S-Clarke

We're very Brighton-esque at the moment.

We've played alright, but we just don't have that quality up front at the moment. It dies in and around the final third after what is good build up through the lines. Not getting the rub of the green or that bit of luck anymore either, season has flipped on it's head. It was always going to happen eventually (After 40 or so games of consistent form) but it's still frustrating.

Diallo at RB is an interesting one, but I think it confirms what we think of Valery. He really isn't near the level we need and hopefully come Tuesday he won't even make the bench for us anymore. I think we've removed a good bit of dynamism from our midfield with Diallo at RB, but we'll see how it goes. I'm not surprised to see Che dropped, he has been struggling in recent weeks for me. Needed a break. Hopefully we're a bit fresher today, and at least it looks like we have a couple of options on the bench again.

And this is why Fulham are in deep shit this season.

I think it's pretty clear I don't agree with that, I think he's terrible. He's not spoken a word in 3 years since he took us over, that doesn't equal a good owner for me. Just my opinion, others may disagree. Apart from the Ralph era (we can't credit him for choosing him) we have been a terribly run outfit both on and off the field under Gao.

You've summed up Leicester pretty well there, although let's be honest....the bloody bastards copied us in the first place, disgusting thieves of our 'way.'. (copyright Les). They do have good owners though, and this is the kind of balance I wanted/want to see here. Not sugar daddys chuking billions in, just stable owners who communicate, have a plan and will help the club out if it needs it. I will say though...they do sell big (Maguire/Chillwell) but the main difference is that their big buys from those sales are wins. This year they spent big on Castange to replace Chilwell, and then used a big chunk of that to buy Fofana as well - two excellent signings who have been able to go straight into the first team and improve their squad.

Yes...not much point crowing about who was on the list (Tuchel, Nagglesmen, Ralph) when we went and frigging appointed Puel and Pellegrino. Massive fails, yet he feels like it's something to boast about.

Good news on Romeu being back in contention, as well as Moussa - which surprised me. Could have some attacking options on the bench again with Moussa and Redmond. Squad filling out a bit again.

Thanks for sharing, but nothing really new in that. Kind of rehashed stuff of what we already knew. Wanted to keep Koeman, but he was tempted away. Then we ballsed up the appointments after that. That is fully on Les and it sounds like he's accepted blame for those appointments. It was also shambolic to have let MPoE have any say what so ever in the sanctioning of a £20m striker, he should have been told to do one if he was trying to put his demands on the table at that point. Sounds like he's had a slight dig at the new ownership and club leadership as well, but I think that's sour grapes more than anything. I wonder what late night tapes Les and Poch used to watch in the dark?

I think that is pretty solid confirmation that we have managed to secure a full back. Maybe we're not sure which one yet, but I'd say 99% we've got someone. Ralph has already been saying his full back positions aren't strong enough, so in no world is he going to send one of them out and not replace! Vokins wasn't ready, he does need games...so we'll see how he does. Not sure what his future holds, he's not had the impact of other left backs who have come through the academy.

Supposedly more of a ball playing centre half, so in the Vestergaard camp (Plus he's left footed). Maybe we'll find out one day!

So, Liverpool's central defensive options for the remainder of the season are: Phillips, Henderson, Fabinho and Williams. Two kids and two midfielders. Matip now joins Gomez and Virgil with a long-term ligament injury (ankle ligaments I think)

I'd doubt it. They don't have any money either.

What Jose does to all teams! They'll need to come out and play now. They're 0-2 down now.

I find it hard to class Tella as a 'youngster', he's 22 this year. I'd expect to see much more from him by this age if he's going to be a mainstay. Youngsters for me are 16/17/18/19 year olds. F**k me, I sound old now.

True, there was that chatter for a while. Her and KL had quite a strong relationship or something. But again, I don't think I've ever heard Nelly speak? certainly no statements.

He's probably too good for L1. No better than Championship though, he may make a decent lower half PL player at some point...but I've always thought we should be aiming higher.

