A Kick in the Klopp’s. (A match thread)

Although our two theoretically easiest home games last season (versus the other promoted teams) produced zero points. So people could be a bit happier.

The Big Greek held his nerve last season. He will this… also This current team weren’t installed when Maranakis took over. It’s got to be 7 years ago right?

We are okay. Not brilliant. Not rubbish but okay. Maybe that’s the problem.

Villa are flying, we need people to kick them. I would put Yates in to be very very annoying like he was at Chelsea.

Anyway, Lopetegui is a giant bellend. His behaviour at Wolves was ridiculous. I would be shocked if the mad Greek would ever even consider him.

Chicago: Holding Steady.

The Big Greek has got plenty going on at home to keep him entertained..

"We find ourselves once again in recent years in front of a well-organized attempt to alter the conditions of the championship.

More than one factor contributed with their actions or omissions to Olympiacos being punished with an unfair and absolutely wrong decision, which we are sure will fall to the second degree, as otherwise the championship will be undermined.

Our fans should know that Olympiacos will exhaust all legal means for its vindication, without failing to have legal consequences for those who deliberately contributed to the creation of a false image to the detriment of the Association.

And let them be sure that even from this test the team will come out stronger and even more determined to win the 48th championship in its history."

It's complete nonsense to even be beginning to think about the possibility of pondering the slightest chance of a change of manager.

We have another all-new team to bed in. (If everyone's fit, probably half of the first team weren't here two/three months ago.) Cooper's ability to bed in a new team was what kept us up last season. We are probably two Luton-dropped points behind where everyone would be happy from the first ten games.

Why would anyone new be better? Did Potter show himself to be a great fit at Chelsea? Would Lopetegui do as well for us as for Wolves?

It's perfectly reasonable to want "a better manager" or "better players" at any stage. But finding them is harder.

The atmosphere is generally terrible in matches the fanbase expect to win - see Fulham and Bournemouth last season for a similar vibe - so we need a plucky comeback or last minute winner to get the juices flowing again. Maybe this was the plan when we spunked two goals against the wall against Luton only for Wood's 'winner' to have been flagged offside. Here's hoping for 0-2 at half time v Villa but 3-2 at the final whistle ;)

And yes there have been some odd managerial decisions along with a few howling player-errors and a lot of bad luck with injuries lately, but talk of Cooper getting sacked in the next couple of matches is totally hatstand.

Yeah, it's a myth that we had this unbreakable atmosphere all last season. Bournemouth, Fulham, Wolves were not great. Man Utd in the League cup too, for different reasons.

I don’t believe anyone here is even close to advocating for a change of manager. There is pontification and concern as to the point at which the owner may enforce a change of manager upon us. None of us know at what point that may be reached, my fear is it’s sooner than we would like.

My personal fantasy would be that we build a long term plan around cooper and a style of play which we build towards over a few seasons, not just one transfer window. But that not our owners style, and therein lies the tension we are discussing

Yes, although the owner has actually been pretty patient with managers since he's been here. Not just Coops. Hughton was given a lot of rope with which to hang himself.