mrfahaji

Was wondering if this in conjuction with Radio Solent might work, but can't listen to Solent online. Pretty annoying that you can't even listen to radio legitimately!

Would have been given on the half way line but you're never getting a penalty for it... Thought Romeu's booking was harsh! It's not his fault if Carroll wimps out of the contest.

How is everyone watching this? Are you all abroad? I got a couple of Dutchie's links to work for about 20 seconds but now they've frozen...

A very attacking one too. Lemina straight in ahead of Hojbjerg and Clasie - a little concerning that we're either going with JWP or Davis alongside Romeu, but perhaps at home to Swansea we won't have to be quite so strong there. Glad to see Cedric in, that must be close to the team most expected. Stephens has generally found it easier to cope with the smaller, quicker forwards than the big men, so the fact Llorente isn't back for them is a plus. Cue 2 goals from Abraham and Ayew now...

Instead of Davis. He hasn't yet shown he can do that job effectively but with a little less defensive responsibility he may do well there. My concern is that he isn't capable of running with the ball and starting counter attacks, but can't see where else he can develop apart from maybe RM in a 4-4-2.

I'm confident we're going to thrash Swansea 1-1.

Haha, I thought that too!

Catalunya?

Excellent news, thanks Minsk.

It does seem unfair that one team gets to play Arsenal on the first day of the season...

Or Sanchez? I'd think that surely Sanchez wouldn't go from Arsenal to Liverpool, but who knows...

I don't really get the Inter link. Dealing with an offer from Barcelona is a different kettle of fish to Inter. Plus they were reported to be lining up a "£35m bid"... not sure what parallel universe Inter, or any of the reporting journalists live if they think there's a remote possibility of that kicking off. Though of course, I'd be happy to be wrong!

Yep. I still don't want to sell him to them because I think he will make them significantly better (i.e. challenge for the title), but given we'd have probably accepted an offer of £65m from him had they gone about things properly earlier in the window, if we end up with £100m you'd have to say we would have won the battle.

Exactly. JWP is definitely showing - slowly but surely - progress, but claims he should be the first, or even one of the first names on the teamsheet are ludicrous. Also, people use the argument that he's had lots of games despite his young age. Surely that's a reason why he should be further in his development? People are giving Stephens the benefit of the doubt because he hasn't had chance to adapt/learn/improve as a first team player, but JWP has had that chance for a number of years now. By the same token it's also silly to write him off as "excruciatingly poor", I think he has potential to become a good Premier League player but isn't there yet.

For super-ease to get to after work, QPR. For grounds I haven't been to that are feasible on a weeknight, Charlton or Barnet please!

Are you going to do your "match by match tracker" thread again this season Minsk? Thought it was great last year!

Like who? Can't be many better LBs out there than Rose. Although probably some with fewer injury problems. There are quite a few things in that article that sound a bit like "come and get me" pleas to City & United.

Ha! I had literally just copied that exact line and was about to paste it here when I saw your post! I mean, the whole thread is pretty hypocritical, but that bit in particular... One depressing thought, if Coutinho is worth more than £90m, how much is Mane worth?

Don't they both play for Everton? (I know, not quite... almost though!)

Yep, I probably read more sensible posts than stupid ones, but the stupid ones stand out and get to you. A bit like life in general I guess. Blinkered fans are one thing, but half expected, it's the constant barrage from partisan media I can't stand. Not just Liverpool fans either - people like Ian Wright chiming in with ill-thought out opinions. (Though when did Wright have an opinion that was anything but that...?)

It's not necessarily Tadic and Boufal. But add Redmond as well and you have a problem. It doesn't really matter what Puel said, every time he put the three of them on our midfield dissipated and we totally lost control of the game. Bournemouth at home being the best and possibly first example. I totally understood Puel's reason for doing it, I may well have done the same - we had the better of the game, we were pushing but just lacked that cutting edge. We added the third musketeer, Bournemouth stuck an extra man in the middle and they pulverised us for the final 20 minutes. A one off perhaps, except we did again a week or two later, and then at least another time before the season was out and the result was the same every time - we looked worse, not better. And I say that with a heavy heart - with no obvious AMC in the side it would brilliant if we could get them all in, the answer to all our prayers in fact. Who knows, maybe Pellegrino will find a solution which incorporates them, but until they demonstrate otherwise, I'm going to be sceptical.

I think (after being intrigued and then spending a while on google maps, it's more than just a hunch) we are one of the better grounds to get to for them travel wise. I think, though it's close with a few others, only West Brom give fans in Swansea a shorter trip by car. Admittedly, it's still around 3 hours, but perhaps being first game of the season, and a good chance of 3 points (no doubt that's how they see it) might help!

Which would probably be enough to keep us up, so smiles all round

If Liverpool gave us £100m (which they won't), you could argue that we'd played it pretty well, as that's way above what we would have accepted in the initial instance had they gone about things the right way. However, there is still the argument that Liverpool are a good side on an average day, and a very good side when they have Mane, but have an achilles heel in their defence. They can be beaten by anyone thanks to this, and with CL football to contend with this year, may end up struggling a little. Do we really want to plug that gap for them, even in return for £100m? (I'm ignoring all idea of 'just to spite them' etc for this comment, this is purely based on money & football.)

While it's true about Austin's injury being unforeseen, didn't he have a few niggles the season before, and had also suffered with a dislocated shoulder a few times before? I also happen to think that his injury history was/is overblown, but it would equally be wrong to say he has had years without any problems. Unfortunately I would have to disagree on the finishing - Long, Rodriguez, JWP, Davis, Hojbjerg all regularly demonstrated how poor they were in front of goal, and it's not like any (perhaps J-Rod, but again, pre injury) of them have previously been adept at sticking chances away. As I said, I think the rest of your post was excellent, just this bit... That being said, if we don't sign a CM (which hopefully we will), I think it would be worse than not bolstering our attack last summer. For the points you mention, you can at least see why the club took the chance, even if, like me, you thought it was a mistake to risk it. Our central midfielders have all played together for a whole season and shown they're not currently good enough. If we don't sign a new one, we are taking a chance that 2 out of the 4 (PEH, JC, JWP, SD) significantly improve this season. 1 out of 4 I can see happening (JWP maybe, Hoj maybe), but 2 I'm not so comfortable with.