S-Clarke

Nice return by Hummel - can't complain about that, nice. Good effort at the promo video as well.

That was a cracking shoot-out. Really pleased for Villarreal though, provincial club in Spain - never won a major trophy in any competition. What a night to be one of their fans.

Not really, I think if we did sign Edouard it would be as a replacement for Ings - IMO. I don't see us signing a 'star' centre forward with Ings still here, but we may add depth with a younger sort.

If we did want Edouard, that Moi angle is potentially a decent one we could use to leverage a better deal that other clubs couldn't match. I guess it would come down to the wages he'd want at Celtic though.

In terms of shot stopping and presence, it's a no brainer - Forster wins every time. The problem we have is that we play a front foot/high line/pressing game, which requires the goal keepers to occasionally engage outside of their box and contribute to the play. Fraser is absolutely horrific at this side of the game and is a calamity waiting to happen. This is the one part of his game that McCarthy is better at and why I feel Ralph does lean towards him more, in my opinion. Either way, we need a new GK.

I reckon he'd be on the list of Leicester as well if I'm honest. £30m quid for a guaranteed PL goal scorer, under 30 years old....I think most clubs could stretch to that (apart from the totally skint ones like us, burnley, palace etc!) I think Leicester could be a great fit for him. He'd be a replacement for Vardy longer-term and he'd play every week there, be interesting to see if anything materialises there. I still see him here next season though, I just don't think he'll sign a contract. It's just if the club fancies playing that game of losing him for 0.

Bit harsh to single him out individually, what you state is that he needs better experience/a better partner next to him. In terms of Salisu's raw ability I think he's potentially the best we've got. Quick off the mark, strong/powerful and without question our quickest CB. There are undoubtedly question marks over certain aspects of his game that are coachable and also come with adapting to the country, as let's not forget he's not even had a full season here - 6 months at most is all he's been involved in, and even part of that he's been shoehorned in a hybrid back 3/left back role. In the games he's played I've liked what I've seen in the main and I'd have no problem with him being first choice for us next year, as Turkish has said the thing that stands out the most is his reading of the game, that's something you can't really coach and it's a natural attribute. I can certainly see why the club had the fanfare about him.

I had high hopes for him at the start, but it just hasn't worked out for him here. He's a little lightweight and fairly injury prone which has really stunted his progress here. Bar the first couple of games back at the start of the 2019 season, away at Brighton and away at Sheffield United, he's done diddly squat really, bar a single goal against West Brom last year and 1 assist at best. That's no where near acceptable for a player in his position, certainly not for £15m outlay. In the main the signings we've made since Ralph came in have been spot on, sadly Moussa isn't one of those. You'd have to say after 2 years he's probably never going to make it here, which is a shame because I quite like him.

I think you make some good points, but the bit I've bolded says it it all for me and I think it can be attributed to being as simple as that. Fully fit squad, consistent line-up, fully fit and confident Danny Ings = lots of goals, lots of wins. I don't think anything has necessarily changed in our approach over the course of this year, the only criticism, as you've mentioned, is that we've continued to play the same way when the players who make it successful haven't been available. When Ings scores, we usually win. When he doesn't, we don't and that's the crux of it really. Need better players/better depth to sustain things. I don't agree with your views on Redmond though, I think he's totally flawed. He's been equally poor under previous managers as well, exhibiting the same frustrating traits. I think he's a lost cause and I wish Ralph would stop trying to persist with him.

Good teams are built on a good goal keeper and a solid pair in front, who play together all season. We're not going to achieve anything if we continue that rotation nonsense. I thought it was just a back end of the season trial to see who would make it, but sadly they're both as bad as each other so it's never going to be a conclusive outcome. Ideally sell one, keep the other as backup and buy a proper goal keeper.

I don't think there were any glaring errors from the goal keeper per say, but he is very indecisive and generally not very good. A good goalkeeper would have pulled off a great save on at least one of those, in my opinion, but he doesn't seem capable of that. Any shot at him and it's likely that it goes into the back of the net, which is a pain in the arse when you've dominated most of the opening period and the oppo have their first shot. I'd like a goalie who is capable of pulling off a worldie every now and then, but we don't that. Even the 3 relegated sides have better goalkeepers than we do. The links to goalkeepers do kind of suggest the club feel the same way, but it's the age old problem of McCarthy, Forster and Gunn being signed for big money/on decent wages and still under contract. Another absolute mess.

