der Berliner

We shall see. Neither has played that many games last season and we hardly know what the future holds, do we? Ridvan is very much forward-thinking, so I expect him to weigh in with the goals and assists. Same with Jefte. Lawrence has a good shot-from-distance in him, and I assume he takes over from Tav's role as the free-kick "specialist" - with Borna also away. Danilo hardly played regularly last season either, and came in from another style of football altogether. Dessers also needed time to start scoring consistently last season. Danilo should be fit and ready now, same with Cortes. What I expect is that we play Danilo AND Dessers, not either of them. If the latter is the case, the one who makes most impact in the here and now should be first choice.

We essentially need to convert chances created into goals scored. No matter who does it on the park. I expect some decent return in terms of goals and assists by Danilo, Cortes, Lawrence, Jefte, and Ridvan this season. Our "goals conceded per chances created by the opposition" ration must have been one of the worst in the league, too.

As I said above, the Scum didn't exactly run away with the title, more like we blew it, had loads of injuries, and VAR/refs made some ridiculous decisions. Those who have left, didn't exactly weaken us. Going by our 4-2-3-1 horror, we have ... GK (1) - Butland, Kelly RB (1) - Sterling, Devine, Balogun CH (2) - Souttar, Balogun, Davies, Nsiala, King and Goldson LB (1) - Ridvan, Jefte, Fraser DM/CM (2) - Diomande, Raskin, Barron, Dowell (Lowry, Sterling, McKinnon, Fraser, King, Nsiala; Souttar) AM right (1) - Cortes, Wright, McCausland, (Matondo, Lawrence, Lowry, Cantwell, Hagi) AM left (1) - Matondo, Lawrence, (McCausland, Wright, Cortes) AM - middle (1) - Cantwell, Hagi, Dowell, Diomande (Cortes, Wright, Danilo) ST (1) - Danilo, Dessers, Lammers, Igamane ... every position is well covered, IMHO, if we play like we used to do. The system we play requires the "wingers" and the AM to ship in with goals in a similar way like Sima (whom we may still get back), and we have yet to see Cortes and Danilo get going. Perhaps this season Matondo will mature too, Lawrence staying fit and Dowell pinging passes all around the park? My concern remains the system applied against the brickwall teams.

... roughly 2,900 km.

Tyrese Campbell is a freebie these days, 24, English-Jamaican, with lots of English Championship and EPL 2 experience. Tommy Conway, 21, Scot, one year left with Bristol City, and not too bad stats either. ... third of fourth choice squad players, unless we decide to ho back to some old style 2-striker line-ups.

Trabzonspor have reached an agreement with James Tavernier to sign a two-year contract with the option of another year, but the Turkish club and Rangers are £850,000 apart in their valuation of the 32-year-old right-back. (Yağız Sabuncuoğlu on X) Besiktas, who now have former Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst in charge, could rival Trabzonspor in an attempt to sign Ibrox captain James Tavernier, but there is also interest from English clubs. (Scottish Sun) Rangers are showing an interest in Tyrese Campbell, the 24-year-old striker who has left Stoke City, with Sheffield United, West Bromwich Albion, Queens Park Rangers, Preston North End and Cardiff City also among his admirers. (Daily Mail) Rangers-linked Ferencvaros winger Adama Traore has told Mali squad selectors he is no longer willing to represent his country's national team after joining the rest of his compatriots in support of Eagles captain Hamari Traore, the Real Sociedad defender who has been suspended by the national association. (Scottish Sun) Scotland striker Tommy Conway has been banished by head coach Liam Manning to train with Bristol City Under-21s because of the 21-year-old's refusal to agree a contract extension beyond next summer. (Bristol Live)

These stats are always tricky. Some players are starters for their side, others "utilized", others essentially squad people to fill in for injuries. Every RB squad player with us would have horrendous stats due to Tav being there every game. IMHO, these stats are pretty worthless for future signings, since the players have to perform for a new team in a new environment and possibly with a different job (first choice, second choice, squad filler). They may hardly get a game for their old club, but suddenly become nearly first choice with us. So at best, these stats are "interesting", but objectively, they count for little if these boys step onto the pitch in our colours.

