Chewy

Thoroughly deserved. Well done, so pleased for him

It's almost irrelevant trying to work out what proportion of the blame should be laid at Ralph as opposed to the board, recruitment, players etc. As a club we have one priority which is to stay in the premier league. After last night there is absolutely zero chance of that combination of a manager and group of players staying up. They can't look each other in the eye after that, let alone hope to lift each others confidence to a level of securing a result. It may well be that the players are so dreadful nobody, not even guardiola could keep us up. But you have to try something to give any sort of chance and it's a lot easier and cheaper to change one manager than the 10-15 players we realistically need to change. It may not be fair on Ralph (personally I think he's made some baffling decisions and looked lost since rohl went) as the players are largely horrific and/or utterly feeble minded, the fault of the players themselves and the shambolic recruitment over the last few seasons. But it's irrelevant. You change after that and have 1% chance of staying up or don't and have 0% chance. The only thing that can create any sort of reaction is a new manager giving them a bollocking and some sort of reality check. Ralph can't do that now, not after last night.

Now you're just being a tool, as you probably know. Aside from the fact he was only ever bought to support the u21 team, if he was here Rose would be (at best) 4th choice. He has played 9 league 2 games in his career, and none for 3 seasons. Reed has 102 appearances, 17 in the premier league, the rest in the championship, 72 in the last two seasons. Plus 16 England youth caps. You're talking about a non entity, I'm talking about a viable option. The obvious issue is that in a months time when romeu picks up his 5th booking and PEH gets sent off in the same game, we start the next match with a midfield of...??? We are extremely thin on the ground in midfield, yes, probably thinner than Fulham. We're ok for goalkeepers, though. Probably better than walsall.

Well, yes, kind of supporting the point that championship Fulham appear to have better midfield squad depth than we do. It is a bit of a worry ...

In response to the OP I think a reasonable assessment except that I think Norwich are screwed. Lovely attacking football, but last year it seemed as if every week they scored a late winner in a 3-2 win. In the premier league they'll lose all of those games. I like their mentality but give them no hope. With the other two promoted sides, as ever it really depends on how long the promotion bounce lasts. It served Huddersfield well a couple of years back. So far it looks like sheff Utd have more of it than villa, but we're in league one a couple of seasons back so you'd think the lack of quality will be telling over a season. In terms of the Europa league effect, fair on wolves and Watford, but I think you're forgetting how much it damaged Burnley last season. They're ugly but without Europe are in no danger this season IMHO. And lastly, while I think it's a real stretch to say they're in the relegation mix, I think Everton will continue to disappoint the pundits. Silva is overrated, they vastly underperformed last season and have lost their best player in Gueye. Won't take too many poor results for the pressure to be heaped on. Fwiw I think Norwich, sheff u and Newcastle with Brighton and villa next most likely. Another couple of bad weeks for Watford and I might revise that! I reckon we'll be 13th - 15th.

Seems like a good time to take stock of the squad size now that the european window has closed. By my reckoning we now only have 20 players over 21 years old (if you include marcus barnes) which means we've done some solid work on shifting players this window (think we started at around 35).on the face of it this means (being negative) we could have brought more in this summer, but (being positive) we have scope to be active in January (Will have 4 spaces once Sims returns). Of the 21 we'd currently have at season end, 5 are out of contract (long, yoshida, lewis, Cedric and barnes) and you'd think chances are they'd leave (possible exceptions being Maya and Lewis) leaving us with 16-18. Unfortunately 8 of the 9 out on season long loans will return with time left on their contracts meaning we'll start next summer at a full quota, even before adding in current u21 players who will no longer be young enough. So I guess good work freeing up wages and space, but actually until we shift in particular Carrillo, Ely, Lemina, hoedt and Forster on a permanent basis we'll remain somewhat hamstrung in our transfer dealings. Let's hope they all perform well out on loan to encourage permanent deals. I reckon we can be bold enough in January to bring in maybe 2 players guessing that of the almost 30 players we'd likely have next summer we could shift at least a couple of those easily enough (Hesketh, McQueen, Sims, reed) even if we are still lumbered with some very expensive misfits

For all the rights and wrongs of Leminas performances and transfer, it does now seem very odd that we let Reed go out on loan given our lack of strength in depth in midfield. If Smallbone or Slattery we're thought highly enough of to be better back-up options than Reed, stranger still that neither featured in the Fulham squad, especially with PEH playing left back!

