Wes Tender

By all means ask me after September 1st. But you needn't wait, as I can tell you my response now. It will be that after a mere handful of results, it is impossible to make a reasoned judgement on how a team comprising several new players will fare. That is the position that anybody with a modicum of intelligence would take.

:lol:

Well, we'll just have to wait and see, won't we? We would have achieved European football last season, but for a couple of crucial injuries, having to play Kelvin and Gazza for several matches and Fox when Shaw was out, many matches without Wanyama, etc. The team doesn't need to be better than last year's to achieve European football, it needs to be as good. Whether it is or not remains to be seen. That judgement cannot be made now with any conviction, especially when there might be another couple of additions to come in.

All in your own very humble opinion, based on two results.

We're also in a group of teams that could gain a European place. But I'm certain that you'll disagree with that.

And the reason this could not be posted on the post-match thread is what exactly? And Savage is a gormless idiot, sticking his head in and predicting relegation after two matches, one of which was against last season's runners up, where most of the pundits with more brain cells than Savage thought that we we worthy of at least a draw, or that even a win would not have been an outlandish result.

I can see why your name is wild-saint, but deranged-saint would be more appropiate. Thank God you're not Les Reed. Do you think that we should not have allowed Ricky to have his swan-song at his boyhood club after everything he did for us?

Was Bertrand rubbish? You made your judgement on him before he had even kicked a ball for us, so we ought to be grateful that you have allowed Pelle to play before delivering the same verdict.

As the window hasn't closed, as I have pointed out, I don't need to make a judgement yet. Neither can you, without knowing who is yet to be signed.

No it didn't. Some players were there and in the third division and were discarded when we started climbing. Others were either brought in to strengthen the team, or developed through the academy and were ready to step up when we reached the Premiership. Of those we sold, Lallana and Lambert were playing for us in the third division, but Shaw, Chambers and Lovren weren't. Money can't buy players like that? Liverpool, Man Utd and Arsenal have just bought them, but they paid through the nose for these unique players. And I bet that you would forgive the board if we finished higher than last year. But you would have forgotten your emotional outburst at the start of the season.

You're not allowed to point out that a Pochettino team featuring all the crown jewels (which have been replaced by all this apparent dross), was capable of performances no better than that we put in today, especially as Cardiff beat us.

You're entitled to you opinion, which is also that this is the worst ever transfer window apparently, even though it has another week to go yet.

You've really got to have a laugh at those claiming that this is the worst window ever. They don't even have the sense to realise that the transfer window doesn't close for another week, so a bit premature to make snap judgements until then. And to judge the team on just two matches really takes the biscuit too. OK, a disappointing match against West Brom, who came here with spoiling tactics, but a very encouraging first match against the PL runners-up last season at Anfield. I can't be arsed to look back at the comments on here following our first home match last season, but that was a home draw too, 1-1 against Sunderland. Then ensued a good run of results, which may be replicated this season too. If it does, then some people will look pretty stupid. I suspect that we have the typical knee-jerk reactions forming these opinions that are typical of certain posters on here following a match like this one. We didn't even lose it.

Boring, Boring, Boring. It just seemed as if we weren't up for it at all. We just stroked the ball about between the defence several times and then decided for a change to punt it upfield speculatively for a change, thus giving away possession. When we got the ball back deep in our half, it was a case of repeating it once more. I thought that Koeman teams enjoyed playing fast passing attacking football and on the evidence of what we produced today, several players deserve a kick up the backside. Considering that most of the team was the same that put in that excellent fighting performance at Anfield, this home match against a lesser team looks even more gutless. West Brom typically parked the bus away from home and hoped to hit us on the break and as our keeper was much the busier of the two, it almost bore fruit for them. You could see that they were playing for the draw at least, because of the way that their players went down mortally injured to break up play on the few occasions when we achieved any momentum. Also when they substituted Anichebe, he was obviously almost incapable of walking, so long did he take to leave the pitch. An arthritic geriatric nonagenarian pushing a zimmer frame would have made faster progress. But they managed to get behind our defence probably more often than we got behind theirs, and thankfully the defence and Forster were decent enough today, not that West Brom's stikers were any more potent than ours. What was also disappointing, was the lack of penetration out wide today from Clyne and Bertrand. When they did venture forward, neither went for the byeline, putting balls towards the box too early, when they were well defended. Olsson in particular was a rock for them. It would be easy to criticise Pelle, but again he didn't get much service once more. To be effective, he needs to have another player to play off, but when we put Long on, he went out wide and then having taken off Davis, we lost some of our bite in midfield. It seemed as if putting Cork on recognised that and Koeman had adjusted his error. But it was late in the match and West Brom had began to believe that they might steal all three points and put some late pressure on us. I don't think that we're too far adrift of having a decent team, depending on what the calibre is of the next couple of signings. But there needs to be more belief and effort from the team we have so far, as I feel that today we didn't show enough of either.

