S-Clarke

Great post Minsk, appreciate the effort you put into these in previous season - so I'm looking forward to seeing how this one follows through! Hoping for the best, fearing the worst.

I hope Seaborne is fit, we've really missed his quality at the back.

If he's back, I imagine he'd be on the bench - no more than that. The only changes I'd make from the previous games are bringing back Perraud at left back, moving KWP to right back. Dropping Moussa and shifting Moi to the left, and moving Tino to right mid ahead of KWP. That's how I'd play it tbh.

The taking the knee stance at the beginning served a point, to a degree. But now it's become more of a commercial gesture. You get the big corps like Sky and the PL all over it because it enhances their popularity and benefits their corporate image. I don't think it's serving much in the way of 'stopping' anything happening as such, it may raise the awareness to a degree...but now it feels like it's having the opposite effect and creating more inflammatory responses and divisions - which is what this is suppose to be stopping.

I have black friends, but I've been shouted down for saying black in the past so I reverted to that. That's another example which probably illustrates my point of walking on egg shells/not sure what you can say or do anymore.

This game could be an interesting pointer to see how far we've come in a short space. We got bullied by them at the end of last season. I'd personally go for more pace and physicality against Antonio, so I'd drop Stephens for Lyanco - but I reckon Stephens will continue to start, I think he's got that slot at the mo and he'll keep it for the time being. Romeu in midfield will be important, Diallo and JWP last season just couldn't get close. We need some physicality in there. That's still my worry with the squad - after Romeu we have no real physical midfielders. Adams and Armstrong should keep their centre backs honest, I expect Zouma will start. We'll probably create openings, I just hope we're clinical enough.

This may divulge slightly off topic, but it's still relevant. Personally I have no issues, and never have had any issues, with people who are of colour, people who are gay, lesbian, transsexual. Absolutley no problem. They don't offend me, I live my life and they live their lives. There's nothing wrong with raising awareness of when discrimination happens, not at all (and to be fair it's much better than it was many years ago) - but what I do have a problem with, and many people do, is being told how to act or what to say in order to keep certain sections of these groups happy - not the majority, let me add, as I have a lot of friends of colour who are against what is happening and they feel it's creating more divides - as we are probably seeing. That NHS article above sums it all up really. This is exactly the waffle which is infiltrating organisations far and wide at the moment. To add some relevance, I was working with someone at work who was terrible. He made so many mistakes, so many errors, I was spending my own time fixing all his mistakes and he was incapable of learning and was taking the piss on the side. I was advised by management not to flag it as I would be seen as racist (he was coloured). That had nothing to do with it, he was just terrible at his job. Funnily enough this guy is still there and he hasn't improved. I don't want to live my life walking on egg shells in case what I say or do is seen as the wrong thing or out of context. Any decent human being will have absolutely no problem with culture and embrace it naturally, we just don't want it rammed down our necks 24/7 and made to feel racist or homophobic if we dare disagree with one of their view points. Taking the knee is an example of this and it's run it's course now. I wouldn't boo it but it feels like it's creating more tension than good.

I believe we have money left over from this window, which we will put together with whatever small amount we have to play with next year to give us a head-start to potentially look at keepers in the £15m bracket from word go, without having to sell first. That's how I'd expect a sensible cash-strapped club to operate and I have faith that we are sensible nowadays. Offering someone like Romero a deal, whilst we are still paying McCarthy and Forster £150k between them isn't sensible. Romero won't want buttons, he will be as well paid as both of our current - if not more. I think there are lots of options we can look at in the summer. Once we have got rid of Forsters wages and have maybe £15-20m to play with, then there are options. The scouting should be all over Europe as we are after a first choice keeper who will last us for years to come. Be interesting if we had a look in the Turkish, French or Russian leagues as there are some quality young keepers over there.

It's been a great second half. Hungary aren't a 'bad' side. I was impressed with them at the Euro's, but we've just had way too much for them 2nd half.

We did a fair amount of business in August to be fair. I didn't want to make a prediction that early on as so much as up in the air, but we've got the strikers in now, we've got the CB, we've got proper cover at full back. If...if...Lyanco turns out to be a steal and Armstrong can half translate his Championship form then 11/12th - outside chance of Top 10. If the CB signing is poor, Armstrong struggles a little in his first season and we end up not scoring enough.....17th. But right on the brink.

