TRon

It might have been worse if he did tbh. We can't afford another disastrous window chasing panic buys. Far better to stick to a plan of only buying long term targets who will improve the squad.

The PL campaign is over man. I could just about stomach this during our previous poor runs, when last season's recovery was used as an example. There's 10 games left now, not 18.

Well the cartel refs earning their corn as expected.

Although considering the way we play, also made the most sense, albeit at about half the price.

I could understand the reasoning for Wissa, but then I had never really watched him or Woltemade extensively. In fact I had never seen Woltemade play at all, and only paid much attention to Wissa in games against us. Ultimately though, if they had come off, we would have got the credit for great recruitment in the summer, but since they haven't worked out, then we have to judge them accordingly as well. The sale of Isak wasn't the failure, but not getting in replacements in time was. It will be the same if the cartel clubs come in for Tonali and Livramento this summer, and god forbid, Lewis Hall.

We shouldn't have sold at all unless we were happy with the replacements. That was never in our plans until he forced the situation, but we handled it badly. Either we should have agreed to sell him earlier at the right price, or told Liverpool no deal until next year. It wasn't the ultimate decision to sell, it was the timing which was disastrous.

Tbh, I said the same thing a few weeks ago re Wissa, and even to some extent Elanga. Very hard to judge forwards when you can't get the ball to them, although both Wissa and Elanga have shown poor control of the ball when they have got it. The truth is, take away our athleticism and a lot of our players are not that good.

Exactly. The last thing we need is a repeat of last summer when we tried to dig our heels in with Isak. If players want to leave, then depending on their contract length, we just get the best deal possible. We can't keep living in dream land.

We are almost being forced to operate like an Ashley club on steroids. I suppose the big difference is we can spend our budget on improving our recruitment staff and other operational personnel at the top level with the aim to drive up our income - which Ashley would never have done because it means investing significant money up front with no guarantees of a return. But it's a slow process and fans will just have to come to terms with it. We've been ahead of the curve for the last few seasons, now we are having a dip. I think next season will be a real barometer of where we are headed.

Well that's a novel take.

Also I imagine we might end up selling Tonali or any other player who the big clubs are targeting. That will mean more funds to spend, but whether we will be able to improve on the back of that is another matter.

Tbh, it was just the goals which were outstanding. He was having minimal impact on our play even in those games apart from the finishes.

We'll have to bring some players in just because some will be out of contract and moving on. We already spent big last summer so if we want to do the same again we'll maybe have to sell some of those we bought and take a loss in order to buy in players fit for purpose.

I don't think anyone seriously thought Woltemade was going to work in midfield on the back of a game against a physically challenged team from Europe that cost less than Will Osula.

I don't think anyone sensible expects him to compete with the cartel clubs tbh. Our problem at the moment is breaking into the top 8.

Well it was kind of predictable. Even when we hammered Qarabag I said that was never going to be reflected in the PL. Tbf, Gordon does look the best bet as a striker, but that says more about our actual strikers than him.

Sandro was also one of the few who was picking the ball up in the centre circle and driving forward with the ball when the space was in the central areas. Everyone else just looks to punt the ball out wide where the players get closed down pronto.

It sounds harsh, but I fear it will ultimately be proven true.

Well he can actually strike a ball well so I don't mind when he takes a punt from range.

Don't think he deserved that tbh. It's his Billy Big Time attitude which he shows against smurfs like Qarabag when you know fine well he won't be able to reproduce it against PL defences. I thought he was ok though, tried hard enough, just ran into brick walls too many times.

What a goal that would have been.

Honestly I was watching us shift it wide so many times today when there was space for someone with some ability to drive right through the middle in the centre of the pitch, and it was the first time I was thinking we really need some skill at the top of our midfield arc. I think @Ronaldo has commented on this plenty in the past, but really struck home today. Ramsey is in that mold but a really high class operator with a decent peg on him would make all the difference.

Yep. The players gave their all effort-wise, they just didn't have the gameplan which was going to get a result here.

You're still looking at 7th?

Hopefully he'll go back to deploying players in their actual positions again. We had three playing in unnatural roles today, and while it might work against physically challenged teams in Europe, it tends not to in the EPL.