Nidger

Trying to buy my tickets online atm Are blocks 45 - 48 in the Northam Stand for home fans for this game then? This is normally where the away fans sit

I 100% agree with your point about not blocking the youth breaking in to the 1st team! Jack Stephens is currently a RB, but he will be a CB in the future, I also think there is a good chance of us signing either Clyne or Zaha from Crystal Palace now that we have loaned them Aaron Martin, fingers crossed!

Lets not forget about Marko Marin either! It looks like Chelsea are signing players to get the best out of Torres (especially now that Drogba is off). An attacking midfield 3 of Mata, Hazard & Marin would surely create enough chances for the real Torres to show his undoubted class! This doesn't leave much room for Kevin De Bruyne however, so the loan rumour does appear to have some substance to it IMO. I doubt we'll be able to add a buy clause in to the loan contract because I think that Chelsea hav ehigh hopes for him and will want o keep him for the future. I wouldn't mind him spending a season at St Mary's thougb!

Loan signings are usually used for 1 of 2 reasons: 1) To provide cover for the team the player is loaned to; or 2) To give the player the chance to gain valuable 1st team experience You could argue that in some cases both of the above reasons are applicable. I would advise caution when bringing in a player where there is the potential to sign them at the end of the deal. There have been examples of players playing well and trying really hard to earn the contract, and then failing to maintain that level of performance once they have earned their permanent contrct. The main Saints example that springs to mind is Marek Saganowski. I'm not saying that loan sigings are a bad idea, I just think there are some risks attached. I can see us loaning out more players than we bring in on loan.

I agree with your point that a CM is needed. If he could be creative & weigh in with a few goals then all the better! We need a couple of quick tricky wingers who are direct, have a trick and can score a few goals (sort of what we hoped De Ridder would be last year). Matt Phillips and Wilfred Zaha are 2 examples of what I'm talking about. I don't really know about RB thou. I personally rate Frazer Richardson, but Im not sure how Danny Butterfield will fare in the Premier League. I am a fan of Nathaniel Clyne, but I think he will move to 1 of the bigger clubs like Man Utd. Jay Rodriguez would be a quality signing IMO! I would just like to see us add to the creative options behind our strikers in order for them to realise their true potential. We can't just rely on Adam Lallana to be the main source of ammunition for our strikers. Morgan Schneiderlin definitely has the ability to create chances for our strikers, but he does tend to be played a bit deep in midfield to create enough chances for Rickie & co.

I imagine that most of our existing squad had promotion clauses in their contracts, and they deserve the wage increases because they earned them by getting the club promoted to the Premier League. I doubt they would be very happy if the club signed a so called big name who was immediately put on double their money though, I know I wouldn't be very happy with that! I'm not saying we shouldn't look to improve the squad with better players, but not at the cost of damaging what we have achieved already. I have a couple of questions though: 1) We won't get promoted signing players like Gleeson - How do you get promoted from the Premier League?; & 2) I'd rather have a team of decent young lads putting in maximum effort and playing football for a half sensible salary - Do Seedorf & Del Piero fit in to this category? How are players like Luke Shaw, James Ward-Prowse, Ben Reeves, Jack Stephens & Calum Chambers ever going to break in to the 1st team if we sign players like Seedorf & Del Piero? Do you really think that we would have seen the likes of Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott & Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain come through the ranks if we took that approach to our transfer dealings? The club is 100% being run in the correct way, and nothing should be done to jeopardise that! People need to start living in the real world and stop hoping that Saints will fulfill their fantasies by signing their favourite players! Keep up the excellent work Saints!

The bottom line regarding our transfer dealings this summer is that we should in NO WAY look to break our wage structure to attract so called superstars of the game! I'm not referring to any specific players, but we should look to follow the example set by Norwich & Swansea last season and DEFINITELY NOT the example set by QPR! Both Norwich & Swansea bought players from the league that they had just left, that were of a similar level (if not better) than they already had. Norwich even bought a player from league 1 (Anthony Pilkington) who has performed to a good standard even though he jumped 2 leagues. I'm sure some people would love us to sign players like Owen, Bosingwa & Kalou but the reality is that these players would want money that would be at least twice the money that the players that got us in to the Premier League are on (i.e. Lambert, Lallana & Hooiveld, Fonte, Davis, etc)! This transfer strategy would only result in our current players getting ****ed off by new players coming in on at least double their wages, and would damage the great team morale and togetherness that helped us to get back to the Premier League in the first place! I'd rather we signed players like Rodriguez, Matt Phillips & Jordan Rhodes tbh! Players who are young, want to progress & IMO have the ability to improve the group of players we already have without disrupting the great work NC, NA and the current squad have done so far!

