Lighthouse

A lot of people seem to be using the phrase 'push on' on here. I'm not sure what you all mean by it, 6th and in Europe is pretty much as good as it'll get for us.

Wouldn't have said Juanmi was 'utterly world class' personally. Seriously, if you're in about Mané you are massively overrating his talents. He may be 'world class' for about 3 games a season but the rest are a mixture of decent and anonymous. If he was, much better teams than Liverpool would be after him.

I was responding to the suggestion that it was, "a pretty p*ss poor effort." Nothing much we could do about the outgoings but I'm not sure how those signings could be described as "p*ss poor".

A record signing, an England U21, a Danish international from Bayern's youth team and finally a half decent reserve keeper. Disgraceful.

For our last European campaign (before last season) we recruited Neil McCann, Darren Kenton and finished mid table. I think we'll cope alright with this 'disaster'.

Stewards enquiry? I count four.

On par. Wait and see.

Should have done better with Zlatan's header too IMO but people don't tend to mention things like this with Fonte for some reason.

It's not every game and even then 'howler' is an exaggeration. He under hit one back pass against Watford but was otherwise very reliable. It comes with not being a regular starter, we won't get a better player sitting on our bench. If Fonte didn't start for 2 months, then was chucked in because of injury, he would make mistakes too.

Just like Pogba. Juve sold too early, they should have got £200m.

Progression being finishing above a Utd side that just signed Mourinho, Zlatan,Mkhitarian and Pogba? Anyone hoping for that is a bit mental (not to mention we would have to stay above Chelsea and Liverpool). I'd be happy with a decent mid table finish and a half decent European campaign, which is about what I'd expect from this squad.

6 goals each from Austin, J Rod, Boufal and Redmond will match the contribution of Pelle, Mané, Austin and Juanmi last season. Don't think it'll be that hard.

We have improved on Kelvin and Juanmi. We tried to improve on Martina but Pied is now injured.

Better players than Gardos and Yoshi aren't going to sit on our bench.

Would it be in bad taste to nickname him 'Hollocaust'?

Two... And even that assumes we make it to a domestic QF this year.

If I was being pedantic I'd say McCarthy was replacing Gazza as Stek was only ever cover for Fraser's injury but I largely agree with your post. A few people seemed to think that we'd replace everyone we sold and 'strengthen' with 3 or 4 others. That was never going to happen.

If Austin and JR are starting to look vaguely fit, I think we are okay. With Boufal, Redmond, Long and Tadic that's 6 pretty decent options. It's a big 'if' but there are goals in this squad. Mané and Pelle were good for 20-25 goals a season, combined. I'd like to think we can get something similar from the players we have now. 6 each from Austin, JRod, Boufal and Redmond should cover it.

Can't agree there, Hojbjerg looks excellent so far. I think with more experience Rom can cover the physical side of Wanyama's game, without spending 1/3 of the season having an early bath, suspended or generally not being a*sed to play. I can see why some aren't convinced but 'much weaker' is an overstatement.

Overall I'm fairly satisfied with the squad we have, it's only the tactics I'm concerned about.

Four.

In a way I wish all drawn games went straight to a penalty shoot out. Would at least add some excitement to the end of a 0-0 with Stoke. Extra time is tedious bull crap anyway, if the first 90 minutes is a non-event why drag it out another half hour.

He is average when he's unfit and recovering from injury. Which is most of the time.

Thread title sounds like a West Indian cricketer. A shame Gardos isn't involved in the game. Edit: just seen someone beat me to that joke.

Sorry, that sounded more sarcastic than it was meant to. It would depend on whether his attitude affects morale within the team. If he came here acting all big time Charlie, talked down to other players and never put that much effort in, it probably wouldn't help our results.