egg

Position

You mean he's good, and ready to play premier league football?

Let's say they match what we offer, why would be leave to come here? Their squad is probably better and their summer signings have been better. I can't see that we can offer him anything that they can't.

Bottle

Who was out of position?! Valery. Djenepo. S Armstrong. Aribo. Your point re the new CB makes little sense to me. He's played a season in the Bundesliga. He's a proper CB. Are you honestly advocating playing Valery ahead of him? Would you really rather see Djenepo start at LWB/LB ahead of Perraud who may have given us an hour there? It's pretty obvious that you're out on a limb here mate.

That's my hunch.

Play your best team. Players in position. Bollox to excuses. The too many debutants line is bullshit...play your best team.

Cumulatively, the Ralph various Ralph debacles aren't far off it for me. The only bonus is that Ralph's brand of football isn't as soul destroying, although the results are.

Do you find our form from we tailed off last season to now, the humiliating nine nils, the bonkers team selections, etc, any less painful than the Branfoot days?

Yep. Two actual CB's at CB, an actual RB and LB, 3 actual midfielders, 2 actual 10's, and an actual striker. It's not complicated, and I'm staggered that there's any argument against it. The mind boggles.

Do you seriously disagree with him? I can't imagine you'd have much support in arguing against a CB at CB and a LB at LB rather than the mess we had this afternoon.

That's like staying with a shit girlfriend just cos you haven't got a decent replacement lined up. He had to go ages ago. He's still shit. He still needs to go. Today is/was pathetic.

Madness to suggest that today's team is an upgrade on last season's. We were shit then, and are worse now.

Hit us up with a motivational post please Whelky.

We are. We haven't upgraded our starting eleven. People have got excited about us signing a lot of promising youngsters, but todays starting eleven highlights the reality of the situation. Djenepo at wing back, Valery at CB, and AA up top ain't in improvement of our team, quite the opposite.

I think Aribo will play up front.

Laughter

The thing is, none of us know if the new coaching team will have a positive effect. We also don't know if the new kids will settle and improve us - for every Tino there's at least one Simeu. I haven't a clue how we'll go this season, but it's hard to criticise any pundit who tips us to go down.

Lewis Payne apparently has something about him too.

Cheers, hadn't realised the Barca link. Unreal the amount of cash they're spending. On the buyback, of they're willing to sell back for a lower price than others they may get more options than other clubs. Could be a good move in fairness.

Yeah, you show em SuperSaint.

Surprised by that. Can't see why Chelsea need him with Alonso and Chilwell.

It's impossible to have any sympathy for her. It was a ridiculous ego driven bit of litigation that was doomed to fail, and with the delusion that the public had any interest in her or her "brand" anyway. She got what she deserved and the only disappointment is she's still getting airspace and column inches to keep her in the limelight and help her fund the legal bills. Nasty piece of work.

Did you actually watch us play? Broja was given little service, and often little support. I'd look pissed off in that situation, wouldn't you?

That's the kind of post I want to disagree with, but can't. I've said the same about Aribo - he's done less in Scotland than Ely did so we need some perspective about him. That said, numbers only tell part of the story and I like the look of him. Like you I'm not persuaded that the defence has improved, and the full back situation is a bit of a mess. Going into the season with Djenepo at wing back is crazy.