Forum | Non-Football Related

So many problems this season: Adjustment to the new stadium, injuries, the Payet Sulk, -- yet for all that we finished 11th, equal points with Bournemouth in 10th, and just two points off eighth. Say what you like, but if we had managed to win just ONE more match, we'd have finished 8th -- only one spot below last season's finish. For me, the three straight losses to Bournemouth, Leicester and Hull tell a big part of the story. The beginning of the season was a disaster that can be put down largely to the recruitment & Payet fiasco. The team showed resilience and overcame that in January. But come those three vital matches, we already had players who weren't fully fit, and who may have made their injuries worse by continuing to play. Nobody can be too happy with this past season; perhaps "relieved" is the best word for it now. But we've come through it in a fashion not too bad given all the woes, and maybe we can set about building for a better season next time around. But lest we read too much positivity into the finish, there's a caveat: this season only six points separated 8th and 17th -- that's CRAZY. We have to do better, and should aim again for the 60 point tier.

we all know we need a playmaker to compliment and support Lanzini and many here know that swanseas sigurrdsson is the player we would like but clearly with so many clubs interested and now the spuds look like swallowing there pride and will try to buy him back the price will spiral so lets look at another option....having watched quite a lot of prem footy this season one player for me who stood out was liverpools Lazar Marković who was on loan at hull he can play wide or in the middle his passing range and ball control IMO is top draw stuff and who knows if the scousers qualify for the champions league they may think they can attract a better player so a cheeky bid of around what they paid for him which was £20million may get us again IMO a quality player....anyone have any ideas on other players?

just been reading that its 5 years ago today that he scored the late winner in the playoff final to get us back up....jeeez wheres the time go....still a bloody good day out that was.

Reports are treating it as a given that we will sign Defoe (34) and Zabaleta (32). Of course both players have proven quality and both still seem good for at least one season. With Defoe on an escape clause and Zabaleta on a free, we can afford, short-term, the massive wage deals required for their services. One would hope that they would be a good influence at the club and not just to be put out to pasture. I could see Zabaleta possibly being a solution to the right back crisis, and if Byram were ever to develop the quality he was supposed to have (which I doubt, sadly), Zabaleta wouldn't be to bad a player to provide. Amazingly, Defoe still has more pace and guile in him than anyone we had up front this season. So, relatively speaking this is not a bad start. We can hope, too, that at least one or two of the loaned out players gets a chance to break into the team next season. So where would you put your money if you had it to spend? And more importantly, who would you spend on?