rogerbarton

Great post, Fish. It really is quite shocking now for them. Apparently they're on the same points total as Rotherham were after 10 games last season. What're the odds on Peter Reid making a glorious return?

He's still doing the punditry and still absolutely shocking. RIP Freddie - I echo what everyone else has said. Not perfect - none of us are - but showed a lot of ambition for this football club.

I've lost count of the number of utterly senseless decisions he's made in the last 10 years, so probably yes.

Makes you wonder if playing 2 up top might be the answer. Gayle doesn't look cut out for leading the line on his own in this system at this level. But playing off a bruiser like Mitro or Joselu he might get himself into the right positions. And he's far and away the best goalscorer we've got.

Makes you wonder how long they can go without scoring. I can't see Jason Puncheon or Conor Whickham curing their scoring woes, and their other strikers have 1 start between them. Seems their only hope is Zaha coming back.

The bottom line is that Ashley wants Rafa there because having a top manager is the best way of fulfilling his blueprint of f*ck all investment but staying in the PL. I'd love to know what clauses Rafa has regards transfers in his current contract. The positive would be if he managed to get more control in a renewed deal. It sounds like the stumbling block was the lawyer who came in and stalled a lot of the deals.

I say to hell with it - let's get Joselu AND Mitro up there and knock seven bells out of the opposition. They'll only need forty shots between them to get one on target.

Wonder what happened behind-the-scenes with Colback. Can't purely be down to talent as he got way too much gametime last season.

So it's a bit more like Woy came into a struggling team, made them doomed, and then rescued them from the brink

Clarko is the most revelatory signing in years for me. Honestly thought he was a shocking buy from what I'd seen of him at Villa and for Ireland. His partnership with Lascelles is looking formidable at the moment.

Kevin Nolan's one thing, but I'd fancy Lascelles to get them ready over Colo for example Was it not Woy who came in at Fulham a few years back when they were doomed and kept them up?

Also, a mention for Mbemba. I remember hearing Rafa left him out last season because he was struggling to follow out instructions to the letter. But I've always thought he's got a lot of talent and he put in a good shift against Stoke. It sometimes sounds ridiculous, but I honestly think players like him and Ayoze are a bit better suited to the PL where they're afforded a bit more time and less thudding challenges.

This group of players remind me a bit of the squad we had last time we got promoted. A likeable, hard-working bunch who want to play for the club. We out-performed expectations then and we seem to be doing the same again. Give me Atsu over a disinterested Thauvin, or Yedlin over Janmaat in his last season. Joselu's an interesting one. Like many others, I've been really impressed with his all round play. But I think he has an edge on someone like Mitro, who I also think contributes a lot to the team in general, because he's got this knack of getting into scoring positions. All the best strikers seem to be able to find space and get into the right areas. With Mitro, he doesn't very often seem able to do that. I guess time will tell with Joselu, but the early signs are at least encouraging.

The point is that we've scarcely improved the squad on last season (if at all), and we're not playing any better than last season. Quel surprise that we can't get a result for love nor money.

Not like me to engage in argument over hypotheticals, but are you really saying Snodgrass isn't a major improvement on Perez or Diame at number ten?

You'd like to think we have a number 10 lined up if de Jong goes. I always thought he had potential but you can't argue with getting shot of someone who never started two games in a row*. As for Riviere, I honestly can't think of a worse signing in our history. His only goal was a miskick. * This may not be true. But I reckon it is.

It's just supporting a team that have less ambition than Huddersfield that's killing me at the moment.

6 goals in 37 games for Norwich in 2012-13, 6 goals in 30 games for Norwich in 2013-14, 7 goals in 20 games for Hull last year. Snodgrass is a decent number ten and a major improvement on anything else we've got, especially at the price he'd cost relative to current market rates.

I see West Ham have told Snodgrass he is surplus to requirements. I know he's played as a number 10 in the past, so wonder if we might have any interest. Looked pretty good for Hull last season and Norwich before that. Imagine my surprise when I checked out the Chronicle to see if we'd been linked, and saw an article saying Sunderland were in for him!!

I'd love to know how much Stoke have paid to loan Jese (fee and wages). Is there any reason other than budget that someone would rather join Mark Hughes's Stoke over Rafa's Newcastle? I'm willing to give Joselu a chance, but we've basically cleared out their deadwood to bring in a top player.

I think it's a bit hasty to write Joselu off right away, and some Stoke fans seem to think they're losing a decent player. I'm quite concerned as to what's going to happen when Gayle gets injured though. We don't have anyone you'd trust to bang the goals in. Maybe Ashley's going to loosen the pursestrings slightly more towards the end of the window, but it's looking a bit concerning. If we're really stalling over paying Perez £10k per week more, when we're bringing in someone a lot worse in Joselu for £5m, it's a false economy.

That thread of tweets is superb. Really shows Rafa gets what it's all about here. Looks like he's totally committed to the cause and quite happy with our business so far this window.

I think he's got great raw talent. If he can get a run in the team he might well turn out to be a huge boon.

Not that bothered. Caballero is more than capable of pulling a clanger. Is he really much of an improvement on Krul / Elliot / Darlow?

A good start sets the mood and tone for the campaign. With those fixtures we should really be top half at the end of September.