[Stairs]

The League Cup has been a joke for along time. But that did not mean I wanted us to crash out as we did. Hopefully we will take the FA Cup more seriously?

However, the Premier League is the bread and butter. Performance here is what counts and Everton will be a real indication of how we are developing. I am not concerned about defence being a priority. Lots of successful clubs build from the back and I would be (and am) proud of clean sheets and a reputation for being hard to beat.

Goals up front will come. We only need one per game if we don't let any in. But I suspect that we will start scoring more. My fiver this week goes on Rondon being the first to score and when he gets it, I suspect more will follow.

Mid table this season is realistic and as a long time suffering of relegation battles I will wallow in the pleasure of mid table for a few years at least.

Good post stairs, I disagree slightly with your " I will wallow in the pleasure of mid table for a few years", I will never be happy to be an also ran, I would rather have the anguish and pleasure of fighting and beating a relegation dogfight or the pleasure of winning a promotion race than making up the numbers. That's why I hate the premier league and the champions (plus others) league, designed so a few always get the glory and the money. My good old British sense of fair play can not stand the biased tilt of the FA, Uefa and Fifa, a level playing field please ..... a game for all the people.

                  Come on you Baggies .....

OK 'wallow' was a poor choice of word. But I disagree that mid table is something to be ashamed of. Our fight is with ourselves, we just need to improve. 

Instead of fighting relegation we are fighting to achieve 10th place or better. Improving our performance year on year has to be our target. If we focus on overall performance then, although it would mean mid-table, going from 14 to 12 to 10 over successive years is a great set of results. 

Keep doing that and, before I go senile, there is a chance of Europe and even Champions League!