Four points from their opening five league games and hurled rather than knocked out of the Carabao Cup, 5-1 by Liverpool on Wednesday, the tenure of Julen Lopetegui has started miserably and left plenty of supporters pessimistic about their club’s long-term direction.

Summer signing Rodriguez and Edson Alvarez have not yet gelled as a midfield partnership. Their lack of pace was exploited in the last two games. A possible solution could be playing Carlos Soler, the season-long loan signing from Paris Saint-Germain, alongside Alvarez.

Chris: The 5-1 win is fab and going forward we look great. I wish for more from Darwin Nunez but his work rate is great. The downside is that we conceded a sloppy goal, and even Bradley let too many people ghost by him. Caiomhin Kelleher was fab too with lots of good saves and he was very commanding.