S-Clarke

Listening to his interview, Lampard was equally critical about their long ball play and said he doesn't want them to play that way. I think they reverted to that because we didn't give them time on the ball, and when they did have the ball they were generally shit at finding a team mate.

I thought he had a terrific game to be honest, similar to the player we all saw at the start of the season. He carried the ball well, advanced a few times, wasn't troubled defensively really. He got an assist with a terrific cross from the right as well.

Bednarek had a great game I thought, really proactive in his game in terms of coming out to engage rather than 'waiting' to defend. He was quicker in mind to either of their forward players today which helped us a lot. It kept us on the front foot. Midfield not so much a surprise, expected us to dominate with the profile of player they had in their 2nd half. Gomes is just drifting as a player and cannot physically play at that intensity anymore after his injuries.

Gives us balance I think, looks a much better player. He's very intelligent in the sense of the gaps and space he picks up, much the same as Armstrong - so those two together create a bit of a formidable attacking unit for us, especially with the pace/power/strength of Broja and Adams through the middle.

Everything is looking up this year. Club is on much better footing.

I think we're getting a bit too ahead of ourselves here! We'd need title winning form as we've got a massive catch-up to get to the likes of Spurs, West Ham and Wolves who will be the teams in and around that. (there are lots of teams with tons of games in hand on us as well, so the league is a little lopsided atm) Top 10 is a fair target and a good building platform for us, mid-50's points wise would equate to quite a remarkable season in my eyes. I'd be delighted with that.

On form, the quality of squads and positions in the league...it should be a no-brainer really and an easy bet. But...football isn't like that. I think we've got grounds to be a bit cautious as by all accounts they haven't played badly in recent weeks and Smith has certainly made them a better side. But...if we play to the level we have been then we 'should' have way, way too much for them in the press and the attacking movement we have on offer. We've got ourselves an amazing full back dilemma, complete opposite of last season. It's certainly good to be debating Tino/KWP/Perraud compared to Valery, Stephens, JWP, Bertrand and Vokins. Tino had a really good game today I felt, so did KWP, but Perruad in recent weeks deserves to come back in.

That was very similar to the home win over Everton last year, fairly comfortable in the main. They came out quickest and tried to press early, but it was a bit hit and rush by them - no real purpose, just lots of running and pressure. Eventually they ran out of some steam and we got a foothold. I thought for the majority of the half we were the better side, certainly keeping the ball better and working it into better situations. Somewhat frustrating to be 0-0. 2nd half we had the game tied up on that 2nd half sub. That basically gifted the midfield to us as Gomes is that limited. From that moment on the midfield opened up and we had space to spread the play and dictate from the middle of the park, the early go from Armstrong was critical as I felt we'd start to get frustrated and start rushing had we not got that. Even after that point we still kept pushing and really should have been 2-0 way before it was, but long came on and had an impact which is all you can ask for. Overall a really enjoyable game and a pretty comfortable game all told. We don't get many of those! It was nice to sit back and relax for the last 5 or so mins. We do look a really good outfit at the moment, very sharp on the press, really good in possession and a general threat in an attacking sense. Having Armstrong back gives us such a different dimension in an attacking sense as he's such a clever player with his movement. Norwich next, you'd say they've got no chance given our form but you never know. How good is it though to not have to look over our shoulders, we've got ourselves a nice little cushion in the top 10 now and with our fixtures coming up I see no reason why we can't aim for the 50's points wise this year.

I've always found Sheldons features/articles a bit... ''well, yeah I knew that....why did I just read this for 5 mins? I've learned nothing new'' Carl Anka was on a different level with his content. On this specific one it's another non article with means nothing and tells us nothing new, as clubs have been doing this for all time. Why our own reporter has decided to specifically name and shame us is beyond me though.

I guess I'm just being a bit realistic, I'm not purposely being disingenuous. There's nothing wrong with dreaming, that's what makes football fun at the end of the day, but being realistic there is no way we can ever be a consistent Top 6 team without mega, mega investment which this takeover won't provide. That's not a criticism, it's just where we are as a club and the level we operate at. If we can make the most of the level we're at and win the battles such as scouting etc then we could have some good times. I just think it's wrong to 'expect' us to be competing in the Top 6 or pushing even higher, that's a bonus season if it ever happens. In the main we develop players, watch good teams, play good football and go-again. That's kinda been our model since year dot really, the new ownership allows us to do it with more flexibility and pace I'd say. Cortese was spending someone else's money, that's what became apparent in the end. In the end it felt like his whole regime was built on sand, albeit it was very fun. How we're doing it under Martin is sustainable for a club of our level. We did finish the season 5th, but Man Utd had a game in hand after the final day of the season (v Bournemouth I think) which then allowed them to finish sixth a few days later. I'll still say we finished 5th as it sounds better 😀

We're clearly not the only team who do things like this, you've got to use whatever competitive advantage you can get.

