Shak

Hope we see Perez on the left.

I think we'll see lots of rotation in the front four. The back four will be settled enough eventually and I reckon Hayden will start whenever he's fit with Shelvey, Colback and Anita fighting to partner him. Reckon Rafa wants Shelvey there as he's easily the best player of the three, but he seems the type who'll get lazy if he's gauranteed a starting place. Does seem like Rafa will play with two holding midfielders, especially now that we've signed a couple of attack minded full backs. I don't think Diame will be considered as a possible CM for that reason, he'll play as an AM or not at all I'd guess. After that we'll see lots of chopping and changing between Mitro, Gayle, Perez, Diame, Ritchie and Atsu. Lots of ways we can line up any combination of those four. Gayle and Mitro as a front two is something we might see a bit of, or Rafa can go with just one of them leading the line. Ritchie and Atsu can both play either side, I think Ritchie pretty much has the RW spot nailed down though and Atsu will be his backup there while also getting games on the left. The interesting thing for me is how we'll use Gayle and Perez. With a real attacking left fullback now on board I think Perez as a left sided inside forward might be the best option for him. I can see Gayle being played there too. Don't know why but I really think Mitro will start up top whenever he's fit and Gayle will end up playing either just off him or out on the left. Obviously he's shown so far this year that he can play up top alone and score goals but I do think the team would look better with a more typical target man type up there. All in all though I'm happy with us mixing and matching from those six. Murphy I believe is purely a Mitro backup. Gouffran I doubt gets many games either but he's not awful as a backup player. Aarons if he ever gets fit will probably get plenty of appearances of the bench but I doubt he starts many games unless we get badly hit with injuries. Feel good about the squad going forward, looking forward to seeing how Rafa manages it.

I'd have been alright with McMamaman if it meant we got to laugh at Sissoko going to WBA.

I don't think this will happen. If it does I'll be fucking furious. Fuck that abhorrent little cunt, he can fuck off and get fucked.

Good stuff, much needed extra option out wide. Hope we either keep Sissoko or else spend big on another winger to replace him if he goes.

Agreed, Everton fans don't rate him at all. Ireland's CM has been a huge problem for years and this lad has been a mainstay. If he can't look like one of our best players then how good can he be?

20m for James McCarthy? I know transfer fees have gone a bit bonkers recently but fucking hell. Anyway, I'd rather we looked elsewhere. Have never seen the fuss regarding McCarthy.

Happy with that team like.

I like the fact that we're signing a backup target man... 5m does seem a shockingly high figure though.

He'll be coming here to be Mitro's backup, fairly certain of that. He's showed that he can score goals at this level and gives us a 2nd target man for when Mitro goes on his crazy murder sprees and needs to lay low for a while. In an ideal world we'd have signed someone young with potential to grow into a really good player or else someone who could legitimately challenge Mitro for his starting role, but I'd imagine we've tried that and it hasn't come off. So we sign this guy as a stopgap squad player for a couple of years and people lose their shit?

Quite an underwhelming signing if if happens, was hoping for someone better. That said, I can see the logic as he'd be a replacement for any injuries or suspensions that Mitro picks up. Do think that ultimately the plan is for Gayle to play alongside Mitrovic rather than lead the line himself so we could use another big man in the squad.

Exciting to see us bringing in attack minded full backs. Would be interested in seeing Perez and Ritchie playing left and right side respectively with Yedlin and this chap bombing on.

You can't say this about DeAndre? Fuck you talking about. No, because Andre is a name? Ion isn't? That shit doesn't matter. It's the lynchpin of the joke. Otherwise we're just making fun of names that contain syllables.

Tardmichael Murphy strikes again!

In fairness, his name is Deion. The 'De' there is central to the name. Otherwords he'd have been just Ion, which isn't a name. Nice gif though.

Some American style unnecessary syllables before their first names could really liven up our squad tbh. Lechancel Mbemba Jerjonjo Shelvey Bojack Colback

Apparently we have coaches who actually know stuff now though.

Know fuck all about him tbh. The word 'fast' seems to be popular in the thread. Google tells me he's only recently turned 23 so that's encouraging. Still plenty of time to grow and improve defensively. Maybe get even faster, too! He and Jesus as the two RBs in the squad would be pretty solid, on paper at least.

Would be a nice squad signing by the sound of things. We would still need another winger of course, unless Gayle really is going to end up there. I wouldn't be opposed to that at all tbh, he's done well so far obviously but doesn't seem like an out and out striker.

Bas waits patiently in the box But the cross is way too low Bas thinks "Man, Dummett is shit. Give some other fucker a go."

Sounds like this Haller would be direct competition for Mitro to lead the line. Do think Gayle seems like he's better suited to playing just off the front man long term.

Given that Rafa said this... “We still want to bring in another three or four players. We still don’t have our top XI and we need to balance the squad. Some players have not yet arrived but others will leave." ... yesterday I don't think it's anything to worry about. It's pretty clear from that quote that Rafa knows we need both players who'll improve the first team and ones who'll give us better balance and depth throughout the squad. The sooner we get them in the better, of course. Hoping we can get our shit together enough to manage to have at least 5 points on the board before the international break. It's a long season so I'm not unduly worried by a slow start so long as we have our shit together by the end of the window. You don't want to get cut too far adrift though all the same.

Because it's 2016 and a game isn't televised. Pretty much.

So there are seriously no streams? Shit.

Excellent. With Ritchie starting on one side it's imperative that whoever plays on the other wing has pace IMO. Think they'll compliment each other well.