Phil Ifil came with good pedigree, probably a similar rep to that of KWP had when we got him. Nothing happened with him though Safri wasn't a bad signing on paper, just didn't work out for him here. He was excellent at Norwich. Andrew Davies was just injury prone, good player if he got a run of games but he never managed it. Fairly sure he retired a few years back after landing in the SPL. Enough to make anyone retire. I saw what we were doing with the likes of Perry, Lucketti, Christan Daily etc - we had a really young core to the side, so we thought we'd throw experience around them. Sadly the only experience we could get were from washed up players who should have retired.

He's bang on, it's very depressing. I'd say the window before that was a start of the downturn as well, given we splurged £16m on Boufal. We just got the big signings all wrong for 3 consecutive years. Our scouting needs to be spot on for our model to work. We can't absorb a bad signing in the same way a bigger club can. But we've had to absorb 4 or 5 bad 'big' signings and it's almost killed us. It still might. I saw an article the other day that had us as one of the biggest spenders in Europe since 2011, ahead of Dortmund. We are also one of the highest in terms of fees received - £448m in 10 years. We got it right in Koemans first season, but I think a lot of that was down to the manager we had. A strong manager was required to attract the right players and have enough about him to put his own views across. I don't think Les really liked that and it always felt a bit tense between Keoman and the 'board' at the time. We unsurprisingly then went down the road of hiring one of the most passive yes men in history. You wouldn't hear Puel say boo to a goose and he just went along with the carnage that was about to occur. Similar for Pellegrino as well, not strong enough managers. There are certainly shoots of recovery now that Reed and Wilson are out of the way and Ralph is having a big say....

He is an absolute freak isn't he. He hangs in the air and manages to get so much power on his headers. That's one element of his game that has evolved, he is a huge aerial threat. I'm sure Jack Stephens will have it covered though.

Agreed, I think that's a fair view. He needs to make a name for himself elsewhere and then maybe potentially become a PL player, being loaned out or playing for us as a bit part will never aid his development. Could end up being a case of right player, wrong time for him.

I saw that article and I think Sky have got very confused. They seem to be suggesting we only spent £15m, which isn't true. We certainly don't have a net spend that large. Not surprised though, we seem entirely irrelevant to Sky. They were talking yesterday about us not replacing Ings or Vestergaard. Rating Evertons business as good, but worrying about us because we didn't replace the players we lost. They're paid money to have views like that!

Not sure why you have Villa down there and Arsenal up there, swap those around! I think Arsenal have done a 'pick and mix' transfer window. Doesn't seem to be any sense or joined up thinking in their additions. And for all of that they've spent £160m and their quality is no better whatsoever. They spent £30m on Ramsdale who is no matter, maybe even a tad worse than Leno. It's bonkers. So I think they've had a terrible window which may haunt them for a good few years to come. Brighton have had a poor one - they didn't get that striker they needed. They're still in the same boat as they were last year really, relying on Maupay staying fit and even he is erratic. They'll hit the same troubles. Everton - terrible window. They've not managed to get rid of James, who is someone that clearly wants out and has said as much. Lost all the support. Not great to have him stinking out the place. Freebies, Gray is decent, but the rest not at all. They've done similar to us and loaned out their full back on deadline day and didn't replace, so they've only got 3 full backs I think and no cover at LB. I think Benitez will make them hard to beat, but once injuries hit you'll see the results take a massive slump. Let's not forget they also lost 'him who shall not be named' - and he was guaranteed a few goals a year. Newcastle - Had it not been for them getting Willock it would have been really bad, but at least they've add him. They lack quality at CB or full back though, their success will be purely down to keeping Wilson and ASM fit. Otherwise they have no chance. Wolves - seems like they've hit the similar Chinese closed door as we have. No investment coming their way anymore. They've kept Traore and Neves but haven't really got much cover beyond that 11. Best windows: Leicester - again, doing the right things. Make the sensible signings. Daka will be quality and will eventually replace Vardy, good forward planning that one. Somaore was brilliant last year, one of the best CM in France - so they've improved their depth there. CB is stronger with Vestergaard, although he probably won't play every week having someone like him for depth is great. West Ham - Started late, but they've done some interesting business. Not sure yet on Vlasic, this is the guy who failed at Everton - but he may well have matured since then. Krul is a good CM and it's only a loan, gives them more depth in that area. Zouma will inject quality straight away into their back 4. Only area they haven't really addressed is striker, they're relying on Antonio staying fit. Jury's out: Palace - so many changes, impossible to judge yet. They've brought in some decent players and spent some money, so it'll be interesting to see what Viera can do. I think they'll take a few months to settle down though and they may need patience. Us - Similar to palace, lots of substantial changes and a change away from where we are as a squad (age wise). It's hard to judge yet, especially as we haven't seen Lyanco in action - the success of that could potentially make or break it. Lots of exciting young signings but I fear we may get lots of inconsistency whilst they bed in. If we can keep our head above water this year then I can only see good things in the future. Just need to make sure we survive by whatever means.

