S-Clarke

Didn't Liverpool actually sign him shortly after that game? They used him as a supersub striker weirdly.

I hope he gets a good loan this season. He needs regular football and to baulk up a bit. He's talented and he has a good touch I think, better as a number 10 type from what I've seen. I wouldn't sell him as I think there is something there, as long as he gets the games.

The club haven't helped themselves with the sheer mystery surrounding McCarthy, it's like they're hoping fans forget he was out of contract so we don't realise they were daft enough to renew him.

Crikey, there have been many. But one which has always stuck in my mind as a recurring nightmare was Alan Bennett at home to Palace in 2007. Hoedt away at Fulham in 2018, absolute shambles. He was an embarrassment. Oliver Barnard in any of the games he played for us, he didn't know where a left back was meant to be.

Yeah, it can go wrong for sure if your scouting is crap. I'd still feel more comfortable signing established players in our current guise though, let's not forget how we finished the season! Most of the 11 looked washed up and done for, we can't replace all those with unproven players.

I guess experience is the wrong word, it's more proven quality I'd say. So they can still be in the 24-26 age bracket but have significant experience behind them of a decent league (like when we signed Mane, Tadic, Pelle, Toby) Honestly i have no problem with buying unproven players with little top level experience, but when the experience and proven quality we have around them is so shit it's hard for them to flourish. I'd say Tino was the exception rather than the rule, we can't expect that every time. And with young players, you will always get dips of form as they're not used to that level of football - that's where you need some established to rotate them with, which we don't really have.

Yep, that's true. If that's the case then sadly this league is way too rich for us and we're better off out of it, as it'll be miserable otherwise. Any team in this league, bar Norwich and Burnley, has the means to spend more than £25m on a single player. And we know what happened to Norwich and Burnley. As crap as it is, money is needed at this level and without it you're hanging by a thread. I just find it staggering how we're in this position though. 10 years of PL money, 10 years of TV revenue, over £150m in player transfer fee's. Two takeovers. Hopefully I'm wrong and we do put some decent money down for a CB or an CM/Number 10!

Some players will sink or swim. It's fair to say Small, given his high ratings when he joined us, has sunk in the short-term and has struggled in the first team environment. That's what can happen - he was really highly rated, lots of excitement over it, but what happened with Small can happen to any young player no matter what their talent is. Like you said, we need better experienced players first and then we can get excited by the young links. We're hanging them out to dry atm, but the club seems to be completely wedded to the development club mantra and the miserable comment from Semmens really doesn't hold out much hope for us. ''For us it's not about where we finish in the league, or how many points we get, it's how well we've developed players'' - that translates to how well they've developed players so they can make $$$$$$.

Maybe slightly too early to say this, but based on our links and rumours thus far it does seem as if we're still fixated on the £10-15m Market. That's why Pope for £20-25m was never a goer. Our seemingly fixed budget won't get you much other than unproven up-coming players, or maybe if you're lucky a star from a lesser league (but that's pretty rare, as even those level of players cost upwards of £15m now). It's a huge risk when the experienced players we have are all pretty shit bar 1 or 2.

I've got no problem with us signing or finding 'Livramentos', it's quite exciting actually.....but, it shouldn't be at the expense of experienced and established players. We need a mix of both. Like you say it feels like the club is blowing smoke up it's arse again thinking it's won the formula with the Tino deal.

I think it's a huge gamble when you don't have any capable number 1's at the club as it is, I don't think our goal keeping situation is in good enough of a place to be able to take gambles on youth if I'm honest. It may be work out, but it's not the 'certain' upgrade/number 1 we have been crying out for. Ultimately it means McCarthy remains number 1 in the short term and that is not good enough really. We're crying out for a bit of experience down the spine of the team, this isn't the start we wanted to see. (Again, nothing against Bazunu as he is very talented but ultimately very young and inexperienced)

It would be very saintsy to sign an injured player.

For £10m he's going to be our only first choice GK signing, we'll sign a third and a 4th (probably that Turkish guy, then loan him out) and then maybe Willy for a year. That doesn't fix our problem position one jot. Maybe it does in a year or so, and maybe we can get a decent profit in 2 years on Bazunu but I don't care about that. I just don't want to see McCarthy in goal for the club I support, as it's a waste of time.

The thing is, they can make signings like him and Wood with a view of them being a stop gap for a season or 2 whilst they 'get higher up', at which point they'll be dumped. They have the luxury of not having to care about what they sell them for in 2 years time, it doesn't matter to them. They can focus in on the here and now.

I don't have any concerns with signing Bazanu, as I think he's really talented. My concern is that he's likely to be be the only GK signing we make, and for a position that is in such a mess and in need of a starter today, signing a young and for the future player as the only GK is a huge, huge, huge risk. The club are basically rolling the dice if he is the only addition in goal. McCarthy has proven time and time again that he is horrific, look at what happened when he came back into the side at the end of the season. Goals, goals, goals everywhere. He shouldn't and cannot be in our squad next season, let alone in the starting 11, but sadly I think we all know that he'll start as number 1 and that is a huge (pardon the pun) own goal by the club in a summer that needs to signify a change.

He'd have had to! I can't see anyone paying what we were paying him to be a 'backup'. Absolute madness, upwards of 85k p/w I believe.

No doubting he has technical ability, but he's just horrendously slow and weak. He'll stand out technically in a lesser league, because he is decent in that sense, but his lack of pace and strength will always hinder him at the top levels.

All the best Fraser, was more than decent for us during the Koeman years. The first contract he signed in 2016 made some sense, but the next one he signed in 2017 made zero sense and that painted him and the club into a corner and tarnished his time here. He was never the same after that weirdly. Glad he came back this season and had a final crack, but we do need to move on from both Forster and McCarthy and this will free up a considerable chunk of wages. He was one of our highest earners, maybe top 2.

This was the argument put to the Theo signing, but if at over 30 he can't play regularly due to injuries and is infact quite poor nowadays then it's another squad place wasted on total crap - as he won't be cheap.

I wouldn't have got rid of him this summer myself, as we need the depth and won't be able to do everything in one window. But I wouldn't be giving him a new contract, I'd let it expire next summer and then replace him with better then. I guess we're trying to protect our investment.

Mount really seems to struggle at International level, maybe it's just a step too far for him. Always seems a bit lost. Not sure what the Saka hype is all about either, never seen much from him. Maybe it's just me.

Bellingham on.

I think Channel 4 won the rights to show England internationals. Not sure if it covers friendly's, but certainly all the qualifiers and competitive stuff.

Hopefully it's announced at 1pm on Friday afternoon 😉 Holy-grail time for any announcement.

Henderson is all but done to Newcastle I think. On paper you'd say Chamberlain is a no brainer, but it's a massive risk. The guy has always been incredibly injury prone and his knees are shot to pieces, his most recent injury was a potential career ender as he damaged every single knee ligament and cartilage. He won't be the player we remember bursting through with us, or at the start of his Liverpool career. He could still add something, but there is almost a guarantee he'll become best friends with the physios. It is a shame because he had all the tools, but injuries have destroyed any progress.