Zoo 2.0

On the subject of the Salford game, I would rotate in the sense that I'd like the main bulk of the side rested for West Brom, purely because any side that we put out should be capable of beating a team from League Two. I've kept Pickford in goal, simply because I think that our main goalkeeper should be capable of playing 40+ games a season and from what little game time Virginia saw with Reading he didn't paint a fantastic picture of himself. Keane stays in order to have some continuity in the centre-back position with Kenny coming in for Coleman and Nkounkou swapping in for Digne. I assume that Salford will be lumping the ball into the box any chance they get, so tall defenders are key IMO plus I'd like to see Branthwaite again. All of the new signings get a break with Bernard, Davies, Sigurdsson and Walcott completing the middle line. I've also got Anthony Gordon operating as the No.10 (who could rotate with Gylfi if need be) to break down the lines. DCL gets a break in preperation for West Brom with Moise Kean coming into the side, hopefully a goal against weaker opposition does him the world of good and allows us to genuinely use him as a second option in the Premier League. All of the above said I would still name a strong bench in the event that the worst happens. Players aren't going to get tired sat on the sidelines so I'd be picking James, Allan, DCL to come onto the pitch if need be and kill the game. I'll be honest I'm not that desperate for a 5/6-0 and would much rather we put in a really confident, calm performance and take the win 2-0 without leaving first gear.

Can we ban @RuffRob for posting pictures of Liverpool winning the title please? I am in denial, it never happened! On topic, I would take anything that would give us European football league wise. Top 4 would be beyond my wildest expectations, I'd get Carlo tattooed onto my back if it happened. Realistically I think we should be aiming for 6th-8th in a similar mould to what Wolves and Sheffield United have done in recent seasons. They have shown that anyone can get there with the right tactics and attitude.

IMO, when you haven't won anything for 25 years you don't get to pick and choose which cups are a waste of time. Rotate of course, but the strongest possible side for me in every single round to ensure that we get through and have something to lift at the end of the season. Winning breeds winning, it becomes a habit.

There will only be one relegation place this season IMO, West Brom and Fulham are already out of their depth and will go straight back down - the only worry for the smaller teams in this division will be 18th. Not sure who will join them - West Ham, Brighton, Newcastle, Villa? But I'd be surprised if the two mentioned above manage to escape the trapdoor.

The good work that the back four, alongside Allan, Doucoure and to a lesser extent Gomes did allowed the quality of chances for Spurs to be significantly reduced. Other than the Alli shot (which was at a good height) and Doherty's shot they really didn't have anything at all to worry us with - Kane, Alli, Lucas and Son virtually anonymous. When the "best" chance of the game comes from their right-back, you know you've done well keeping their attacking options quiet.

Oh Professor

Since the goal we've become increasingly sloppy, absolutely shite at the moment. Need to just get out foot on the ball and calm down.

IS RIGHT DOM

Fantastic first 30 minutes, between then and 45 I was hoping for half time, Spurs seemed to be getting into the swing of things and looking the better side. A a great stop by Pickford to stop Doherty to keep it at 0-0 had me hiding behind the couch along with Kane's near miss. Overall I'm very impressed though, James already just looks on another level. Making balls that I can't even see with a camera looking at the entire pitch, knocking it left and right at ease - Doucoure and Allan look boss too although the latter has misplaced a few passes (and very nearly gifted them a goal). The only player having a bad game at the moment is Richarlison, fell over his own feet very early on in the game and fucked up what was a golden chance with the open goal - simply unacceptable IMO to not get that on target, or play it into DCL who would have had the goal at his mercy. Hopefully Carlo tells him to put things straight (as personally I would tear a strip off him) and sends him out with something to prove. Very, very promising 45 though. Against weaker opposition I think we could have had this sewn up inside 45, just hope we can build on this positive momentum and take a point or three, not to get ahead of ourselves but against West Brom next week we have absolutely nothing to fear.

Just think when you get out of hospital we'll be top of the league.

I'm not a massive fan of this transfer I'll be honest, seems like a self inflated big fish in a small pond that wouldn't be able to cut it in a European challenging side. His constant crying to leave the club doesn't sit well with me either, although I suppose if I was trapped at somewhere like Crystal Palace I'd do the same. For the money that it would cost to bring him in I'd rather we went for Leon Bailey (B04) or David Neres (Ajax) who are much younger and would hopefully cost a lot less - I'm also hoping that any deal would include some sort of player swap; try to wiggle Tosun or Bolasie (both ex-Palace) or Iwobi (same position) into any Zaha deal. With the current pandemic, it seems like the perfect excuse to add deadwood into any transfer.

