Lucas

21st 16th

I'm in

How bizarre. I think Cummins has been great tbh, he's got a lot of calls right and to get on his back after one game where they've been absolutely rinsed so far is beyond harsh. Really carried himself well I think and I have to say, I think it's pretty difficult to captain as a main bowler too and yet I wouldn't say it's taken too much away from his bowling. Let's be real, Warner's not got going all series and nor has Smith or Marnus to an extent. A century for either only glosses over the fact they have given their wickets up far too easily IMO. Perhaps only thing I'd be critical of is at Old Trafford, you always pick a spinner. It's a given. Appreciate Lyon is out but so is Jack Leach and we're using a part time spinner in Mo, surely they had to show some faith in the lad that came in at Headingley.

This will be gutting not to win a match we've dominated all three days in previously but I do fear they won't get the overs in. The competition deserves this Test being played out so it can go forward to the final one. It does make you laugh that in this day and age, weather can occasionally play such a huge part in the outcome that they don't have a reserve day as an option.

It's always weird when one club takes a sponser from a previous club. Those Young Boys kits just instantly feel like they would be Atletico Madrid away kits.

Arsenal were due a shit kit to be fair. The last few seasons they haven't really missed, home or away.

My bad. I'll go Leeds. *Edit* Ah bollocks, no I won't. Cheers @CaaC (John) Ok scrub all this. I'll have a think and come back to it

Leicester please.

Yep, happy with that. Having a permanent home now could really be the making of him and great to find out he's really good mates with Tyler Adams. Good age tooand comes with a fair amount of experience having played at an International tournament and played in Germany/Italy. If them two pair together in midfield we'll be very tough and resolute, not something you could say about Leeds a lot of the time.

I really feel for him. To get that nasty break at Leicester was bad enough. Get a fresh move then pick up two niggly knee injuries at Chelsea to disrupt your new move was just unlucky but to go and get an ACL which rules you out best part of a season is just unreal. It's really important that players who go through this are looked after mental health wise because he must begin to start losing trust in his body. It might well have done Levi Colwill a favour. Chelsea should really put their faith in him before it's too late and he walks.

Finally, it's done. Taken its bloody time and cost us about 4 weeks of preperation but, it's done. Interesting to see how many American Sportstars are investing too. Looks like Lebron James and Patrick Mahomes missed a trick. In all seriousness, it's been a good day. Looking forward to every man and his dog being linked now but, I just hope this is enough for the big players to give it a go next season. If we can field a team keeping the likes of Gnonto, Sinisterra, Adams, Wober, get a season out of Rutter, add four or five fresh faces, you'd like to think we'll be competitive. Its just convincing those players now.

Got to say, I'm a bit curious about Everton's strategy this summer. Signed Young on a free. Obviously talk about Evans whether that's true or false, but again, would be a free. Then flip side, a lot of chat about Gnonto possibly going there over the past week but seemingly knocked back by us pretty emphatically today. Was it all smoke and mirrors to appease fans they were showing intent to buy? Did they really think we'd sell for such a low bid? We are daft but I'd like to think not that daft. No actual confirmation of a bid either, just us shutting it down.

Hope not, don't fancy visiting Burton Albion again.

As discussed briefly with Cicero on the Chelsea thread, quite happy with this one as our first signing. £7m for a 22 year old (which surprised me as he seems to have been around forever) and a solid defensive midfielder who can play CB if needed. Has plenty of years ahead of him for development and it feels like after 3 loans, he needs that fresh start somewhere permanent where he can see himself staying for the next few years. Could be a likely replacement for Adams of course, we'll see. But a good start at least.

Sounds promising, he just needs a place to feel home by the sounds of it. £7m seems decent too for someone thats still got potential. I did read earlier as flexible as he is, you'd see the best of him as a defensive mid like he plays for Wales, so hoping that's where he plays. I'm also quietly hoping he plays alongside Adams but I guess he should slot in seemlessly if Adams does go.

How much do you actually rate him though considering you've shipped him out the last 3 seasons on loan?

I'm definitely envious we've not just been able to just crack on and rebuild our squad but out of the three relegated clubs, we've had it the most difficult by far. So you should count yourself lucky it's been a reasonably seemless transition for yourselves like Saints. The takeover (which is STILL waiting on ratification from the EFL) has stalled things by a good three to four weeks and has dragged far too long which has ultimately meant decisions have had to be made later than sooner. For example, it took longer to confirm a manager than Leicester or Southampton, so Farke's had to play catch up from the off. Not the best start for him. On top of that, we've had several outgoings to contend with (bar Rodrigo they can all gladly go too to be fair) but we have so much uncertaintity about who stays or the one's we want to keep, so hands have been a bit tied. I mean, for Leicester, it's mainly about Maddison and Barnes. One's gone, got the money for him and can start spending it which you have. The other probably will go soon. The rest I don't think have been as coveted by clubs as much as ours, especially when you look at how many outgoings we have had and the fact they have mainly all been loans due to the contracts that were initially negotiated. So we've not actually been able to go out and spend money willy nilly till everything's been in place with the takeover. We've suffered massively because of the previous regime which shows how embarassing it was to fail with a reasonably talented squad, and expectations for this season have to be tempered somewhat due to how much change the club is going through. It's annoying but for me, I think it'll be a bonus if we go up, I don't expect it straight away. Let's also remember we actually havent lost the players we'd love to stay like Adams, Gnonto, Harrison, Sinisterra, Summerville, Wober etc and as much as we want them to stay, we don't actually know if these need replacing yet. Be a massive bonus of we can keep a few of them because they are above quality for this divison easily. You won't see the best of us till mid/late September I feel. I'm expecting a very win/loss, win/loss first 7-8 games.

15th 17th

Sensational from Alcaraz, I really thought he'd choke swrving cor the match but he handled it like a champ. Comes across a lovely fella too. Hahahaha have that Novak and you can keep your crocodile tears too. Lucky not to avoid a court violation for his act of petulance on top of his time wasting.

Djokovic looks really rattled by the crowd, more so than I've seen before. He just can't stand 90% of them being Team Alcaraz. Still feel Alcaraz will ultimately need to go up another level to win this though. You feel like if he doesn't take the chance to close out this third set, Djokovic will make him pay.

Considering you cannot pay transfer fee's, you've been amazingly fortunate to get two players of their quality in so fair play. I can see Grant in particular being a very good signing for you if he can rediscover his form.

Me and my other half went to Milan a few years ago for Football reasons, but we also did the day trip to Como. I would recommend it 100%. Something we learnt out there which you may or may not know, if you use the train, make sure you validate the ticket before you board. If you don't, you will be fined. We didn't know this and found out the hard way, luckily the attendant on board only charged us half of what he could have. You may already know this but it's surprising how many don't. There are normally a load of machines where you basically just get the ticket scanned before but in England, it's not something we normally need to do so easy to miss.

Good to see 'Old Faithful' hasn't pegged it yet. She's done you well John.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Duckworth Lewis is an absolute bullshit way to decided a game. If you're gonna use it, make it fair for both sides and not just the batting team.

Yeah I like Ons, especially after watching the Netflix Tennis Documentary, Break Point, which was brilliant. From watching that, you know just how much she wants Wimbledon and she's a bit of a character. Plus it would be nice to break up the Eastern European dominance in Women's Tennis. Anyway, arguably the best day of Wimbledon tomorrow, Men's Semi Finals Day. Sinner v Djokovic in a repeat of last year followed by Alcaraz v Medvedev, which promises to be a cracker.