stevegrant

Not sure about that. He played in the November games against Slovenia and Scotland, but there wasn't a noticeable tail-off in performance until the end of the January transfer window. All through that good run after Christmas into the New Year, his performances were good. I guess it probably started with the Palace cup game at the end of January, although fair to say our whole back 4 were terrible that afternoon. The trend had already set in before the March internationals against Lithuania and Italy, IMO - the latter of which he was particularly awful.

Perhaps, but I don't think Bertrand's contribution dropped at any stage last season. We never really played with out-and-out wingers last season (possibly on isolated occasions, but not for any prolonged period) so there was always space for both of them to get forward. I don't know whether it was a lack of confidence (seems odd given the circumstances) or not being fully focused, but there were so many games where there would be pretty much the entire right flank for Clyne to run into, but he'd never make the run, preferring instead to hold his position or if he had the ball, check back inside and give it to someone else.

Personally I don't get the fuss about Ings. Sure, he runs around a lot, but his finishing isn't up to much. I don't see how he improves under a manager who doesn't seem to have improved a single player in his three years in charge, especially when he's not going to be playing every week. Firmino should be good, but depends on how he settles and how Rodgers (ab)uses him.

Nothing other than reading between the lines - Koeman stated in various press conferences that there was a deadline of [whenever], and then when that deadline came and went, he'd then be quoted saying there was a new deadline. That doesn't suggest that the offer was rejected, just that they didn't get a response.

In terms of the actual move, I'd agree, but the effort and application he put into his performances from January onwards when it was clear he wanted to leave have been ****-poor IMO, and I suspect it's that which cost him a move to Man United and Champions League football, so he's shot himself in the foot in that regard. I guess if we're being picky, it would have been nice of him to actually grow a pair and actually tell the club he didn't want to sign a new contract rather than just refuse to respond to the offers put on the table.

The worry is throwing them in and their career gets set back years through the loss of confidence through being hit around everywhere. The Simon Kerrigan effect...

I was very surprised we apparently weren't interested in signing Kieran Trippier from Burnley, considering he had a £3.5m relegation release clause in his contract and we knew of the likelihood that Clyne would be leaving. He would have both given us options at right-back alongside Cedric Soares and helped the home-grown quota.

Why? If Begovic is that lacking in ambition that he's happy to go and sit on Chelsea's bench and play 5 games a season, that's his choice.

It's crap, obviously, but it's scoreboard pressure requiring 11 an over from the off, which is why I was so surprised we put them in having won the toss. If we were batting first, and able to just put a score together in our own way, without the cluttered thinking of "oh ****, got to score 11 an over every over", we could have got to 180-200 ourselves and then all of a sudden the pressure's on Essex.

To be fair, it's Chelmsford. It's a tiny postage stamp of a ground where 180 is a below-par score. I was amazed that Vince chose to bowl first on that wicket considering the likely effect of scoreboard pressure. Chasing 11 an over was doable in theory but you're always up against it because you never think you've got time to assess the pitch as a batsman, despite only needing three scoring shots per over to be up with the rate.

Well this has gone well...

Worth noting on the Deloufeu deal, Barcelona have a buy-back clause, which is probably why the price is so low. If he's any good, they'll have him back in a couple of years time.

It's not quite "a Pompey", tbf

So from that, we'd get 30% of the 5% cut? If the fee's £8m, that's around £133k.

Are they? Who's paying that??

The sort of player who, if he has a good season, will have Liverpool blundering in with a £20m bid, and if he has a bad season, will have QPR doing the same for £10m. They can't really lose here, I suspect.

A bit hit and miss, I thought. Very good price, though. Bournemouth throwing down £8m for Tyrone Mings of Ipswich

What he said.

Ability is clearly there, he's just wildly inconsistent. If Koeman thinks he can get the sort of performance he put in at Newcastle out of him on a more regular basis, and we can get him for very little outlay, then it's probably a deal worth doing. I think the option fee with Werder Bremen was only around €4m anyway, so if we can knock that down again, that's a decent price for someone with his experience IMO.

It was never a rule. Clubs in the UK (whose grounds are pretty much the only ones built in such a way that the front rows of seats are so low down) just didn't have any option but to not sell tickets in those seats because the view would have been practically zero.

Gareth Berg has been the one consistent performer in the championship this season, good to see him getting another score and handful of wickets. The rest just don't seem quite up to it - perhaps the gap between D1 and D2 is bigger than it was when we were last up here...

Not true. The only reason some clubs have done this is because the advertising boards for UEFA competitions are taller than the ones we use domestically, and so the views from the front rows would be obscured. I don't know whether the fact we now use electronic advertising boards in this country means the front rows become usable again or not.

I thought I hid my role as the new Sir Harry Pearce quite well

**** all in the grand scheme of things. Probably around £20-30k.

If we get to the group stage of the Europa League, we'll have 6 of our first 7 away games rearranged, and three home games. Newcastle (A) Watford (A) Norwich (H) Man United (H) Chelsea (A) Liverpool (A) Sunderland (A) Man City (A) Aston Villa (H) The only away game between August and the start of December that would still be on a Saturday (unless, of course, it's picked for TV) would be West Brom. The next would be Palace on 12th December In terms of fixture oddity, Everton have been at home to Liverpool before the game at Anfield in 13 of the last 14 seasons. Now that is a weird statistical quirk!