LordSepulchrave

On paper this has been a terrible window, but so far the performances have put lie to that idea. Hopefully Cleverly continues this (very welcome) trend.

Overall been a decent window, doesn't look like we've made any real missteps and we've addressed issues with our squad. Hopefully there should be a little left in the pot for a quality player to be brought in during the winter window.

Villa fans making us look like tits SSN. I'm glad that any update or round-up they had for us was interrupted for the sake of that sad attempt at humour.

Two solid teams without the ability to control a game in possession or attacking flair? Nailed on goalfest. I'm going for a 7-5 victory to us. Hopefully we can get our attack moving a bit more smoothly though and turn the inevitable 0-0 into a narrow 1-0 or 2-0 victory.

We got him for cheap, he had one bad season for us and one good season for us and now we've been able to recoup a bit of money with him on a year contract. I feel like he's a tad underrated, but it is probably for the best he moves on. Much luck Karim, pity it didn't quite work out.

Yeah, they often ignore form altogether. People often forget Hibs were a decent midtable side under Fenlon before they imploded under Butcher, so most of their players have shown that they can do better than they did during the great decline. Couple that with the fact that they do have a decent striker now in El Alagui and I wouldn't really say that we're much better per say. But yeah, Sow does indeed look like a real find - the idea that he looks this good already whilst still lacking proper fitness is a bit mental. He does have a similar completeness to Benteke - strength, pace, finishing, great feet. Not sure, despite his height, that he's got a huge amount of aerial threat. Am worried that should he turn out as good as hoped, he'll be promptly pinched by a championship side.

Have to say, as a Hearts fan I found myself weirdly confident about the Rangers game a day before and whilst watching it, even whilst Rangers were on top. Not feeling so confident about the derby. Reckon people are undervaluing QotS in the championship though. Also lolGoodwin.

If you want to talk about stats, his KP was 1.9 last season, which is way higher than anyone except Benteke or Albrighton. Put him beside a good DM, and hopefully you'd see him be able to form a decent double pivot.

A defensive mid? I may not be convinced about the quality of our signings so far, but they all seem to have some sort of a plan behind them - I can see where they address issues with the squad. Last transfer window was exciting, but seemed to be a bit all over the place - it wasn't particularly clear where a lot of the players fit into our tactics. Hope this gets across the line, we really need some steel in midfield.

Although I suspect this is all just semantic quibbling, I'm with Mantis on this one - we were insipid to decent and basically effective for most of the season, but after the Chelsea win everything went horribly wrong. Still would have been enough to make Lambert's position basically untenable, I reckon, were it not for the Lerner situation.

Might be mad of me, but still haven't written Bennett off. Just as one good season doesn't make a player a world beater, one bad season doesn't necessarily make a player a flop.

You say that, but with a couple of signings that's as good a first team as ours. Depth has suffered though. This S'ton situation could go either way at this point - if Koeman turns out to be a great manager and money is quickly and smartly reinvested they could end up doing just as well as last season. As it stands I still doubt they'll get relegated unless they don't reinvest at all.

Dawson was caught out badly last season because Tottenham played in a way that exposed his weaknesses badly. He'd probably do a lot better here because of the way we play.

Some thoughts: Weimann's finish lacked confidence, the goalie shoulda saved it really. Nice to see his movement to help Bent set-up the goal though, it's one of his best qualities. Herd has been threatening to have a bit of a jonjo shelvey to himself - doubt he'll get much game time during the season. Bent working hard upfront, which is very nice to see.

I hate preseason. We all know that the match results are effectively meaningless, but regardless when we win I wonder if that creates a level of expectation and if we lose I worry that it's somehow a true indicator of the team's level. I can't help but attribute a meaning to it. Still hope we do ourselves proud in the US, looking forward to seeing more of the youngsters - hope Robinson gets given another go, impressed at the end of last season.

