Donatello

Which clearly wasn't the/an orchestrated plan. Besides what gave Stephens his chance was the injury to Van Dijk. I don't think you can count that situation in Jan as anything other than a bit of a f*ck up.

Likewise. Hopefully Les has learnt from the Fonte debacle

I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that his chances of leaving have been steadily decreasing since the tapping up issue Chelsea have seemingly gone elsewhere. Liverpool are the 'only' interested party, and I'm sure the club are only too aware of the sentiment they would likely be on the receiving end of if they sanctioned that. Not to mention Liverpool are linked with 70m Keita - I don't think it's feasible that they're going to shift 130m+ on two players (which is what they'd be looking at). I'm certainly more positive about it than I was 3/4 months ago...but then we all interpret news differently, I guess.

Some feat, given that it has never happened in the PL era. Anyway, I'm not sure how anyone could be accused of hypocrisy over a situation which won't come to fruition for close to a year What I am sure about is, in spite of someone specifically clarifying that they weren't mentioning a piece of information in relation to Puel (but rather the idea that finishing below 8th would be a "massive failure", and by extension 8th would be par at best), that you, Always, or Duckhunter would be along to save the day - 2 outta 3 ain't bad. I guess the 14th of June was only 17 days ago #toosoon

What is? The lowest points total for 8th? I'll assume that's what you meant, because I'm too impatient to wait for you to clarify Reference the moneys, haven't 8th-20th been on a relatively level playing field since the advent of Sky football? I can't see why that would be exclusive to last season. 8th-20th trading points off of one another sounds like a regular season of football to me Something we arguably did very well at last season, given our record against those above. So, yeah, I'm not sold on that being the reason for why 46 points nabbed us 8th last year....yet P.S On reflection, it's probably more a case of your latter paragraph. The one about top 7 point totals (and I think it's fair to assume that's at the expense of everyone else). I guess if one drilled down into how each team placed 8th and below performed against the top 7 over recent season it might paint a picture

Won't be too long before he's considered 2nd choice above Maya (given his age/lesser Prem experience).

With the lowest points total for that position since the Premier League moved to a 20-team format, i.e. 22 seasons. I'm not knocking Puel, just highlighting that it is potentially unjust to qualify an 8th place finish next season as par, because we could finish on significantly more points - teams have finished 8th with 61 points. And for anyone curious, 46 points -7GD would've landed you a top half finish in 3 of the past 22 seasons, and would usually result in a 13th place finish.

It's a shame in a way because JRod, Gabbi, Austin, Long, and Gallagher are all different kinds of striker to some degree, but five players for one position is too top heavy. To be honest, Gabbi aside, I can't really decide which 3/4 I'd want, because they all have merit/flaws/etc. However, if Jay isn't going to get prolonged game time, then he's never going to be able to back into any rhythm, and of the five, he's the one who needs it most, so 12m-15m makes sense. Still think his all round game is the strongest of all five though...or most balanced, I should say - or it was/could've been once again. Best of luck (just not against us).

Anymore condescension and you'll put your back out

Yeah, I'm not convinced that his crossing is "superb". It's decent, but I'd say Bertrand's crossing is a level or two up, so there's definitely room for improvement. Still a great player for us though.

That's me assuming we're signing Jan Bednarek, mind. And note the condition "no sales"....I'd quite happily see Forster sold/replaced...but it isn't Christmas yet.

".....just because of fashion/to get people excited" What is it? Read half a sentence day?

It is....when you selectively quote half a sentence. And he's right, it isn't broken. With no sales, you could argue we only *really* need a DM. Replacing Forster is a luxury, not a necessity....not when we have McCarthy too. Usual Les waffle though, which I don't tend to get too invested in these days.