Dunno, his injury history over on TM is having essentially "no history" of injuries. He missed 9 games in season 22/23 due to a groin issue. The time with us is more like "not being used" rather than injury. That aside, Adam Devine wasn't showing up too bad, and Balogun can step in for as long as he isn't injured either. Given that we could just as well go to three at the back and hand a place to a right-sided midfielder instead, at least during most of the Scottish games, right-back is no real priority IMHO.

The problem is that ManU will play an open game and try to play football. Once we start playing against the 7- to 9-men defences, the lone-striker rubbish will make every 9 look awful. That scenario started with Waghorn and went on through the years. BTW, Martyn is a freebie these days ...

Joan Jordan ... a 30-year old CM (AM/DM) with 2 years left on his contract. Played a massive 18 games last season, missing but 8 games due to injury. He seemingly is not needed by Sevilla ... Our current central midfield (and defensive midfield) is composed of Diomande, Barron, Raskin, and Dowell. We could also play Sterling there, and some youngsters (McKinnon?). I doubt we will break the bank for him. Adama Traore ... a 29-year old right winger with a year left on his contract. Played 27 games last season, scoring 14 goals and assisting 5 more. Our right wing is truly a barren wasteland, if you exclude Cortes, McCausland, Wright and Matondo, Lowry, Hagi, and Cantwell as options ... And we are willing to spend Euro 4m?

Lammers ... is a striker. he played in 31 games for us (1642 mins), 7 times as right-winger (no goals or assists), 6 times as secondary striker (1 goal, 1 assist), 5 times as attacking midfielder (1 goal), and 2 times as striker. Games missing are those with less than 30 mins on the park and/or no position given). That is, we played him 2 times as a striker. At Utrecht, he played in 20 games (1817 mins), every single one as striker, with 11 goals and 3 assists. It very much remains to be seen what will happen to him now, you also wonder why he played/trained with the B-Team. The latter suggests that he's defo not in Clement's plans, but who knows?

At the end of the day, we will only know how good or bad a player is going to be ... at the end (sic!) of this season. And that holds true for those we have and those we'll sign. In the here and now, it matters little that players were so good last season or 4 years ago. They have to go out there and claim silverware this coming season. Last season's goal-tallies mean very little in three weeks time. I have heard the moans and groans about "legendary" players leaving since the days of Gough, Butcher, McCoist, McCall, Laudrup and Co.. Morelos was another, Tavernier is the current legend. I'd have no real problem if we kept him on ... as a right-sided midfielder. But we will sign successors to anyone, and for the best part of my Bear-life, we have done so successfully. The dark years still hamper us greatly, mainly because the Yahoos have a European well of gold that we lack. Aside from a knack of buying players on the cheap and selling them with mega-profits. So, for the time being, we'll have to be content with what we can afford, and need clever people spotting players suitable for our environment. And managers who adopt tactics according to our environment. As I said, the players we have seem to be decent enough, perhaps we add a few promising youngsters as well. There are obviously areas that need more depth, but the window hasn't closed and I do expect movement right to the last day. NB: I think the gaffer meant Sima with players willing to come, yet Brighton has a good player on their books and every reason to keep him or play to the rules of the game ... like we would.

Coming to think of it, and still trying to be sort of objective, the Yahoos didn't exactly ran away with the title last season. Our squad was wrecked by injuries to new signings and important players throughout the season, plus some hilarious if not to say cynical refereeing and VARing. I doubt the latter will go away, but hope that it will not have the same impact this season. You would hope that we won't suffer the same injury hell, though ... much of it was due to bad tackles by opposition players rather than the much cited bad coaching - IMHO. Danilo and Cortes will be like two new signings. Our left side looks pretty good defensive-wise, Barron will add some steel to midfield, we'll have to wait and see what becomes of Igamane and whether that season in Holland will light up Lammers' career with us (if he stays). The right defensive side, assuming that Tavernier goes, would be the department of Sterling and Devine. My greater concern is that we will go on with the Plan A system in every game, no matter whether it is Dundee, Hearts, or some European opponent. Doing the same thing over and over again, hoping for a better result, is plain madness. It's not that we want to invent something new, we just need to apply existing and trusted things for the matter at hand.

