Dusic

Still feel its likely VVD will go this summer but hooefully Saints will simply refuse to sell to Liverpool at any price, no matter what. He will get a move soon anyway with the amount of top sides tracking him, so not like he would be short of options.

Have people decided Pellegrino is a defensive Manager purely on the stats from last season at Alaves? Or am I missing something else?

Seen a suggestion Monaco are also keen so hopefully we can wrap it up quickly.

We have a gap though at the moment. Aside from JWP (going into his 6th PL season) and Stephens (age 23) we don't have any Academy developed players who are good enough to start in the PL on a regular basis. Virtually no representation in this summers England youth squads either at an U16-20 level.

Why is that? Surely if Reed wants him then it would be better if we could get him?

Martinez got completely found out at Everton - no thanks. Hope whoever it is we get the person we really want rather than a 5th or 6th choice. Deep down can't help but think this situation has taken far too long to be resolved when we should be thinking about the weaknesses of our squad and giving new players time to bed in to be able to really go for the first few matches where our fixtures look favourable.

Everton doing very nicely. We can't really profess to be rivals to them any more given their spending power Five really good signings to improve them since January - fair play, that is why Koeman left.

Indeed. Its our biggest problem area IMO. At least Davis and JWP can play 90mins regularly though. There isnt one pairing of two players which doesn't leave us vunerable to counter attack as nobody in our squad who is quick or agile enough in that position.

Too small to play as a single holding midfielder. Too slow to play alongside Romeu. Won't improve us, sell this summer, not physically suited to the PL, amazed our scouts didn't think that too.

Giggs would be a terrible appointment. Devoid of personality, managerial experience and coached United in their worst spell of my lifetime. No thanks.

Happy coincidence that we continually monitor Managers and then when we need one, our preferred guys are out of contract! Adkins would be the last Manager we directly took from another team and that was from a much smaller club.

Is the De Boer scepticism based on his short spell at basket case Inter after their takeover, or his time at Ajax where he won four successive titles? Or both? On paper, he seems a good fit for us without looking deeply into it. Certainly would be someone who players would respect you would imagine. Not sure if he still has Bergkamp in his team but that would potentially provide a lift too, and PL experience.

Why's that, pal?

They will be keen to downplay Tuchel a bit unless it is definitely him, otherwise no other candidates will stand a chance with the fans...

Feel for Clode as seemed an honest guy but right decision. Les and Willo need to make a better decision than last time. Pressure is on them.

Given regular games he would score more than Long IMO.

Would imagine if we weren't keen on Tuchel one of the usual mouthpieces would have ruled him out to avoid any alternative candidate being seen as a failure. But still wouldn't suprise me if there is another left field candidate. We are clearly waiting for something to fall into place otherwise we would have announced that Clode is leaving by now.

I would say he doesn't use his speed enough actually. Good first touch, excellent in tight areas but not direct enough at times. Pretty much the opposite of what you described.

In L2 and L1 where the role of a full back is slightly different to the PL. Not every player will make PL standard and we will have watched plenty of the player during his loan spells. In the youth setup here we were converting him into a CB but his loan football as mostly been at right back which is where he wants to play - perhaps we don't see him in that position long term?

Very different scenario surely? Ultimately we will sack Puel and pay him compensation because we don't want him to be our Manager anymore. Koeman we wanted to stay but only if he was committed for the longer term which he refused to do. IMO there is no way back for Puel now, his position is completely untenable as we have clesrly been looking at new Manager's and everyone knows about it. He would have zero respect from players, fans or the club if he were to remain. Can only assume we are working behind the scenes, just hopefully in a better way than the Fonte scenario in January.

They have all summer yet I guess so plenty more legs in this story...

Telling for me has been the improvement we have clearly seen when Bertrand has been injured and then has come back into the side. He is quietly one of the most allround full backs in the PL and a couple of levels above Targett and McQueen. Hence he is wanted by City and Chelsea...

£13m for Tadic would be an absolute steal for the buying club. Yes can be a bit inconsistent but proven PL player in his prime who unquestionably creates lots of chances. Certainly would cost more than that to replace him successfully.

Schmidt to Watford fell apart due to his wage demands...presumably knowing that he had a mega deal from China on the table. Could be similar with Palace and Saints if there had been any interest from either club.

Puel is clearly a goner. Why haven't we just announced it? Don't understand how that really benefits anyone, it just makes us look heartless and snakey.