priceyrice

I've been very critical of Sargent and still have concerns, but that was a huge game for him tonight and his confidence really lifted after that first goal and everything he did after was more positive, could make a huge difference. Long may it continue. I do recall Naismeth scoring a hattrick against Chelsea while at Everton as well so let's not get too carried away yet. At least Sargent has youth on his side.

Assume it's referring to him spraying passes around like a American football quarterback does, rather than being a tackling style defensive midfielder. So essentially more of a Pirlo than a Kante

Not sure why any other prem club would buy him for anymore than 10m based on his attitude and performances this season. I reckon he'll end up on loan in the championship

Fully agree. Don't see how any player can see the positives acting like this. He runs his value down but at the same time puts potential suitors off

My main takes from the press conference are that Gilmour is staying for the rest of the season now and that Smith isn't happy with the fans reaction to our recent 3 losses nor the sarcastic chants....I think he needs to be very careful as he could well lose the fans himself with this sort of attitude.

Smith and Shakespeare clearly need time here. They came into a sinking ship and in truth have not been able to plug any of the gaps, but I don't know who would have been able to with this job. I certainly didn't want Smith here and don't believe his record with Villa was that great, as can now been seen with what Gerrard is doing there. He is however our level of manager and will rightly be given the first part of next season to show what he can do in the championship. My biggest concern is our identity under him. With Farke, with the exception of the Leeds game, his football identity was always clear to see. I however have no idea what Smith's footballing identity is. Hopefully we will see what it is over the remainder of the season

Sensible decision to send him out on loan. I suspect Aarons will be gone in the summer and as it looks likely we will be in the championship next season it gives him some experience to hopefully then fill the Aarons hole in the team.

Not sure where I sit on the change of ownership topic. I'm not one who thinks we have hit our ceiling under the self-sustainable model and I do think with some savy leadership and good transfer business we could cement our stay in the premier league for a good few seasons. I also wouldn't be against new owners, with some serious caveats, but the truth is Smith and Michael have no desire to sell, and why would they!? At their age what are they going to do with 100m? I'm sure owning a football club brings them more joy than anything else they could spend that money on. I think the only chance we have of Smith selling would be of a very wealthy local businessman came along who allowed Delia and Michael to keep a small stake and some board positions.

Interesting post and good to hear some positives at the moment. I agree that Webber has done a lot of good within the club, with the biggest achievement being the improvement in infrastructure and sense of worth among staff. However, he has funded most of this with signings made by the previous regime and i believe most sporting directors could have done that. I may be wrong here, but I think the only player he has purchased and made a profit on has been Buendia. He has spunked far more money on players such as Drmic, Husband, Franke, multi million pound loan fees for Fahrman, Amadou, and pretty much every signing made this summer. As a club I don't think he has pushed us on to a better position than we were under McNally. The Webber tenure has brought 2 seasons of Premier league football, but also the 2 worst attempts we've made in my life time at staying up. He speaks a good game and shouldered up to his mistakes 2 seasons ago, the problem isn't he hasn't learn from those mistakes. One of my big concerns now is bringing in players who want to play for us. In the past we were told players turned us down because of our portaloos, now we're gonna get turned down as we have become the laughing stock of the Premier league, for the second time in 3 seasons! I wish I could have more positivity but at the moment we have a squad filled with players who have little affinity to the club and see us as a stepping stone. Once we're relegated we're gonna have numerous issues with players wanting out, squad morale is going to take huge hit and we're probably going to need the biggest squad rebuild in recent times. Webber has always said he will leave us in a better position then he found us, but at the moment I'm struggling to see that being the case.

