skarroki

I wish I shared your optimism

Gollini Bacuna - Elphick - Baker - Amavi Tshibola - Lyden - Westwood Ayew McCormack - Hepburn-Murphy The full backs can provide width, the midfield should be good enough and the front 3 need to be creative and fluid and outscore Rotherham I just assume we will lose but I hope we at least look like we're trying.

I don't hate him, he's just obviously not good enough. If anyone wants him on a free then let him go. I can only muster so much hate and almost all of it is being directed in Micah's direction at the moment, so basically, you're league 1 standard Gardner, continue your career there now

I hope he Nevers plays another football match again and never earns another penny for playing football badly, let alone £60k every damn week. But of course I'm not seriously saying I'd get a baseball bat to his leg. It's called hyperbole, a lot of football fans use it, especially when wound up. You should get used to it.

Richards is absolute poison. Utterly useless, useless player. Please just do one or get a career ending injury

With Riley watching Wolves last night, do you think we've bid for one of the players? Looking at the line up I'd hope for Hause, if we were getting anyone from Wolves I'd want Iorfa but think Hause would be a good left footed CB/ LB to add depth and balance.

I think Huddersfield were interested in Steer permanently at the start of the summer, so potentially he could be part of any deal? Wouldn't be surprised

What's the story with Faurlin, the midfielder from QPR. looked talented but been released. Not sure if it was wages or attitude? Would he be worth a risk? Sandro from QPR could do a job for us too Edit: just seen that Faurlin signed for Getafe last night. Nevermind

Isn't that just a lazy link cos Di Matteo signed him for WBA when they were in the championship?

Jordi Gomez....

Gardner is definitely a championship standard player at least, he has shown that by being selected by 3/4 different managers consistently at this level. He's still only 24, he's not a youngster anymore but he's got another decade of football in him. Give him time and he should be a good player for us. I personally am not even sure what all the criticism is about anyway. We're a championship team now, we don't have Barry and Petrov in the midfield, the standard of player we have, and we can attract, has fallen.

I think Ayew is the sort of player that needs to be told not to stay in position. Let him wonder the pitch like Young did for us in that brief stint under Houllier I think? I would play effectively a 4-4-1-1 come 4-2-3-1 with him in the team. Sit him in front of 2 good CM's and tell him to go where he wants, run the channels, be the link between midfield and attack. Get him to release the ball at the right time too, some of those runs and moments yesterday were brilliant but you'd have to cut them short on a highlight reel cos they all ended in shots wide, balls going out of play and him losing possession. Frustrating to see such a talent on the ball not knowing when to give that ball up.

You could sign the very best of the championship for a similar price. If he goes, we could bring in someone to replace him who's more proven and battle hardened to the championship. People said it in may and I'll still say it now, I wouldn't be too bothered about any single member of last season's squad leaving. One of them leaving for more than we sold Ashley Young for? Madness

I would like to see Henri Lansbury in a Villa shirt before the end of the window. Think he'd be another fantastic signing that would be a huge asset in the Championship and could eventually be useful in the Prem. Make it happen Di Matteo

Gollini Hutton Elphick Baker Bennett Westwood Gardner Green Ayew Grealish Gestede Bunn, Okore, McCormack, Tshibola, Cissokho, Lyden, Hepburn-Murphy That's what I think will be most effective and get us a decent showing. Which basically shows how horribly unbalanced the squad is once you take out all the guys everyone hates from last year. Adama and Amavi returning will improve the look of the lineup however, as would some new signings.

Suliman and Mason were not given squad numbers, but Toner was, or at least retained it from last season. So I think he's somewhere in Di Matteo's plans, whereas the other 2 aren't. I would like to think we're looking to bring another CB in anyway. I hope Mason gets plenty of game time and shows his potential,

What about Toner?

Squad looks big but it's including 4-5 good prospects, 3 keepers and 3 players apparently close to leaving so should be trimmed in the next few days. I'm happy with the new numbers given but disappointed that Richards, Gabby etc. have kept their squad numbers, don't deserve them and should have been stripped of them

I actually don't want another striker. I think we should just go with Ayew, McCormack and Gestede with youngsters behind them. When it gets to January, with the ACON we should definitely look to bring in someone then, but until then I'd rather wait. Unless it's Bamford, in which case ignore everything I've said and SIGN ALL THE STRIKERS!!! If we've gone for 3 players I'd like McNair, Jedinak and a right back from France called Jordan who I've never heard of, but will be convinced he'll be prem quality after a fantastic debut

Apparently Morrison is following eggs on Twitter Am I doing it right?

Think we'll be seeing McNair sign before the first game. I'd like the guy that Blues are apparently after, Greg Stewart, plays for Dundee and has done well for a couple of seasons. Linked to an unnamed club. Potentially us? https://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/fp/new-club-enters-race-dundee-talisman-greg-stewart/

As in it's not worth noting, or its not a coincidence?

Two unrelated things I've found out about him. He wears the number 44 shirt because it was the number he wore when coming through the ranks at Rangers, and was the last shirt his gran saw him play in before she passed away. He was on roughly £30k per week at Fulham. I'm guessing we'll have to match what Norwich offer him, but he's not going to be on the sort of money that wasters like Gabby are getting paid.

It's worth noting that Morrison follows Gollini, Grealish and Lescott. He probably knew Gollini at Utd in their academy squads, not sure about Lescott but Grealish I'd guess they'd have crossed paths. A curious time to start following people but every chance it's all just coincidence. He did like a tweet where someone told him the world would be better if he was back in claret and blue... But pretty sure it was referring to West Ham. He also liked a tweet of quote from Kevin Nolan saying that Sam Allerdyce is a closet homophobe. So that doesn't do his image wonders.

Little bit more info on Paddy McNair http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/who-celtic-transfer-target-paddy-8532965 Could be coming as a midfielder, or right back, or just Mr Versatile