Came close to an aneurysm seeing Ashley Williams and Cuco Martina in an Everton shirt. Those were the days where I considered ripping up my season ticket and following lawn darts instead.

Love this - you can tell Carlo puts his arm around his players. A proper man manager. Would happily sell Tom Davies (heard Newcastle are interested?) and Delph as Leeds are apparently keen. Both are not in the same ball park as the calibre of player that we have now. André Gomes I truly believe can be a good option for us if he gets a bit of confidence back, and uses this as a tool to fire a rocket up his arse and also believe that Gylfi (yes, really) could turn into an option for us. The latter is bursting with talent, but just seems to sleepwalk through games which will be totally unheard of with the depth that we now have. The days of doing fuck all and starting the next week are over.

I'll be honest Doucoure is the one I know the least about, but hoping that he proves to be Gueye 2.0 in the sense that he came from a relegated club and turned into one of our better players. We seem to have been after him for decades, so glad to see it finally over the line. The fact that we have gone back in for him, despite having new targets and new visions shows that he was a top target and anyone who is at the top of Ancelotti's list gets a massive thumbs up from me. We're not done this summer, but so happy that we have addressed the weakest area of the squad. Wouldn't be surprised at all to see the likes of Delph moved on to recoup some cash.

First game of the season, always something to look forward to regardless of the opposition or the summer we've had. I think that this is a tricky test for us given the side that they've got (regardless of how they're imploding under Mourinho) and with a 'clean slate' heading into this season will provide us with enough problems to think about. Playing Tottenham later in the season would have been ideal, but then on the flip side why not start the season with a win against tough opposition? There are no easy games in this league after all! My proposed XI is above; Pickford inbetween the sticks with Holgate and Keane in front of him as our initial centre-back partnership. I'm desperately hoping that Yerry can get a clean break this season and string together a decent amount of games as I'm adamant that there's a fantastic player in him, he's turned out to be one of the most frustrating signings for me as I was ecstatic when we bought him. Hopefully Holgate's injury isn't too bad and he can get himself fit for the opening game, he's turned into a really exciting prospect that could be gearing up for his breakout year, us playing out from the back via Holgate to the midfield is something that I really think we should be using. Digne starts on the left with Kenny on the right, I love Seamus Coleman but think that it's now or never if we're going to start phasing him out of the side. Jonjoe didn't do a bad job at all at Schalke, and they themselves confirmed that any second loan/permanent move was blocked as he's part of Carlo's plans, so why not us him from the start? Hopefully his energy is something that we can use to our advantage with both he and Lucas shuttling down the wings. I've gone for three in midfield, Allan as the holding midfielder to allow André and James (should he sign) freedom to operate in the attacking third. Our midfield was wafer thin last season and our biggest achilles heel so hopefully the inclusion of Allan in a deeper role allows us to have the stability that was so badly needed - I'm in the minority that actually thinks Gylfi has something about him, but I don't see how he fits into the Starting XI when everyone is fit, unless of course we move James out onto the right-wing. Speaking of the wing, Richarlison starts on the left with Bernard out on the right, I know that the latter is strongest on the opposite flank but would prefer to see him start over Gylfi (who would be totally out of position for me) and Theo who I just don't think is good enough for a guaranteed XI spot. Both would tuck inside as much as possible to leave the flank open for both Digne and Kenny to exploit the overlap. Domenic Calvert-Lewin as expected starts as the lone striker for me, I toyed with the idea of going with a 4-4-2 but just don't think we've seen enough of Moise Kean to justify him being a guaranteed starter, with all going well (fingers crossed) he can have the last half an hour coming on for DCL. The key to winning this game will be nullifying the threat from the wing, a role which falls to our new signing, Allan. Holding the final third and stopping the likes of Lo Celso, Son and Moura from cutting inside will both stop the threats from they themselves and also reduce the amount of key chances that fall to Harry Kane. Personally, I'm not a massive fan of the Spurs side other than the players that operate in the final third so believe that stopping this threat will go a long way to winning this game. * Those are just my thoughts though, put a gun to my head and I'll take a draw in truth but would obviously be ecstatic with the full three points. It doesn't quite feel like football is back yet with not having access to the stadium, but it's still the start of 'Act II' under Ancelotti, something which I'm waiting like a kid at Christmas for.