Huh? I've given him 3 whole games where I've said he's been involved in all our goals so far, he looks positive. I have no problem with him. All I said is that i'm not sure if he's at the Ings level...is that unfair? I think it would be amazing if he's as good as Ings, that's why I'm hoping other players pop up with goals this year as well so the burden just isn't on him.

I agree that we have more depth, there will be less shoe-horning of players etc - so that's a massive positive. My fear is the removal of quality and goals with Ings. His goals kept us up last season and the season before that. We are basically asking for Armstrong to replace his numbers, or at least get Redmond, Moussa, Theo etc hitting 5+ each themselves. We don't seem to have any player who can do something out of nothing like Ings. He pulled us out of the mire against Burnley at home last season, pressured Mee, beat him to the ball and from nowhere it was 1-1. Or the audacious flick over the Liverpool keeper when we won 1-0. It's those moments I don't think we've replaced or can really for the money we have available, and that will probably cost us around 5-10 points. That's why maybe we should have gone a bit harder on an established centre back to strengthen one of our biggest weaknesses last season, so we don't have to rely on scoring 2 or 3 goals a game. Not judging Lyanco myself until I've seen him, but I don't believe he's been brought as an immediate starter.

I think we've undoubtedly improved depth in the striking positions and full back, but the question marks are around the quality and experience now missing. We can't go out and replace an Ings with an ings, otherwise we'd have kept Ings - so we had to be shrewd with that one and hope that Armstrong can hit similar levels in time. I think it's clear he has a similar playing style, but the jury is out on the quality. He has been good though, involved in every goal we've scored this season more or less. Lyanco is one I'd have liked us to have gone a bit bigger on, used the opportunity to upgrade on Bednarek - but I think we've gone a bit cheap and just filled a hole in the squad. I think we missed a trick there. Maybe we didn't have the funds, who knows. Would have loved a new goalie, but I think the reasons are pretty clear on why that's not a goer. Overall - a 6/10. Definitely added more depth, but reduced the immediate experience and replaced with potential. It's a huge, huge gamble. Personally I predict a big, big struggle. I think we'll see some really good displays but you'll see us come up short in the key moments due to a lack of experience. Financially we are in a bad place and I think the model the club has followed this window is all we can do, and they deserve credit for getting some of the young talents over the line.

To be fair it would be just like Southampton to go from 1 right back, to 4 of the buggers.

Barcelona about to lose their next star - Antoine Griezmann back off to Atletico Madrid. Barca are bringing in Luuk De Jong as a replacement. Their front line is going to be Braithwaite and De Jong. Unbelievable what's happened there really.

Nothing happening with that one. I think it was a random twitter rumour that just spiralled.

Football is still broken.

If we're just about to pocket £5m from Obafemi, that may give us a little to play with in terms of a loan fee.

Swansea have got a bit of money to play with now, around £2.5m sell-on from the James deal and £2.5m for the left back they sold to Burnley. I reckon we'll get around the 4-5m mark for him. Good value, he only has 1 year left. I don't think he'll ever make it at this level and I don't think Ralph has ever been totally struck by him. Not sure if it leaves us light or not, probably not. We have Armstrong, Adams, Broja, Theo, Tella who can all play that central role. You could probably include long as well, but I don't want to.