Scored today.

I try and stay positive, and think the (I think) front 4 looks exciting. But I do get slightly worried when I haven't a clue what formation we're playing based on the team sheet. Could be anything quite frankly. Oh well, fingers crossed it all works well

Was thinking the same thing - he's the only obvious contender from the u23s based on who didn't play. A real outside bet to play would be Lemina If we can't shift him (or rather he's failed to convince anyone he's half as good as he thinks he is) then his reintegration could start tonight. Pretty far fetched, I Grant you. I reckon McCarthy, Djenepo and Boufal (and probably Cedric) will start, obafemi will feature at some point, and O'Connor will be in the squad. Beyond that is anyone's guess IMHO

Looking at the line-ups on BBC he started on Saturday so hopefully doing well. I also see Alfie Jones has started all 5 for Gillingham, first two at centre back, then moved into midfield. Again, no idea on performance levels though.

Saw comments on the Forster and Reed threads about how they're getting on so far and wondered whether this was a sensible thread to keep it all together? Think there was one last season. In particular wondering if anyone can update on Tyreke Johnson so far? I see Woking are top of the National League and he's made 6 appearances so assume he's performing well, but no real idea if any detail.

Bowen plays mainly on the right. Armstrong, Redmond, djenepo and Boufal all play on the left. Which is why we persist with the non-winger jwp on the right wing when playing 4 at the back. Anyway, it's just my gut feel. We do already have 6 centre backs, but they range from promising to mediocre to downright cr4p. Its why I would therefore like one. I did differentiate between like and think, and very much stand by this. And who says we can't afford a fee for a midfielder? I believe the issue is more wages, and if we do shift more in the next couple of days believe well have the funds. So perfectly rational opinions, thank you. No need to get so angry ...

I think we'll sign Jarrod Bowen. I think we need to sign a cb and a dmc. I think much depends on who we shift in the next couple of days, and whether they're sales or loans.

Thanks (as ever) for keeping track of all this. If Barnes is omitted at this stage am I right in thinking he can be swapped in if we sell (for example) Carrillo or Lemina before the euro transfer window shuts? Doubt he'll feature anyway, just curious on how it works.

Steven Davis. No squad number for Marcus Barnes, but can't see any other obvious omissions

But he might not be that good. And if he is we probably want to play it down so he doesn't get tapped up by spurs or the victims. D - decent A - pretty average N - not too bad at all S - satisfactory He is or-di-na-ry

Agreed. But you know it will end up being based on D-I-S-C-O (the one used for di canio)

Would Monaco be able to pay him what he thinks he's worth? They've not got any European football to entice him and, of course, boost their income.

See that Boca have just signed de Rossi (obviously on a free but would imagine big wages, especially for a South American team's budget) so wonder if that will put a dent in this idea.

I recall times last season where we had Moi as pretty much our only 'creative' option on the bench. Its obvious to me that even a vaguely functioning Boufal would be a significant upgrade, so am basically in favour of keeping. Ok, we've already increased our options but we're a long way from having an embarrassment of riches. That said, he's not a critical member of the squad and if selling him is the best way to raise the funds (and create squad space and wages in the budget) needed to fund a centre back then I'd happily sacrifice him. I think Ralph could get a lot more out of him, but a first choice centre back is a far bigger priority imho. I feel pretty much the same about Lemina.

He's contracted until 2021 so that's not really an issue at this stage.

Point is though that we need to sell/loan more than that to create space for any additional signings (without having fully paid pros sat at the club unavailable). Its 5, not 6, but if we want the 3 new signings everyone seems to be suggesting we'd need to move 8 on. Of your list of academy players, two are under 21 so make no difference, McQueen is injured and Lewis will imho be 3rd choice keeper (assuming we can shift either Forster or McCarthy). If we did get another offensive player I could see Sims being at risk (contract up next summer). But finding homes for 8 players will be difficult I think.

It's 30. Well 32, but Rose and Jones have been loaned out for the season. If McQueen is likely to be out for some (can't say I have any idea) we could leave him out until January creating one extra space, but as it is 5 to shift before we have any space for signings without having to leave any players out.

Oh god I'm sorry, didn't check and I've quoted his vegetable incarnation. I try never to quote glasgow as a matter of principle, even though he's turned one of his versions into something vaguely intelligible. I'm sure come the start of the betting season all will revert to normal, though.