Rousseau

Are they not looking to introduce sin bins in England at some level? I recall reading that somewhere.

What a night that was!

I don't entirely agree with this 'needs to have a good relationship with Gerrard' stuff. Yes, they have to get on, but they're both professionals, so I don't think there will be an issue. Any new DoF will need to fit in with the model the board/Allen have started, so again, I don't see any friction in terms of philosophy either. I think the problems come from managers not understanding, or accepting, the DoF structure. Gerrard already accepts it.

Paul Mitchell? He went to Tottenham, and is now running Leipzig's recruitment. Like I said above, he's well out of our reach now. I agree, we were best served going with Allen to set up the structure.

Class, but expected.

I'm content to get the win, but it sounded like one of those games where we've struggled to break down a stubborn defence. How did we play?

BARKER!

I'm not able to see it, but we're winning 2-1. Tavernier with the equaliser; Morelos with the 2nd. Livingston are now down to ten men.

They have done literally nothing.

Great.

Ugh. Same old story: they've got everyone behind the ball; we can't break through.

Kent's pulled something. He's off. barker comes on.

What a flick from Aribo! Plays in Morelos, who lifts his shot too high.

Livingston are sitting in a 5-4-1...

Arfield playing deeper could be interesting.

I remember we were linked with Paul Mitchell at one stage, before Allen. He's out of our reach now: head of Recruitment at RB Leipzig! Michael Zorc's contract at Dortmund ends in 2021; do you think he'd like a new challenge early?

I would expect the new DoF to be roughly in line with the philosophy of Allen -- I actually expect Allen to have an input on his successor -- so they should fit in with little trouble. SG has experience of working with a DoF at both Rangers and Liverpool. All this noise about friction between DoF and manager is nonsense to me.

I would hope not.

I think with the structure in place, we can now go for a DoF with a better skill set in transfer dealings and youth development.

Not "solely", but I'd suggest he's done far more than anyone else.

I expect another DoF to be appointed. Allen was appointed to implement the structure, and was never a true DoF. It was what we needed at the time. We now need a 'proper' DoF; one that has experience of doing the job.

I don't think there is a 'best eleven'. The best eleven for one game, won't be the best eleven for another.

I'm bemused by the criticism of Ojo. it seems to have come out of nowhere, and is completely over the top, IMO. He's a young player that's come in to help out. Okay--he's raw, and often doesn't make the best decisions at times, but he doesn't hide. I thought he was poor against Legia last week, but he was always in the game trying things. He's played 9 games for us, scoring 4 and assisting 3. That's superb. He's halfway towards Kent's tally for the whole of last season, in less than a quarter of the games! I'm not saying he should be a guaranteed starter -- he's not consistent enough, IMO -- but I'm more than pleased with his contribution thus far, and he can improve. Good player.

Exactly. I think we're the only ones who think he was played out of position.