We panicked? Really? Or was it just that Wanyama made a poor effort to clear the ball and his mistimed/misdirected header fell kindly for Sturridge?

I love the subtlety of the irony in this

All of the above. /\ /\

I don't know, but there's an entire thread on it on here somewhere apparently.

Koeman has come out publically and stated categorically that Townsend will NOT be a make-weight in any deal for Schneiderlin. He has said that if that is suggested by Spurs, then we would pull out of our interest in Townsend. That's good enough for me, because if the club reneged on that promise, it is our manager who will be hugely embarassed.

All in your own humble opinion. Neither JRod or Schneiderlin have left as yet and if they don't before the window closes, then whether there was substance in the reports or not becomes largely irrelevant. Also just opinion, is whether the club could have approached the way that the players left any differently. You might believe that you understand that it could be, but as you are not privvy to inside information that guided the board's actions, then you are not really in a position to decide. As I say, this has been debated before at length and I'm inclined to think that there were points made then that explained quite well how it might not have been possible to have bought players before ours were sold. The transfer market just isn't that simple. Unless one knows which players were on our list, then it cannot even be claimed that we had to buy lesser players than were originally targetted. For example, all this specualtion that we wished to buy Gonzales has proven to be totally groundless apparently. But I'm sure that the club have taken note of your expertise in how they could have done so much better with your help and that the next time, they will be paying you the substantial amounts of money as a consultant that your expertise should command.

There are some of the youngsters promoted to the squad. Whether they are ready and good enough to make the team sheet, is up to Koeman to decide. But it is a fair list and some have already played, including Reed, Isgrove and Gallagher, then there is also Targett, Stephens, McQueen. It is easy to denigrate the youngsters before they play, but maybe there might be the surprise in store that their predecessors brought when they first played in the first team. I suspect that Osvaldo, Guly and Sharp won't be missed that much. We dropped down last year notably through the injuries to Boruc and Wanyama. I do hope that Boruc remains here, but on the face of it we have adequate midfield cover. It depends on who we bring in next before 1st September before we can make a more accurate assessment.

Credible media reports stating that we were going to sell Schneiderlin and Rodriguez? Or media speculation whipped up by an hysterical press, aided by agents trying to hawk their players, or rumours put about in an effort to destabilise the club by those with an agenda? There are any number of conspiracy theories that have as much validity, i.e. very little, without evidence to substantiate them. I didn't assume that it was now or never in terms of the inflated fees. That is an assumption that you have made on my behalf. The value of those players was undoubtedly inflated by two obvious factors, which were timely. Firstly, they had played in the World Cup and were tapped up by the likes of Gerrard. Secondly, as in all business, the laws of supply and demand came into force, where several top clubs were after most of those players. You're another one who doesn't comprehend what I said about players who left having been replaced. I explained it all to Batman, but you don't appear to have read it. Nowhere have I said that those players have been replaced by players of equal or better ability. What I said was that club must have thought that they were replaceable with equivalent players. I have also said that players have been brought in to replace those who left, on paper they appeared good enough, but only time will tell. I have always added caveats to those opinions. The debate about whether players could have been lined up in anticipation of those players leaving has been done to death already. We held out for vastly inflated prices when selling, so naturally had to expect to be treated the same but at a lower level, because generally the top clubs weren't after the same players, or if they were, they wouldn't go to us instead on Man Utd anyway, would they? Who's right on points of substance which are expressed as personal opinons? Or is it only their own opinion that they are right?

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/on-paper Happy to help.

Are you adding Rodrigues into that team? Then equally you might as well have to accept that Suarez would have to play too. And the p*ss poor team included two of our last team's players, so your argument seems a bit full of holes. But if you care to read my post properly, you will say that I did state that on paper it seemed to be arguably, and then I qualified it further by saying that after one game it was hard to make a reasoned judgement either way And were Liverpool p*ss poor because they are, or because we made them look that way?

I think that there is a fault in your argument that you appear to have overlooked. We have received mega-inflated prices for those other players and the reasoning might have been that they were all replaceable with players of equal or better ability from the money we received. In the case of Schneiderlin, it hasn't been proven that the board succumbed to fans' pressure to stop his sale. It might always have been the case that he was a player that we didn't want to sell. Furthermore, the ludicrous sum of money that might have had us thinking twice about selling him, would be set at about £27/30 million. Spurs are kicking tyres with a derisory offer far below that and Arsenal also appear to have backed away from the price we want. As it also appears that we might well have dug our heels in and played hardball with Schneiderlin if he went on strike, he seems to have recognised that he will not get his move at this particular time and will have to wait until January or next summer. Yes, the divs were those who stated categorically that Schneiderlin had played his last game for the club. However many on here took the postion that if he went on strike, the club should let him rot in the reserves to make an example out of him. Whether the club takes notice of the attitudes of fans about positions like that, I don't know, but I very much doubt it.