Recent close seasons it’s been mostly about Wilf staying/going. If he’d gone I think even Roy would have struggled. This one will be no different.

Paul Merson and Lee Hendrie's comments prior to the game were interesting - neither fancy us at all next season. Merson in particular was strident in his view that Roy had done an excellent job and made references to Charlton.

He made the point that we need an experienced manager who isn't going to get rattled or influenced by the crowd and knows how to get points.

IMO The squad needs a far greater overhaul than anybody is admitting as the ability of many of them to stay fit is a huge issue and one or two of the younger ones, such as Riedewald, don't look up to it to me.

I find all the chat about needing someone to bring through young players and the academy a bit fanciful and overstated. Although it looks promising we don't actually know how many will be good enough and realistically most of the squad will be made up of established pro's.

Norwich Watford Burnley Swansea/Brentford Palace

Three from five for me - don’t see that the other four are any stronger overall - assuming we keep Wilf and Eze recovers / we find a midfield playmaker to replace him.

The picture for next season doesn’t look encouraging at present.
It does appear Benteke will leave and Zaha wants away and seems demotivated.
Eze will be out for a significant proportion of next season.
Where else is our threat?
It looks as if Batshuayi and Wickham will leave, although they haven’t contributed in any event.
Mateta to date has not been trusted.
Despite his good season last year Ayew in no more than a toiler.
We need to sign as a minimum two attacking players, but it’s a gamble they will hit the ground running as we’re unlikely to be buying elite players with a proven record (too expensive).
First and foremost the new manager needs to be defensively sound as I can’t see where the goals will come from.
To stay up we’ll need to eke out narrow wins against the lowly teams.
I’ve a lot of time for Parish, but unless there’s some mystery master plan it does all seem a bit chaotic.

'Norwich Watford Burnley Swansea/Brentford Palace'

Add to that Brighton, Southampton, Newcastle and Wolves who are no great shakes either.
As ever the jury is out as to whether Mr Parish has a strategy and regarding Wilf, agree if necessary to let him go in January so Eze has chance to recover.
It is also likely that a decent amount of funds will be freed up by the release of certain players (Sakho in particularly) and it is not certain Benteke or Wilf will go.

Are you sure?