egg

Rice, yes for me but Philips I'm not convinced about.

Yep. He's decent but not an international central midfielder by a long distance.

Walker will play right of a 3. James will give cover at CB and midfield as well as RB. Trippier will cover both sides. The only player picked as just a RB is TAA. He's picked 10 defenders for a team that'll play with a 3 plus wing backs, so essentially 5 at the back. 2 players per position, with some offering flexibility and 1 of them giving midfield cover is sensible.

I can't see him getting in ahead of those 3, although I reckon the last spot will be between Phillips and JWP. The saving grace for JWP could be Reece James. If he goes as a utility player, he could oust Phillips and free up a place for JWP. No way Henderson or Rice would be left behind unless they won't be 100% for the first match.

Calling

I think we may see a couple of those lads reintegrated. We need players, we haven't got cash, they've all done OK on loan and we won't sell them.

Yep, they also did Beziers for a while which was only an hour from Perpignan. Beziers was always cheaper so I used it a few times. They also did Toulon I think and a few others. Those routes were never sustainable.

I expect he'll replace Fuchs as back up and play him left of a 3 when needed. They struggled for experience when Evans was out. I can't see them playing him left wing back, although he'd do a job at LB if needed.

Great - thank you.

We don't know...but perhaps as back up. You mentioned above about an older player backing up a younger one.

That away kit would be superb. Loved that kit. Pure guess, or based on something?

Yep. Of course we wanted an upgrade, and we need one. Bertrand has faded massively.

I'd guess so. And youngsters perhaps. Not sure what else it could be.

The driving was (alleged of course) erratic/dangerous driving that took him into the central reservation at 4am. That's not a good situation for anyone to put themselves in, and particularly daft for a sportsman. We see it differently, but for me, a professional sportsman who does that, slags his club off in public, says he can't wait to turn his back on the game that's made him a millionaire (for whatever reason - we haven't heard any of the other players racially abused say they can't wait to stop playing), is a bit of a cock. As to his wages, if he was worth more and someone was willing to pay him more, he'd have gotten a move and the wages he wanted. He's a no for me.

I get the principle, but you don't bite the hand that feeds you. At least not in public, it's disrespectful. Ultimately though, the wages and fees his club plays for other players has nothing to do with him. If the club doesn't match his ambition, speak to powers that be in private and/or seek a move where he'd be happier. Personally, I get the impression he's bad news. There's the above, the "I can't wait to turn my back on footy", the dangerous driving. Not the traits of a solid pro for me.

Tray

That's a pretty decent kit. Nice throwback to late 80's Hummel kit, and better than any of the UA ones.

He's flattered to deceive again. A downgrade on Boufal for me, and offers more than Tella. If we didn't have him, I'm not sure we'd miss him.

We have put decent money into keepers. Forster is on an eye watering contract. Gunn cost good money. We've spent the money, but got mediocrity. Indeed, we've done that all over the squad. Spending money (on keepers or otherwise) hasn't been our issue. It's what we've spent it on. We have 3 keepers costing us circa £200k a week. That's £10 million a year. Mental money. With that kind of outlay, we ain't getting another keeper. My guess is that rather than upgrading, we'd be happy to lose 2 of them, and go with whoever is left plus Lewis as back up. I'm not saying that is good enough, it isn't, but if the club have that option, I wouldn't be surprised to see it happen.

I get that, but 10 games into the season we'll have less replacement manager options as they'll have gone to Wolves, Palace, possibly Brighton if Potter moves on, etc. Regardless, he's had a diabolical half a season and looks like a rabbit in the headlights. Let's bite the bullet now and give a new man maximum time to bed in.

Pepper

Can't blame Ralph for this. The lad needed to be first choice somewhere and had to move on. He's had a great season, I'm pleased for him.

Jewellery

Perhaps it's just that Ralph isn't good enough. Too many excuses are made for him.

I get that, but why does it happen? For me the Leeds game highlighted it. Bielsa made tactical changes which Ralph couldn't address. Even young Mason did it in the Spurs game.