Chewy

Imho he'd be perfect as the central player in a back three, but they spent a fortune on bringing back Luiz for that position this summer, so don't see this as a realistic option. People need to forget paper talk and work out what makes sense, or what clubs actually say. Spurs don't need him, Liverpool don't want him, Chelsea would only get him as a replacement for Luiz which I think is unlikely, Everton are a sideways move for a player of champions league ability, United are a possible but are unlikely to be in the champions league. I think city as kompanys replacement or one of Europes true elite (real, barca, Bayern) are the only sensible destinations. And if city spent 30m on otamendi, 40m on mangala and 50m on stones we'd be bonkers to sell for under 50m, especially given his length of contract and age. I get that stones was overpriced as he counts as home grown, but vvd is markedly better. Unfortunately, he's that good that he's too good for us, so will be gone ... Whether that's 6 or 18 months remains to be seen. But I'd be amazed if it's in January.

Poor first half, reasonable second half and one outstanding piece of quality. 3 points welcome and needed, but we really do struggle to create, especially against a disciplined side like boro were. Good substitution, and love that puel plays academy products, but we are getting rather dull under him.

Possibly is the case, but even with a sizeable pay rise it's a sideways move to Everton. He'll go at some point, for big money, but I think it'll be to one of footballs big 7 clubs, which is his level tbf. And by that I mean barca, real, Bayern, Man U, Mann city, Chelsea or psg. At a push you could add in Liverpool, arsenal, Spurs and atletico but not sure even they are a good enough level for him. Anywhere else and he's aiming too low IMHO. Should add I don't think psg are 'big' enough, just rich enough.

My front 3 would be redmond, Austin and bouffal. Tadic has looked a bit sub par in the last couple of games and might benefit from being benched. I think the shuttle midfielders will be rotated whether I agree or not, and can only see him picking Jose and vvd. Only question mark then is whether Bertrand is fit enough to start. Sam has been excellent but Bertrand remains our first choice IMHO.

In all seriousness, this is an important part of the debate; a defence needs someone to quietly organise the rest to make a truly effective unit and killer was so good at this he made Claus look top class. Which he never was alongside anyone else. I think it's a part of Jose's game that is seriously underrated too. Lovren, vvd and Toby have all looked world class alongside him. In fairness to Toby and vvd they probably are anyway, but lovren has been laughably crap since. So thanks Jose for those millions from Liverpool. So my choice would be one from killer and Jose, and one from vvd and Toby (sorry to mark wright, just about old enough to remember him, but not to form a fair opinion). I'd go for killer as I think he' was a better defender than Jose. As for the other, I'm torn. Vvd makes the odd mistake (including inter's goal the other night where he got the wrong side by half a yard, having already played a man onside for their first chance when Romeu gave the ball away, and no the goal was definitely not a foul, if anything he fouled their player), whereas I genuinely don't remember Toby making a mistake all season for us. On the other hand, as has been mentioned above, vvd's presence and the way he brings the ball out means he has the ability to impact the game and his team mates in a way Toby never could. I really could make a case for either, so because I can't decide I'll go for Kevin Moore.

Looking at who wasn't involved tonight, think sims, Stephens, bakary, reed, hesketh and olomola will be involved. And isgrove if fit? If McQueen plays I think that'll suggest either Bertrand or targett will be back on Sunday.

Their goal scorer looks a talent. Were doing ok but seem a bit lightweight in midfield. Slattery has been anonymous. As an aside, what happened to debayo? He seemed a real prospect. From what I can see he was offered a contract extension, turned it down, had an unsuccessful trial at Leicester and is now unattached. Will be a waste if he drops out of football completely.

There seems to be a fairly strong consensus about the team. My only thoughts are that McQueen and martins could do with a rest but it very much depends on the fitness of targett, Bertrand and cedric. I'd go with Stephens at right back and yoshida at left back with gardos in the middle if we're going to need martins and McQueen next weekend. The only other point is that we seem to be swapping hojbjerg and classic every other game. Like most I think hojbjerg is better so I'd rather he was the weekend player and classie the midweek one, so might use this game is the chance to swap the pattern. I'd like olomola to get some game time but would go for him from the bench, so depending on full back fitness I'd go with McCarthy Stephens gardos / yoshida vvd yoshida / McQueen JWP reed classie J Rod hesketh boufal Subs not fussed but to include Olomola and sims.

