Viana

I do think there's a broader debate to be had about competing on multiple fronts under Eddie Howe. Unai Emery has managed to keep Aston Villa up there in the league while going on a decent Champions League run and winning the Europa League. I would argue their tactical ideas couldn't be more different, but I think we all want to avoid the boom and bust cycle of finishing 4th, then dropping to 7th/8th (or in the case of this season 12th). Emery hasn't cracked the code, but he's got closer than Howe.

This is the strongest argument for keeping him IMO. Barnes is consistent, and he won't be playing back up to Anthony Gordon. That could do wonders for his confidence. The reasons I'm slightly more open to selling him are fairly straightforward. - He got 16 this year, but more than half of those were in cup competitions, one of which we aren't in next season. - His best season to date had him at 10 goals in the league, so better than last season, but not drastically. - We need to get used to selling as a club, and that means doing deals at all levels. It can't just be star players at peak value. It has to be those mid-range players who could be used to facilitate more new faces. I agree, a move to Aston Villa is definitely strengthening our biggest rival. That aspect does diminish my willingness to see him go, but I also wonder what role Elanga plays next year, because if he does stay and plays regularly, then I could see Will Osula moving to the left and becoming a winger/forward hybrid.

Forgive me, I meant in the league.

If I can play devil's advocate, it's a lot different signing players for Bournemouth versus us. There's definitely some on that list we could and should have gone for (Rayan being one), but there's a few I wouldn't even touch now like Tavernier.

Harvey Barnes feels like a simple case of him being a good player but not good for us. As others have said; he's a finisher not a creator. Looking at his numbers he tends to float between 5-9 league goals a season. I'd be open to selling him for that reason. We really need a forward that can break into the double figure bracket and I don't think that's ever going to be him.

If he is off to Arsenal, the one positive is that we should be able to secure a very good fee for him. Italian clubs aren't able to compete with what someone like Arsenal could drop. I think his form has regressed this season, which would soften the blow of his departure. Mind, the fact we're talking about selling another star turn to a top six club only reinforces my belief that this is the food chain the league is looking to maintain. I don't recall the likes of Manchester City, Chelsea, or those guys having to sell off their stars so consistently.

That's exactly it. A good portion of RTG is performative older fans who are trying to outdo each other. Whether it's family or friends, I know a good amount of Sunderland fans and this is going to be massive for them. Football is a swings and roundabouts game at the best of times. Last year we got Champions League and a trophy lift. If Europa League feels the same to them I'm fine with that.

I hated the deal from the moment it was floated. He's essentially to us what Roque Santa Cruz was to Man City. I don't think you can port goals across in the way our recruitment team seemed to think. God only knows how we'll recoup any money for him.

I think instead of picking over the bones of how he defends free kicks, I'd rather just accept it's best if we both move on. I don't view him as a regular starter, and I don't think he performs well as an impact sub. He's not scored a league goal for two seasons, and yet that was one of his biggest assets when he joined under Steve Bruce. A move back to London feels like it would be a great refresh for him and for us.

It's a gigantic moment for them, to be fair. They were in League One just a few years back. Even if they were to get spanked in every Europa League game, the combination of trips away and the chance of playing someone decent is enough to get anyone in their shoes giddy. I don't think they'll go down next year either. They've got too much character and just enough quality. If they're going down it'll be once Granit Xhaka and two or three like him leave. I wanted to say it's akin to us getting Champions League, but we'd been there before. This is all new ground for them.

I said on the day, Celtic winning the league in those circumstances was a death knell for Scottish football. If Hearts had won the league there would be genuine intrigue around the Scottish Premiership for at least 2-3 seasons. Tony Bloom may even have raised the financial ceiling for Hearts. Instead, Celtic had a catastrophic season, had three different managers, and still won the thing.

I'm trying very hard to see both sides of the coin with Eddie Howe at the moment. He's delivered so much to whereby we've had two European campaigns, and most importantly a trophy. I also think our lack of proper quality and depth has hindered him (and it 's what I think he was shooting for this summer, albeit failing miserably). The top squads all have that quality usually with two players per position. I looked up the year Liverpool won the league under Jurgen Klopp. The lads on the lower end of the appearance chart were players like; Luis Diaz, Joe Gomez, Divock Origi, Harvey Elliot. If we were playing them tomorrow I'd argue that bunch is stronger than what we have right now. The problem is, we spent £100m on two players in Yoanne Wissa and Anthony Elanga. Neither has a long term future at the club. If we take that as a major mistake, but one we'll learn from, by installing Ross Wilson and others, you might think next season will be better. That said, what concerns me is just how off the target Howe has been tactically this year. In those first few seasons (even up until last year given the cup final) I felt he always had his finger on the pulse. Even if the result didn't come, I felt able to see what we were doing and why it could have worked. This season it hasn't felt like that. The Champions League against Barcelona, the two derby matches, and a smattering of other games, have all felt like tactical missteps. Within that, is a growing sense of caution in his tactics. I've read a number of good posts on our dwindling intensity, and that's perhaps what concerns me most. In much the same way Jose Mourinho didn't last past a third season, I am debating if the players have stopped being motivated by Howe's methods. The squad needs a bit of an overhaul regardless, but in that scenario, knowing wholesale changes are always very difficult, it may seem easier to dispense with Howe and move to a style less reliant on physicality.

