benjii

I don't think it's fair to blame Puel. We had golden chances in each away game and missed them. Last night we missed a golden chance at the end and gifted the other team their only attack of the second half with an individual error. It's not Puel's fault he's stuck with Austin, Long and Rodriguez. The only real criticism I have of Puel is the over-use of Redmond. Last night it was clear that HBS had a weakness when it came to defending crosses. Redmond on the left never crosses well. We should have probably had Tadic left, JWP right and got a couple of players through the middle.

Because it wasn't a proper release clause. Vectis Saint is correct. There is no need for a club to offer more but the release clause is the minimum bid that can't be rejected by the club. It's quite simple. The reason why a club MIGHT bid more is because they are unaware of the terms of the player's contract. Probably unlikely in reality but that's the theoretical answer and it's why Vectis is correct.

Good.

I think people expecting an open game may be a bit disappointed - they only need one goal to leave us needing two and they won't want to allow us to get a head start. I would expect them to be quite cagey until at least half time (of course that goes out of the window if we get a couple of early goals). Their home support was loud but it was all very choreographed. Not sure how that will translate to a little block in the corner of the Northam!

A minnow, please. Not a Prem or Champ team - that's boring!

It doesn't even need to be rationalised with "too many games / rotation etc..". We are not a super-ruthless, league winning team. We will, from time to time, have bad days. Even if we were out of all the cups we would have bad days. Last season's team had bad days. This is not unique to Claude Puel. At no point this season have we played as badly as we did under Koeman away against Ipswich (lucky win), Midjtylland (dismal defeat), Sheff Utd (dismal defeat), Bournemouth (one of the worst league performances since we got promoted). It happens. We have one or two elite players and a lot of solid mid-table players. Last season our position flattered us because there was so much crap floating around in the league below us.

Speaking of Barry Horne..... THAT goal against Bolton!

So has Stek!

I've never thought he was brilliant but he's a solid top flight keeper and some of the comments on here are, unsurprisingly, idiotic.

I'm not sure the squad is stronger than last year (Mane or Redmond, Wanyama or Hojbjerg etc.?), it's just that we have a manager willing to rotate it a bit more. Having said that, if we had made the Europa group stages last season then perhaps Koeman would have also had to give Reed, McQueen etc some more minutes.

And Matip.

Forster, Cedric, Fonte, Van Dijk, Bertrand, Romeu and Austin all shoe-ins, obviously. Redmond will probably play after being rested so that leaves one space for one of Long, Boufal or Sims. I suspect Boufal might get the nod but you'd be pretty happy with any of those starting. It shows the options we have now that it's one from those three as well as Tadic being unavailable. Personally, I think I'd start Sims instead of Redmond but I expect Puel to show faith in Redmond. So then it's two from Davis, JWP, Hojbjerg and Classie. Very hard to choose. As JWP and Hojbjerg started on the bench I expect it will be those two but, again, what great options to have Davis and Clasie as well. Hopefully Clasie's goal spurs him on. Four clear days before the HBS match so that game shouldn't even be a consideration for Saturday's selection IMO.

I don't think we've played "atrociously" often at all. We were not atrocious against Hull; we played them off the pitch for 80 minutes. "Atrocious" is the sort of crap we dished up regularly back in the day, or last season at Bournemouth, for example. Sparta away was bad - probably the worst performance this season. On the whole I would say we are showing good progress. Our league position is likely to be lower this season simply because the league is generally of a much higher standard. If we can get the right result against HBS then it's a great season so far: mid-table league cup semi final through the Europa Group stages. Only a right weirdo would say that isn't good! If that comes to pass it will be better than I expected.

So, if someone had Kodi, what might be their best way of getting sports for free on it?

No, it would just seriously **** off Virgil I expect and mean that if Barca or Real are interested they are likely to offer a much smaller amount.

If I was him, I would want to leave at the end of the season. He is clearly one of the best defenders in the league and good enough to play for a club that regularly challenges for top honours. Whilst we do great, that isn't us, and isn't likely to be us. It will just be a case of whether a club he wants to join makes an enquiry, I imagine, and what his long-term plans are (ie. stay in England, go to another country etc.). I would hope that some of our "big clubs" aren't in the market for him. Man U will probably sign a CB in Jan and City have just signed Stones (although could arguably do with a fitter version of Kompany). I don't think Arsenal or Spurs would offer enough money for him. Liverpool - maybe (but are they good enough - time will tell this season?). Chelsea - maybe. There's no point in him joining any other Premier League team.

What's striking on watching the highlights back is the fact we had four people in the box and within 10 yards of the goal when Cedric crossed it for the winner. Sims had drifted in following his shot, Redmond was at the far post, Austin was in there (of course!) and Hojbjerg had made a forward run when Sims had the ball previously. That's what we tend to miss when we look impotent. Our midfielders aren't exactly prolific but teams can't afford to ignore them. Get more people in there and it opens space for Austin.

Shaw came off the bench against Milwall in the FA Cup and looked like a lost boy. He made his first start against Stevenage in the League Cup and looked like a lost boy. The game was, however, notable for Danny Butterfield at centre back, an excellent Jason Puncheon long-range strike and a hilarious Tadanari Lee goal from a wrongly given free-kick for a back-pass taken miles away from the "offence" by Chaplow whilst their keeper was out of the goal. Ben Reeves also scored. Adkins was the manager. Then, when Shaw got his Prem debut about three months later he suddenly looked solid and physically impressive.

Well, I guess Sims and McQueen can't exactly afford Ferraris so maybe he saw them leaving but Fonte, Van Dijk, Forster, Bertrand, Austin etc. aren't going to be driving Dacia Dusters around!

Exactly. Rotation is about managing cumulative fatigue. We don't need to rotate just because there is a Sun / Weds pair of matches. Out of the next three games, Palace should be the one where anyone is rested.

Yep, thought he was good.

I'm in Kingsland / Northam corner and it was fine.

I was saying what I would do. I would like us to win.

If everyone's fit I'd make two changes. Tadic for Redmond and Davis for JWP. Boufal on the bench instead of Rodriguez.

He's the player Redmond needs to aspire to be.