Charlie Wayman

Hope Sunderland was not a bad omen.

Think about what you just said again. Can that really be true? It is extremely unlikely isn't it? Don't you think it might be that we bought players at a price that would have fitted a certain level of performance and then expected them to start playing as top six level players?. On that basis any player we could afford would disappoint. I think we are a club in conflict with ourselves, the reality of our situation doesn't match the ambition of people like Hasenhuttl, maybe Semmens or indeed the fans. Other clubs like Burnley & Palace seem far more realistic and content, understanding where they are in the pecking order and cutting their cloth to suit, buying players that can sustain their 'more modest' performance expectations that more or less guarantees their survival. All those players that are easily and cheaply labelled on here as failures caught 'our' eye once but we have had so many changes of management, direction and strategy that no wonder they couldn't settle and prove their worth. I feel sorry for them in a way because hanging around here when not wanted is destroying their careers. They signed contracts in good faith but now find themselves locked in by them just as the club does.

If they are going to refund ST holders on a match by match basis, it is going to cost them a fortune in administration costs. Surely this will out weigh any advantage they might have in hanging on to your money 'til the bitter end. Why can't they face up to reality, there will be no fans at football matches this season so just refund all STs that were renewed now in one go? If in the very unlikely event fans can go back for the last 2 or 3 games, just charge per ticket at the time.

Didn't this same useless defence keep a clean sheet against Man City a few weeks ago?

We get that you don't like Boufal so time to lift the needle off the old record and bin it. He will leave, the controversy will be over. I will have better memories of him than you. Let's wish him well and if he blossoms elsewhere let's hope you're big enough the acknowledge it.

Forster back in goal at the weekend?

The way to judge Adams is to consider what would have happened had those opportunities fallen to Ings. My guess is Ings would have scored them all whereas Adams literally seemed to just blast the ball without much thought as to where it would go. Another example, Ings would not have needed two touches to bring the ball under control and those milli-seconds matter when trying to catch goalies and defenders off balance. Ings goal demonstrated the difference in quality of these strikers perfectly.

Not completely swimming against the tide. Even Ralph Hasenhuttl is not a complete idiot and will soon ditch this new plan A when he has to face more unpalatable evidence that it is not working, like a few more 5-0 hidings. The worse thing that could happen next is that we beat Burnley 1-0 using this system, a result that will reinforce RH's self-belief that he is barking up the right tree and so should press on. At times in the first half against Spurs when pressing forward we seemed to be regaining some of the "automatism" that he was so passionate about last season and it was a joy to watch so there are grounds for optimism that we can recover from the recent setbacks quite quickly. What our new tinkerman needs to learn is if it ain't broke then don't try to fix it.

Semmens makes a big deal of the freedom he and his board have been given by Gao to run the day to day affairs of the club independantly but how true is this in reality? True, Gao intends to put nothing in financially but what happens when the P/L account shows a profit which Semmens might claim can be spent on new players? Does he really have that degree of autonomy? Maybe this is where Gao suddenly perks up and takes an interest, money is money after all and presumably that's why he bought the club. Semmens might suddenly be faced with the reality of where his autonomy begins and ends. Presumably if the profit is not "wasted" on new players it will quickly find a new home. One wonders only because of the foot dragging that seemingly goes on at SFC in the transfer market, lots of rumours, lots of plausible links but little action other than the usual BS about keeping these things ecret until everything is done and dusted.

Semmens makes a big deal of the freedom he and his board have been given by Gao to run the day to day affairs of the club independantly but how true is this in reality? True, Gao intends to put nothing in financially but what happens when the P/L account shows a profit which Semmens might claim can be spent on new players? Does he really have that degree of autonomy? Maybe this is where Gao suddenly perks up and takes an interest, money is money after all and presumably that's why he bought the club. Semmens might suddenly be faced with the reality of where his autonomy begins and ends. Presumably if the profit is not "wasted" on new players it will quickly find a new home. One wonders only because of the foot dragging that seemingly goes on at SFC in the transfer market, lots of rumours, lots of plausible links but little action other than the usual BS about keeping these things tsecret until everything is done and dusted.

Results are so topsy turvy one suspects that the lack of crowd 'encouragement' is beginning to take its toll on players morale and performance levels.

Jeremy Pied was actually a good player and would, have given us decent cover at RB. Would have been important at the moment with KWP looking shaky.

Can't find it on the OS or Twitter so must assume not which is a pity as all the U23 games were aired on the OS last season.

More likely we are trying to shift some of our deadwood players to make way for some future deadwood players like Djenepo

Danny has been already on the books of a VERY BIG top 6 club, indeed the PL champions no less but it didn't suit him to be on their bench so he left. Not many people would have had the strength of character to do that. I doubt he would even contemplate leaving us to join a second rate outfit like Spurs after his top level exposure and experiences. He seems very hungry for week-in week-out football not just the odd cameo at the whim of a half-crazed crackpot manager.

I paid £10 to watch this, worth every penny 😉 One thing that is different this season is the mid-half refreshment and coaching break. Maybe there was something in those energy drinks?

Sounds just like Redmond to me.

Hope he doesn't fall asleep its so easy - CAZOO!

Totally agree. No idea why people take up these hostile positions when they know next to nothing about the player other than the rubbish they read on here. We have precious few precocious talents in our squad, Djenepo will be the only one if Boufal is moved on and let's be frank about it Djenepo has hardly set the world alight since his much trumpeted arrival here as one of Hasenhüttl's new breed.

Surely Danny will stay as long as we are a successful team. If we have a good season and genuinely challenge for Europe then there is no reason why a local lad who has supported the club since he was a toddler would want to leave. Yes he might get more money at a big club but it's not all about money, in any case Saints no doubt would make it attractive enough for him to stay here without making a song and dance about it.

Self contradictory. Only you have suggested that, Mr Muppet... Only joking! Otherwise a sluggish performance with a touch of lazy arrogance about it but main factor was that we were not ready, individually or as a team. Physically and tactically we need to get our heads down and get working hard this week with two tough games coming up. Ralph clearly was aware of this in his pre-match remarks but how much of our energy and rhythm can we get back before next weekend?

Brilliant business. No Added Value and £20m profit. What's not to like?

You've answered your own contradiction JRM, it is precisely because of these 'ridiculous' restrictions (as you call them) that we have very low hospital admissions and minimal unnecessary deaths. Surely you don't want us to go back to the scenario facing us in March with 1000 people dying ever day. We have had 6 months to learn how to handle this virus and we are a lot wiser now than when it started. The time to relax is when we have a viable vaccine, until then we are buying time and living as close to normal lives as possible.

That's alright then, we don't have any assets to be stripped

Pity BT don't do day passes like Sky.