Plastic fans are part of football and like it or not they pump a lot of money into the club's that they follow. How much money do Barcelona make from Messi shirts, or Juventus from Ronaldo? I'd happily take the same (on a smaller scale) with James. If we can get a footprint in South America it'll only be a good thing commercially.

Lovely second goal that, about three passes from start to finish. Reminded me of the goal that DCL scored against Newcastle in the sense that he bundled it over the line, not pretty at all but gets the job done - I really don't care how they go in, just that the ball crosses the line! Agree with @Matt about the Preston attack though, very lucky that it was offside as they had two or three men in acres of space. Would have no doubt made it 1-1. @Bailey It was.

Valencia are owned by the Lim Family, who don't care about the club nor its supporters. It wouldn't surprise me at all if they accept any bids that they deem reasonable to line their own pockets. Another example of a great club being ruined by shithouse owners. I'd absolutely take Jasper at €10m too, someone who could realistically challenge Pickford for buttons.

We would be taking a real leap into the unknown with this one.

£72,000,000 is his buyout clause, something that has to be in every players contract that plays in the Spanish leagues under an LFP licence. If we were to bid for him, it'd be a case of negotiating like any other transfer as opposed to buying out his contract. At least I hope so, he was phenomenal at Ajax but wasted three years of his career playing second fiddle at FC Barcelona. He's still a very, very good goalkeeper but not part of the "elite" bracket that I would want us to be tapping into. We'd be able to get Onana (Ajax), Lafont (Fiorentina) or Maximiano (Sporting) for less - and on the rare occasion that we are wanting to spend £70m+, why not go for the holy grail in Donnarumma?

I'd be surprised if Virginia is on anything other than a youth contract, I'd be shocked if he's on anything close to or above £25,000p/w. I'd say that Mattew Pennington is the same, probably on more because he's made first team appearances, but wouldn't have been in a position to bargain a big deal considering he didn't string a ton of games together, I'd again be surprised if he's on anything more than £40,000p/w. Bolasie, Besic, Sandro and Walcott will be on big deals however, all bar Besic probably into six figures a week.

I think that Chelsea will be dark horse for the title, there's not one person that's signed that you could argue with and given that nobody else has really done much in the circumstances, I expect them to be very close to top spot come May. Manchester City finally have something to motivate them domestically, so I expect them to be up there again (even more so if they sign Messi) and of course you can't write off the Shite, as much as I would want to. Arteta is doing a fantastic job, but I just don't think that Arsenal are good enough for a title challenge yet, back in the top four perhaps but not all the way for me - Mourinho has absolutely ruined Spurs as expected so would legitimately not rule out them being around 11th/12th at Xmas and for him to be sacked.

There's a massive spike in Oldham, which isn't exactly near but lead to neighbouring boroughs being put into isolation. I'm 50 minutes away for example and my town was put into lockdown for two weeks. I think that Blackburn was similar, although that's off the top of my head - I would be surprised if it's anything other than something to do with the pandemic, regardless of them playing recently. Make no mistake that Blackpool and Preston won't be our only friendlies. They are the only two that the public know about, but behind closed doors games are played all the time at training grounds. Being in the Academy opened my eyes to how much it actually happened, we will have probably played 4-5 games that nobody knows about so it's not as though we are heading into the season with zero game-time.

Never lose hope Mike. You beat it once and will do so again, life can throw up unimaginable challenges but you have a network of people around you who are there to support you, both in the real world and on this forum. If you need anything from me - please give me a shout. Take each day as it comes, we're just names on a computer screen but are very much by your side. Sorry to hear about your wife - my sincere condolences. Those we love never leave us.

Dean Henderson has just signed a five-year deal with Manchester United and the club have confirmed that he will fight with David De Gea for the starting spot this season, almost on "equal" status reading between the lines. This would most certainly mean that Romero would look for a new club, surely he would not be happy to sit as third choice at Old Trafford - not even playing in cup competition? Given the shenanigans of Jordan Pickford last season and the media rumours that we are in for a goalkeeper this summer I wouldn't be surprised if 2 + 2 equalled Romero coming here. He may initially be on the bench like at United, but would have a real chance of making the starting spot his own.