It's a tough one. I've been calling for his head for some time, or at least an alternative approach where he doesn't have such control over all aspects of the club. He has done some great stuff for the club, from improving the atmosphere for staff, to appointing Farke, developing our infrastructure to helping create a model of investing and developing young players. However, in his role he needs to ultimately be judged on developing our status and establishing us as a premier league club, which he has failed at. In recent times pre Webber we have made a decent fist of the prem and without spending anywhere near the money the has done. I don't believe the Premier league is a better standard than it was 6 or so years ago. His approach to recruitment in the prem has been totally flawed, buying unproven players from weaker foreign leagues with the hope of increasing their future transfer fee, in turn establishing us as a "self-funded" club. Not to mention the amount of money which has been spent on loan fees. I believe by buying more experienced players (be it prem league or championship players) we would have had a far better shot at staying up. One season of staying up would help our finances far more than hoping we hit it right woth a couple of the young signings who are looking to use us as a stepping stone and who we can eventually sell for 30m+ It's worth noting that the vast majority of the money Webber has been able to spend has derived from selling players signed under the previous regime. A lot of young academy players have been signed by Webber as well and it will be hard to judge whether this has paid of for another couple of season, is there an Aarons or Godfrey who is going to come through in the next couple of seasons? So ultimately I would make a change to freshen the approach up in the summer. I have major concerns about the quality of the squad to mount a top 2 challenge next season, despite the amount of money which has been spent.

I would genuinely prefer Onel and Hugill to our current options. Onel would definitely be starting ahead of the current wingers Sargent, Placheta and Tzolis (£25m plus worth of players) and I haven't seen enough of Raschica to say he's clearly better but I do suspect he will prove to be if he stays beyond this season. Hugill would be an option off the bench and better than Idah. I just can't understand the decisions made in the summer.

The fact is Webber screwed up again and I now think the majority of fans can see this, as I suspect the man himself can as well. I'm now at the point where we have to accept our squad is the weakest in the league and we just need to get behind the boys and hope we show some grit and fight this season and then you never know what will happen.

Save the money for the summer, no point bringing in players to get relegated. We need fresh players in the summer to have a chance to fight for promotion. I also have no faith in Webber spending money. I would bring back Onel, Josh and Hugill though.

Agree with this write up and well done staying to the end. First time I've ever left a game early tonight.

I think excellent is overstating it but for me he was the only player creating any sort of threat tonight.

I hope, and i suspect, that he gets a good reception, one of the best players I have seen in the yellow and green. Tbh, I think Webber was just as keen to generate some funds from a big sale this summer as Buendia was keen to move.

Haven't been as interested in F1 for several years but I tuned into this race. I now remember why i stopped watching, its not a sport anymore, it's an entertainment business more akin to wrestling.

Have I missed something here? Why would Liverpool want Todd!?

A lot of big clubs do this

I just can't understand how our squad is regressing the more money we spend. Webber's best signings have been his cheapest. Give the man money to spend and he buys absolute dross. He has pissed more money up the wall then any other previous regime and he needs to be held accountable for this.

Suspect he may end up being, but haven't seen anything which really suggests that yet. Still no goal or assist but I will say he has improved and was getting better before his injury. I strongly believe Onel would have been better than PLM, Tzolis or Sargent against 10 man Newcastle

Never rated Hugill but still think he is a better back up option to pukki than Sargent. Idah had clearly needed a loan for the past 3 seasons to help his development. I would bring Onel back as well. Haven't seen anything which suggests our summer signings are any better than him.

Don't think we have an issue with foreign loan spots and pretty sure Norman won't want to turn his move permanent at this stage. A lot of rumours in the summer that he didn't want a permanent move to us. It's the prem loans we're only allowed 2 off.

This is spot on. For the hear and now our squad is nowhere near good enough. I've argued it since the summer and I have seen nothing to change my mind, but our first 11 is far weaker this season than last year and I really don't think the squad is any stronger based on the new signings. We have a wage structure we aren't willing to break and this has resulted in us splashing 60 plus million on players who aren't an improvement on what was already here. We would have been far better off spending larger amounts on a few players. We could of had Ajer, Billing, Raschica (looks like he's improving but still not setting the world alight) and Norman instead, with some money to throw at a champ or league 1 backup striker. This was not the season to gamble on unproven players with "potential". Surviving one season in the prem is more financially rewarding than hoping one or two of these prospects eventually excell and we can then sell them for 30m plus. I think the club needs a full blown review into our transfer business, its been poor in both prem seasons, for different reasons. I also would be keen to understand why we lost the key members from our scouting team this summer and it appears we have not replaced them. I worry Webber has too much control over identifying players.

Couldn't be any clearer to me, this squad is simply not prem standard. By miles the weakest squad in the prem. Everyone else has at least one standout player...we have Sargent.