It's a balancing act though isn't it. It's well published that we have no funds and we have to generate any funds for any incoming transfers. We are in dire need of an injection of quality throughout the side, in specific positions such as left back, centre back, central midfield and a winger/attacking player. We can scratch up as much loose change as we want, but that won't cut it in terms of improving as much as we need to. We've been here before - we sold Shaw, Lallana, Lambert, Chambers in a single window - arguably our best players at that time, and we used that to replace well and actually improve the overall squad, our position in the league and the value of the club. We've got ourselves in such a pickle with our squad and the players we have on big wages/signed for big fees that we don't really have a way out of it.

At the point of letting Targett go, we had Bertrand who was still fairly established and easily first choice/better than Targett at the time. Targett wanted to play games to his credit and Villa offered us £17m for his services. That £17m, for who in effect was a squad player, allowed us to buy Che Adams and strengthen up top. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but at that moment it was a no-brainer of a deal as Ralph needed to improve the squad.

Will be pleased if Lille get it. Nice to see some different league winners over Europe (At. Madrid/Inter/Lille possibly)

Vestergaard is a very casual defender, that's in his makeup. When the going is good he stands out, he looks in control, he looks cool in possession and unflustered. But when the going gets tough he still is as laid back as ever and doesn't seem to change his style, he just continues his laid back ''oh well'' attitude, but the problem is that those Hollywood passes and stupid flicks stop working and actually harm us - but naively he continues oblivious to the problem and never reverts to basics. Pretty much the same as the majority of our squad and that in a nutshell is the problem.

What has he said? We need something positive!

He had the nerve to wag his finger at the linesman after that as well.

Sell for as much as we can get, use Salisu as first choice and bring in a new CB to relegate Bednarek to the bench along with Stephens. Dream scenario though.

This is a guess, but It's probably around that 12-14th position i'd have thought. So in that sense we've finished about par of where we are as a club and where we are quality wise, I think. So you'd argue that we should be happy with it and just go again I guess. It doesn't make it any more fun to enjoy though, especially given the seasons we had with Koeman and Poch in recent times.

Was this the situation he still complained at the ref about? That's another thing that does him no favours, it's always everyone else's fault. He never takes responsibility for anything. He played a pass in field which was aimed at Armstrong, but it was pathetically shit and played behind him, JWP picked it up I think. He still waved his arms at Armstrong though. He must infuriate the group as much as us fans.

He was maybe a little better today, but he still looks way too lightweight for me. He should have scored at 0-0 too, those are the chances players of his supposed calibre need to put away. Still not a fan really, but he's probably as good as we can get in that position - especially if Liverpool can help us financially on another loan deal. Could be a cheap fix for attacking depth.

I find it hard to describe many points of this season beautiful to be honest. If we're doing beautiful flicks but still losing 5, 9, 4-0's then I don't really give a shit, to be frank. I'd say cut that shit out and get back to basics and get some actual 1-1's or 1-0's on the board before they start with the beautiful football crap. It kind of sums out our team really, can look pretty through the middle thirds where it doesn't really matter, but at the business ends - i.e where your money is earned and your points are gained - we are pathetically bad, and that's all that matters really, no matter how many flicks we make.

I think it's been fairly clear that he's just been a name on the Companies house documents since year 1 tbh, no more than that. It was a political purchase which was then destined to fail due to the change in tact in China. Has anyone ever actually hear him say anything? 'He doesn't speak English' is what I've heard - why doesn't he learn it then? I also understood 'Nelly' was supposed to come in and provide that connection but I never heard from her either. All in all a very, very sorry few years and we need to hope it's over soon.

A lot is made of Ashley not providing Newcastle funds, but they spent £25m on Wilson, previous season they'd spent £40m on Jollieton.

Sell JWP, Vestergaard, Ings - should get us £70-80m ish IMO. That'll provide us the tools to at least have a go next season. It's a shame we cocked up the re-investment in VVD's fee tbh. Criminal mismanagement, that money should have created a legacy for us but all it's done is destroy us and saddle us with overpaid absolute trash that no one else wants - and because we have no investment, we don't even have the scope to fix those mistakes. What a sorry state. Signing Theo on a free kinda sums it all up tbh.