Sour Mash

That's not how major contracting works. We're not putting in a new kitchen.

Are Roma in a position to be paying the sort of transfer fee required?

Agreed. And what's to say we don't get a reapeat of last pre-season if the move doesn't go exactly how he wants.

Fair enough, just sounds pretty unlikely that's all.

He's been a class player for us, still not a fan of his behaviour and attitude in the summer though, not hugely different to those who left us and got stick for it. Interesting that he picks out Champions League football as the key driver behind any move, but I guess its easier to forecast then winning cups or leagues. A bidding war between the likes of Arsenal and Man Utd must help drive his price up, will be interesting to see where he ends up.

Why would they make enquiries to contractors? You'd get the design, planning etc sorted first.

Ha, you're kidding? What a **** take!

Heaton from Burnley if they go down? Kasper Schmeichel?

With such an injury, is recovery relatively straight forward and easy to plan for (albeit long and painful), or is there plenty of scope for set backs, extensions of time etc?

Very unfortunate and such a freak accident, even more so for a keeper. It did look like his knee had gone completely in the pics from the game, completely indented. 6 months makes it a tough call for the club, what level of replacement in the summer do they bring in. IN terms of next season's back up, it might be a blessing in disguise as it could gurantee a good level back up to Forster once he's fit again.

Right, got ya, so we change three of our first choice back 5, have the same two defensive midfielders as last season, improve our defensive record for last season and we shouldn't be impressed by our summer recruitment.

Crediting the best back 4/5 with the best defensive record in the country is "ploughing a dead end". No-one has said that Wanyama and Schneiderlin haven't had an important role. But Betrand has been excellent? Alderweireld excellent? Forster pretty good? Three out of five and all done well. We had Schneiderlin and Wanyama last season, but have a better defensive record this season, care to explain that?

Matic has been fairly average for the 2nd half of the season.

All irrelevant anyway. So what if Liverpool or Chelsea at home sells out quickly?

Good to see you're both keeping things in perspective.

But he's right though - the best defence in the Premier League, with 3 out of the back 5 new arrivals. A stronger overall squad. Fonte, Clyne and Schneiderlin might be our three best players of the season, but you can't be challenging the whole season for top 6 without having a very good overall squad.

Why should Top Gear have done anything differently though? It was a ridiculously popular/successful programme.

Agreed. They've under achieved in the league this year, but still have plenty of good players. A draw would definitely be a good result from this one.

IT's not really a case of being calm or not about it. Just accepting that certain players will leave and we're pretty wel set up for recruitment, not perfect, but good, that will do me. It's not as black and white as simply replacing like for like anyway. You could argue that Lallana has been replaced by Tadic and Mane. That's not a bad bit of business in my eyes.

You can't have a season like ours, using so many new players and doing so well, without our recruitment overall being a success.

Neither of your blogs demonstrate strong evidence of racial bias in the English game against those from an Asian background. You need to spend more hours researching.

But that's the simple point. The club clearly don't feel there would be a significant enough revenue increase to cover costs of expansion, which is why we haven't done it.

He's right though

Am I right in thinking you've never set foot inside an English football ground?