Stottie

1 out of ten. I think we'll stay up but Rafa's project is well and truly dead with no possible excuses any more. The club is loaded but will not back him. The only way the club can progress is by getting Ashley out.

Gamez was a free transfer!!!!! Transfermarkt says Lazaar was 2.57 million pounds. Is this shite being put out there for pricks like Dennis Wise to defend the club with?

Great work everyone. Get the pressure up and keep it there.

Why would that terrify you? He's a top 6 manager, he deserves the chance to perform at his own level, to make his own kind of music, not rummage through the LPs in the Spastic Society shop. West Ham though. Them Tory wankers and their free stadium. I'm not saying our shite owner deserves Rafa Benitez but I don't think theirs do either, even if they put more money in. Wherever Rafa goes I'd like to support him and I couldn't do it with those three there at West Ham. Awful people. As for Pellegrini, recent history suggests eight or so Premier League managers won't last the season. It was ten last year. Hughes, Warnock, and Silva at Everton would be my bets, but even if not them, it'll happen to someone else. The more the tv money goes up, the more pressure there will be near the bottom when December comes around.

Ings sounds like a Mark Hughes-type signing to me. A highly overpriced domestic player. Statsbomb's Southampton preview is quite interesting. In it, they come out like a good bet for relegation.

The idea that terrifies me is him walking, going to another PL club, and them giving him money and finishing top 6 or 7. Imagine if it were West Ham....

In the Premier League era, we must have many more top 6 finishes than Everton, but we recruit like we are aiming for 17th.

Hopefully better than last time where Lejeune got taken out with no punishment and Dele Alli was allowed to wind us up. We weren't especially outplayed in that game at 11v11, and I suspect it'll be similar. Our lack of firepower is the obvious big worry. Could do with Big Mo being okay too. We're into new territory with the window closing early, so it could be a bit mad this coming week. A big bid in for Eriksen or something might unsettle them.

Good luck to him, not least because he's still our player. I hope he can get his mojo back. Getting into goalscoring positions does not appear to be the problem.

I can't see the ball for the commentators' names.

The saving grace is that while Rafa is here, Lascelles would have to be mad to go to Everton. He's close enough to a bigger move to not need to go and risk getting stuck there. Silva could easily bomb and get sacked like last year. Michael Keane has not progressed at Everton. Of course, there is the chance he'd go because we'd be ushering him out of the door.

We "We don't shop at Sports Direct" fits Yellow Submarine.

They've had James McCarthy sitting on his arse for two seasons at 80k a week too. We can't buy anyone because Lazaar or Haidara or someone is on 5k.

:dave: :dave: Crank up the Relegationometer.

The role of Keith Bishop clearly shows Ashley cares about the public image of the club and his running of it. We cannot force Ashley to buy players, but we can influence the way the club is seen by the other football fans who Keith Bishop's lies are likely to work on. "Can't compete with Liverpool" needs to become "outspent by Huddersfield".

As Liam says it was 8 and you're right, it's not bad at all. Pascal Gross at Brighton was viewed as one of the non-top 6 signings of the season for similar output.

The rumour pages are saying Lucas Perez has been offered to Lazio for 7M quid. If we're limited to the bargain basement, I don't think he'd be a bad shout.

Love Daniel Storey like. He's a real ally. If we've only got tuppence for a new striker, any chance of going back to Arsenal for Lucas Perez? It sounded like Rafa was quite keen 12 months ago. Abraham for the Mitro money, my word, that would be amazing though.

Kit looks lush. From the highlights only, but yeah, one-way traffic. I watched it in slow motion and I think Dubravka has that free kick covered. What a leap!

I like Zaha but like Townsend, it's hard to judge how good he is because Palace had such a topsy turvy season and Benteke couldn't buy a goal. He had a worse season than Joselu. This led to more being asked of Zaha, and may be the main cause of the "big fish in a little pond" or "ball hog" feeling around him. The fact that Zaha could go from winger to a wideish forward successfully suggests to me that he could also adapt to playing another role in a better team. His skills are not in question.

I am way happier about this deal than if we were giving Liverpool 20M for Danny Ings.

Decent fee. Mitro had 14 shots at the WC for one goal. Based on minutes, 4.9 shots per game, way higher than anyone else. You cannot blame Serbia for not supplying him. Time once again for one of my favourite links, but a 40% drop in goals is par for the course when a striker for a promoted team plays in the PL. I can see him getting double figures, but not much more. It may take a lot of ammo, more ammo than we could ever have given him. Dwight Gayle's drop was way more than 40% obviously. https://experimental361.com/2017/07/15/how-do-goalscorers-fare-after-their-team-is-promoted/

Along with the mental Ings fee, a grand total of two goals scored since those two injuries, Liverpool apparently want "12M" for Mignolet.

True, but Muto's shot accuracy and goals/shots taken are good even compared to Bundesliga stars like Lewandowski, Timo Werner and James Rodriguez. Aubameyang played in both leagues last season and his shot accuracy number actually went up after he joined Arsenal. It went bit under the radar with Arsenal's woes and Wenger going, but he's started really hot and could well be a force this season. Anyway, if Muto can hit the target better than the scatterguns that are Joselu and Gayle, and to a lesser extent Perez, that would do nicely.