Alanh

Contracts generally run until the end of June so I guess they will technically be here until then.

This was exactly the stated objective in one of Kruger's messages a couple of seasons ago. The club realise that they can't compete with the big 6 / 7 clubs in terms of revenue and wages so the best option is to be the best of the rest and be ready to capitalise when the big boys slip up. That happened last season when both Chelsea and Liverpool 'failed', but hasn't this season.

I agree that we don't get forward quickly enough, but set that against the fact that recent home games have included Man City, Arsenal and Man U. Man City pretty much dominated us all over the pitch, we matched Arsenal in many respects, but their quick passing was much better than ours on the day, and we took the game to Utd while always being wary of their pace on the break through Martial and Rashford (when he came on) and the quality of Mata and Mkitaryan.

No football club ever says it needs to sell, even after relegation, as to do so would simply drive down the prices they might get for any player sold. Don't believe every word that Saints, or any other club or media organisation say. There will always be an agenda behind their statements.

Yes, pleased, also slightly surprised and relieved. Many different positive emotions.

We scored a goal!!!

You might want to review your statement about the number of debutantes in the Championship being surprising as we only had one season in that division. Since 2000 we have had 5 seasons in that division.

Interesting idea to go 3-4-3. I can see it working with Cedric, Romeu, Davis and Bertrand as the 4, then three from Gabbi, Long, Redmond, Tadic, JWP and Boufal up front. Our bench would be light on defenders though. I wouldn't put another DM in the middle of the 4 as that's more than enough defensive cover with 5 defenders already. I'm not convinced it would improve the balance or shape of the team at this stage, but might have been a consideration if we needed to get out of a rut earlier in the season - a Koeman used it for a couple of games last season.

Agree with both of these points. Regarding the second one, I am seeing a few people asking for a VW replacement to partner Romeu. I think the better strategy is to get a Morgan replacement who is relatively big, mobile and able to make a telling pass, as well as make an interception. I don't know who that is but for me it needs to be a priority for the summer.

Just out of interest, what formation would you have played recently (with the available players) that would make a significant difference?

I did say in my post that we look to get low crosses in - Cedric and Bertrand are the main providers. What we don't do is aim for the head of a forward with our crosses - in the style of Koeman when we had Pelle or West Ham when Andy Carroll is fit.

I'd say our general pattern of play is to retain possession, keep the ball on the ground, play out from the back and tire the opposition by making them chase the ball. We look to create chances through low crosses and through balls. We have shown that we can also play on the break when parking the bus - EFL semi away - but this pattern is used much more rarely. I'ts probably just as easy to say what we don't do - long ball, crosses onto the head of a forward (basically everything that Big Sam teams do )

We've only played 4 games since Caceres signed and he was still getting fit for a couple of those. We have a load of games during April so we will see rotation again and he will get game time. I guess what happens in the summer depends more on him than us as he will be a free agent after his contract with us finishes at the end of the season.

Our shirts obviously feature in the ad because they sponsor us, nothing to do with cost or likelihood of relegation.

With the number of games that we have in April I'm sure he will get rotated out on occasions and that's when we will use Caceres. He will be learning a lot at the moment and hopefully that will stand him in good stead for future seasons.

The important thing here is that they have been called up to the squad. JWP and Redmond will principally be there to get more experience of being part of the senior England set up (having trained with them a few times in the past). It also gives the manager a chance to try out alternative plans i.e could Redmond put pressure on Sterling or Walcott, could JWP form a partnership with other central midfielders which do a job for the team. Looking at the players individually and on their performance for Saints only gives Southgate part of the information he needs to put together a successful team. Hopefully they get a chance to show what they can do during the run up to the next World Cup, although if Redmond continues to develop he probably won't be a Saints player by then.

I'm pretty sure most financially literate people understand that, but I don't get the point you are trying to make. Was your original post about selling VVD serious?

I'm assuming this post has some (very deadpan) humour attached. It's clearly stated that we made a profit of £4.9M so there's no need to sell anyone balance the books.

I'm quite surprised that this thread hasn't spawned a 2017 / 18 kit design discussion. Always one of the highlights of the year.

When the club worked out the purchasing criteria they would have had a very good idea of how many fans fell into each category and must be pretty confident that they can supply tickets to everyone who meets the published criteria. The only unknown was the fact that the Arsenal and West Ham tickets were still on sale and were part of the eligibility criteria.

Its a charge that covers the cost of the booking system. I run one for work and have to add about £2 to every transaction to cover the online transaction cost and merchant fee (the company that process the financial transaction). The internet makes some things convenient, but not free.

Yes, I should probably have said, that West Ham have consistently demonstrated how easy it is to find the wrong striker!

Of course strikers are out there who can do a job, but this article from the Guardian on West Ham having bought 32 strikers in the last 7 years demonstrates it's not that easy to find the right ones. https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/jan/17/west-ham-strikers-david-sullivan-gold-simone-zaza-scott-hogan

Indeed, but players 'never' move directly between Liverpool and ManU. Everton a possibility as Baines must be approaching the end of his career.

If you looked at the dates involved in the two sets of games you have chosen, you would have the answer as to why we have rotated more players. The set of 9 games you quoted for this season were played in 34 days. The nine from the end of last season were played in 57 says, so on average, more that two more days per match recovery time.