benjii

Why do you mention Rees-Mogg, out of interest? He is evidently conservative (in the literal sense as well as politically), somewhat anachronistic and of a fairly dogmatic economic persuasion but as far as I know he has never debased himself in the way that Hopkins, Robinson, Trump etc. have.

I expect wholesale changes as that's what pretty much everyone does now in this farcical competition. Due to the upheaval, no one will play that well and it'll be back to the usual suspects on Sunday.

I think, sooner or later we are Gaoing down with Gao. There has been not one single indication since the takeover that he has any clue whatsoever about what to do with the club, no plan other than creating some photo ops in China and no money to invest. The fact that he has allowed Kat to dictate the status quo remains in place tells you all you need to know about his vision and capability. When we do go down, with the current regime in charge, we are going to be fecked a la Rupert's second coming, where everything will be for sale to the highest bidder. It's time for a protest. #GaoAway! Who's in?

Thank **** for Wikipedia, eh? Although it does class wide midfielders as wingers.

Got to stitch Vectis up as well in the interests of balance?

Mike Dean special but was a foul.

Smart linesman there. We want V A R, say we want V A R.

We just have to grin and bear it. Although we are polar opposites to how we used to be. I'm getting pretty pizzled off with it and you do need to wonder if Gao is spectacled enough to do something.

Although, for clarity, Redmond plays as a WM, AM(RLC), AP and WINGER all at the same time due to his mastery of the position.

JWP is an RM though. A right misjudgement.

Anyway, they aren't wingers or rm / lm. They are RAM and LAM. Ings is a DLF and Austin is a crock o'shoite.

No wonder we're in the **** if we've got Solent's finest football grads mincing about the place.

What's the good one? Ings, I guess?

How does "good on paper" even apply to our squad? None of our GKs are particularly good on paper by PL standards. Same goes for our central defenders. Yoshida is probably the best on paper and he's being frozen out. Full backs are decent on paper. Central midfield is not particularly good on paper by PL standards. Romeu has always been bit-part at this level. Lemina is up and down more than a porno Doris. Hojbjerg is young and seems to be on an upward curve but he's nothing special yet. Davis is over the hill and JWP is pound-shop Beckham. Attacking midfielders: Armstrong and Mo are untested at this level and Redmond, whilst being much better this season, will always just be Redmond. I'll tell you who was good on paper: Dusan Tadic. Then you've got the strikers: Long isn't good on paper. Neither is Austin, particularly. Gabbi sort of is but his goal record really isn't. Ings is decent but needs to show he can do it over a season when he's the main man. So, actually, the only players in our team with any proven history of turning in consistently decent performances at PL level are Bertrand, Yoshi, Davis (but not really any more) and Ings.

Has Gao got any money to plough in?

Yes, that's right. Fair point. I was trying to say that we must have known VD was going to be off when we signed Hoedt and Bednarek. The fact we've now felt we need another centre back is more a sign of their relative failures than a sudden need to replace VD. Either way, I think the main point we can all agree on - our signings are much worse than they used to be!

Hoddle.

"6th slowest player in the league" Give the laptop a rest, pal.

Van Dijk left the season before. He was replaced by Hoedt and Bednarek, albeit they were signed when he was here, as we clearly planned on selling him that Jan. We then added Vestergaard because Bednarek isn't perceived as good enough, Stephens clearly isn't good enough and the club doesn't rate or is trying to sell Yoshida. Either way, I agree with your point. It's a mess.

Pretty forlorn hope. I don't think he's got a scooby. If he did he wouldn't let Kat keep 20% and he wouldn't let her dictate that Ralphy and Reedy have to hang around.

Yep. Swansea, Everton in a mess and West Brom twice.

Would it be Mane, Salah or Firmino that loses out to Gallagher?

Yoshida and Gabbiadini would be of interest to a number of foreign clubs. JWP is **** mate.

Is is that what the argument with Ralph was about? Has Hughes been told not to pick players that we are trying to sell?