nta786

if it was 3 at the back, then surely JWP would have been in the place where Valery was in the picture shown here^^ simply my reasoning behind why it could be 4 at the back on another note- Mr Gao is at the game.

it could be- the only reason I think it is 4 at the back is because of the way we've depicted it!!! of course maybe i'm just overthinking it.

My guess is that it is a 4321/433? McCarthy Stephens Vestegaard Bednarek Targett JWP Romeu Slattery Armstrong Redmond Ings 8 British players, glad to see however.

i'd say he 'hacked' it quite well tbh... think he was in the top 3/4 for both chances created and assists in the time period he was here- not too sure who was ahead of him think it may have been the likes of fabregas, ozil and david silva. point is he did rather well for us, although of course the last season will have significantly damaged some stats, but still quality.

here's hoping the referee can intervene like last time out at Turf Moor I think this is one of them games which could honestly go in any direction, but our record at Turf Moor is pretty rubbish and both sides will probably be content with a cautious draw, so 0-0. Although the cynic in me can see us losing 1-0, and equally, one mistake for them could see us win 1-0... Alas, I'll stay with the 0-0 prediction, just don't see a high scoring game. PS. BBC gave Hoedt Man of the Match in this fixture last season! https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/43094248

My view is that well- the squad is certainly weaker- there are drfinitely less options off the bench now. It also means a reduction in wages for the time being with regards to some of the loan deals we made. I think Cedric is the key one for many of us though, we’ve lost a fairly decent full back for that depth- he was certainly the one I wouldn’t call deadwood unlike other outgoings and it isn’t even like we sold him. However I am disappointed we could not find anyone on loan, which I was expecting given the loans we have out ourselves. It really does place an emphasis on the summer dealings now, and I think that is the risk we have taken as a club- that what we have now is good enough to survive- and there is no denying that surviving is our target and the bare minimum. So yeah, mixed bag, but I’m going to say underwhelming transfer window as an overall verdict.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/christian-benteke/bilanz/spieler/50201/plus/1?wettbewerb=GB1 well he has scored 5 goals against us- a fair amount tbf

i swear he is one of them players that always scores against us though!!! even if he recently he has turned sh*t!

if we win this one surely Ralph will be given manager of the month too? Only other option it could be would be Pep or Ole?

2016-17 Puel season- I swear we only had like 2 games in 7 weeks or something :/ then they all got rearranged for end of season

We got £34-£36.5m for him doubt we could have got more for what was an early 2016 transfer and he only had 2 years left. Even Salah only went for £39m. The recruitment is what has truly went wrong not the sales we raked from our players, on that front I say we do well to make fees although this month and last is slowly proving otherwise.

probably the worst PL weve had sincee we got promoted? or could that go to Forren because we never saw him play? oh well, good luck to him, hope he does well enough that Celta do decide to buy him.

yep that's the big issue unfortunately. we have what must be the top 10 highest wages in the PL- I'd say top 6, Everton, Leicester and West Ham only pay more.

agreed. watch Everton play Richarlison at left mid to try and wind Valery up.

ive preferred going to our away games than our home ones for the last 24 months too

did he? mind finding a link? EDIT: found it on the Echo

McCarthy Stephens Bednarek Vestegaard Valery PEH Romeu Bertrand/Cedric (so Valery and Bertrand starting- if no Bertrand then Cedric) Redmond Armstrong Ings Bench: Gunn, Ramsay, Targett, JWP, Lemina, Long, Austin/Academy Player

I think it is a combination of things tbh. Firstly, I think it is a motivational thing too in part. I think when we bought Mane, he was on something fairly paltry like £35k per week- there is a desire for him to be motivated and obviously he is reaping these rewards at Liverpool now. I believe even Toby was on something low as £40k. Of course, this went all out of the system when we started offering new contracts and a higher pay scale. I reckon players like Elyounoussi are on 60k minimum, and tbh he'll acknowledge himself he won't get more anywhere else and is quite content. With hindsight, these long contracts are hampering us now as we see we are finding it hard to get rid of anyone. The other thing to consider might just be arrogance- we probably thought we were some magicians when it came to recruitment and maybe 2014/2015 recruitment was all a one-off fluke. There is a whole host of factors to consider too- our managerial recruitments have also hampered us in part... There isn't an all-inclusive answer tbh

it ruins the 'you get what you pay for' narrative

yeah, think on the whole the Mo signing had a positive vibe to him given he had success with Basel much like Mane did with Salzburg and we hoped he'd have the impact Mane did. Yet, whilst it hasn't come off yet, I'd still persist for a while yet hoping that Ralph is able to nurture him into an explosive winger

tbf to him I think he meant a 343- 434 is clearly a typo

yeah it's no surprise really. british players are overpriced as hell- Solanke just went for £19m ffs. It's the very same reason Bayern want Hudson-Odoi and why they're exploring other English players. The money is there if you scout English players well/coach them into top class players!

I was actually having a look earlier, and I've changed my initial line up, but a fair few people arguing to rest Romeu. Romeu, not only was he a mainstay in our PL side in 2016-17, but he even started 5 of our Europa League games that season. I mean, surely he'd be capable of playing midweek this week too. We should just go for it and try to play our best team 11 possible to be honest. Ings, PEH coming back for Everton game at weekend anyway.

have they? wilson the only real one thats been linked with chelsea. brooks is a young 20 year old something that the top 6 probs have an eye on but nothing concrete yet. also the bournemouth love in has died recently... the players we sold us propelled us to 6th/7th/8th, and we were comfortably in the top 8 bracket in in the 2013-14 to 2015-16 season... i'll say what we have done though is sold too many in one sitting at a time, other clubs have spaced it out like but thats because we had some genuine success between the years mentioned above.

almost anyone could have got a ticket last seasons semi-final.