egg

He was successful in a back four in the championship. He's unproven in any kind of defensive set up in the premier league. He may step up...many thought Danny Fox would but the gulf between the championship and premier league is massive.

If much rather have him there than Hoedt.

Simple. Because Fraser is poor and not good enough to step in for McCarthy.

It's possible that he was Ill, so didn't play, so went somewhere. I don't buy it, but it's possible.

I'd rather we finished 8th, playing good football, and played whatever players were good enough achieve that. Boll0x to sentiment.

Well trodden ground and making the same point again and again changes nothing. The fact is we're stuck with a keeper shot on confidence on a ridiculous contract. If someone takes him the reality is it'll still cost us money as nobody will match his wages and we'll have to pay him a wedge to go. My gut feel is that he'll sit, rot and take the wages.

Not a chance. He's on a lot of money which no championship club would match or better.

Thanks. He looks better than that. Jones very good too.

Was the commentator talking about Klarer when he said that he could do a jobs t national league level, or possibly league 2?

O'Connor looking very decent. Running the midfield.

Yes. Against the equivalent of Hedge End Rangers.

I didn't see the game. What formation did we play? If it was 3 at the back, who were the wing backs?

Thanks for that - the big chances missed stat surprises me. My concern though is who's gonna create this season. Tadic was massively underrated imo and we'll miss his creativity. Armstrong seems a different player to me, more industrious in the Davis mould.

Midfield. Games are won and lost in midfield. The protection for the defence is nowhere near as good as it has been; I'm not sure where the creativity comes from with Tadic gone - it doesn't matter how good your strikers are if they ain't having chances made for them; and with the exception possibly on the new fella, I can't see who from midfield will chip in with goals. Then there's the lack of pace.

I'm not offended. I just don't agree a) that we look destined for relegation and b) your suggestion that signing a striker will help us defensively.

That's the spirit.

He's the manager, not the coach. We have coaches. Lots of them.

He's a good prospect and we're light on wingers. I hope he's given a proper chance this season.

It's not the nicest prospect granted, but "we'll kill you and your nearest and dearest" is a stronger message than your theory imo. Odd business in any event.

Not much of a deterrent though is it: "double cross us and we'll f/CK you up a bit, but not enough to kill you".

This. The first incident has Russian motivation, either from the state or by of the people impacted by Skripal's double dealing. Whilst I'm struggling to understand how a state level hit could fail so badly, the attempt is credible. That said, what we have been told, amounts to nothing more than a credible theory. The second incident makes no sense though. What Rowley said just doesn't stack up. Salisbury has been combed and cleared yet Rowley claims to have picked up a bottle that was just lying around weeks after the first incident, and can't remember where he found it. Assuming he's right, I'd need to understand how the search didn't find it or why it wasn't cleared on routine street cleaning or bin collection in the weeks after the Skripal incident. We then have Rowley inadvertently killing his partner, but the state level guys failing to kill the Skripals. I have no theory to peddle on the second incident but speculation is obvious in such a bizarre case, and the proximity of all this to Porton Down will only bolster theories. We'll never know the real truth I suspect, although the media will doubtless tell us what we're expected to think.

Bang on Del ?

They seem well over the top but Bournemouth gave them £21m last summer for 2 reserves so anything is possible.

Maya was always quick. Hoedt never will be. Maya was a great buy. Hoedt wasn't.

Knowing that other teams doing badly doesn't solve our defensive, goal creation and goal scoring problems.