Davey Baby

If we really wanted him we'd have got him. I think we decided better of it.

Even if Bakayoko is still here, I fancy Ruben's chances against him. If Sarri plays a 433 I think Ruben will get ample game-time. 3 midfield spots and only 4 other decent midfielders, along with him. It's a long, hard season.

^ I suspect you're both right I'm just saying as of now he's one of our many centre-backs.

Zouma as well.

I disagree. Ruben needs to stay with us if we're to have any hope of keeping him. Another loan and he's as good as gone. Now's his time. He'll get his chances and when he does it's up to him to prove himself.

Agree with every word but Pepe f**king Reina !?!?!?!

Can't agree. If we're going to buy Reina as a stop-gap for £10m, we might as well keep Courtois for the season. We barely lose any money at all, in fact, we're likely to make money given how much better we'll do with Courtois between the sticks. Let's get this right, Pepe Reina was signed by Milan on a free to be their number 2. That's the best offer he got, because he's old and he's sh*t. He's just not cut out to keep goal in the Prem. If he were, he'd have had loads of Premiership suitors, particularly given he was available for nothing. If this one is true, Sarri has seriously misjudged the situation in my eyes. Reina will struggle to be accepted by match-going fans, because of his history with us and the fact he's such a massive downgrade. It's just not funny. I know Sarri wants to bring a few of his ex-players along with him but this is taking things a bit too far. Goalkeeper is a vital position. He's making a very costly error very early in his tenure. Hopefully it all turns out to be bullsh*t.

It certainly makes sense for Real Madrid. Not sure about us.

I'd also be very surprised if we kept Courtois.

I'd go along with most of those, not Rudiger however, although maybe in the future, we'll see. I think it will be Zouma, whom you seem to have forgotten.

Yup, Sarri is seriously handicapped by the short space of time he has to assess his squad before the real action starts. He has to make some pretty major decisions because the last thing he wants is a squad of 30+ players. That will only cause him major problems. Apparently he likes working with a small squad anyway. It also looks like we're buying Rugani so that's 7 CBs we now have. Unfortunately, because of the lack of time, I can see another mass loan exodus for the youngsters. For me that would be a disaster. Aina, Tammy, CHO and Ampadu have to stay. I wouldn't be surprised if 2 or 3 of them go on loan however.

Pjanic is a deep-lying playmaker. Haven't we just bought one of those?

If we buy Rob Green as 3rd choice keeper, we have a squad of 31 players, if you include Tammy, Musonda, CHO, Ampadu and Aina. It's way too big. Two weeks until the window shuts and there will be a lot of movement. Unless we can tie Aina down this summer to a new contract, he absolutely has to stay with us, because another loan and he's gone for good. Remember how hard it was to convince him to sign last time? He won't sign again if we haven't offered him an opportunity to stake a claim. After this season he only has one season left so we'll be selling him next summer. For me, Aina has to stay. 44 appearances in the Championship last season. That suggests he did well. He may not be ready to play for us but we don't have time to f**k about. He needs to come in and he needs minutes. This means we need to let go of at least one FB, preferably two. Right now we have Emerson, Alonso, Aina, Dave, Zappacosta and Moses. Jesus it's a lot. It's ridiculous. Sarri is going to find if he has too many players in his squad that spells trouble. Too many unhappy players not getting enough games. It bodes ill. 6 FBs is 2 too many. We also have 6 CBs, which again is ridiculous. Zouma, Ampadu, Luiz, Christensen, Rudiger and Cahill, and that's before we possibly sign Rugani, whom we don't need. We need to keep Ampadu and we need to get rid of 2, in order to make a path for him in the squad. CMs. We have Drinkwater, Kante, Jorginho, Fab, Barkley, RLC and Bakayoko. We need to get rid of at least 1 and possibly 2. I would get rid of 2 and allow Ampadu to get some minutes in midfield as well as defence. We might even buy Golovin, another one we don't need. AMs. We have Pedro, Willian, Hazard and CHO, whom we need to keep. We don't need any more unless we sell. 4 is enough. I would be happy for either Pedro or Willian to go if we replace them well. Musonda can go on loan, or sell him. Strikers. We have 4, including Tammy. It's too many. One has to go. I'd rather that wasn't Tammy. It will be either him or Michy. That's 8 players that need to go, possibly, and that's before we even buy anyone. I suspect it won't be quite that many that leave but it will have to be somewhere near that figure so expect to see a lot of movement in a very short space of time.

Barkley comes to us at a similar age to Lampard when he joined, with similar games under his belt and a similar amount of goals. It's about his fitness, his attitude, whether we give him a chance to develop. He can be a brilliant signing for us IMO. Conte used him all wrong, on the rare occasions he got a game. Conte used him as an attacker, rather than a midfielder, one of the attacking three in a 343, similar to how he always used Loftus-Cheek. This meant that Barkley always had his back to goal when he received the ball, which isn't his game. He needs to be facing the play, just as Loftus-Cheek does. He's a midfielder, not an attacker, just as Lampard was. If you watch the video above of yesterday's game, you'll see in the first-half he has his back to play often when he receives the ball, and it's not what we want. He's not Zola. It looks like he performed very well but we have to start to use him properly. If we're going to play 433 under Sarri, then he has to be the third midfielder along with Kante and Jorginho. That's where we want him, in that midfield 3, competing with Loftus-Cheek for a place. If we're going to play 4231 under Sarri, then he's playing more as a 10, his back to goal a lot of the time and we're wasting his talent. The only guy we've really got at the club who can play as a 10 is Hazard. Barkley is a midfielder not an attacker.

^ Unfortunately that means Willy be our number 2 next season. Big mistake if you ask me.

I suspect if Klopp wanted him, he was confident he could turn him into a fearsome attacking threat. Have you seen much of Malcolm? Young, can shoot from outside the box, pace, and crucially, left-footed. I'm surprised we weren't in for him.

He's suing us because of the timing of his dismissal, after the summer rather than before. Wonder what Gattuso makes of that?

Messi doesn't want anyone better than him at Barcelona.

Imagine if he signed for Bristol City.

The next person gets banned.

He had a bad injury that kept him out for over a year and last season he wasn't that good. Making him number 1 would be a massive risk.

He was on the bench.

We could easily get him if we really wanted him. Just offer them Willian. Jose is desperate to get his greasy mitts on Willian and he's not fond of Martial. Simples.

We also have Cahill, Luiz and Rudiger. We have way too many CBs. Zouma and Cahill need to go, sadly. We need to allow a little space for Ampadu to come through.

What are you talking about Nibs? After a kickabout in the garden with Bakayoko the kid probably thinks he's Lionel Messi.