Baggio

I think Liverpool will beat Arsenal looking at the side Wenger has put out.

Pardew's job is to pick players from the squad to get us a result and not go the way of MON by playing his best 11 against Morecambe. Rotating the squad is what the bigger clubs do.

What problem?

That's further apart than playing a Thursday evening and then a Sunday afternoon, Pardew has said he will keep playing the younger lads through the group stages too.

Which of their side would get in our starting 11?

Ben Smith @BenSmithBBC 4h Was told yesterday, Brendan Rodgers only realised his £20m summer transfer budget included wages, very late on.

Are people mentioning Swansea and Fulham based on their early season form? Fulham have lost their 2 best players in the last few days and while Swansea have added a few decent players I don't see it as a reason for them to challenge for any better than mid table.

Dempsey looks a panic buy for Spurs after failing to get Moutinho, he doesn't pull the strings as well as Van Der Vaart does either but it has fucked Liverpool up. They struggled in front of goal last season and now they've lost Carroll, Bellamy, Kuyt and Maxi and only replaced them with Borini and Assaidi.

6th or 7th. Depending how far we go in Europe.

Being positive I would say its hard to say how much Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool and Everton have improved compared to the squad they finished the season with, on paper I would say none of them have improved much at all.

If the window shuts now I would say its been a 5/10 window. We've got rid of some of the dead wood, bought some good young players and a highly rated one in Anita but we have failed to buy suitable cover up top and upgrades in defence. It makes you wonder how we fanny about for months and still get nothing done.

I was thinking about our transfers yesterday and while they get great credit for the success they've had in the past few years I was thinking how could we scout a player like Douglas, our manager admits in a talk in that we want him yet a deadline goes past without any sign of us offering a cash for him? Then I got to thinking about why that would be and the only stand out answer is that we can't afford him So then I started to think back to when the accounts came out and Llambias done the interview about us "doing some trading" and mentioned Tiote, I'm thinking that what money we did have available we've spent on Anita who we see as Tiote's replacement so we won't be short in that department and then when we can sell him we can use the money to buy the players we've been following all summer. Much like Spurs have done with Modric. The downside is if nobody comes in for him then the club push the line of not being able to agree a deal for our targets but we managed to fight off interest in our best players, when really they want to sell him and are encouraging bids so that they can buy Carroll and co.

The Journal going with us drawing up a plan B list for striker.

I didn't even read that because I just don't care, that's how boring I find you and the subject.

I've got no problem with it at all. The same way I had no problem with it when we went on our great run at the beginning of last season, or when we beat Man Utd 3-0 at home or Chelsea 2-0 away. I liken it to the Pardew situation last season as it seems like another one of those things that the more people keep on about something the more it gets pushed as fact and getting blown completely out of proportion, we played a handful of good games against average opponents with the 4-3-3 towards the end of last season and now its getting pushed as some sort of miracle system that we are awful if we don't use it. Personally if I was manager I would go with a diamond formation in midfield with Ben Arfa having a free role behind the front two, the difference being I don't feel the need to go on about it every day and blame any problems on the team not playing the way I want them too constantly.

The 4-4-2/4-3-3 talk is up there with the Pardew doing a poor job last season brigade. Both boring and repetitive.

I'm confident Carroll will be back here this season, if not this summer then in January. Simpson is the weakest link in our starting 11 but he's far from as bad as some make out, he's a decent midtable player and was no worse than Santon last season, Williamson isn't too bad either considering he wouldn't be inthe starting 11 if everyone is fit. I have no idea how the next week will go but its not something I'm going to beat myself over too much as long as we don't lose anyone, I do still think we are in for Carroll, Debuchy and Douglas though but how many we get I don't know.

But the clubs that are likely to be in for him have no problem with shopping abroad, if he was being chased by Sunderland and Stoke I'd agree.

I'm not sure why anyone would go for Tiote if M'Vila was available at half the price.

Shifting Jonas into the middle may stop them getting overrun but it's leaving our fullbacks even more exposed when Chelsea's fullbacks get forward, which they done for the majority of the first half. To be honest I find it quite laughable reading forums at the complete overreaction to playing 4-4-2 or 4-3-3, reading some comments you would think we go from Ajax 95 to Sunderland 2006 by pushing Jonas wide and playing Ben Arfa deeper.

So do you think Simpson and Jonas will offer a threat in a 4-3-3?

They are playing us off the park with their pace and movement, how would playing 4-3-3 change this?

Chelsea look quality, hopefully we can keep the score down.

I think our targets are Debuchy, Douglas and Carroll and I will be surprised if anyone outside of them comes in. Carroll is the most likely IMO.

I don't think any of their summer signings would get into our starting 11 however Johnson is a big improvement on what they've got.