Baffling

[jojomk1]

Berge looks like a waste of money at the moment. He's not a CDM and we have better options further forward. A lot of money for a squad player. Is he any better than Brownhill?

There were times in the first half that Berge was playing almost alongside Foster

That's not his fault, the manager clearly asked him to play that way which, in turn, left Cullen stranded in central midfield

He played deeper in the second half and we improved - the likes of Cork and Brownhill are no better for CM plus that forward position just puts him in the way of Amdouni

We need a ball winning CM

[Newcastleclaret93]

The team that finished chanpions deserve a chance.

I understand that sentiment but from the looks of it VK doesn’t think that team is good enough to survive this season.

Got to trust the manager here. He’s going to make mistakes he’s young and it’s his first time managing at this level.

This team has potential but they will need our support. If yesterday tells us anything, it’s that this season will be no walk in park.

[ClaretAL]

I know we’re generally pretty opposite in view, so this won’t surprise you from me - but - Maatsen, Tella and THB improve that first eleven today very easily on what we put out, in my opinion.

Some really exciting signings for the future this summer, but nobody will be able to convince me that we wouldn’t have a more ‘ready’ and ‘gelled’ team if we’d signed those three after Beyer for about £60m as opposed to Trafford, Odobert, Ramsey and O’Shea (examples) for a similar total. The biggest miss being Maatsen but we obviously don’t know how strongly we have tried to get him out of Chelsea. We’re missing THB’s distribution from the back as much as Muric’s also, for me. I have no huge worries about Trafford but I’m just unconvinced Muric really needed replacing - he was a key cog and it will take Trafford time to become that same component of our attacking play. We have the potential for a really good, young attacking side but there’s definitely a concern that we may have attempted too much evolution on last seasons side in one fell swoop.

However, to your main point, I do actually agree (long waffle there to get to my point!) - I’m not sure last seasons players would really make any difference to todays result. Villa were too good for us regardless.

Totally agree with all of this. What is the situation with THB at the moment?

[Jakubclaret]

I understand that sentiment but from the looks of it VK doesn’t think that team is good enough to survive this season.

Got to trust the manager here. He’s going to make mistakes he’s young and it’s his first time managing at this level.

This team has potential but they will need our support. If yesterday tells us anything, it’s that this season will be no walk in park.

He doesn't have that same team even if he did trust it.

[burnleymik]

There were times in the first half that Berge was playing almost alongside Foster

That's not his fault, the manager clearly asked him to play that way which, in turn, left Cullen stranded in central midfield

He played deeper in the second half and we improved - the likes of Cork and Brownhill are no better for CM plus that forward position just puts him in the way of Amdouni

We need a ball winning CM

Strange how we all see things differently because for me he was deeper more often first half and then seemed to move further up second half (and actually looked better further forward, won quite a few balls and held it up well).

[Newcastleclaret93]

He doesn't have that same team even if he did trust it.

I get what you’re saying but against city he could have lined up with this team.

Muric
Roberts, Al Dakhil, Beyer, Vitinho
Cork, Cullen
Benson, Brownhill, Zaroury
Foster

Change Vitinho for Maatsen and you could argue that’s our strongest eleven from last season.

VK didn’t pick them which makes me think he doesn’t think that team is going to be competitive at this level.

I tend to agree with him. That team is ok but lacks any real quality going forward and is pretty weak at the back.

[Newcastleclaret93]

Strange how we all see things differently because for me he was deeper more often first half and then seemed to move further up second half (and actually looked better further forward, won quite a few balls and held it up well).

I agree I thought he was deeper first half and pushed forward second. With Roberts stepping into midfield

[Jakubclaret]

I get what you’re saying but against city he could have lined up with this team.

Muric
Roberts, Al Dakhil, Beyer, Vitinho
Cork, Cullen
Benson, Brownhill, Zaroury
Foster

Change Vitinho for Maatsen and you could argue that’s our strongest eleven from last season.

VK didn’t pick them which makes me think he doesn’t think that team is going to be competitive at this level.

I tend to agree with him. That team is ok but lacks any real quality going forward and is pretty weak at the back.