If you're going to blow every time a Brighton players fall over while being pressed they're going to win most games.

Brighton at home wanting to make a statement. They've come prepared the same way we did a few months ago. Howe had two challenges this summer; what do you prioritize with the transfer budget, and how do you evolve the team tactically. We've signed four players, but I would say only Tonali is in the on paper best XI right now. He has prioritized long-term signings like Hall and Livramento, but that means he has less new cards to play right now down the spine of the field. That in itself isn't a major issue if you're confident your system still works, but it's clear it doesn't right now. Willock is a big miss and Joelinton hasn't looked fit all season. This is undoubtedly his first major bump as manager. Three defeats, two very meekly, he has to go away and figure out what he needs to figure out. If he can't then he'll struggle to stay in the job, and that's just the nature of managing a team with a directive to go to the top.

I think I may have crossed a threshold with this, and I'm unsure if I can go back across it. I enjoyed pre-season, I even went to one of the games, and it was good fun seeing a local lad score the goals. But I keep reading more and more about what they're doing in Saudi Arabia, and the sheer magnitude of PIF and it gets harder and harder to accept. I know this is where the game has gone at the top level. I know I'd likely never see us win anything without this kind of ownership. It's just not what got me into football. I watch how someone like Man City play and it's nigh perfection for 90 minutes. That's not what I got into it for. I accepted and I almost enjoyed the imperfection. It's what made it feel like something. I don't know if my soul is railing against modern football as a whole and this is just a symptom of it, but either way it doesn't feel right. I know our government does shit, all governments do barbaric things, but they don't own my football club. Edit: The reason I wrote this down now is because usually I'm quite excited for a game regardless of opponent, but after for some reason it just didn't feel that way today. Maybe it's temporary, maybe it isn't, but here felt as good a place as any to write about it.

The new Dutch lad at the back looks a player.

Nicholas Jackson throwing himself down every chance he gets here.

I feel sorry for Carrick. He had them going last year and they've basically sold off his best assets and bought lesser ones.

To be fair, while in purely footballing terms he has undeniable talent he does have red flags which mean he would never have worked for us. Firstly, I don't think his personality would have suited this group. I also think to get the best out of him you need to build the attack around him. Howe has never wanted to build us around one player.

We don't play with a 10 though.

Burnley just a bit powder puff.

The beauty of football in evidence, fair play to them, perfect response From what I saw that felt like a repeat of them at their best last season - soaking up a bit of pressure then using speed and quality to break on teams. Chris Rigg definitely looks a player too. In the same way that one reflects well on Sunderland it does look bad for Southampton. Russel Martin has nice ideas, but they've not looked convincing yet this season. I don't actually think the team on paper was terrible. Four of the back five have Premier League experience. The bench is a lot stronger than Sunderland's, and yet, I do wonder - and this is just total speculation on my part - how Martin's ideas apply to a team that goes into games overwhelming favorites. Teams won't throw themselves onto Southampton. That means less space in the final third and a more complex problem to solve.

Pickford has the ability to make world class saves but his inconsistency and emotional volatility stops him being that player.

That's exactly it. I get where @TeddySAFC is coming from totally, the tricky bit is going to be figuring out how they all adapt to the English game. The Championship is just relentless in terms of schedule and physical demand on the body. I don't see relegation as a threat personally, and Mowbray had a decent record of working on young players at Blackburn, but when we're talking about top 6, that feels unattainable for this group.

That actually feels like quite a rough end to the window for them. Their only pedigreed striker has been sold (alright he's currently injured), and in his place they've signed a 24-year-old with one good season in the Ukrainian league and three strikers under 21 that have five senior goals between them. If Rusyn doesn't work out they're in for a long old season. It was the kind of shit Ashley would do to cut costs. Speculate on prospects and hope one paid off. The two French lads have some pedigree, so that's a plus, but they probably need to figure out a succession plan for Tony Mowbray too because he sounded disgruntled over the Stewart situation.