Well, I am pretty sure that Hagi and Lammers are off before long.

Once the title party is set up, all drinks of @CammyF, @Whosthedado, and @BEARGER are on me, to wash down the relegation pain ...

Just back from Leipzig* ... First, big thanks to @Rousseau for setting this up and keeping it running. Could have been anyone in the top 4, yet, brain beat the heart (well, mainly because of some England sort-of-mad friends), as the Spanish, if they wanted to play (which they did in the 2nd half) were better in every department bar the goalie perhaps ... when playing as a team. Their pacey one-touch stuff through packed defences was dangerous throughout the tournament, while England far too much relied on individual class and set pieces to get on the scoresheet. I was pretty stunned to be up there at the top of the table after the first round of games ... and actually started to think more than I should about choosing the scores (which is usually my undoing) from then on. Still, most were gut feelings rather than brain and I would have been totally content with the "God-King of Guessing Correct Scores" title ... but hey, for once Fortune* smiled. *There was the VAR bunker of UEFA and I needed to apply only little pressure on the guys there to rule the late Spanish winner on-side and "correct" the video accordingly. ( @WorthingBear91 money via Paypal to the usual address)

I would assume that Cifuentes, Lammers, Goldson, Tavernier, Davies, and Hagi are all off before the window closes. The money we'll receive for them is probably what Clement remarked upon when speaking of selling players first. People not needed or wanted take up places which need to be cleared first. There have to be buyers, though.

Comes with the success. Back in the day, we were still waiting for football this time of the year (80s and 90s). Or, during the dark years, had to fight it out with the dross of the lower leagues for a place to meet the Premiership "elite". We've picked some quality opposition for pre-season and yesterday wasn't too bad, given that the gaffer said that the team was put through heavy training before. More general ... Dunno the bother people have with Dessers and Cantwell. The former is the one striker who puts the ball in the net, and probably would have hit 30+ had he taken all of Tav's penalties. Lawrence played some shadow striker role yesterday, though I wish we would play with two strikers more often. Danilo and Cortes will hopefully contribute as much as Sima did last season, they are effectively two new signings. No-one knows what Igamane will be like, or what will happen to Lammers, so for the time being, Dessers remains our only reliable/proven striker. Despite being played against packed defences with not that much support. Cantwell remains the only player that brings a spark, the unexpected bit of creativity. Lowry (who I didn't notice at first because of his new "hairstyle") has that in him too, but we shall see how the Hearts trip changed him. Cantwell is the mercurial character that is disliked by quite a few. But really, I'd rather have three of him in the squad than all those these new 90 kg well-muscled footballer-imposters who fall at the ground at minimum contact (really a plague) to grab a free kick or get a fellow player send off. Or slow-motion thinkers who try well worked channels all game with little or no progress, Yesterday, especially some of the younger players, tried decent enough one-touch fast thinking football. Gives us hope, and one wonders whether Clement will blood a few of them in the lesser league or cup games.

All in all, a good work-out. Good shift by all players, even though some did better than others. The last 5 mins apart, Ajax never really threatened Kelly, when called upon, showed his class. Excellent saves. Wright a bit unlucky with his shots. Someone needs to water Barron, he's smaller than Ridvan!

... you should get over last season at some stage. Today, most have done okay for a game against Ajax.

Well, compared to what we had before, Davies did not do too badly at the end of last season. Wonder whether we will see Balogun and Souttar now. Jefte was doing well enough too, IMHO, Dessers also.

Looks like the local fire brigade is watering the pitch ...

Well, anyone with a guess what system we play? Our right-winger is playing left-wing, Lawrence more like a second striker, no-one on the right, though Sterling has been doing a few good runs and crosses there. I doubt Dowell touched the ball once ... Bad goals to give away, one over the top with the CHs asleep, second one a howler by Butland ... I would assume he got caught thinking too long whether to fist the ball away or grab it. All in all, not too bad a run-out, given the amount of non-attackers we have on display.

Nice play-acting to get the free-kick, bad mistake by Butland. Now Raskin wrecked ... again. Barron on, hope he's tougher.

Who knows how much he earned/-s at Sevilla ...