STM

Are you happy going into the season with Schar as our starting CB? Last season his performances were very inconsistent and showed clear signs that he was losing his pace.

Weve got scope to improve with Tonali, Tino and Elanga too.

Barnes and Gordon have nice chemistry, even if neither are a striker. Miley is totally ready. Its out faceless back line which is the killer.

Best player on the pitch

Romeo literally elbowed Bruno in the head. VAR would have had him off.

Thats a sending off.

Great build up.

Impressed by Mileys short range use of the ball. Very quick feet.

Our back 4.

Yeah Bruno looks sharp.

Few positives. Barnes and Gordon look bright. Miley too.

Better Joe.

Gordon looks bright. No Sean Neave like.

Fabians Schar is an accident waiting to happen.

Its going to cost 50m+ for Watkins. I really like Watkins and hed be class here but it makes such little sense financially. It would be so disappointing to end up with an ageing Wissa and ageing Watkins. Even if I think they would perform well.

140 + Nunez on Loan maybe. 120 with Harvey Elliot, would be a better shout.

Because Neave has barely got pubes and Gordon won an international U21 competition whilst playing up front. Its not even me saying I like Gordon up front. I dont. Im just saying its not shocking.

noun a person or thing competing with another for the same objective or for superiority in the same field of activity. They are rival, whether they are seen as a close rival is a different thing but given we beat them in a cup final, id suggest a certain closeness.

If you compete against someone, you are rivals.

Im with @Kid Icarusin that losing Isak is an absolute clusterfuck and theres no real way of tarting it up. If you lose the best striker in the world, it can only set you back, certainly in the short term. Where i disagree is that there was much that could have been done. A new contract, perhaps but even then it doesn't justify his behaviour now and a new deal would have seen him leave in 12 months anyway. If we come out of it with Sesko and Wissa, that's the best we can do IMO. There's a massive part of me that wouldn't mind seeing Sesko fall through and us be forced to keep Isak.

But again your whole thing seems to be that winning this game matters in some way. Also, Gordon is a better FW than young Neave, at this stage in his development.

Neave is a mile away from the side. Hes only in SK for experiance and would likely never start a PL game for us next season. Osula is a work in progress and cant play all of our pre season games.

We play in the same league as them. We played in a cup final against them. We weren't far away from finishing one place below them. By giving them Isak. The gap widens. With Sesko the gap still widens, just slightly less.

Absolutely shocking to play Gordon up front in a meaningless friendly.

Hope seemed clear in his reporting to me. Wissa he expects to happen. Sesko its down to the player. If we get Sesko, Liverpool will be back.