Donatello

'Pool should've just yes to their Benteke offer. Madness not to.

How'd they pull that off?

Since others are complaining of this thread being derailed, and rather than delve into minuters per goal, etc, etc, I shall simply pose a rhetorical question, how does a 1 in 10 player manage to score 6 Premier league goals in a single season without having played 60 league games? :S

That's a bit of a disingenuous way of looking at it. If you combine the minutes he's played across two divisions (Champ and Prem), and divide it by the goals he's scored, it's really one goal in six games...and that is a truer reflection of where he's at. One goal in seven if focusing on the Prem...which belies his improving record...1 goal every 4.3 games last season. And to be honest, I hadn't realised that he scored so well last year in *that* side (note, he scored 6 last year)

Then our posts have something in common

Ta. Appreciate any and all titbits, even if vague (that isn't a criticism!).

You poor thing

Why is Slugger considered to be Charlie? Dodd(isalegend) has alluded to it as well. Not that it's of any great importance.

Nothing wrong with that tactic. Edit: provided the fees are exorbitant, obviously!

Wait, is Charlie now Slugger?

Ta.

Yes, very.

Sorry, I'm not really sure I understand what formation you're referring to here (probably a fault my end)...so to clarify, do you mean, -----------------GK---------------- RB-------CB---------CB---------LB -----------------CM---------------- ----------CM---------CM----------- ----------------FWD--------------- --------FWD-----------FWD-------- i.e. 4-1-2-1-2, but with that "1" in bold being a striker/forward, rather than an AM (i.e. Davis). Edit: Having read the rest of your post (about specific players), it would appear this is indeed what you mean. My apologies/That'll learn me (for not reading a post in its entirety first) Which poses a question, which you've touched upon, why sign Redmond? He's patently a winger (.....right?). I guess it's good to have options, be adaptable, and all that. There, I've answered my own Q. A lot of money for a bit part option though.

(For anyone/everyone) Didn't JRod play a couple of games in a relaxed no.10 role last season? Or was that more of a 4-4-2?

So two AMs? One of whom is a winger. Do you expect the club to sign as such, or is that just what you'd hope for? Incidentally, are we still treating JRod as a inside forward type? Has he played there since coming back? Does he still have the legs to get up and down? Fingers crossed and all that.

Mane, Lallana, Coutinho, Firmino, and Wijnaldum. No wonder they sold Ibe. Need to offload Markovic too, surely. Anyway, good options...a lotta names to keep happy though.

Gross or net?

Apologies, meant to say thanks for this. Furthermore, you can now add Njie to that list

Firstly, I should clarify that I was broadly referencing Adrian's post - two AMs and a striker of starting quality ("not competition") - and the agreement thereafter. I don't necessarily disagree with the ideas, but I can't see it happening, for numerous reasons. Numbers - New AM, new AM, Davis, Tadic, and Redmond. New F, Long, JRod, and Austin. Come league day, you'll be leaving two of those out the match day squad, and that's on the assumption we have three attacking players on the bench. Who do you leave out? Presumably not the three new signings. Long either starts or is the second striker. Are we really going to freeze out two of Davis, Tadic, Redmond, JRod and Austin from the league side? Youth - Given Guan's comments in January about how certain people were irked by Koeman's lack of affinity for the academy, and our subsequent replacement of Koeman with someone known for player development/nurturing talent, I firmly believe we'll see something of a 'return' to youth players being given opportunities. Heck, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Reed say as much last year when discussing our potential Europa campaign? (I may have made that up - I'll check tomorrow). You don't encourage such development by packing the squad full on currently superior players. Club journalists - The club's unofficial journalists (Leich and so on) have stated that Austin is Pelle's replacement. There will be no new striker. Initially I considered this may be a tactic to prevent price escalation, but what with other factors, I'm coming round to the idea that it's the truth...because we've never really had a 4th striker - yes, we've had 4th level (in terms of depth) strikers on the books (Billy Sharp, Mayuka, etc), but they were hanging about the place stinking the place up (no offence to them ). Registered players - Currently we have 19 (of 25). We'll be signing a GK surely, assume 20 (of 25). Puel wants a new RB, assume 21 (of 25). Plus three new attacking players, assume 24 (of 25). Now we've had this many registered players before (in every season save for Poch's), but as above, only because we've had duds hanging about the place. If you look at the league minutes played by all registered players over the past 4 seasons in the Prem, you tend to come out to around 18-19 effective players and that's including three goalkeepers!)...and by that I mean players who you'd consider were involved with the first team for decent periods, or were necessary (GKs). The potential implication there being, we'd have 5 to 6 players who'd barely get any (league) game time. And I know I'm placing emphasis on "league game time", but that's because I don't believe we'll make major adjustments to our squad depth for an annual competition that is the Europa league - we didn't really do so last year - players like Martina, Romeu, and Juanmi, were only really replacing holes we hadn't filled from previous years (Chambers, Cork, Elia/Djuricic). Last year, we had just as many registered senior pros as we did the year before (in spite of the Europa League). There's probably some other stuff that I'm too tired to remember now And forgive any grammatical errors for the same reason. As above though, I don't necessarily agree with what I envisage the club doing. I said a few weeks back that I thought we'd need to replace Pelle, because I'm just as concerned as Adrian is about the Austin/JRod fitness issue...but I've since concluded that we won't be (perhaps because surprise transfers are always the best, ha), and I'm happy to wait and see how it pans out. P.S As stated on another thread, I reckon we'll sign a GK, a RB, and an AM (singular).

Thanks for answering for me (No, James, not at all...merely a deduction)

I fear a lot of you are going to be disappointed.

I can see Hesketh making a mark. Well, he's most likely to, for me. The rest, particularly Isgrove and Gape....

In the Premier League? :S i.e. you can play an unlimited number of U23s in the Premier League? Or are you talking about the developmental squad league? If it's the latter, then yeah, sure, he can continue to knock about there for a few seasons, and even if that isn't the case, he can spend seasons out on loan, but I was referring to his ability to contribute to the first team without taking up a registration spot

Can't see either of these, based on the number of players we've usually had in these positions in past seasons. Personally think it's GK, RB, and AM.