Number 6

Huge huge game. Particularly with Ipswich Vs Southampton being on at the same time. Wouldn't go as far as saying any game is a must win at this stage of the season, but we really do need to be looking at getting our first win on the board.

Bournemouth should be winning this. Hopefully they don't come to regret it.

This throws up some interesting consequences. One being that I suspect those in a relegation battle come Jan may spend heavily if they think it gives them a good chance of staying up. Think the only way the PL stop this is to join with EFL in committing to points deductions happening the season after, whichever league you're in. Think the moaners are missing a few bits on this too. Admittedly I did expect us to get punished but it seemed sensible that it would happen given recency of the offence. If the Prem could just punish you when you come back up you could be talking 10+ years between the offence and the punishment, which would seem daft. Again this the solution is that the points deduction is applied in the EFL, but not our fault they haven't sorted their shit out.

I think Justin could be deployed as a more up and down full back than Ricardo could. Admittedly I don't know how well his knee would hold up but he's more athletic than Ricky. I think this is where the JJ at LB and Ricardo and RB calls are coming from. It does seem as huge oversight to not even try the inverted full back though. We played it reasonably well for a while season, had the best defence in the league, and had a player perfect for the role.

Yeh he's definitely not suited to the Kristiansen role, I guess it's whether he can sit narrow and defend better than Justin, which I'm sure many would make a case for. I don't think either are the ideal Ricardo position. Cooper seems to be moving towards more athleticism and physical attributes in our team across the whole pitch too, which I think is counting against Ricardo.

Nothing to do with opposition, in my opinion Ricardo isn't as well suited to the full back roles we're currently asking Kristiansen and Justin to do, even if he is technically a better footballer.

If he'd come in from behind and got player and ball then I think a foul would be been fair. But it was a really clean tackle, completely took the ball. Never a foul.

I actually can understand why he's not currently been playing - I'm not sure he's the full length of the pitch full back he once was. As a RB he'd have to be more like Simpson was for us and pretty much stop at the half way line. Also don't see him as a make shift CB so can again see that logic. It's a fair criticism of the current system that we're not looking to fit in one of our better players though. The big argument for using an inverted full back is that is suits Ricardo so well, but he's also shown that he can be decent as an 8 too. With the current set up the only way I see him being used would be in the middle alongside Winks but not sure he'd be selected there ahead of Skipp.

You think he'd be sacked if he was on 5 points from our first 5 games?

10 games will be the sensible point for fair assessment. At that time we'll have played Everton, Southampton, Ipswich, Forest, and Palace. We need to be on at least 10 points there for me, and Cooper will need to be more attacking, but I think it'll be fair to see where we are then.

That is the 4 team mini league we need to win. I reckon we've got enough to. Won't be fun a lot of the time as I think us 4 are by far the worst teams in the division, but if we win that mini league then who cares.

This for me too. He was kind of just there.

Haaland has scored more goals than any other Prem team so far this season.

One thing I've found encouraging is that I think there's a squad that can survive this season there now. I wasn't sure before but I think all the ingredients are there.

Shot map for the Southampton game looks awful again for them. Brussel-ball is getting a smashing in the Prem.

That Everton result cheered me up no end 😂

Also I think it would have been terrible if we'd taken a couple of heavy beatings early doors. I think he has been very cautious but maybe wanted to preserve some confidence early on against some very tough opponents.

I think we've been ok so far. The two home games have been against teams who will be in and around top 6 this season so the plan was to soak up pressure and then throw everything at them later on. There are questions about his away record and some of the players he is leaving out, but it's early days. Settled squad now with the window closed, and a kinder run of fixtures upcoming. That will be the true test.

Nah can't see him being the guy who sorts them out. Even if he has a decent year this year he'll get the chop as soon as he has a poor run.

Some of my future happiness is banked on Chelsea crashing and burning. Absolutely horrible club.

I feel like we've had an ok window in the end. Far from perfect and not overly exciting but we've plugged holes and haven't tied ourselves down long term with any crazy wages so hopefully finances can start to look a little healthier again. I feel like we can be better than Everton, Ipswich, and Southampton with what we have, but safety will depend on the deduction.

I reckon they've absolutely nailed this window. They've spent a lot but have spread it out, and spent it on young players (24 the oldest I think so far). They're basically banking on their scouting network and been given leeway as one or two gems out of this group will pay for the rest. This is why I've been a bit annoyed by us buying older players. The young player conveyor belt is the only way we can get to competing higher up again. Though appreciate it may be easier to do that as a stable PL club.

They became the best defence on the league with Raya introduced.

I thought it was funny how Sky tried to make it a controversial thing. "You can't have two number 1s" etc. Raya was a huge upgrade. Admittedly Ramsdale would massively improve Saints too annoyingly.

That's fair on new incomings but we did give new contracts to Vardy (37) and Vestergaard (32) too.