BigWalrus

Priorities are surely a centre back and a striker, and replacements for any outgoings.

I bloody don't! Give me the weekend, any er.. day of the week.

QPR have gone 365 minutes without a PL Goal, Newcastle 262 minutes.

Prepare to fume - that's exactly what Ashley is doing now. He'll probably take £10-20m of his loan back each season from now on, if we stay up.

Just had a quick look at their accounts. Whelan didn't draw any salary in either of the previous two seasons. The club appears to be supported by loans from various sources, the biggest creditor being the bank. The loans are secured by personal guarantee from Whelan himself, implying they don't own their stadium. Haven't got the time to dig deeper, and it's off on a bit of a tangent from the rest of the thread anyway...

Also, I think the club was bank rolled by Whelan in the past. If I remember correctly, they owed him something like £70-80m at one point, but this has come right down recently. On that basis, he's taken some of his loan back, but he's still owed money.

They've got a low wage bill, but they also have quite a low turnover. I think they actually turned over a profit last season, but they're just not a big enough draw to make sustained profits AND pay out the wages needed to attract and retain the top players.

I'm sure I have a scrap book full of Chronicle match reports from that season. Probably somewhere in my mam and dad's loft unfortunately.

Wigan looked canny going forward against Swansea, but their defence was as bad as I've seen in a long time. Providing they don't do anything silly like get a man sent off, Arsenal should have no trouble picking them off.

What a fucking invalid.

Undoubtedly useful. It'll come in handy for energy during the event, energy after the event or even to lubricate the face prior to a messy session of cunnilingus.

On the basis that Redknapp is definitely in charge of QPR next season, who do you think he'd rather be competing with for promotion? Is there a chance he might prefer to come up against Wigan?

The Scouse Media Mafia expands further.

When we're not playing at home, I watch most of my football on streams or at the pub, so can't see the need personally.

I think he'll do fine. The biggest hurdle to over come will be the short term form. If he hasn't won the league in his first couple of seasons, the knives will be out.

Aye, the gurning is particularly irritating.

I can only see players leaving if they engineer their own moves. If Cabaye wants away, I'm sure he'll find a way to go. In that circumstance, I hope Ashley milks the other club for all they can possibly afford.

10 more points would put us in 8th place. We would have comfortably met expectations if we'd finished 8th. I reckon we'd easily have picked up another 10 points (let's say 2 wins and 4 draws) with a few more games of having our core players match-fit and available.

As much about managing energy levels as it is anything else. It's one of the main considerations of the top level game. There is no point in being brilliant for 65 minutes if you're dead on your arse for the final half an hour and throw away any lead you had.

On the positive side though, the new lads should be all the better for having a tough few months introduction to the Premiership. Far better grounding than a pre-season.

What authority does Graham Carr have? He's a scout! Granted, a scout that seems to have done a canny job, but he doesn't call the shots.

Let's go back to basics. Assume you have 50% possession of the ball in an average game. That means, for half of the game, we need to try to get the ball back. You'd have HBA, Marveaux and Gouffran standing on the half way line, hands on hips, while Sissoko and Cabaye run around like blue arsed flies desperately trying to get the ball back. The opposition would just need to bide their time for an hour or so, before Cabaye and Sissoko's lungs pack in, and destroy us. A solid defensive shape is as much about managing energy levels to last the 90 minutes.

Marveaux, Gouffran and Ben Arfa in the same team, all behind Cisse, is too forward thinking. It would invite wave after wave of attack that we'd be powerless to defend against.

Do you want us to go down?

Whisper it quietly, but I'm not concerned that Sissoko is out. Tiote and Cabaye, as a pair, know each other's roles well. Throwing Sissoko in there too adds further uncertainty when we need solidity and familiarity.