S-Clarke

That Bournemouth result isn't a surprise really when you look at them. They have looked so far away from the level required in all their games (bar Villa at home, maybe). Last time they were relegated from the prem they had Wilson, Fraser, Ake, Ramsdale etc to give them a shout. Now they're leading the line with Moore and Travers in goal. They've got no chance, without doing a Forest in the final week then they might as well plan for next season given how short they look in all areas. They can change the manager if they want but that will change diddly squat as their players are trash. Halland showing that he is the best finisher in the world imo. Bloke is a machine, doesn't matter what level he's put at he just scores.

It's a weird thing to say, but that's how you 'lose' a game. With a bit more 'star quality' at the top end we get at least a point in my opinion. That game just showed up our attacking limitations for all to see. On the positives - defensively. Off the ball we were excellent, through midfield at the two CB's in particular. ABK is just a beast. There were posts on here of people wanting us to sign a 'beast of a CB' - errr, we have one. The bloke is going to the top. His recovery pace aligned with Salisu makes us look so more solid, Salisu looks much better for it too as he doesn't have to cover two positions. Lavia is a superstar. His touch and confidence in tight spaces, at 18 years old, is a sight to behold. There was a point in the 2nd half where he was surrounded by 3 united players, but he still asked for the ball, got it and managed to move it forward. I really, really love this kid. A couple of years here tops, but we're going to enjoy him I think. Now onto the struggle. I thought Adams did the support stuff well, made good runs, uses his physicality to good effect....but there is no quality running off of him to really profit from that. Adam Armstrong is a good runner and got wide a few times, but we just don't have anyone at the moment who I can consistently trust to put the ball in the back of the net. I think Ralph feels the same given the sub of Lyanco in the final stages. Overall it wasn't a bad showing. Typical against the big sides really, give it a good go but they somehow manage to nick it. Lots to be positive about, but equally a lot to remedy at the top end if we are to do anything of note this year.

I think it would have been a decent watch if we had one during the L1/Champ promotion years, those sorts of scenario's gain interest as it's a feel good story. Ditto for the opposite, a slide to oblivion (like Sunderland) is also something that would gain interest. A documentary on us, at the moment, as a non-entity of a PL team wouldn't really generate any interest what so ever. Just us fans.

Don't get me wrong, Maupay isn't a terrible player, but he was a main reason as to why Brighton didn't win the games their dominance 'should have' last season (and the season before tbf). I think Adams has more about him physically for sure, but they're quite evenly matched in ability. McBurnie though....christ. £20m on that pile of shit!

'Up to' 85m apparently. "world record fee for a defender" Maybe we can now create a Bednarek bidding war. Go on Brandan, you know you want that Vestergaard and Bednarek reunion.

Everton have fixed all their goal scoring worries by signing the infrequent goal scorer that is Neal Maupay.

Ah I've missed Charlie's pearls of wisdom.

ABK surely fits that description. The bloke is a beast.

I think people are seriously overreacting to the Armstrong stuff, it was a throw away comment in a tweet that we may listen to offers. It doesn't mean we've said he can leave and are actively pushing him out of the door. You’ll see so much stuff like this in the final week of the window, and I’d say maybe 5% (maybe less) is total bollocks and just created to drive up interest in tabloids and the chuckle brothers on SSN. I'm not surprised to see a certain poster getting his knickers in a twist over it though.

They got him last summer.

How the fuck has he ended up as TalkSports 'Transfer Guru'? He's almost as bad as the chuckle brothers on Sky Sports news with their constant ''It's our understanding that we're making it up as we go a long, but we will endevour to use big words and look important in our suits so that it sounds ligitimate''

Interesting news around Stu and Elyounoussi. I remember we were keen to offer Elyounoussi a new contract a few months back, so he's obviously rejected that and we're looking to cash in. If we lose him, Stu and Redmond then we can look forward to a nice revamp of our number 10 positions in the next 6 days....! We'd be giving ourselves a lot to do in a short space of time though. Recap on who we are looking to dump - Bednarek (we'd need to replace him) Romeu (we'd need to replace him) Redmond, Elyounussi, Theo, Stu (We'd need to replace them) So that would mean potentially 5 or 6 new additions in 6 days, as we need full back cover and a striker before anyone leaves as it is. Can't see it.

Good draw all round, home game for us against lower league oppo - although it will be a tricky one. Lots of PL and PL sides which will open an avenue for teams like us.

Rangers through to the Champions League groups. Won 0-1 away at PSV.

Along the lines of.....''You could see how much of a difference it made when we had someone up top who made a difference, was direct. Why he stopped doing those things in the second half of the season is unknown to me'' - Smirks from both him and Semmens.

It makes our effort look even better, we made it look easy last night. Just as we did against Newport last year.

The only thing which makes me doubt that is Ralph's comments from the fans forum. He was pretty scathing on how he downed tools in the 2nd half of last season for us.

I do think any new signing we make needs to be better than what we have, otherwise you get yourself in the same mess as we did when we baulked out the squad with Bednareks and McCarthy's. I'm confident Maitland-Niles is better than we have in terms of a versatile option and extra CM (better than Diallo for a start). I think any new signing we make needs to have the ultimate aim to play first team football for us, otherwise what's the point. I get the odd emergency loan every now and then, but we need to get away from the idea of baulking the squad out with average. The way you do it is evolve the team by buying better so the likes of Redmond/Bednarek/Romeu/Stephens/Diallo drop to the bench.

I would be happy with this one, he's a good player and needs a chance.

17 the season before that to be fair. He's clearly got pedigree, got pace, got power. Really enjoyed watching him for Sweden at the Euros.

Out of interest, who would you rate as higher who would come here? I don't think he's a bad player, plenty of PL experience. The 'utility' element of his game is probably right up Ralph's street as well, RB/LB and CM covered with one player. You need players like him in a squad imo. The striker will be our big one I think. I have a hunch we will break our transfer record.

Sounds like plenty of things are ramping up now. £60m for Isak is a huge fee, but he's a really good striker. Newcastle saving their dollar under the final weeks. The next level down from the likes of Nunez, he will be brilliant in this league I think. Big fan of him. Paquetta to WHU will also be very good. But I'll wait on that one as they've been close a few times to players.

Rumour has it he's still blaming Bertrand now, and he's not even here anymore.

Kills a few birds this one. I know he wants to play in CM, but he gives us versitility at wing back if required. It does sound like Romeu is off though sadly.

I didn't think we'd ever see levels of £60m for Antony Gordon. Who knows what craziness awaits in the last week!