A season with him as our captain is worth way more than whatever other clubs would be willing to offer us with him on a one year contract. Not as if we'll get enough money to replace him with anyone close to the level of quality, or even if we do sell him that the cash will be entirely re-invested.

Not going to be a popular opinion, but he's been really good for Scotland since Strachan has come in. Maybe he could have a part to play next season? Story does seem weird if it is true, mind.

He is a holding midfielder - he's at his best when he is a pivot to recycle possession in attack and help retain possession when the opposition are pressing, coupled with the occasional burst forward. Don't think he'd work as a No.10.

As I said, not sure Ki is what we need in midfield, nor do I think he fits within our team. Hell, the perfect team for him in the Premier League is Swansea, so the fact they clearly don't want him. Since selling him, Celtic haven't missed him at all. Hell, currently Mulgrew, a fullback, is doing a better job in that position than Ki did. Not to mention that Sunderland’s last charge, wherein the soldiered past us, was totally Ki free, and now they don’t seem interested in buying him. But still, he might be able to do a job for us, even if he's not totally shone elsewhere. Comparing Ki to the player he'd be competing with last season, I’m going to do a bit of amateur stat analysis. For simplicities sake, I’m only gonna compare them on the most recent season, although this isn’t ideal: Westwood: Tkl: 1.6 Int: 1.4 KP: 1.9 P%: 82.9 LB: 4.8 G+A: 5 Disp: 0.5 avgP: 46.5 Drb: 0.2 Ki: Tkl: 1.6 Int: 0.8 KP: 1 P%: 90.7 LB: 3.6 G+A: 4 Disp: 1.2 avgP: 44.4 Drb: 0.9 Stats: Who Scored Not huge difference between the two, based on last season, although Westy did play ten more games. I guess the stats just reinforce what is already relatively self-evident - Ki keeps possession ticking over and is neat and tidy with the ball, whilst Westy creates more chances but has a far lower pass completion rate. Surprised at the amount of passes Ki made last season though - I would have thought that players that play lots of shorter, safer passes would tend to pass way more. Ki seems to be a lot more successful at carrying the ball forward, but is also dispossessed way more, which I suppose makes sense. Has more confidence with the ball at his feet than Westy does. Looking at the other seasons the two of them have had in the Premier League tells a very similar story, although in his first season Westy was actually a bit better defensively. I guess this could all be part of a change in style, but when you look at the other players we’ve signed – specifically Cole – I don’t really see how that’s going to be implemented. If Ki is signed, and this soon after the WC this all does seem a bit premature, then I’ll be behind him – the idea of signing a player good at neat passing and more comfortable with the ball at his feet than much of our current squad is a good one. But ultimately, unless Ki can contribute more defensively or offensively, he probably isn't going to be an upgrade on Westy really.

I'd be on board with this signing, but I'm not totally sold. Not sure Ki is what we need in midfield, nor do I think he fits within our team. Edit: typing up more thoughts, accidentally posted this too early.

The good news is that if you put him next to the best CB in the world and play a DM deep in midfield specifically to drop back and do the defensive job Luiz is meant to be doing, you can compensate for the big hole he leaves in the back line a lot of the time. As a player who makes powerful runs from deep, I get the appeal. Just a pity about all that pesky defending stuff.

Disappointed that the German sub goalie wasn't given ten minutes or so. I would have liked to have seen what Neuer could do in midfield. It's the only sensible course of action at that point.

Kinda hoped that we might be in for Cresswell - looks like a canny signing for The Hammers.

its about time someone noticed it. What's the alternative? 5 great games = 6-15 points. Difference between saying up or going down. Get someone in for a third of his wages that could do that. Players who can do it once every other month are 10 a penny. Who'd you go for to replace him then?

Since the whole "Vlaar is mediocre" thing that went on last week continues to bug me, have some stats: http://everyteamneedsaron.com/2014/07/02/the-best-centre-backs-of-the-world-cup-group-stages/