I'd say we're missing Vestergaard more than people realise. That's not something I thought I'd be saying a year ago. Our key outlet to breaking an opposition press was by having Vestergaard play an accurate ball through the middle (by passing the oppo's midfield) or accurately switching play to the right flank. It was a tactic which was getting us success time and time again, we were breaking through a teams midfield through one Vestergaard pass. If you watch the way we played, we'd draw the team onto us...and then he'd make the pass, and half the oppositions team would be out of the game and we'd be in their half. We don't have that now. We have Jack Stephens thinking he is Frank Beckenbauer - and then giving the ball away, that's it. Jan Bedenrak has never been that sort of player (passer) so I don't expect that from him. And away from that...set pieces. He was a massive threat from a JWP free kick/corner. If he didn't always get on the end of it, his presence would leave another player free. That's what we've missed in my opinion. That's why we look so poor going forward. A lot of our attacks were started by an accurate piece of distribution from our centre back, Jannik Vestergaard.

I think N'Lundulu has something about him, but that's his strength and power in the main. His touch in the last couple of appearances, as people have said, was shocking. Tella - not seen anything there, don't see a top level player at all. Doesn't seem to have it for me. I've heard so much chatter about Jankewitz over the years...so I was kind of excited to finally see him. Better touch/presence and technique than N'Lundulu, Watts, Chaulke or Tella in that small time he was on the pitch. There's obviously something with his attitude, but I'd be frustrated as well if I wasn't getting the chances. He probably thinks he's a better player than Watts and he's probably not wrong... If he does go then I think we'll be looking back in a few years time with a frustrated feeling, whilst Watts/Chulke head out on their 15th loan to Tranmere rovers.

I agree with what you say. I do like the leadership at the club (Martin, Ralph etc) but they can only work with what the owner provides. The local leadership and the manager have done wonders with the tools at their disposal. The start we had was a total false position and I think some people got carried away with that, where we are now is probably our ceiling. If we finish any higher than 10th then that deserves plaudits, would be a great achievement. My problem with Gao, and even Kat, is their silence. Of course, I don't want a lunatic owner who wants to change our name to Solent FC, but I do want an owner who at least communicates with fans and shares their plans and their ideas. Gao doesn't even have a 'Cortese' type who is his voice, he just isn't involved at all...and because of that It feels like we are just floating around with no real plan. Where are we going? Investment would be welcomed, of course, but I think in part we need to thank Les and Woss for their criminal waste of £80m of VVD money. But, I'd still hope for an engaged owner to at least give us a tiny bit of flexibility in the market. We seem to struggle to get a loan in without moving someone out first. We act like a club which is on the brink of financial collapse, which we may well be, but how would we know? We don't have an owner with any reassuring messages to fall back on.

Jeez, he's a no hope isn't he. What did we ever see in him!

No, not at all. I wouldn't want that. I don't know why people equate showing ambition to spending endless money. I guess all I've ever wanted from the ownership is a plan. 'This is why we've bought the club' 'This is what we want to do' 'It will take some time, but we want to take this club to this level''. Just providing us some flexibility and agility in the transfer market is all I ask for. We have to sell before we can even get a freebie and that will kill us eventually.

Sounds like we are still very interested in Brandon Williams on a loan deal. I don't see why it wouldn't be possible either, Man Utd can't give him game time. They've got Wan Bissaka, Telles, Shaw. The only question you'd ask is if they have a backup right back, and Williams can also play there. It's probably up to Williams to force the move if he wants to be first choice somewhere else.

If he does leave, then yourselves or Everton are the best bet for him in terms of regular game time. I'd say clubs of your level are his level....if he steps up further to a Liverpool, Man City etc then he will end up on the bench as they chase the European super stars. You'd be a good fit for him for years to come if he did leave. It's just a shame we don't have owners who could provide a similar level of ambition to that of yours, but there we go.

I'm not sure you're thinking straight. If you think Forster is underrated then you're not quite with it. McCarthy is our best goal keeper and will continue to be our first choice. When he isn't our first choice, it will be because we have a new player, not Forster.