revolution saint

Sorry, I meant having all of them as options rather than on the pitch at the same time. I don't see us playing all of them either but was thinking more along the lines of squad size. It's a possibility but doesn't really fit with having to reduce the size of squad.

I'm not convinced we'll end up with a midfield of Charles, Downes, Grimes, Smallbone and Alcaraz. I know they all have different attributes and can play different positions but doesn't really tie in with the idea of trying to reduce the size of the squad especially when we've got others like S Armstrong that can also play in central midfield.

Yes, cheers for sharing. I'm hoping the new set piece fella can sort us out, initially just to defend them properly. The amount we've conceded is stupid considering that generally the likelihood is quite low for most clubs. If we can retain a bit of pace up front then counter attacking from set pieces is the icing on the cake.

Looking forward to this and I think we'll have a much better idea of the strength of the league and how good we are after the game. Main concern again is set pieces - they've got players like Holt, Duffy and Sargeant that will pose a big threat and I can easily see them scoring. I'm going for a pessimistic 0-2 in the hope I'm wrong.

I didn't realise quite how bad a state Sheffield United are in - if they hadn't got promoted they would have been screwed. Even now it doesn't look like they can do anything other than plan for a season at the bottom and try and get as much money as they can doing it. Decent opportunity for Hamer and no doubt Sheffield United will probably make some money on him but I think they could be worse than we were last season and possibly threaten Derbys points tally.

I've been following Caicedo and his career with interest. He's a baller. He's got a hammer for a right foot, a cultured left foot that acts as both a wand and can open a tin of beans, a football for both an eye and a brain. I'd say he doesn't just glide across the pitch - more like he hovers above it. Oh and, for a big man, he's got a great first touch and he can leap like a trout. Worth £110M of anyones money and then some.

It's a compromise innit, but I'm not sure I want a manager who is no fart and all shit either.

Article I read didn't really mention what Downes wanted, just that West Ham were keen to include him as part of the deal for JWP as a permanent transfer and we weren't interested in a permanent - only a loan. TBF it could be rubbish or there could be more to it than included in the article.

I see The Times are apparently reporting that West Ham wanted to include Downes as a permanent transfer but we're only interested in a loan deal. Would have thought it would have been the other way around.

Cheers, you're a cock.

JWP isn't leaving. He'd have left by now if he was going to leave.

Yep, agree with this. Only problem is that even with them leaving we've still got a pretty big squad - need to move on a lot of those who played last night as well as the first team players you mentioned. Wilcox and RM know all this though and hopefully have several plans in place.

It’s one game. Can’t really make any judgments on it especially as the team will likely look a fair bit different in September and I’m not sure we’ll face many other teams that stand off us as much as Wednesday did. If you want to play that game though then extrapolating one game over a season means we don’t need a plan b because we’ll win every game with plan a.

Agreeing with Jamie Carragher is a first for me: https://tbrfootball.com/embarrassing-jamie-carragher-reacts-after-hearing-what-liverpool-have-now-done/

How is it odd? Staying in the premier league with saints isn't an option when you've been relegated. He was asked whether he'd be staying and replied that the club knew his wishes which is code for "I'm off". If he wanted to stay then he'd have said so.

I think JWP will go to West Ham. Nothings really changed since the end of last season when it was pretty obvious that he wanted to stay in the premier league. All we're doing now is quibbling over the price with West Ham but that'll sort itself out eventually - it's not often a club bids twice for a player and then walks away and I don't expect it to happen here.

I had no idea he was related to Alan Ball (great uncle apparently). Can't see any way we would get him though - apparently City have turned down a bid of 30M for him and Sheff Utd have asked for him back on loan again.

For anyone interested in football finance and the championship then you might be interested in the video below. I found it fascinating and does show the extent to which parachute payments skew the league and how fucked the rest of the division is. For those who don't have the time then basically it should be good news for us - two thirds of teams relegated will regain promotion whilst in receipt of payments and the rest of the league continues to live beyond their means chasing what looks like an almost impossible dream.

Ah sorry, he’d tweeted that it was nothing serious a couple of weeks ago but obviously that’s not the case.

Yes, I agree and would be surprised to see him here on 1st September. Having said that I'm not sure I can see many teams offering us our money back on him either. Probably a loan is more likely. Would love him to stay though. You're probably right that if we keep one of Tella and Sulemana then we won't replace unless we shift some of Djenepo, Aribo, S Armstrong as well.

No, Diallo is fine apparently

We've actually had quite a few links to wide players which makes me think at least one of Tella and Sulemana could leave. Manhoef was recently described as " a plague for every team, because he is lightning fast" by Pierre Van Hooijdonk. In addition to him we've had Grady Diangara from West Brom. He's the kid the West Ham fans and Mark Noble were up in arms about selling a few years back. He's got more tricks than a magician and seems to have a bit of pace about him too. Leeds also linked with him and feels like a similar kind of signing to Max Aarons (if we sign him). There's also been Amad Diallo of Man Utd (presumably on loan) and Bopp from Man City.

Thanks, it was really aimed at FarehamSaintJames. I'm not really sure what his position on JWP staying is. He's been sitting on the fence so long so would be nice to get a definitive answer on what he thinks will happen.

Just so we're clear, you think JWP is going to stay?

Smallbone for me. Thought he was excellent - always available for a pass, moved it quickly and rarely gave it away. Very much a part of us controlling the game and not looking under the cosh as we saw it out.