Lighthouse

This is going to be Liverpool's year. Copyright 2016 And 2015 And 2014 And 2013 ... The team in 5th has just spent £100m on one player. It will take more than Mané and Wijnaldum to get Liverpool to the top.

Which is the problem, a like for like replacement of their 4th choice CB isn't going to improve them. If they want to do better than 8th, they need someone better than Lovren and Sakho. It would be like us when we got promoted, replacing Guly with Craig Mickail-Smith. Not going to help.

Some decent attacking options but their defence still looks sh*te to me. Ragnar Klavan, 12th in the Bundesliga last season, isn't the answer to their problems.

Was there anything to stop people printing off more than one copy and trying to get someone else in without paying. I assume the barcode would have been rejected the second time but I'll bet it caused a bit of a fuss.

Got mine a couple of days ago as a member but the only options were delivery and collection. I assume this is because I bought the ticket immediately after renewing my membership, so my smart card hadn't been 'activated' or whatever. Can't wait now, first opening day for me since Leeds in the Championship. Probably the same for most people actually since we've started away for the last 4 sodding years.

There is a certain irony to not relying on J Rod and Austin because of injury concerns, then suggesting we should sign AOC. I'd actually be underwhelmed with both the players you suggested.

Erdogan now 'purging' the country of anyone holding a differing ideology it would seem. Teachers, university deans, preachers, military leaders. This'll end well.

We will never know. I would wager Japan probably wouldn't have attacked an enemy who they knew could flatten entire cities with a single bomb. They were fanatical but not insane.

The Japanese high command knew they had 6 months to run riot in the Pacific before the US managed to properly gear up its naval capability. Their plan was to pretty much push America out of the Pacific in this period of time, so that they would eventually sue for peace. As a military strategy it was actually quite well thought out and might have succeeded had the battle of Midway panned out differently. The fact that the American aircraft carriers were out on a training operation when the Japanese attacked Pearl was also a major stroke of luck. Nukes absolutely would have made a difference, just look at how the war ended. Japan went from 'no surrender, every last man must fight to the death to defend the homeland' to unconditional surrender in 3 days, between Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Clothing should only go up to 2XL. If you don't fit into one of those sort your life out, fatty.

That's the fellar. Think he eventually ended up at Derby on a Latvian passport but didn't do much.

You're not getting the point of a deterrent. Russia would never launch nukes at us, knowing we had them too, that's the whole concept of mutually assured distruction. Put it this way, if you were in Downing St. With your finger on the red button, would you ever launch it at Russia? It's the same for them.

I wouldn't want to live in a Europe where a man like Putin had nukes and we didn't. You only have to look at how much respect he has for Ukrainian sovereignty and their fair and independent elections. I doubt landing craft full of Russian tanks would be turning up on the beaches of East Anglia any time soon, but there are enough TU-95s hovering around the edges of our airspace for me to think we need a big weapon. Was it FDR who said, "tread softly and carry a big stick"? The problem with a nuclear deterrent is that the time to produre one is fair greater than the actual warning that you might need one. It's not about countering the threat we face now, it's about being ready for any eventuality.

Sadly, with the likes of China and Russia having nukes, we need our own deterrent to be taken seriously when it comes to military affairs. Yes it's useless against the likes of ISIS but that was never the point.

Might get a couple of the training tees, could do with some new stuff to wear in the gym anyway. Might as well show the pride. Doubt I'll bother with either shirt, neither is anything special and I quite like last years home shirt. Plus I've only worn it about 5 times.

We had some Ukrainian kid who was banging them in for the reserves but couldn't get a permit. Ended up loaning him to Ireland and all sorts.

And just let them leave on free transfers and have nothing to buy new players with?

Does 'goal scoring #10' really fit a 4-3-3, if that is indeed CP's preferred formation? I'd have thought the main striker would be supported by the traditional numbers 8, 7 and 11 as we wouldn't really play with one 'in the hole'.

That was in response to SuperSaint (I think) and backed up by a couple of others. As for the players you've just mentioned, you've doubled up on some of them. For example, I think Juanmi was brought in as an extra option as Gaston wasn't working. Then we brought in Austin, who could be seen as a replacement for Pelle or Juanmi/Gaston. We can't replace all three of them, look at how big our squad would be. Long, Tadic, Austin, J Rod, Redmond and replacements for Pelle, Gaston and Juanmi. That's 8 players fighting over 3 places (in a 4-3-3), it's not going to happen. It will be those 5, plus one IMO. Stek was only ever a short term plug whilst Forster was injured. We don't need 2 more 'keepers, that's for sure. We were talking about attacking players. Someone to replace Kelvin is pretty much a given (not Shay) I'd have thought.

Actually, I have to disagree. I'd say Redmond is a far better wide player than Wanyama. Like I said, I think we're after one more attacking player. Saying PEH is a downgrade on VW is a bit presumptuous as we haven't seen him play yet and Victor was hardly perfect last season. Pierre not getting sent off 3 times would be a good start. Wanyama, Pelle and Mané out, PEH, Redmond and one more in. Seems pretty straight forward to me.

If we were to assume that team I posted was our first choice 11, in a 4-3-3 then we have a second choice 11 something like: New GK - Martina, Yoshi, Gardos, Targett - Clasie, JWP, Reed - New attacker, J Rod, Redmond Okay, if we were to put that team out in the Prem it would struggle but it does show that we have decent depth across the pitch, with youth players making up the additional numbers. We might get another midfield/attacking option on top to make it 3 more on top of what we've got but I really can't see any more than that. Those of you thinking we will have 3 or 4 players on top of last years squad, we just wont. That squad was big enough for a Europa League campaign anyway.

Then you will be disappointed, we aren't signing another 6 players. At the moment we have a match day squad, something like: Forster - Cedric, Fonte, VVD, Bertrand - Hojbjerg, Romeu, Davis - Tadic, Austin, Long Subs: Gazza, Yoshi, Martina, Clasie, JWP, J Rod, Redmond Plus, Gardos, Reed and Targett as extra options. As I said, I think we will see another 'keeper and attacking player and look towards the likes of Hesketh, Seager and Gallagher to try and make an impact. There isn't room for another 6 players.

I think you've made a false assumption there, our squad last season was about the right size. Lets suppose a typical 18 from last season of: Forster - Martina, Fonte, VVD, Bertrand - Wanyama, Clasie - Mané, Davis, Tadic - Long Subs: Stek, Cedric, Yoshi, Romeu, JWP, Austin, Pelle That still leaves J Rod, Gardos, Gazza, Reed and Targett not even making the bench, when all are fit. You could perhaps assume J Rod and Austin to be '1 player' based on their fitness but there isn't room there for another 3 senior, first team players. I think it's more a case of replacing the departures. Stek - Was only here because of FF's injury, wont be replaced. Davis - Still needs replacing Mané - Redmond. Many wont like it but I think that's the plan. Pelle - Suspect Austin was signed with this in mind. Wanyama - Hojbjerg Basically we need a 'keeper and I think we may look to find one more attacking/creative option. That's probably it unless someone else leaves.

As long as it isn't Djuricic...

There's loads I can't get my head around. The infinite nothingness beyond the edges of the universe, or indeed how anything can be infinite when you really think about it. Mind boggling.