Forster saves a penalty and then gets dropped for a guy who is woefully out of form, who then goes on to concede 5 goals in 2 games - at least 3 of which he should have done much better with (WH's second yesterday was a mis-hit and he didn't even move FFS!) He just can't help tinkering with the team for no good reason. Tella has looked really good lately, so of course Ralph drops him yesterday for the perpetually useless Redmond. He can't find a settled midfield or attacking combo so it's no wonder we always look dis-jointed. It's no coincidence that our run at the end of last season coincided with us having a settled team. I'm not convinced Ralph is the right man to lead us out of this rut, but I would only be in favour of sacking him if we could guarantee we have someone better lined up, and we don't end up with a repeat of 2017 when we got rid of Puel only to find that our top targets then turned us down and we ended up with Pellegrino. That would be more disastrous than starting next season with Ralph IMO.

For me, the biggest problem aside from our obvious lack of quality is the constant changing of the starting lineup. Teams like us need a settled starting team to get some sort of solidity in defence. Yet Ralph changes things seemingly for the sake of it. The JWP / Armstrong partnership was working, so why has he broken it up and put in Diallo who has been gash in DM recently? Just mental.

It's a mis-hit and McCarthy didn't even move.

And that's 2-0. Fucking brilliant Saints.