Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd

He can clearly hold a ball up and seems to know where the back of the net is. Ralph has played SA as a striker so why not Aribo? Particularly when you consider that he played in that position for Rangers. Again, Ralph leaves me scratching my head and wondering what he sees that we don't?

Delap going to Stoke is a huge disappointment. Ok, we failed to get him on a permanent deal but surely we could have pushed for a 12 month loan? Seems crazy that we've missed out on him to bloody Stoke.

They'll batter us. Going for at least 3-0. Wouldn't surprise me to see them get 4 or 5.

CB. Had we bought quality then would wouldn't be relying on quantity at the back. Playing 3CB's at the expense of more attacking players means we'll now not create as many chances. Looking at what we have we'll still concede plenty. 😩

Have you seen him being anything other than mediocre and inexperienced? He looks no better than what we already have.

Yep. 4 at the back with Lavia playing a defensive role in front of the back 4. Apparently he was amazing in that role for City's U-23's. Stick Aribo up front. He can clearly score goals and did a great job for Rangers when called upon to play as a striker.

Have we addressed our problems? I don't think so. We needed quality at CB and have just bought another inexperienced mediocre player in Tommy Ketchup. By playing 3 CB's it gives us less options going forward, which is where we have actually strengthened. Our inability to buy quality CB's will really restrict us. We're having to play in numbers to compensate for our inability to buy quality defenders who can lead.

Dear Ralph, Has it dawned on you that Aribo can play as a striker? You seem to like experimenting with things so I'm just wondering why you've not given him a go up front, particularly when he played so well in that position for Rangers? Maybe you have plans to experiment with him as a centre back or a goalkeeper? I don't have a clue what you're doing but I get the impression that you don't either. Enjoy the season.... if you last for than 10 games. Regards. Sidney. 😉

Just play Aribo up front. He proved he could do it at Rangers. Would solve a huge problem for us.

This seems like a huge gamble. I hope he's an instant success but the Premiership is very different to playing for bottom of the table, Bordeaux. Surely, he's of a similar level / standard as 23 year old, Dan N'Lundulu, so if we're buying Mara, why are we not giving a Dan chance in the first team?

Didn't think he looked anywhere near the level required.

Alex '3 Goals' McCarthy living up to his name. And still that useless prick will probably start on the opening day of the season. I know it's only a preseason friendly but nothing seems to have changed at all. Style of play is the same. Defensively poor. Nothing up front. Some of our players looked like they were really struggling. Probably the heat.

That's the worst kit we've ever had. Utter shite.

I got a text from a mate in Manchester last night. He reckons Lavia isn't coming. Hopefully he's just trying to wind me up as he knows I was looking forward to him signing.

He had an incredible work rate and I still dont understand why he was overlooked on the right hand side of midfield whilst Ralph persisted with some bizarre team selections. This is the best outcome for both parties as he wouldn't have done anything for us next seaason.

I hope so. The longer this goes on the more nervous I am about it actually happening.

The more I see it the more I dislike it. Can't stand the thick black stripes. The red band down the middle needs to be wider. The 2 mock ups pictured above with the red sleeves or the red stripe under the arm look much better. This will be the first kit in over 30 years that I'll not order upon release. Like others, I'll wait until it's £20 and pick one up just for the collection. I'd never wear that!

Spoke to a City supporting friend this afternoon. He regularly watches the youth teams. When I asked about Lavia his response was this... I'm so pissed off we're letting him go. I'd have rather seen him playing than Kalvin Phillips. He's the real deal. He's the player that Fernandinho was 5 years ago. If he comes to your place he has to be in your starting 11. He's got skill and pace. He reads the game unbelievably well for such a young player. His passing and defensive qualities are incredible. I asked what the word was about him coming to Saints and he said that all the papers are saying that it's a done deal, although there now seems to be some interest from a couple of German clubs. He then went on to talk about McAtee and Delap. He said Delap is a bit heavy but he felt he'd do well by coming to us as he'll never get a chance at City. His final words were, if you sign Lavia, Delap and McAtee then I might be tempted to start coming to watch Saints.

Meh. It's ok. Not mad about it. A wider red stripe would have probably looked better. Looks a bit odd with the black shorts.

I guess this will put an end to the Svanberg, Downes and Brownhill rumours? Time to focus on a coupe of strikers.

Yes, Salisu is overrated but I don't think Bednarek is up to much either. In all honestly, neither are good enough.

Saw the starting 11 with KWP on the bench and thought, Ralph's got this wrong. Maybe he's not 100% so that influenced his decision? I'd have started KWP and SA for that fixture.

Has anyone noticed that an anagram of Dragan Solak is Dork Lasagne? Another one is Klara Gonads. These could be clues.

I wish he'd fuck off. All that crap this week about having sorted the defence and that's the platform for winning games. Next thing we concede 4 at Liverpool and fail to score, again. Yes, we need to defend better than last season but we also need to start scoring goals as that's how games are won! It's time for a change of management, before it's too late.

Ralph is a clueless knobhead. When have we ever played 5-2-3? Why try it against Liverpool? If he'd gone 5-4-1 I could have seen the logic but that lineup was suicide before a ball was even kicked. Last week was a joke, this week was just embarrassing. He has got to go!!!