You can look at this way the games you aren't expected to get anything from maybe he's experimenting to find his best team but by the time the 6 pointers come along after the tough games, he should by then be fielding his strongest 11 in the games that count if he can't or doesn't know himself by then it'll be a very short stay.

[123EasyasBFC]

What we have to understand, early on last season Craig Bellamy did a podcast and said if we got promoted first time of asking he said they knew it would be a struggle in the premier league. They owners have backed the coaching staff by giving them money to spend, tella and Maatsen haven’t been replaced yet once they have been replaced the squad is better than last season it’s just about them getting used to playing together

[Newcastleclaret93]

You can look at this way the games you aren't expected to get anything from maybe he's experimenting to find his best team but by the time the 6 pointers come along after the tough games, he should by then be fielding his strongest 11 in the games that count if he can't or doesn't know himself by then it'll be a very short stay.

Fair comment.

I am personally of the opinion that if Ramsey was signed a little bit earlier in the week and was used to our style (I think he could throw Delcroix straight in because he knows the system). I think VK knows his best eleven.

I think he’s aiming for something like this long term this season:

Trafford
Roberts, Al Dakhil, Beyer, New
Cullen, Berge, Ramsey
Benson, Amdouni, Foster

[123EasyasBFC]

Fair comment.

I am personally of the opinion that if Ramsey was signed a little bit earlier in the week and was used to our style (I think he could throw Delcroix straight in because he knows the system). I think VK knows his best eleven.

I think he’s aiming for something like this long term this season:

Trafford
Roberts, Al Dakhil, Beyer, New
Cullen, Berge, Ramsey
Benson, Amdouni, Foster

I agree that would be kompanys preferred line up but if tresor comes in I think he would start most games instead of benson and benson would be the super sub

[littlemissclaret]

Unfortunately it was obvious from the fixture list that we will be bottom of the league mid October. The question is whether we will have any confidence once we start to play "beatable" teams. This has been my worry since the fixtures were published.

[oswyclaret]

Dont panic...captain Mannering.Lets give it till Xmas,then make judgement eh!

Rome wasnt built in a day. 2 games in,against 2 very good sides and its panic stations!

For goodness sake, you,ll be calling for Dyche back soon...our best ever manager!!!

[123EasyasBFC]

The important thing is not conceding early, we are making it more difficult by having to chase the game, last season it was a case of if we didn’t score early we struggled to break teams down

[Fretters]

Fitness looked a worry yesterday, we looked very tired. It's odd that we started our pre-season so early only to throw in so many players that haven't benefitted from that. I think we had four players in the starting 11 yesterday who had that long pre-season - maybe 5 as I can't remember when O'Shea joined.

[bumba]

Well it’s either a choice of giving the team time or you time. You choose

Time runs out tomorrow on the balance of the squad

[Elizabeth]

Time runs out tomorrow on the balance of the squad

One of us will be anxious about tomorrow, it won't be me

[bumba]

One of us will be anxious about tomorrow, it won't be me

I wasn't anxious but certainly disappointed

[Carlos the Great]

What baffles me is we didn’t really need a new keeper but we never really chased Tella who was sensational for us last season ..

[beddie]

Short of a quality left back and a centre back that’s a tall strong leader and organiser. The back line is far too inexperienced at this level.

[Robbie_painter]

Short of a quality left back and a centre back that’s a tall strong leader and organiser. The back line is far too inexperienced at this level.

This.Left back and a leader at cb was a must for me.

[Robbie_painter]

And whatever people think of him Connor roberts is not a better left back than Charlie Taylor

[Dark Cloud]

We've signed absolutely tons of players and with the squad we have we'd absolutely walk the Championship and be promoted by January. But we're playing at a FAR higher level and we're patently not good enough!

[dermotdermot]

I doubt whether Muric would have been able to stop most of the goals. The problem is in defense. I obviously can’t tell VK what to do but Roberts needs to move back to RB, the central defenders need to stay in their positions, Charlie Taylor must be given the chance to claim LB and Berge must be rested until he understands where he is to be playing. More effort should have been made to get Tella back. We all now know about Maatsen but the really strange one for me is how we didn’t make any effort to sign THB. He now languishes back in the Championship with a team that I don’t think will get promoted when he could have excelled in the Premiership.