S-Clarke

The ref is never going to give a pen to the oppo, in injury time, at old Trafford. The PL wouldn't allow it.

Wolves just can't score, same as last year. Their playmakers/link players are superb, but without a goal scorer I have no idea how they'll do this year. Apparently they don't have the funds to sign one either, so it will probably be their undoing. I think they're good enough to avoid relegation, what with the likes of Sheffield United and Luton in the same league as them, but ultimately without a striker it will be a bit of a waste having the talent they have in the wide/10's.

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't sold on the idea of an inexperienced keeper at the time, not as first choice anyway. But what I'm trying to say is that the club have committed to this, whether we like it or not - they won't be signing a GK to replace one they feel is the number 1. The best we can do is just get behind him, as calling him out after every goal let in is going to be very tiresome.

So...I mentioned this on another thread, but it's all well and good getting excited about the fee's we've managed to make from Tino, JWP, Lavia, Salisu etc (upwards of £100m) and the wages we've saved on McCarthy, Moi, Theo etc but it's all irrelevant unless we ensure this is invested correctly. This is our last opportunity to generate decent fee's with our current batch, failure to reinvest this correctly will lead to a long time in lower league football. Jason Willcox has a big job on, but I'm sure they've been planning for this for some time! Flynn Downes in on loan is a positive start, but we need to keep pushing.

Can't say the fans haven't got behind this, we're going to give it our best shot! The atmosphere was great as well, no real complaints or groans from where I was - I think as a fan base we're ready to give a clean slate here and hopefully get behind a successful year. Hopefully the players can buy into that.

I love your words of wisdom. I feel more confident afterwards.

I see people saying ''The club have neglected this position for too long, we need an upgrade on him'' - but we're missing the point here, if we agree with it or not, Bazunu was purchased as our first choice goal keeper 12 months ago. In the clubs eyes this is our 'GK upgrade' from what we had, this is our investment and we're not just going to give up on it. People need to stop micro-analysing every goal we concede because it won't do anyone any good, none of the goals on Saturday could be put on him. At the end of the day he is our GK, he's our 1st choice and that isn't going to change. So let's not waste air every week by asking why the club haven't replaced him.

I think Liverpool have been played on this in the best way we could have ever imagined. Feels like karma after how they pissed around with the VVD deal. Going by the weekend, they certainly need a 6, otherwise they are in the shitter this year in terms of any top 4 hopes. But from our clubs point of view I feel we've played this brilliantly, to get between 50-60m for him and pocket most of the cash up front is great business. This is exactly what our model is all about, buying young players or promoting young academy players, giving them an opportunity and then allowing them to make the step up - with us making a tidy profit in the process. The key here is that we reinvest the JWP and Lavia fee's correctly, we cannot blow it - if we do, we'll be stuck in the Champ and that's it for us for many years. This is such a crucial few weeks.

This day was always going to come once we got relegated, he was never going to hang around in the Champ. He's a solid PL player and you can't help but appreciate the effort he's given us for many years. The consecutive appearances without missing a second, the highest stats for distance covered in most games etc - gave his all every week. He was limited in some ways, certainly, but him leaving feels like a big chapter is closing. He was the sales pitch for our academy and the pathway, now it's someone else's turn to take up that mantle. Can't help but wish him all the best, hope he gets into the England squad again.

Liverpool have been totally played on this one. Chelsea have just agreed a fee for Cacedo as well.

They are in a little bit of a mess to be fair, it's transpired that the guys they signed in January (Rutter, Max Wober) had relegation release clauses, not for a fee, but loan clauses! Max Wobber has already left on loan, Rutter is going out on loan too apparently. Then you've got Harrison, signed a new deal in January but that also came with the big relegation loan clause in it - so the move to Everton will be a loan deal, not any fee. They also lost their top scorer Rodrigo for £2m due to a ridiculously low relegation release clause, so the problem they have now is that they're not generating any revenue by losing their better players - so they're stuck signing freebies like Sam Byram and the odd loan here and there.

We'd only sign Piroe if Adams went, if our strikers stay the same as they are now then we won't be adding anymore to it. So he'd be a straight replacement for Adams and should start most weeks if that move transpires. You've got the likes of Ballard in the background as well, so we need to keep the door open for them.

I think that's a little bit harsh on Piroe, his strength and power enables him to bring others into the game. A lot is made of him just being a penalty box finisher, but he's more than that.

I'd describe Downes as more of a natural CDM, yeah - given where he's played for Swansea, and WHU in his cameos. I'd see it as a two of Downes, Smallbone with Charly floating around in the 10.

Depends how bad his injury is tbf.

It must be weird being a Sheffield United fan for example, the euphoria of getting promoted, yet they are staring Derby's record in the face this year - they are absolutely inept, by all accounts Palace didn't even have to turn up today. Promotion just seems pointless if they're just going to get walked over for 38 games. This is going to be a joyless season for them and may well set that club back for many years.

Dortmund is a great move for ABK, and if we get our £20m asking price then even better. Need to get another ABK style CB in if that happens, someone tall and quick - way too easy to attack atm.

I'd describe him as an out and out CDM, gets stuck in, wins the ball, physical but technically very good. There were a fair few clubs sniffing (I think we were one of them) when he was at Swansea, but he ended up going to WHU for £15m. Interestingly signing Downes from Ipswich was one of the stipulations Martin put onto the Swansea owners when he moved there. A top Championship CDM, hasn't been given a huge opportunity at WHU to be fair - certainly could do a job at the top level, so we're fortunate to get him in my eyes.

Loan with an option to make permanent.

We'd need to lose both ABK and Lyanco to consider a new CB imo. That's probably way down our list. Need to lose one of Armstrong and Adams before we bring in a ST too. CM is the only area I can see immediate incomings, as we've lost two.

Sort of player we needed today, someone steady and able to tackle. We seemed allergic to tackling in the midfield today.

Well that was pretty chaotic to say the least. The main problem I saw today was a total lack of control in the middle of the park, they were able to get in behind on the turnover and bypass our midfield so quickly - and continuously. Some of the goals were absolute shit house, like Manning falling over himself and everyone leaving Rowe to head it in. Their second goal was a screamer though. Attacking wise we played okay, but the problem will continue to be the turnover if don't have control of the midfield. I thought Charles came on and provided a little more of an anchor in there and we actually had more control with him on the pitch, so it just goes to show how important that style of player is. In effect we started Central Midfield with just attacking midfielders, and because of that we were totally overrun on the counters. It was great entertainment though, we didn't go into our shells to be fair and we kept coming back which was good to see. Lots of work to be done though, didn't think our football was as sharp as it was at Wednesday, but Norwich were much quicker to us and didn't give us the time. We'll have too much for a lot of teams in an attacking sense, but you do feel that we can be got at (certainly if we play a midfield full of attackers)

Maybe - but Gnonto at Leeds is also acting up, after Leeds have rejected the overtures of Everton and are refusing to deal with them. It's probably a scouse thing!

Nah, I think it's just the way football is. First and foremost it's pretty much general rule to sound out a players interest before putting any money on the table. So before a fee or an enquiry is even put onto the table of the players parent club, the player via his agent will know of the interest and will be willing to talk - so the club know it's not a waste of time attempting to agree a fee. Then clubs will open talks and start negotiating, but behind the scenes the agents and the players will be thrashing out his terms. The agreement of the fee between the clubs is now almost always the final thing to happen.

They've got JWP now anyway, so it's a mute point really. I don't think they'd go to the £45-50m Utd wanted for McTominay.