F''king hilarious

Anyway, the Samuel article does stink of a bit of a wind up Best to not let it bother you

Past 5 seasons.... Saints Position - 14 8 7 6 8 = 8.6 Points - 41 56 60 63 46 = 53.2 Total = 266 Europe - No No No Yes Yes = 2/5 FA Cup - 3rd 16 4th 3rd 4th = 3.8 League Cup - 16 16 QF QF F = 6 League Goals - 49/60 54/46 54/33 59/41 41/48 = +51.4/-45.6 Total = +257/-228 Goal Dif - -11 8 21 18 -7 = +5.8 Total = +29 Stoke Position - 13 9 9 9 13 = 10.6 Points - 42 50 54 51 44 = 48.2 Total = 241 Europe - No No No No No = 0/5 FA Cup - 4th 4th 16 4th 3rd = 4 League Cup - 2nd QF 16 SF 3rd = 5 League Goals - 34/45 45/52 48/45 41/55 41/56 = +41.8/-50.6 Total = +209/-253 Goal Dif - -11 -7 3 -14 -15 = -8.8 Total = -44 Swansea Position - 9 12 8 12 15 = 11.2 Points - 46 42 56 47 41 = 46.4 Total = 232 Europe - No Yes No No No = 1/5 FA Cup - 3rd 16 4th 3rd 3rd = 3.6 League Cup - Win 3rd 16 3rd 3rd = 5.2 League Goals - 47/51 54/54 46/49 42/52 45/70 = +46.8/-55.2 Total = +234/-276 Goal Dif - -4 0 -3 -10 -25 = -8.4 Total = -42 West Brom Position - 8 17 13 14 10 = 12.4 Points - 49 36 44 43 45 = 43.4 Total - 217 Europe - No No No No No = 0/5 FA Cup - 3rd 3rd QF 5th 3rd = 4 League Cup - 3rd 3rd 16 3rd 2nd = 4 League Goals - 53/57 43/59 38/51 34/48 43/51 = +42.2/-53.2 Total = +211/-266 Goal Dif - -4 -16 -13 -14 -8 = -11 Total = -55 Don't think we stack up too badly (inc. first year back too) Note: Assigned FA Cup/League Cup a score per round, and adjusted to allow direct comparison between team performance and between competitions, i.e. FA Cup round 3 = 3 points, whereas League Cup round 3 = 4 points, owing to the nature of fewer rounds before reaching final.

No nothing about him, but I guess you can't be too bad a CB if you're starting for Lech Poznan at 20/21. File it under 'wait and see'. P.S I'm legit happy for Stephens to be our 3rd CB this year, and as such you can't be too critical of signing a 4th choice CB (unless you think Maya is dire)

High fees are good and all that, but unless prices for replacements players are already agreed then the figure is somewhat diminished. With that in mind, unless we can get a part-exchange (or we signed our replacement for Van Dijk in January, à la Austin/Pelle, soooo......Caceres? ), I'd rather we stuck/pulled a Schneiderlin. As others have alluded to though, the idea of driving down the cost of the fee (and by extension, the amount we pay to Celtic) by accepting numerous part-exchanges should be the goal. Highly improbable though, innit. It'll likely be ~£60m cash with some of that as bonuses and we can all spend the rest of the summer f**ked off How much are Celtic rumoured to receive anyway? 15%? Of the profit or total? P.S Seems a bit odd to be scoffing at £60m, but then Van Dijk is probably one of the best players we've ever had. But with regards to recent years, we never owned Toby so I think he can be discounted. And as deadly as Mane is, Van Dijk is on another level when it comes to consistency. If Van Dijk was a striker/forward we'd be talking world record fees.

Not the point I was making

Except that achievement would have been akin to Adkins getting us to a final/9th in our first season back

Not bad for a team which had spent the past 10 seasons in Segunda División and Segunda División B.

Ugh, as the risk of sounding soppy, that's somewhat saddening (as far as football goes). Ultimately, I ended up in the Puel Out camp (for numerous reasons, but namely because it was patent that his position was untenable), but the booing/jeering near the end does leave a sour taste. But then it was probably that jeering that tipped the decision against him. So does the end justify the means? Probably not/Potentially yes - depending on who we appoint

I must've missed something about Pickford. I remember seeing a few of his performances early on in the season and not being overawed, but I guess a lot can change over the course of a season. Regardless, still thought Moyes was taking the pish when he quoted (~)35 million a few weeks ago.

You didn't specify that it had to be stylish