HarvSFC

Two of the three (don’t know who the others are) are Jack Harrison and Kalvin Phillips too.

We lost 1-0 on Sunday then, did we?

Just seen that players aged 17 can only sign for a maximum of three years, hence the short deal. Once they turn 18, they can then sign longer deals.

Never seen him again, but looks like another coup, linked with the top clubs and highly rated at their club. I'm certainly not against becoming the Dortmund of the Premier League, either. Maybe Redmond could be the next Thierry Small.

I know football started before the Premier League, but I thought 58 goals to become West Ham's all-time highest Premier League goal scorer was quite low. So, I checked ours. Le Tissier (101) and Beattie (68) were the only two to better that. Our current highest is JWP on 30 league goals, with Long on 27 and Redmond on 20.

I've said before that he's better than our previous squad centre-backs, Yoshida and Gardos. He's dependable, which is ideal. It's just the one big mistake he's prone to making, then isn't helped as the goalkeepers here are never going to save him from those mistakes becoming goals. Him and Bednarek were also a good partnership during the lockdown football, but they fell to pieces in that Tottenham game, when we were trying to play a high line against them. I also remember him giving it back to another gobshite in Jack Wilshere a few years ago after Wilshere ripped his shirt off. He did get red carded for leaving him on the floor, though.

Better team after we scored up to half time and the better team after they scored. Shame about the weak goal conceded, but we’ll take it.

McCarthy - Strange, as when he does come out for crosses, he uses makes a good connection on the punch, or catches the ball. He's never a flapper. Needs to be more confident as that one that hit the crossbar early on was inexcusable again. However, Forster doesn't come out for crosses and I think that Matic header at the end goes in against Forster in the goalkeeper debate. Livramento - Too good for us. Only thing he does wrong is the final ball, which can be forgiven. Stephens - Very good, as we know he can be. Gets remembered too much for his mistakes, which hopefully won't come in this match. Salisu - Solid, just can't make a forward pass. Keep it simple. Perraud - Capable. Romeu - Doing a job. Ward-Prowse - Good early set-piece. Doing a job in the middle also. Walcott - Waste of a shirt, which is a shame. Started last season well for us, but he's been on a decline ever since his first injury here. Think I prefer Redmond to him. Djenepo - Defending well, made some dangerous runs, but as always, looks like he can't fully control himself. Adams - Thought he looked a bit useless before the goal. Needs to hold the ball up more, so it doesn't come straight back, but we'll take the strike. Armstrong - Those comparisons to Long were good. I thought he was just a poacher when he signed, but he's a real pest. Very lively. Can see him causing issues in the future. Overall, come on Saints! Do not bottle this one, they don't have Cavani this year. Same again second half, they were rattled after our goal and we looked a lot more composed.

Dany N'Guessan was a good one, didn't even need the second 'n'.

Sigh. 😔

Same scenario played out for Smith-Rowe when Aston Villa tried lowballing Arsenal. Glad we’ve kept the player for a change. Yes, he could do more from open play, but he’s the best direct free-kick taker in world football. If he could do something in open play, he’d have left years ago. Also, good to see a player not chasing the money at Villa (Ings) and staying somewhere he has an affiliation with. I’m sure, like with Schneiderlin, if the right club comes in with the right offer, then fair does. But, Aston Villa are not that.

Pelle?

Arsenal are actually getting relegated…

Our old strike force when coming up the leagues was way too good for their respective levels. Lambert, obviously the ultimate capture. Too good for League One, beat Championship clubs to his signature and then turned out he was too good for the Championship and a Premier League/international player. All for £1.5m. Then Lee Barnard, one of the top League One strikers at Southend at the time that we signed him, 25 goals in 56 League One matches for us. Supported by David Connolly, who was far too good a goal scorer for League One, but fell down due to injuries and Mr. Offside, Papa Waigo, completing the striker depth, turning up in each JPT match. Then moving up and bringing in a Japan international, Tadanari Lee, who contributed with a great goal against Derby, winning a dodgy penalty at Watford and assisting Lambert against Leeds in the Kelvin Davis match. Completed by Billy Sharp, who again was one of the top Championship scorers at the time of signing him. Nine league goals in 11 matches in the second half of the season allowed us to see off West Ham and go up in the automatics. Good times, no shortage of goals.

I'm personally happy that we're not ignoring the Championship anymore, like we seemingly were when we were signing Boufal, Hoedt, Lemina, Elyounoussi, Carrillo, etc. given our previous success with Adams, Rodriguez and Clyne and seeing players like Maddison and Eze make the step up. Their manager is Chris Hughton... Whenever I've watched them under him, their primary focus is defending.

He definitely had a good debut, crazy to think that was his first senior appearance. You could see why he was selected ahead of KWP, one of our top and consistent performers from last season. He has the attacking skills and close control that we've missed since Lallana, the final ball does need some work, but can't expect the finished product at just 18. Excited to see what more is to come and if he can play in the 10 position to allow KWP back in.

Because the last manager we got from another club was Nigel Adkins and that was... errr, yeah, I don't know why the club has this bizarre rule when the manager's position is the most important within the club. If we can spend £2.5m on new TV screens.

Yessssss! Ings who? This guy will never make the step up. Needs 4 chances to score one.

Any chance of a booking? Everton get that chance because Stephens was clattered just before.

Leicester are going into the season with Amartey at centre-back. Once Evans and Fofana come back, he'll be fourth choice there, behind Soyuncu too. He's just a depth option for them.

As I said a couple of weeks back, he’s had three good months here in three years. This time last year he was behind Stephens in the pecking order, up until we lost 5-2 against Tottenham. I don’t think he’s particularly good in the air, given his height and I think he should be more of a threat in that sense when attacking, especially when JWP aimed for him most times. He’s slow and an accident waiting to happen, and as already mentioned, the goals conceded tally doesn’t lie, he’s been a consistent part of a weak defence. His one attribute that we will miss is the diagonal balls to the full-backs, especially now that we seemingly have two options, instead of always trying to play through to KWP. He might now look better in a more positive and better team in Leicester, but in our team he just isn’t all that. I’ve found neutrals seem to be treating this like another Van Dijk departure.

Can we unearth another Van Dijk, Alderweireld, even Lovren was clearly a level above us when he played for us, please.

A reminder that Shane Long is our number 7...

Shame about the no more additions. I don’t think the two forwards signed this week complete us. That said, there’s usually a deadline loan surprise, be it Walcott, Minamino, KWP and errrr Danso.

Ask this at the fans forum.