Dusic

He is ok and am sure will do a job for them but is not someone who you would be gutted seeing sign for a rival or suddenly feel that by signing him it has made it significantly more likely that Ipswich will get 2nd instead of us. Of all the Jan signings for the teams at the top I think Brooks has the potential to make the biggest impact and would get in any team in the league.

Surely got to be considered a pretty good window for us. Brooks shoulf add quality at this level, Rothwell depth and importantly we haven't lost KWP or Adams. Wouldn't say any of our direct opponents have signed anyone I would be bothered about either. Well set to end the season strongly.

Seems very unlikely because he is out of contract in the summer and surely better for him to wait and take his pick of options once he knows what league teams are in? I would be amazed if anyone else comes in at this point. There isnt really a need for anyone unless Adams goes and his situation is the same as O'Hare and seems now that he will see out the season. Holgate exit we can cover for and little point keeping an expensive player who won't even be named on the bench due to us having 6 loan players now. For once our squad actually looks pretty balanced, with a very strong bench.

Hopefully he does really well and then even if they don't take up the option then someone else will at least pay big money for him, or he comes back. Great signing by SR last January really, considering the relatively little outlay, and extending his contract in October was another smart move. As Brighton especially have shown, the south american market does have value.

Di Marzio is very reliable, especially on Italian football: https://gianlucadimarzio.com/it/juventus-alcaraz-southampton-calciomercato-news-30-gennaio-2024 Amazing to think Juve want someone who can't get a start in the Championship. Would be amazed if we were to agree to loan him out so doubt anything will come of it. Maybe the club knew of potential interest and the Rothwell signing in part mitigates it. Alcaraz has only started 13 Champ games, in a way he isnt an essential player despite being a fan favourite and clearly having huge potential.

Leicester will finish top comfortably. Their results barely matter aside from when they hopefully smash Leeds in Feb and then lose to us in March!

Our bench is going to be ridiculous when we are at full strength and now that Edozie and Kamaldeen are almost back it gives a chance to make changes during Feb without making our attack weaker. Noticeable that our recruitment has focused on British players - probably our best starting XI only has one non British/Irish player and not often we could have said that for a good few years.

Odds on Holgate (or Rothwell) smashing him in training on Wednesday?

Brooks would be a top signing, ideally suited our style and something to prove. Wouldn't be letting Mara go without a replacement though!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/9376900.stm Mad to think this signing was made 13 years ago and propelled us to promotion from league one. Hit the bar and got an assist in a debut win away at Exeter - demonstrating the pace, power and intelligent movment that would later see him snapped up by Port Vale. Who says the best players are unavailable in Jan?!

Was always going to be this type of selection, similar to the last round. Volume of games in Feb is already high, and next round is midweek so even if we get through today I think he would go with similar again. Great for Dibling and Meghoma. If they don't start these kind of games they never will, and then would be pushing to leave...

Benson seems like a low risk move on loan. Only started 14 Champ games for Burnley last season, with 19 apps off the bench but still managed 11 goals. Doubt we would want him long term but even if he came in and won us a couple of games off the bench it would be worth it.

Managerial merry-go-round will be in full swing this summer. Imagine De Zerbi will be one likely to be targetted and sure RM to Brighton links will crop up...

Fraser has played almost exclusively from the left, ditto Edozie and Sulemana. SAA is a kid who is learning but probably not ready to be expected to have a genuine impact yet. AA might be needed to play centrally were Adams to get injured or leave and we have lots of games. Rak-Sakyi plays off the right, scored 15 for Charlton last season and won their POTS and is highly rated at Palace with PL apps this season and nearly joined Leicester in the summer on loan but then Zaha left. We obviously want a right sided player as all our genuine wide players play off the left and he would be a good option IMO.

This is the sensible view that is more likely to result in promotion. Even read further up someone suggesting it would be great if Leicester feel the pressure of Leeds too...personally would rather Leicester feel absolutely zero pressure from Leeds as that means we are more likely to be well clear of them too.

Of Doyle's 'batch' the ones that are good enough to potentially play PL football have either already left (Doyle, JJM) or signed pro (Dibling - after also leaving, Ballard, SAA, Meghoma). I don't think there is anyone else considered top prospect until you get to Gomes and Miles, both of whom it will surely be hard to keep. Assuming you are referring to Meghoma and SAA, I get the point but at the end of the day we signed them because they are good...and good costs money. I would much rather we were active in trying to get the likes of SAA than not bothering incase it offends someone who may not make it anyway. I would be shocked if we were not willing to offer Doyle or Dibling a similar wage to what SAA or Meghoma are on.

Brooks captaining AFCB tonight so seems highly unlikely they loan him out days later. I reckon it will be Benson or nobody for us - and literally no point bringing in a wide right attacker unless they are good enough to start games so wouldn't be overly bothered if it is nobody.

To be fair they seem to have a far greater success with outbound loans than we do, so I am sure that will be in the plan for him. Aside from Tella I can barely think of a loan move that has gone well for one of our academy players and that is a big issue as the gap between first team and PL2 is so big.

Was clear he had something lined up as hadn't signed a new contract. Just shows how hard it is to keep good talents, especially when you are either struggling in the PL or trying to get promoted - there is never a right time to play them! JJM, Dibling (I know he came back) and Doyle all deciding to leave before making a league start.

I think the accurate version would be: Lots of fans were very skeptical about his appointment which, when added to our league position, put significant pressure on him to show something quickly. He had 6 weeks of training before his first few games and it was immediately obvious he hadn't been able to bring about any change during this time and if anything we were worse at the time of the season where our fixtures were favourable, tossing in a genuinely terrible performance in probably the biggest game of the season. Aside from results he quickly alienated fans with some of his comments which further reinforced the now growing view that he was not capable of doing the job needed.

The only term that counts is this season and its far, far, far more likely we get auto promoted in 2nd place than ahead of Leicester. Therefore Ipswich gaining a point and maintaining belief etc makes our goal of auto promotion a tiny bit harder to achieve.

Don't see Leicester dropping enough points to allow us to overtake them, so a win for them would have been a better result IMO although a draw not too bad. As great as it would be to win the league the goal is to get promoted and our best chance to do that is by finishing 2nd behind Leicester. Ipswich are not flashy but are very solid and appear to have a good mentality - would be far more comfortable if we were a few points ahead of them!

No.

Would certain rather keep Adams who we already know is a goalscorer at this level rather than have £5m to replace him with (in all liklihood) someone who has never played football in England before and would be under pressure to adapt very quickly due to the number of games we have in Feb. Adams is one of the best strikers in the league and we already have him so might as well keep if we can.

He also tagged Saints in the post. Bit odd but he doesnt seem the type to cause trouble and he recently did an interview where he said as much.