HarvSFC

Neither Sulemana or Onuachu work hard enough off the ball for a pressing team. The press starts from the forwards, and they haven't shown they've got it in them. There were times last season when the opposition goalkeeper had the ball, would delay the play, and was allowed to delay the play because Sulemana and Onucahu were standing still, watching. It was infuriating. Time to move forward.

Best thing Ivan Juric has done for us, that. A fair amount of money back on Sulemana and Onuachu, plus the £8m from Strasbourg for Amo-Ameyaw and it should give us a bit more flexibility going forward. Clubs were only willing to loan Sulemana last summer and nobody took a punt last time we got relegated, so definitely pleasing to get some form of return for him. £18.3m gets a top end Championship player. Just a shame Bella-Kotchap couldn't adhere himself to Juric.

The time to sell Adam Armstrong was last summer when his stock was high. We gave him a new contract instead. Now, this summer, I understand why he's difficult with him neither being a striker, nor a traditional winger. However, he's also more of a guarantee next season than our other forwards for goals. It would also be very stupid to sell him to a division rival this summer. If he is to go, hopefully it's to Rangers.

You'll start to see a few more of the businesses around the stadium catch aflame over the next few years.

This was the season to go up. Bournemouth have already lost two of their best players, as well as Kepa. Semenyo and the other centre-back are also linked with moves away. Brentford lost Flekken, replaced with Kelleher, who has just one more cap for Republic of Ireland than Gavin Bazunu, despite being three years older. We've been burned plenty of times by these squad goalkeepers at top clubs. Lost Frank and are replacing with Keith Andrews and Mbuemo is also on his way out. Wolves have lost Cunha. Plenty of question marks over these clubs this summer now. We went up into a fairly stable league. Not that we'd have done much more with Martin as manager anyway.

After last season and many years of failure in recruiting a decent striker, please make this a statement signing, and not a young and inexperienced up and comer.

Remember Saphir Taider? Steven Caulker was so good he got a move to Liverpool after his loan.

Could also argue that having an inflexible and strict wage structure has not only impacted the quality of the first team, but also seen us lose a number of young talents to other clubs in recent years. I think losing Gomes-Rodriguez to Lyon, who don't have much money at all could be one that we think got away in a year or so.

Last year's kit launch was in mid-July when all the players were back from holiday, it was an evening event and the announcement of Flynn Downes came with it. Are we expecting a more low-key launch this year?

Good that the club are prioritising a striker. The summer when we were linked to Gakpo/Ramos/Dembele and ended up with Caleta-Car, Edozie and Larios on deadline day is still haunting. I hope the striker is an established statement signing, rather than a Quarshie with little first team experience. Stewart could have been that two years ago if he wasn't crocked, so it wouldn't totally be against SR's philosophy. I feel that we already have a young, developing striker in Archer and he could learn from and support/play backup to a striker with a few more years behind them. If we did go for a young player like Downs, I'd still feel as though we needed more. Promotion winning sides need ultra consistent players. Hopefully find 2025's Rickie Lambert.

Fernandes was an unused sub for Portugal U21s this evening in their 5-0 win.

We're swapping double barrels for Downes/Downs'.

Paul Trollope joins as assistant. Remember him as manager of Bristol Rovers. Had a bit of a dire time at Luton the last two years and Nottingham Forest with Hughton before that, however. But, does have two promotions from the Championship to his name with Luton and Brighton.

How has football got to a point where owners believe physically scouting a player isn't important. Just looking at numbers on a spreadsheet and making your decision from that.

Possibly. I'm just swaying to it being another example of SR not quite being as ruthless as they need to be. Chorley, you haven't done great at Valenciennes, so we're going to give you a new role at Southampton now. Rather than, Chorley, you haven't done a good job, we're going to have to part ways now as you haven't shown to be at the level we're looking for.

How has Ben Chorley been promoted from Valenciennes to us then? Sure his time there hasn't really been a success.

Nottingham Forest writing to UEFA to try and get Crystal Palace out of the Europa League so they can take their spot is so petty. Marinakis has no shame.

Scotland's a goalkeeper's retirement home - Hart, Butland and Schmeichel the recent ones. A 27 year old Aaron Ramsdale isn't going there. Might as well stay in the Championship with us if that was his only offer, which it won't be.

Aribo doesn't fit the new system. Doesn't work hard enough off the ball.

We made two good signings last summer - Aaron Ramsdale. A seasoned and experienced pro from Arsenal and Mateus Fernandes. An up and coming gem from Sporting Lisbon. So, there is talent to be found in either market. We just spent a lot of last summer recruiting crap and had a similar scattergun approach to the one that saw us relegated the first time. Just have to hope the new recruitment team can identify the required talent.

Maybe teams and upcoming managers around the world will copy PSG's tactics now, and they've been entertaining to watch in all of their Champions League matches this season.

On Jose Fonte, he changed his agent to Jorge Mendes before winning the Euros. An agent who had lots of contacts at the bigger clubs, and was Jose Mourinho's, the manager of Manchester United at the time. I know we don't know completely what went on, but that public knowledge suggests Fonte wasn't completely keen on staying here. It's still funny how West Ham ended up being his best offer and then China, but he did seem to have a late career revival. On Bale, I always thought he made his debut against Derby on the opening day, where he also scored. But, turns out he started against Millwall in April of 2006.

Positive quotes from Fernandes today: “I’ve never been in a place like this one. I can enjoy everything – even the weather here is good! The atmosphere is amazing, even when we are losing. I’m very happy to be here, I’m enjoying my time here.” “They show me in every game that they like me. That game against Leicester was unbelievable, I have never been in one place like that, singing my song almost the whole second half. It was very nice.” “I have a contract with Southampton. The next season will be different, I hope. Maybe we can play much better and win many, many games. We will work for that, train for that and I think we can do much better than this year.” I know Livramento did the same two years ago, claiming he owed the club something after his long injury before scurrying off to Newcastle, but there's still a hope in me that there is still some loyalty in today's game. Very easy for a player to say he doesn't know where his future lies also. Think Alcaraz was very open and non-committal with talks of his future when we got relegated with him. Fernandes plays in the Championship, we've got the best player.

Armstrong also had the Hugo Scheckter video situation to dent his ego. But, he is on a long contract. Out of our forwards, I'd say he's the best suited to a pressing system. He's a crap version of Shane Long, which means he's a willing runner. Stewart and Onuachu are slow target men with the latter likely to be off. Brereton-Diaz is just there and Archer doesn't do enough pressing off the ball and the press has to start from the top for it to be effective. Another summer where we really need a new number 9.

So we're going back to trying to unearth the next Livramento/Lavia and playing pressing football? I've gone back in time. A mix of young potential and proven quality will do this summer. Doesn't have to be one extreme or the other. Of course, if the scouting is good then we'll get a lot more Livramento's and Lavia's than the duds we signed three years ago. Just have to hope it is. Either way, Championship clubs don't spent £3.5m on non-first team/Goztepe loan players. THB and Quarshie centre-backs with Edwards in midfield? THB's likely off, though. It was reported a couple of weeks back that Tim Lederer was becoming our chief scout from Hoffenheim, so more than likely a suggestion of his.