S-Clarke

Skacel, after that entire summer of will he won't he. He ended up being nothing special and he probably pushed us over the line financially. Gaston - Was a signing that lit the imagination of most. We'd all read all summer how the top clubs were after him, he'd had a great Olympics etc. But apart from 'That villa game™' he never did it at all, just didn't seem suited to the rigors of premier league football and how we setup to play. Osvaldo - another 'big' signing, and an apparent marquee signing. But a catastrophic failure. He was garbage both on and off the field.

I'd have thought Antonio is right up Jose's street.

I think this is just as a consequence to our quick rise, which probably caught some at the club by surprise. Although our young players are good, they're probably not good enough (yet) to sustain a 6th place PL club. That has led to us investing into better quality players all over the pitch, so they do fall down the pecking order a little. I think game time is the best, as we saw from McCarthy this year, so if they're further away from the first time it's fair to assume we'd be open to a loan. It's all about being flexible as a club and adjusting to different situations, things have changed for us in an incredibly quick timescale.

Why are they still clinging onto the fact that he may be their manager? There is more chance of me being their new manager.

You're not going to get much better backup than Stek in the transfer window, let's be honest.

Well you kinda did, seeing as you said ''some of you THINK we are doing really well''. This ''keep making big changes'' myth is doing my head in. We had one pre-season whereby we sold a fair few players, that's it. The press and the media made out the same happened last year, but it didn't. We lost 2 players, that was it. We may lose a couple this year as well and bring in a couple. Last summer and potentially this summer doesn't really equal big changes or massive upheaval.

#6th in the premier league

Tough opposition for them, will give them a real test. Always good to have competitive games at that stage of the pre-season.

Ours will look great with Paddy Power.

It's ok, they've got Klopp. There is no one better in the world than him, ever. They're still massaging their Klopprections at the moment.

Yeah he did, refused to train! And I'm sure he kicked up a little bit of fuss last summer, as Koeman said his mind wasn't right? or am i confusing him with someone else?

I remember how he played at Chelsea with Robben one side and Duff the other, rotating with SWP and Cole. In his last stint at Chelsea he liked Willian and Hazard to get wide, so I think he likes width. Depay clearly has ability, but he's not been managed or used in the same way. I would imagine Utd will want to see a decent return on their £35m investment too, rather than ship him off at a loss as they did with Di Maria (another cracking player, who was managed appallingly)

Seeing as he's never been a manager, it would be utter suicide. Let a club like Leeds or Villa play that game, we're in a position where we could attract leading managers from Europe not amateurs.

Maybe Mata, but if he moves it'll be to a PSG level club who can pay his (supposedly) 200k p/w wages.

As a club, we've never been in a stronger position in both stature, reputation and finances. We're run by people who are sensible, look to the long-term and plan accordingly. I think we're lucky as hell to be in the position we are and a lot of clubs will clearly be envious of how we're run both on and off the field. If the worst does happen and Koeman does move on, then I have the trust that the people at the club will have already been planning for that scenario and will already have some incredibly high profile candidates shortlisted. When you look at massive clubs such as Villa, Newcastle, Leeds and how they've been managed off the field, you start to realise just how lucky and fortunate we've been to end up with the setup we've got right now.

Will Utd have that big a clear out though? Arguably, they have good players, but they have been carelessly managed for the last 12-18months. I think Jose can get a lot more out of Depay, Morgan, Bastian, Herrera. The players who I think may be available are Phil-Pulls Faces Jones, and Adnan - but neither of those are really needed here and Adnan reminds me of Macheda. Not actually that good, just arrived on a crest of a wave.

The Spurs lads still look mentally ****ed tbh.

Where's this losing 5/6 every season come from by the way? I still see that as being 1 season, which was a freak pre-season. We lost 2 players last year, not sure that constitutes any sort of meltdown. I wish people would stop trying to make out that we lose 5/6 players every year because we don't. Also don't bother including Junami in any meltdown this summer either, as I will barley notice he's gone.

Oh right. #premier league table. Look where we sit.

The change of direction being the largest ever investment in players this club has ever seen, and two of the highest points totals and finishes this club has ever achieved. I can certainly see a change in direction, I agree - you'd have to be blind not to see that.

Yeah, well he's not been fit a great deal. Hard to judge him on the pitch at the moment, but with a good pre-season behind him I think we'll see what he's all about. The bloke lives and breathes goals.

That was clearly said in jest/tongue in cheek.

The Europa league isn't about finances, it's minuscule to be honest. To be honest it's more for the fans - we get to experience new places, travel europe with our local club. I don't think EL makes much difference to players incoming or finances, it's just a good opportunity to grow the club long-term and potentially make the move to CL football - which is where the money and extra status really comes in.

I've always had the opinion that the club invested in Austin with the view to replace Pelle. Is Juanmi a surprise? We'll get a cut price deal on that and he'll be off, in fact it's probably already done. A bit of a non-player. Wanyama is off, he'd have signed a contract by now if he wasn't. I've accepted that one. Not entirely sure why he wants out though or where he thinks he's going, he's not really a top 4 player. As a top 6 club, we're about his level. He'll move and find that out the hard way though. We all know Mane wanted off last year, he probably wants off again this year - but it would take a mental deal and I don't see any club paying it, so it's not going to be up to him really. As a club, we're in the strongest position we ever have been. Finances coming in from TV, sponsorship, kit deals. The ambition is clearly there given the contracts for VVD, Fraser etc and If we do lose players then we've never been in a better position to replace them. This is really not the pre-season for a meltdown. I'm excited about the future.

The worst kept secret in football is surely Jose taking over?