Lallana's Left Peg

Yoshida terrifies me. But not much else we can do.

Yeah fair points I agree with them all. To be fair I haven't seen much of us this pre-season so I do not know exactly how we'll play or how the balance of the squad is shaping up. We have good quality in the squad the only unknown is how quickly things will gel - the new Manager and all the new players. There may be a period where we underwhelm but over the course of the season I don't see us being threatened by relegation but there may be periods of the season where we look closer to it than we really are. Next summer will be interesting - if we've only blown half of what we've received this season.

We have more depth at GK and in the centre of the park (the latter where we didn't need it). I don't disagree with the rest of your statement but I don't feel like we have proper depth in the positions we needed it. Lambert and Osvaldo replaced with Pelle and Long Lallana replaced with Tadic Lovren replaced with Gardos Shaw replaced with Bertran Taider and Forster in to strengthen with no losses. Chambers not replaced - right back is a very dodgy area for us depth wise as even the backups aren't proper right-backs. I'd say we are only marginally better off. Still two weeks of the window left.

They also host foreign clubs who choose to train there when they come over here for European games.

They heard Les Reed had £100m to spend and didn't want to miss out.

Seeing the Brighton fans reactions to this is at least making me smile

One of the best in the country for his age group but it's big boys football in the centre of the park in the Premier League and he needs to grow out a little to have the physical tools (or confidence) to impose himself on games a little.

Those offers

Liverpool and Spurs were after him when we were last summer. We pursued him with the greater aggression and purpose and convinced him to come. I remember what it was like to have a bit of drive in the transfer market when it came to ambitious targets.

Quite. And for all those bleating on about Cork being behind in the pecking order...we played two central midfielders last season and he was third choice. We play three central midfielders this season and he is probably fourth choice. His first team prospects were absolutely fine (if not better) this season but then we signed Taider and the writing was on the wall. We've hardly made the decision for him to stay easy, have we? The club is to blame for about to lose an asset for very little due to him being in a position of having just a year left on his deal. Lets not forget at the end of last season Cork said he spoke with Reed and the owner about a new deal - so what changed? Another Reed balls up.

We shouldn't be too surprised. Hard for us to justify paying him his worth for him not to be a starter, and he can start for several other teams in this league. Would explain the Taider signing I suppose...

I understand that different types of players can start wide and come inside. I just question whether a striker who has made it his staple to start in the centre and run into channels is the right sort of player to start out wide and then do whatever Koeman wants the guy occupying that role to do. If indeed our width is to continue to come from the full-backs then I am even more confused as to why we've been chasing wingers all summer. But if there has been a change of heart and Long is to be the man to start out there it'll be interesting to see how well he can adapt to this new role. Would be a £12m gamble for me - buy a proven Premier League striker and then play him in a completely alien role to him.

I remember 3 months ago when we had Pochettino as Manager and £100m+ worth of five extra players in the squad

It's not. I've asked this question several times and aside from ideas like playing him in the number 10 role (!) people are shoving him on the left. He has different characteristics to the rest of our strikers and I get that but our formation just does not make sense for him.

No way. I'm confused by this signing however if you were to line up McCormack (£11m), Long (£12m), and Deeney (£10m) and ask me which is best value and who I'd prefer at Saints out of that lot it would be Long all day.

HOOIVELD TO ARSENAL FOR £15M!!!!!!

Good luck to him. Deserves a clean break and fresh start.

Everton managed to sustain their league position while absorbing the loss of one or two individuals a year. I doubt we'll sustain 8th and we have lost far more than a few individuals. I still think we will finish 15th or so as regardless of the quality you buy this amount of change is hard to accommodate without performances being impacted. I suspect we'll never know the full story behind what has happened since May and I continue to be concerned that Les Reed is our DoF however I suppose there will be a sense of familiarity with how this season is about to pan out. Back to the 'same old same old'.

Not too bad then.

Do we know how much Mayuka signed for? I've heard anything between £4.5m - £7.5m

Yoshida plays himself into form, he's been poor coming in and out of the team so I can have some sympathy for him in that respect. However, he definitely gets mugged off by strikers far too often and was turned inside out at the World Cup too many times. I don't know how much he cost us - he's done a job and he hasn't been a bad signing but no-one seems bothered he is out of contract at the end of the season, do they? I imagine he and Hooiveld will move on come next summer.

According to Wikipedia he earns £6.7m a year. A cool £125k a week!

Completely ignoring the fee, which either can or cannot be justified based on your disposition, how do people see him fitting in? I see his qualities but don't know how he works with anything other than two strikers on the pitch, which we've not done in two seasons now. I really do not see him as a Jay Rod 'outside left' type of player. If he is Pelle's backup then I am concerned as he is not a target man. Is he 'just an option' for when we need two up front?

He has a 1 in 5 record in the Premier League as a striker. If he played all 38 games for us his record suggests he'll get 8 goals for us. Not sure what impact playing on the left will have on him. In fact of the things you've listed the only thing he has is pace.

That's where he runs into, not where he starts. He is a striker who plays central and moves into either channel chasing things. The fee is one thing, the player is another. I don't see where he fits into things as it stands. We've been linked with wingers all summer for that left-side berth and now we're going to shunt a striker out there? Weird.