Fingers crossed for your dad - wish him and your family all the best.

While I agree the bedwtters need to calm down, I also think the happy clappers need to as well. We are away to inter, man city and the reigning champions with home games against Chelsea and inter in our next few games. We're on a great run of form and playing some lovely stuff, but I think we'll be in a better position to judge just where we're at in a few more weeks time. We were excellent yesterday but burnley were poor. Perform like that in some of our next games and I'll be genuinely excited.

Wow, you're feeling generous aren't you!? We were excellent and some of your scores are depressingly low. I'd bump Martina, fonte, classie, Davis, Redmond and tadic all up a point. We were that good.

Vic was immense, but had limited ability on the ball. Romeu is clearly a better player in technical terms but there will be games where we miss vics presence I think. Kante is proof that you don't have to be a monster to be a great holding midfielder, and I think Romeu suits the diamond better; I'm also extremely impressed by his discipline. Last season he seemed to pick up a booking every match but seems far more in control this year. Really pleased with how he's performing, but I do think writing vic off as a lesser player is a touch unfair so far. Time will tell

What, don how(e)? He's now writing for the os? If not don, then which how? Who is he?

If Kante is, and Nobby stiles, Claude makalele and didier deschamps were then I don't see why not. You don't have to be a physical beast to play there, though it can help. Not saying reed is in the same league, obviously, but size doesn't always matter!! Love the dell mans comment earlier ... What a tool.

And back on track ... Pretty impressed so far, but will be interesting to see how the mood is in a months time. I like to think I don't get too carried away in either direction, and while we're all pretty happy at the moment, we're away in 4 of the next 5 games including trips to the champions, this year's likely winners and of course inter. I like the system, the squad (think we're a centre back short) and the way he conducts himself, and I'll probably feel the same even if we have a difficult October, but I can imagine a few bedwetters will be resurfacing in the coming weeks.

You still in santorini? In which case may I suggest you might find something better to do than spend all day on here ... Remember, today is yours. Don't waste it.

An overpriced bit of merchandising from the club shop or some over priced food at the stadium?

Really like this post. I would add that it gets worse when you look at it from a global, or at least European level. While we get frustrated at being a feeder team for Liverpool, the size of the premier league now means that the likes of Celtic and feyenoord are our feeder teams. Massive European cup winning clubs just serving as feeders for mid-sized provincial English clubs. I remember the head of the pl gloating a couple of years back, saying how proud he was that burnley were now ranked as a richer club than Ajax. I guess it's his job to make the pl as successful as possible, but to me it just highlights where football has gone bonkers, and I really don't think it's healthy or sustainable. But as you rightly said at the end, less excited but no less a fan.

Bilic, not biblical, obviously...

In fairness they've stopped the rot by not conceding 4 again. Biblical has clearly sorted their defence out!

Alpine, I know it's a forum favourite pastime to slag off les, but given how he's been our director of football in the period that's seen our greatest and most consistent progress year after year in our history, shouldn't we perhaps be a touch more lenient with him? Have to say I don't think he's done a particularly bad job.

I'd have liked chambers given pieds injury and the lack of back up at centre back. Think it could be an interesting couple of days. Denayer and berahino will both go somewhere, and I think we'll be in the hunt, possibly as swaps for j rod and fonte (obviously not a direct swap for fonte). Still think that would leave us a touch light at centre back and dm, but it would be a pretty tasty squad given a bit of time to develop.

Massive lols. This is the most embarrassing result since we lost to the states in the Brazil World Cup in 1950. Brilliant.

We don't all have OCD ... but I did notice you repeated the word "all" in the first sentence.

Not sure if his recent goal scoring run will continue, but how great for us that his confidence will be sky high. He must be on cloud 9 at the moment, and we will benefit for the next few months for sure. So happy for him. He might tail off in April and May as he saves himself and tries to avoid injury, but I reckon he'll be on top form for the next few weeks. Also happy for Chris Baird, an underrated ex Saint. At this stage of his career it must be fantastic to get a chance to play in a major international tournament.