Vancouver Saint

First goal will be huge. Think Norwich will be up for this and put high energy in to impress their new manager - hopefully we will more than match them and not be complacent. If we score first...then...add a second (yes, I know we don't do insurance goals)...I reckon that will be enough to put them back in their box.

Yes, you're right - that's what I meant.

Hmmm. Before the new manager thing I'd have said 0-3 or 1-4. Now I'm less certain. Let's see who comes back fit from the international break (with the chorus on this - waaaay too many bloody international breaks at the moment - not interested). Last game against Villa was revealing. Armstrong way off the pace. Livramento had his worst game by a mile - let's hope it was just a temporary blip. We missed Redmond's creativity whatever the Redmond-haters on here think. JWP...works hard but putting every corner into the 6-yard box is becoming predictable for opposition goalies (they've even rehearsed the quick boot up the park to take on Bednarek). KWP is good, Lyanco looks promising, Salisu a beast, Romeu a beast (but needs a fast, creative midfield counterpart..Dialio arguably better than JWP in this respect) A Amstrong looking sharp, Adams a grafter with an occasional worldlie in him but needs to score more, Broja a proper No. 10 and the most threatening of all I reckon. Elynoussi putting himself about a bit more, but I kinda feel is interchangeable with Djenepo. Feel / hope Walcott has one last hurrah run of goals and great form to give us. So it's more even than it should be. If we score first we should win, but if they do the crowd there are going to be right behind them and it will be much closer than it should be.

OMG that was TORTURE! Classic us...should've been out of sight at half-time...9 shots on goal 1 on target says it all... Looked very leggy second half. Can't understand why Ralph waited so long to sub Elynoussi off, although S Armstrong had one of his worst caemos and is still clearly not match fit. Even the DAZN commentator was saying Che Adams was tired with 20 minutes to go...and we were struggling to hold the ball up top - why on earth not bring Tella on and defend by attacking?! McCarthy man of the match - made a match-winning save at the end. Happy we got the points, but my goodness it's no surprise we seem to have mastered the formula for losing points from winning positions - giving teams that should be dead and buried hope.

Not sure how I feel after that. Writing this without reading thread to not be influenced by it. Exciting game. Can't help but feel that was two points dropped rather than one gained. Their second goal came at the exact wrong time and in exact wrong manner - am I the only one that thinks McCarthy should've done better? Burnley better than their league position suggest but so are we...all these draws are going to kill us if we can't convert them into wins. Redmond played well, but that mis...arrrgh! Mistake to start Walcott instead of S. Armstrong. Adams miles off the pace.

Phew...so happy we won that one! Had to work this morning so watched the replay on DAZN....had that 'seen this movie before' feel and I was just waiting for Leeds to score a flukey deflection with their first shot on target...or to equalize in extra time...so thankful that didn't happen. We were totally dominant. Broja and Salisu beasts...Romeu too...Redmond played really well...Tino always good but not his best game and looked spent after 75 mins. Important win and hopefully will push on from here. As commentators said we've had to work really hard for our points. We do need more goals, but I like our trio of Armstrong, Adams and Broja.

Very good balanced post. I only watched the second half and thought we played well until the red card changed the game. Yes we have challenges - top third goal chances and conversion being the main one - but Hasenhutl is not one of them. Everybody seems to discount we've played 4 of the top 5 clubs, 5 of the top 7... We've had two bad halves this season..Everton away first game second half and Wolves at home first half. Otherwise Ralph has generally managed the team well. The next run of games is hugely important so it's a real shame we won't have the consistency of JWP in those crucial games. But I'm interested to see how we do without him...

So what's the mood about no JWP for the next how many games?

My god, some short memories on here. Brilliant performance against City last week, relegated this! C'mon. Yes, it's very frustrating we just don't seem to play well at St Mary's or get the results we deserve. I saw two pretty even teams today, with us having the edge and the better chances, undone by a punt up the park, a poor bit of defending and a well-taken goal. End of.

Sooooo predictable - called it. Wolves smash and grab with a punt up the park. If we can keep fit and not lose confidence we will be fine...but some serious questions. Long? Seriously? You just know the media will be all the Raul Jimenez story (and good for him) but that was not the story of the game - their goalkeeper won them that match.

We've played much better than I expected at the beginning of the season and our four points could/should easily have been more. We looked a proper team against Man City. If we can keep the energy and confidence level up at home we can win this. On the other hand, I've watched Wolves games and they have been ridiculously unlucky not to have got more points as well - they have the highest expected goals ratio in the league apparently...so some poor mug is going to get that game when they start converting their chances. You know where this is going. Hope I'm wrong.

How many of us were convinced that extra time VAR decision was going to go against us and rob us? So glad we got a draw, the effort from everyone deserved a win. Only disappointment was we didn't go for goal and the chance to beat them with that free kick on the edge of the box instead of playing for time and pushing it into the corner.

Well put!