Fully agree with all you said there. It's the perfect way to run a club of our size and if people are a bit down heartened by that then they're probably supporting the wrong club. I've always seen us as a mini Dortmund in the way we try to develop and then sell on. They're in a league not as competitive so they can push higher, but with our model we should certainly be competitive in the top half for sure. That can sometimes lead to crazy seasons where everyone is shit and we can capitalise, like Newcastle did many years ago, West Ham and even ourselves in 2015 when we finished 5th on the final day. So I don't think anyone is downplaying or being unambitious, far from it. Play this way well and we'll end up punching above our weight at times.

Great post, thanks for that. Really loved Jos. I remember he was seen as a bit of a cheap option after we'd missed out on Amaar Jamal (remember him??) but he turned out to be a hero. Didn't quite cut it in the PL, but he was our best CB in the Championship imo. Jose just had that extra bit technique and physicality to make that extra step.

Pep is so weird. He is saying they were sloppy today, they need to be better etc. Yet against us, he went up to the camera when questioned if it was the best they'd played all season after a 1-1....'''..for sure''. Odd guy, but incredibly talented to be fair. Brighton being Brighton, missing gilt edged chances by the sounds of it. Keeps them within distance of us though.

actually a very good point, I forgot all about Danny and his decision!

My hunch when I read those comments was Salisu if i'm honest. I'd have expected to see some movement on a contract by now, given that he'll be entering his final 2 years at the end of this season. Arguably the maximum time to profit if they're not re-signing.

Seems a bit of a pointless debate given that we're not going to get said manager, as he's out of our reach as was confirmed by Martin. I think a lot has been taken out of context with his comments, in essence how I read it is that there is a continual dialog about potential successors to Ralph and they are all open and honest about it. One of the successors that may have been on a list has actually rocked up in the PL now and is thus no longer on our list, that's how I read it. It could be one of 3 or 4 people, but it seems a bit pointless debating it as they're not going to be our manager now.

It's all a bit weird isn't it, still not a dicky bird on this re-arrangement! I can see it being shoehorned to right at the back of the season, they'll need to make sure they've got Wilson and Trippier back.

I'm not convinced by Armstrong at all but you still never know....I don't believe the club have given up on him and so they shouldn't. Jury is certainly out and he's not shown much but he deserves a decent crack. You have hits and misses though, it's part of football. I'm fairly confident that we'll have far more hits than misses going forward though, we genuinely seem to know what we're doing. Not painting a rosy picture based on nothing, just look at the likes of Perraud, Salisu, KWP, Broja, Tino, Diallo, Adams....not bad. When you compare it to previous efforts with Hoedt, Vestergaard, Carillo, Lemina, Boufal etc I'd say that is enough grounds to be optimistic about as this new lot (Martyn and Matt) seem to know what they're doing.

I'm fairly sure the club are all over that. When we were fearing that Ings would go I imagine we all thought the same, who can we get without spending serious money etc etc. I was worried as I thought Ings goals kept our heads above in the last few seasons. But our scouting was sharp enough to identify someone like Broja, who not only provides more competition, but actually evolved our entire game and has made us more threatening. We're more of a threat with Broja than Ings, and I never thought I'd say that. So basically, trust the scouting and trust the club. If Broja doesn't stick around next year then I'm sure we have many options that won't require us having to spend stupid money.

One of the things Semmens said is that this takeover will allow us the opportunity to buy a 'Broja' in the future, rather than only going in for a loan. We were massively handtied in the summer financially and after Armstrong could only go in for a loan for Broja. If we had more finances behind us I reckon we'd have acted quicker and paid a fee for him even before he'd signed his contract, as he hadn't signed that too long before we got him on loan.

I think you've completely missed the entire point of it all if that is your summary to be honest. This takeover was never going to enable us to sign £40-50m players and blow Villa out of the window, it was to allow us to continue our plan with a lot more flexibility than we had. We will still sell players, and we will still buy players and develop them to sell them again. That's our model, that won't change and we do it bloody well.

Will Cope and Case on a Saturday afternoon on the Saint, the sound of many a weekend afternoon!

I cannot help but be impressed by Martin whenever I hear or see him speak. I don't think there's a better CEO in the PL if i'm honest. We've got some amazingly high quality people at this club.

I don't think you'd make that statement unless it was someone from within, imo. Step forward Kelvin Davis!