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It's near to sell out but only 3 pages on the build up thread?! Is the forum dying?

My first match of the season, against my local team. A few of my mates support Palace so hoping we can get the 3 points. They're not confident, and we are due some goals. We're also due a poor defensive performance though! Hoping for Osvaldo to get his first goal(s). Am looking forward to catching a Wanyama piledriver sat near the top of the Chapel.

what was the attendance?

Looking forward to this (on Sky+). Match last year was mainly dominated by Suso and a couple others on the fringes of the Liverpool first team. Also got to see Forren play football!! Wonder if any of the 'forgotten men' will play today - i.e. Barnard, Sharp, Lee, Forte etc. Barnard played the away match last season I think (and was mostly hopeless).

Didnt think he was as hopeless as some have made out, but obviously not good enough for Premiership. We've got rid of a hell of a lot of players this summer, but do think we need one or two more to ensure if we do get a cup run, we dont have to play the same 11-15 players every match. Good luck to Steve, thanks for your Reading goal.

Definitely a striker. With Lovren (who will be first choice), we've got Yoshida who is a good player (apart from at full back) and prem standard, along with Hooiveld, who proved he's a decent option last season after a shaky start, and Fonte who is also pretty decent, and probably about as good as we can hope for 4th choice in our current position. The two youngsters are also supposed to be good but havent seen them outside of a few development / under 21 matches. If we were to sign someone else that'd be the end of either Hooiveld or Fonte. Upfront we have Lambert who obviously had a good season last year, but definitely was tiring and pretty ineffectual in a few games near the back end of the year - and will we really expect him to play every game in a high pressure system we're now playing? J-Rod I've been pretty impressed with his running and commitment - work on the placement of a few shots and he could easily score 10-15 next season if played upfront. Mayuka has also impressed me a little in the few opportunities he's been given / times i've seen him - and hopefully after a bit more time in and around the squad he'll be a decent option off the bench, but feel he's probably a bit of a confidence player, and obviously hasnt got much not playing often. However, beyond that, we're really struggling. Any injuries / suspensions and what are we going to do? Guly might do a job for a match or two, but he's more a midfielder, and we dont want to rely on that. Think a striker is on the cards we've all we've been linked with, and think they're prepared to pay big to get the right one. It's pretty exciting, but also frustrating. Fingers crossed we see a good striker brought in soon!

Dont remember Britt, but like others, watched a few Under 21 matches last season and thought Rowe looked good. Decent delivery and good pace, but very small. The new Nathan Dyer?

Needed a day or so to get over it! Thought the performance was very poor - with the defence particularly shaky, and Boruc looking nervous because of that. Lallana very poor, and Lambert barely had any service, and once he did twice in the second half fell over. Needs a rest, and doesnt look fit. Thought Cork was our best player in the first half, surprised he was taken off, unless injured as previously mentioned. The referee was totally awful in the first half, gave them everything and us nothing - not a surprise they were frustrated out there! Trying to find a positive, I thought Mayuka actually looked pretty good when he came on, some good running, and couple of decent turns. Won one or two freekicks in decent positions. Definitely an option for last few games of the season. Davis looked ok, and Morgan reliable as usual, but pretty much everyone else had a bad game. Defence looks like they've 'got away with it' for a while on that showing. Fonte back in next week?

Maybe they should give Mayuka a game - or has he gone AWOL?! Maybe Forren to be given another run out too? OS says they're unsure whether him or JWP will play.

Puncheon in, J Rod on bench. Hopefully a right back plays!!

If Yoshida is out, any chance of a debut for Forren? Fingers crossed Yoshida and Fonte arent both out, Hooiveld and Forren If Schniederlin's out (as well as Davis?), could Guly come back in, or JWP? Hopefully they were just training somewhere else!

Rowe on the bench? Definitely not ready! Would like to see Mayuka given a chance near the end to try and exploit them with some pace. It's going to be a tight game with a few goals!

After last nights match, thought Targett and Robinson looked pretty good. Rowe delivered some great corners and a couple of dangerous balls into the box, but was tiny and super lightweight. No one else really looked up to much last night, although Liverpool must be one of the stronger teams they'll play - Suso and Wisdom both pretty good and have played a fair few times for the first team. Shelvey was pretty awful (apart from assist for goal).

Not looking forward to this one as City are due a result which isnt good news for us. Reckon we'll score but be undone by some sloppy defending. 1-3.

Had us surviving with 37 points. Villa , Reading and Wigan down. QPR scraping survival unfortunately.

Is Butterfield not leaving for MLS, and therefore free-ing up another space? It seems different people are saying different things. The way I understood was that you could name the squad, and bring in an unattached player if you had space at a later time. It's unlikely that there's a player as good as Boruc out there this time though (Riquelme aside)!

Getting rid of Butterfield would be good as he's (hopefully) never going to be the first team. Just need to move on the likes of Barn(y)ard and Forte (if he's still with us?) and would be good to get one or two to add some proper competition for first team places. Hope the rumours of no-one coming in arent true, as a few injuries and we're in trouble.

How much do you reckon QPR's weekly wage bill stands at? Must be over 500/600k? Sounds like they're going to get near the 1 million a week mark!

Would be surprised and a bit disappointed if we didnt bring anyone else in. We need one more attacking player to at least cover for Lallana / Ramirez (who've both missed a few - Lallana obviously out longer term, but hopefully nearly back in team), and Puncheon. Am not convinced that Rodriguez as the other option to Lambert is that great - hopefully as said above though, Lee and Mayuka might be a bit more effective / utilised. Injuries to any of Lambert, Ramirez, Puncheon or Clyne and we're looking pretty dodgy. Hope Guly's not out too long, good to have a player who can cover so many positions.

Would've thought he would be on the bench tomorrow with Guly out and Lallana not quite back, along with Mayuka away. Shame with the injuries, lets see what happens. Think he'll probably be a better option than some of the other fringe players.

Cant believe Remy has chosen QPR over Newcastle, after already saying he didnt want to sign for them, and just because of money. Says a lot about the character and the club - wanting to sign players for 80k a week (along with the probably massive salaries for Park, Cisse, Granero etc) when they only get 18k to their home matches. Dont expect the ever so reliable team player and all round nice guy Cisse is too happy either. If they sign M'Vila too, surely their wage bill will be enormous?! Just comparitively, how much is Ramirez on?

Here's one from the Sun... Newcastle United and Southampton are both keen to sign French midfielder William Vainqueur from Standard Liege.

Would be a massive surprise - quite old(?) and been out injured most of the season.

Exactly. If he's cheap and deemed a hot prospect, could be a good investment, if it doesnt stop us from strengthening for the now too. Worth looking at some of the youngsters Liverpool have started playing this season - all look pretty handy, and were brought in over the past few years for fairly small outlays.

Hope our Sky curse doesnt ruin us again. We must still have one of the worst records in the UK for Sky appearances? There was some stat going round last season, and cant really have been improved this season so far! Got a feeling Gazza will start if the club are annoyed with Boruc for telling the boo boys to shut up. Hope all's good with Boruc as reckon he'll be great once settled, but like Gazza too, who hopefully wont turn out like Bart as second choice for eternity. If Ramirez and Lambert start, we'll win (hopefully)!