derry

You really ought to get some treatment. It was just my opinion.

Careful what you wish for. The Premier is a different ball game for VD. He will not be able to stroll around, leave his post because the opponents will have him worked out and slaughter us in the space behind him. He will need to make a big step up especially with tracking and pace. Superficially looks talented and good on the ball but that is in Scotland.

Bloody hopeless sideways and backwards today dictating the appalling lack of tempo.

I went to the game. In the first half the four forwards attempted to make runs but I nearly lost the will to live watching JWP going sideways and backwards instead of putting the runners in. Of course they had to abort the run when the ball went sideways or be offside. I don't know who told him he was a dead ball specialist because his end result was awful. Bottom line was the poor ever so slow build up going sideways and backwards completely negating the forwards. Juanmi looked useful as did Caulker. Davis needs to pack it in, Gazzaniga looked very assured in the second half. Targett is very one dimensional with a poor delivery. Martina looked better. Wanyama usual and Harry Reed looks far better than JWP. Long was block tackled and looked as though he had injured something. Rodriguez, brilliant goal, some good patches but still needs time. McQueen struggled but McCarthy was ok.

Or is it that the media generates the story whilst the Premier clubs aren't convinced.

Rather than watching the match, I've been watching VVD in the Celtic v Ross County match. He strolled around, hardly got out of walking pace, when caught out made no effort to get back, looked incapable of marking tight and the few times he was tested in the air lost out to smaller opponents. In Iceland he lost his mark for the goal. He is nowhere near ready to play in the Premier playing like he does. He will have to play entirely differently if he plays left side for us. We would get slaughtered if he plays the same way. He will need to start playing flat out at times but that isn't the way he plays he also gives up and strolls back if caught out or up the field and seems to lack awareness in picking up threats as per the Iceland goal. He has spent too long strolling around as a defender for by far the best team in a horrendously poor league. Small wonder Holland aren't picking him. He may have an extra gear in which case he might be worth a punt but he isn't the £10m+ immediate answer to replacing Toby without total change to the way he plays.

Says the man who has been watching football for years, indeed a proper footballer.

Spot on.

I'd be surprised if the UK don't get their visas sorted. If they don't it will throw up a whole can of worms. Firstly they would have to use a squad of EU players and secondly what would then stop the return being evened up by Dutch Immigration excluding our non EU players in retaliation. And so on.

Playing for Benfica v NY Red Bulls looked neat and clever but ineffective and lacked effort and application. Dodged a bullet much as I liked his cleverness but no end product. Elia even more so.

Celtic saying yet another club (Everton) linked with Van Dijk. Nobody has been in for him and in any event he is going nowhere as long as Celtic are in the Champions League.

I can't remember where I read it but Arsenal were supposed to have offered him to us for regular play at right back but we declined as we had Soares and Martina already signed.

If anybody thinks that Chambers would be good enough to be first choice centre back is deluded. He isn't good enough in the air and regularly commits fouls in the attempt. I don't believe we are that stupid when what we need is a good class established centre back. Chambers never played centre back for us and played a few games as a stop gap at Arsenal.

Why would anyone leave out Clasie against a Dutch team that he would know well. We haven't bought him to be back up to Reed or anyone else.

Ashley Williams?

I watched part of the Celtic v Stjarnan game the other night. What concerned me, against a poor quality side Van Dijk completely switched off and lost his man for the goal. If he played like that in the Premier he would be hopeless. I'm assuming at the moment because of all the talk that he is better than that. He isn't really tested too much playing for the only top side in a very poor league who last year looked really poor in the early rounds of the EUFA champions league especially against the Polish team.

Sky would have a problem in this area if it was the most disliked team in this area in the Premier. A toss up between Liverpool, Spurs and MU I think.

7pm BST

I had problems yesterday. I easily purchased two tickets in correct ST seats for the Vitesse game but struggled with the Espanyol game trying to book the same seats. It would not allow me to buy my favourite seat but allowed the seat two along and the one next to me so I put in for three tickets which then brought up my seat. I then cancelled the seat I didn't want and completed the purchase of the two correct seats. Pricewise it recognised the double booking and applied the discount for buying both games together.

Was it an inept attack or two defensive midfielders with Davis and Ward-Prowse as two of the four attackers without scoring, lacking pace and playing sideways and backwards. Tadic carrying a groin injury made life very difficult for Pelle and whoever was the other attacker.

No problem with the cow, Saints charter their own jet.

Gazzaniga had a pretty good first half v Valencia and looked good again yesterday apart from the shot that hit him in the face as he came out then made a good save from the rebound shot. The defence seemed pretty comfortable with him in goal.

Selling Charlie Livesey was arguably the start of the rise of SFC. A fee plus Cliff Huxford bought George O'Brien and Richard Connor and promotion to Div 2. Paine and Sydenham in that team joined by Chivers moved on to Div 1, the rest is history.

Is Van Dijk injured? He isn't in the Celtic squad for their qualifier tonight.

In my view I get the showcase part of it. Just like Spurs when Bale and Modric moved to Madrid, Liverpool when Suarez to Barcelona, Man Utd Ronaldo to Madrid, Arsenal Van Persie and others to Man Utd and City there comes a time when a player gets too big for the club and moves on. In the last few years players reached this threshold going back to Walcott, Bale, Ox and Chambers then Lallana, Lovren, Shaw, followed now by Clyne and Schneiderlin. Even Alderweireld added value while here. It doesn't mean we are getting weaker, last year we brought in eight to replace five, this year it looks like seven to replace three plus Rodriguez and Ramirez. As long as we can get the team output to be better than the sum of the parts, where the team produces it's optimum level we will always produce annually diamonds that outgrow us. The art is in using the income to strengthen and evolve the overall team rather than replace with like for like. We seem to be doing a good job there. That way the League income plus the transfer income allied to buying good players will strengthen us. A lot of the big clubs pay enormous transfer fees and wages by buying players at their zenith who have performed for other clubs yet are unable to transfer that brilliance to the star studded teams they have joined. Success on the field isn't necessarily guaranteed by excessive expenditure, of course it helps.