My views on our out of contract players are: David Connolly - Released Lee Holmes - Released, and will probably sign for Swindon on a free transfer Bart Bialkowski - Offered new contract with a view to loaning him to a Championship team for next season to get him some much needed regular 1st team football Ryan Doble - Released Radhi Jaidi - Will join the coaching ranks to help develop the impressive array of young talent coming through our academy Some others who I think may leave are: Forecast - Please can somebody take this sponger off our wage bill! Seaborne - Potentially loaned to a Championship team for the season to get him regular 1st team experience (which he unfortunately missed out on last season) Puncheon - A potential makeweight in any cash + player deal for either Matt Phillips or Wilfred Zaha Barnard - Potentially loaned to a Championship team for the season to get him regular 1st team football, especially if we add another top striker to our ranks Forte - Sold, most probably to Notts County Dickson - Has dropped down the pecking order to 3rd choice left back and with the emergence of Luke Shaw (potentially next season), he doesn't seem to have much of a future at the club

If the fee was reasonable, I would rather have Jay Rod. Although I didn't think he did a lot against us in either game last year (I was at both games by the way!), I have heard very encouraging things about Jay Rod's ability and he is still young. He will be great competition for Lambert, Sharp & Lee for a starting place up front as well! He is a similar size to Lambert (physically) as well which is another big positive. His goal scoring record last season (15 league goals I think) is a very good return as well! Changing subject a bit, another potential option for the back up keeper position IMO is Keiren Westwood. He is still only 27 and doesn't seem to get a game at Sunderland anymore since joining them on a free from Coventry last year. He is a similar type of goal keeper to Kelvin in that he is a great shot stopper. I believe he would welcome the chance to show that he can do a job in the Premier League.

I would add Nathaniel Clyne to the potential right back suggestions. He eas 1 of Place's best payers when we won there in the legue. The only issue is that other teams are apparently after him as well! I agree with your point that a CM is reuired. We didn't get enough goals from CM last season and a goal scoring CM is a big bonus for any team. There seems to be a few players suggested for the striker option. The most likely ones for me are Jay Rodriguez & Jordan Rhodes. Another CB would be good for competition for places. Zak Whitbread seems to be the most likely candidate for that position at the moment although I feel we could do better A backup keeper would be another bonus. I feel that Bialkowski is a promising keeper but he desperately needs a run of 1st team football. I think we will rnew his contract and then loan him out to a Championship team for the season to get him some much needed 1st team experience. Kasper Schmeical is a good shout for me as competition for Kelvin. LB is an interesting position. I rate Danny Fox as easily our 1st choice LB, but we do have a very exciting LB in our academy in Luke Shaw. I'm not sure how much game time he will get next season though. Another area I feel we need to add to is pace. We need some more players with real pace to help us to counter attack as well as track back and defend. 2 of he names that keep cropping up are Matt Phillips & Wilfred Zaha. Given the choice I would go for Matt Phillips.

I just wanted to hear which players you rated, that was all. You don't rate Whittingham, and that is your opinion which I respect. I think De Bruyne is an interesting suggestion and I can see a possible season long loan from Chelsea being a possibility. I thought Chris Eagles would go on to be another player to graduate from the Man Utd academy in to their 1st team but it didn't work out. I think his form for Bolton this year has been a bit hit and miss but I still think he is a good player. Redmond looked very lively and direct last night but Birmingham rate him in a similar bracket to AOC so I think he could cost a lot of money! Zaha is another quick young player with a trick, but his tendency to lose his rag when things aren't going his way would be a concern for me. Which other areas of the team do you believe we need to strengthen?

I don#t think we'll ever agree on Peter Whittingham tbh! I don't see you offering up any alternatives other than agreeing with my suggestion of Matt Phillips thou! Have u got any suggestions to put forward? Who knows, we might agree on some of them!

Junior Hoilett is out of contract at Blackburn at the end of the season so he will be available on a free. He will definitely be off to 1 of the more established teams in the Premiership unfortunately!