hypochondriac

Like Harry kane at the same age you mean?

What makes you think we'd be able to sign someone considered one of the hottest young strikers in Europe who doesn't have some issues? That's why we'd have any sort of chance.

That's how Martin describes loads of these injuries. Sometimes he will say it's a bad one but otherwise he downplays it and then you end up not seeing the player for weeks.

Fair enough I'd forgotten. Even weirder then that we aren't seeing any sight of him at all.

Will it be getting onto 7 months since we last saw Stewart kick a football?

Maybe he wanted to see if they could resolve things on their own?

Potentially just three changes from last year and no real certainty that they are significantly better than the players they have replaced other than maybe Taylor. Not great.

That's actually mental. He wasn't great but he was a million times better than Mara.

If that is the team we go with then the only place we could possibly be stronger than last year is in attack and at left back. You could argue we are actually weaker on the wings.

I don't think the two things were entirely unrelated were they.

Not sure that's going to be enough to see us survive. New recruits will be necessarily eased in due to the complexity of Martin's system. We might not be seeing our strongest starting eleven until mid October.

Do you agree that's at least close to the lineup we go with?

McCarthy Bednarek THB Stephens Sugawara Downes Smallbone Taylor Aribo Armstrong Bereton Diaz May be close to the team we put out for Newcastle. In my opinion that's nowhere near good enough and we could get spanked.

I'm not going to argue but Taylor is not a centre back and Stephens is not an adequate replacement for bednarek imo. I'm just saying that my view is that we needed another experienced centre back rather than two young inexperienced centre backs with potential. I hope we don't come to regret that choice.

Personally I'm not convinced that anyone else we sign now will make the lineup for Newcastle (other than maybe a keeper or possibly a striker.) potential for a rude awakening in a couple of weeks.

The fact remains we signed two young inexperienced centre backs to deputise Bednarek. It's a gamble and I'm not convinced it will pay off.

I'd also question the logic of signing both Edwards and Wood. Yes both are low cost so relatively decent fees, but it means we are relying a heck of a lot on bednarek and THB to perform well enough to keep us up and they shipped a ton in the championship. I think I'd have preferred signing Edwards and then an experienced older pro to share that load with bednarek.

Hmm. Not helpful to overreact but a few worrying things here. Playing out from the back - we know we are going to do it but prem teams will make us pay unless it's perfect. Crap keeper - surely the club are aware that we need a new one? Lack of a cutting edge and lack of chances - badly need that decent AM and clinical striker. Bereton Diaz will have his work cut out if he's expected to shoulder too much of the burden alone. Confused formations - Martin said he doesn't care about formations which is find very curious. He might mean that he wants us to be fluid so that we can play different systems but sometimes it looks a mess and like we don't really know what we want to do. If we play like that in the prem we will get mullered. We were best in the prem when the football was simple and everyone knew their job really well. I'm not convinced we will be able to be a success with players switching around and being fluid because we will end up as the jack of all trades and master of none. I am worried we are going to concede some absolutely woeful goals this year. Martin has earned the right to attack this season his way but I do have my doubts that it will work out. If we're stuck to the bottom in November with a few hammerings under our belts and our young centre backs taking a battering it's going to be tough to stick it out.

Wow. Just when I think you can't be more of a heinous bellend.

Hope Lallana's contract is pay to play or it will most likely be a total waste.

Not that weird is it. We know what he's like.

Massive wank in the disabled loos now farting and pretending someone else is responsible in the communal work space.

Thanks I didn't realise they were still a thing.

Think it's fair to say hopes fading for O'riley now- if there were any real hopes. Hope we have a decent alternative lined up. Would be best to get them in quickly so we can hit the ground running

Who are the EDL?