Well that was an emotional roller coaster for 1 point. We were brilliant first half - best 30-35 minutes I think I've seen us play - beautiful football with everything but the finish. Djnepo had to score of course. Of course we've all seen this movie and yet again we conspire to concede early in the second half - unbelievable how often that happens. Can't fault Ralph. He put out the team most of us wanted and made substitutions early. Salisu MOTM. Livramento a star, no question. JWP I thought had a terrible game, forgiven by the penalty at the end but otherwise ponderous and guilty of the giveaway that led to the first goal. Don't understand the negativity around Armstrong - I like to see strikers shooting on sight and it wasn't that he missed an obvious pass. McCarthy had a good game for all the stick I normally give him. That might just turn out to be a very important draw psychologically.

Think this might just be set for us to break the established pattern of playing well at St James's and still losing...tails up, early goals 3-0 to the Saints! Okay, unrealistic we'll keep a clean sheet with two goalkeepers who appear to be trained how to pick the ball out of the net and not much else, but I'm thinking, if we set out on the front foot and dominate, there's a chance they don't get a shot on target for the whole game...still thinking how we concede...own goal I guess, doh!

So, I've been head down at work last couple of days, resurface to find we beat Newport 8-0 and signed a new CB (i.e got one of the positions we need right!) This after a great result and good performance against Man Utd. Think Lyanco looks like a hard bastard CB with some aerial ability and skill - just what we need. Give him a chance ffs! My biggest concern isn't ability as much as language - you want a CB that is loud and can control the back line - and communicate with the goalkeeper. But I guess neither FF or AM talk so doesn't make a difference. Me, for once I have some optimism for a result against Newcastle even if we normally don't travel well there.

Very pleased to have my skepticism proved wrong with a well-deserved point. Still think we have defensive coaching issues....we can't defend free kicks sent behind our defensive line, or corners...which is going to be costly unless we sort it out fast. But think Adams and Armstrong are going to trouble defences. Livramento, Stephens. Armstrong, Romeo, Djenepo all played really well. Blamed McCarthy for the goal. but after watching the replay just think it was unfortunate combination of scuffed shot, blocked vision and through two sets of legs. A result against Newcastle to follow this up please.

So no surprise we lose at Goodison - after an excellent first half with us looking good and pretty much everything working well, I asked myself, "so how do we f*** this up?" and the answer was of course, let them back in early in the second half. Surely, the brief from Ralph at half-time had to be - just fight for everything to stop them from scoring in the first 10 minutes and counter a very predictable reaction from Everton. I have been screaming for a stronger goalkeeper - I don't rate Mccarthy or Forster at this level - I agree a dominant goalkeeper would have claimed anything near his six-yard box...but their first goal was just 'one of those' that fell in between clear or leave and fell perfectly for Richarlson, so I don't blame McCarthy for that as much as Salisu not taking charge and getting his head to it. I don't blame him too much for the second or third either - second was right in the top corner, third super close-range and unlucky bounce off his leg. We were better than I thought we would be. Livrameno - fantastic! A. Armstrong looked really sharp and he and Adams look like they will make a good partnership. Walcott should have been subbed earlier. Romeo not at his best, JWP needs to mix up his corners. Djenepo played well, just needs to make that final pass or shoot. Man Utd 5-1 winners with their tails up next week. Let's win that - stranger things have happened.

Relegated if this squad doesn't change. 17th if we bring in a 10-15 goal striker. 17-12 if we buy a decent goalkeeper to go with him.

Can someone kindly summarise our 'ins' and 'outs' as we head into the first game. Moderators - these transfer threads are way to long IMO...no time to plough through the backlog...let's keep them shorter and fresher.

Much as I want to be optimistic, I cannot get excited for this season. How obvious is it we need a better goalkeeper than either McCarthy or Forster (statistically the worst two keepers in the PL last season bar one). Why did I think Forster was gone? Goalkeeper a key position and one of the (relatively) most affordable. If we can't get that right in the time we've had, what chance do we stand? Ings a huge loss. I think Adams is ready to step up but too early for Tella. We are really short of goals. Goodison not a happy hunting ground. 3-0 to Everton. Will lose our first three games then have a desperate panic to close a deal on a striker and a goalie before the deadline closes... Hope I'm wrong.

Well I am disappointed - especially with the timing. You can now add a 15-25% 'desperation' fee to anyone we want to buy that will quickly make whatever we had left of £25M look peanuts. Very little management can do about it if he wants out, except to have acted earlier in securing his replacement. How many replacements will score as many goals as Ings would even playing half the games? Anyway, onwards. Hopefully Adams will rise to the challenge and we will buy a goalkeeper.

So here it is. Kane gets injured in the first 20 minutes of the first game and is out for the rest of the tournament. Maguire never steps on the pitch. Henderson pulls up lame halfway through the second game. Rashford continues on his downward form as does Sterling. England, short of attacking flair and actual CB's in need of a goal in the third game to stay in the competition...have no striker option and no dead ball specialist (from which what percentage of goals are scored?...gotta be high). Southgate has got it wrong to leave JWP out - and, I believe, Danny Ings too who seems to have been forgotten in the debate. Scotland to beat England 1-0. Che McAdams. England to fail to get past the group stage.

Really nice kit both original stripes and yellow. Good job Hummel. Almost enough for me to trade up from my ancient Flybe shirt from Championship days.

Any livestreams for the England game - here in Canada iit's hockey or curling....OMMM