S-Clarke

I can't see how this can happen, he's quality. Exactly the sort of player we should have looked at to replace Mane first time round (as well as Sisto). Pacey, direct, got a bit of strength about him, tricky, goal record. Closest match to mane we could realstically attract. Let's see how this pans out.

We should be beating dross like Huddersfield, Palace, Swansea, Stoke as well etc etc etc. There's a pattern forming there. We're more dross then them!

They were caught a bit like rabbits in headlights for the first 5 mins, but since then they've looked better. How the lino missed that clear pen is beyond me, you can talk VAR all you like, but if a human being cannot keep up with play to see the most blantant penality ever then he shouldn't be in a job. I reckon they'll get a goal back in the 2nd half.

We didn't beat them the few months ago we played them, we let Glen flaming Murray equalise. Have no confidence in us to beat anyone going by who we've failed to beat this year.

This guy? Sammie Szmodics Highly rated down in L2 tbf. But I would guess this is one for the U23's

Should we be concerned that he'll be there with Harry Redknapp.

He's injured at the mo, so big no from me.

Who is the absolute polar opposite of the sort of player they're looking for.

How many times does that need to be brought up. It has nothing to do with that. Fraser Forster is with Stellar Football Management.

They're having a laugh. Surely.

He is part of Stellar Group, nothing to do with what was dug up the other day. Same agents as Bale, Lallana etc.

Stellar Football I think https://www.transfermarkt.com/stellar-football-ltd/beraterfirma/berater/190

Also a criticism of Puel. Maybe at this point we need to then look at the makeup and recruitment of the squad, and the fact that two managers have been chopping and changing the side in the hope of finding a formula.

One of the biggest mysteries of all - which that article picked up on - is why on gods earth was Fraser offered a new 5 year contract in the summer? Why was that needed? What had he done to deserve that? It was only a year on since his last 5 year renewal, so it's not like he was running down his contract and we needed to act. It's no wonder the levels have dropped if they know they don't have to play out of their skin to get an undeserved pay packet. That decision is still a total wtf in my mind.

Is that all you've picked up on? It is a bang on article in all aspects.

tbf as one of the big clubs, Chelsea's recruitment has been a bit wtf in recent years, generally.

But remember Ralph already has these on his desk, he just needs to spell check them. 5 pledges. I wonder if one of them mentions single digits.

Well, hopefully we can make use of him deeper if he's willing to learn. But having a presence in the box will be a bonus for us. Bertrands crosses in particular are brilliant, but Cedric needs some work. We've been crying out for more height down the spine of this team for a while.

To be fair he doesn't speak English, so probably a bit harsh unleashing him on 20 or so sotonions! Still would be good to hear from him in terms of a statement though.

You'll need someone to keep an eye on Son, Eriksen and Ali too. Their movement is really, really fluid.

But the average players at the big clubs would probably be the best players at mid sized clubs. We're not signing washed up, they're still young. People like Lemina, Hojbjerg, Hoedt are still really young and have tons of growth.

I'm a little more reassured that this looks close, because attribute wise he's exactly what we need. A powerful, tall centre forward. Someone to play off of. I'm not condoning long ball, but you need options and you need someone to give the rest of the team the opportunity to push up - he may not score bags and bags of goals, but what he'll bring us in holding up the ball will allow us to get more from the rest of the side And our pacey wide player we seem to be targeting, who is also a 100% requirement for this team.

To be fair, Toby was a reserve player when we signed him. But I do get what you mean in a sense, but you also need to look at the clubs we're getting these players from. We're not going up to Celtic or Saltzburg, we're getting players from Bayern Munich, Juventus, Monaco, Napoli etc. They'll obviously be reserve players there as we wouldn't be able to get near a first team player. They may be reserves, but they're good quality reserves. It's up to the manager to build a good team, we don't have bad players.

Clearly heavily influenced by Pellegrino as he worked with him when he was manager at independiente (i think)

Yeah, I know that's the case. I'm not really expecting to see full financial details, but just some ideas of their plans wouldn't go amiss. To have such a large takeover and to hear nothing on the back of it is just odd. In a sense I'm glad they're not shouting from the rooftops like the Venky's, but there is another extreme to that - not actually saying anything! Will see how Ralph is getting on with those pledges soon I guess.