Chez

Ballard is a striker and fans would want to see him get an opportunity. Not sure why Mara is being ignored.

Most fans that go away also go to the home games. Maybe not in terms of match day income, but the points won contribute to the prize money and they get the TV money from the away games.

different type. Phillips is much more dynamic. He's all about the high energy press, hassling opponents, preventing them settling. JWP doesn't cover the ground quickly enough or get close enough to opponents to do that job. JWP more of a crab, get it and move it on type. He keeps things ticking over. Not sure which Newcastle need more.

I struggle to agree with most of your post. Any move he makes will earn him about £2.5m a year more than at our place. If that is not a significant increase in salary, I don't know what is. "just to play in thePL". What do you mean `just'. That's what professional footballers strive for their whole lives to play at the top level. It's not a small thing. Captaincy is not the be all and end all. Being a poster boy is great, bit so too is playing in a side going somewhere, with top quality players that may elevate your game. You might be right about him going nowhere, but who knows what our price is and whether it presents value elsewhere. He wont be better off staying here. Not in a financial or footballing sense. `He'd fit in well at Newcastle' but he is `bang average mid table PL player'? Tell me how that works.

I suspect the next kit will be along these lines, but hopefully better. If we can get rid of the black from the kit, that would be good. Time for a return of the navy shorts.

Couldn't get in the Hull side last year, so he returned early to Chelsea. He's only young, but not a great endorsement.

Aaron Collins is another player we should be looking at. Had a brilliant season for Bristol Rovers and they need to sell to recoup losses.

Didn't the Enzo Fernandes signing effectively end their interest...at least for a year or two?

Davis is a good shout. He's just had a great season. He looks very composed and is a powerful lad. I think he takes Ipswich set pieces too, which might be needed next year. Can't see Ipswich allowing him to join us though. Not seen Manning for Swansea. Not much footage of him on the web either. I watched a QPR video and he doesn't look all that quick. I don't think he is anywhere near as good technically as Vinegre, but realistically he's a more likely signing.

Nothing stopping them matching anyone else's bid. I can see Dortmund coming in for him. The price might be a little on the high side for them, but possibly they could offer a huge sell on and/or other ads ons.

Ryan Bertrand Alan Curtis Jimmy Gabriel Maik Taylor Christer Warren Michael Obafemi Cuco Martina Jim Brennan Wayne Thomas Alex Pearce Pele

Dave?

So fucking what? KWP has been woeful this season and his crossing is shite too.

Many thanks for your post. I look forward to the trip to South Wales next season. I think this sentence above is the one that will concern a lot of Saints fans.

Two tone stripes

Dunno. But he did look like he could be arsed to get back into position after an attack, wasn't as slow as fuck and at least looked like he had a modicum of ability.

Someone has to want to buy them. They don't. Hence they see their contracts out here. We loan players to gain experience, but we also loan them to get them out the door. The only other option is paying contracts up in full, which is doesn't help us.

At Blackburn he was absolutely flying. Confidence was sky high. He shot from anywhere and didn't think twice about hitting things first time. We kind of saw that with his goal at Everton after just joining. Since then his confidence has eroded and it has never come back. Without it, he dithers, is reluctant to shoot, doesn't get in positions to score and fails to take responsibility. There has been one or two very small periods when he has been moved out wide and his pace has made him look useful. He caused Newcastle some problems in the first semi final for example. However, Jones didn't see it and he was dropped. I don't think I have seen him do anything useful as a centre forward. Not for a long long time anyway. The long and short of it, is that without confidence returning, he will never be useful. You have to wonder if he needs a change of scenery for that to happen.

Bet he crosses the ball better than Perraud.

What should we be doing then? What happened to Simms? What is your solution to that problem?

We need a left back. Larios and Small might be options, but if not, I wonder if Ruben Vinagre might be a possibility. Sporting Lisbon don't seem all that keen on him, loaning him out to Everton, where he hasn't played a single minute. Whenever I saw him for Wolves I thought he looked technically great and very exciting going forward. Not sure about him defensively - not seen enough. But the left back position continues to be a problem that needs solving.

he has two more years left on his contract. Unless West Ham are willing to pay a huge chunk of his wages, he ain't playing for a Championship side. Far too expensive.

Thierry Small has been linked to Rangers today https://www.rangersnews.uk/news/thierry-small-eyed-by-rangers-after-premier-league-interest/ Simeu lost his place in League 1 Morecombe's starting line up towards the end of the season, so not sure he is ready. Vokins has never looked good enough and has been plying his trade at National League Woking. I don't think he will be in our squad next season. Caleb Watts has also struggled to get in the Morecombe side, starting one game since the end of January. N'Lundulu has mostly come on as a sub at Bolton and has been `uninspiring' according to a Bolton fan I know. Kegs Chauke hardly figured for league 1 Exeter City until the final month of the season, whereupon he started the last 6 games. We will have a gaping hole in central midfield of course. Kazeem Olaigbe was a fixture in the Harrogate Town side in the second half of the season. I think he has scored a few goals too. Turkish may have a view on him, but it's League 2, so it would be a big step up. Jack Bycroft has been playing for Taunton in the National League South. Oliver Wright may become our third choice keeper - both are 20.

Sure, under Ralph we certainly were a side that had limited aspirations other than setting traps and trying to force errors and turnovers that put us in great positions. But that feels like light years ago now. It's hard to know what the plan was under Jones, as he talked about being aggressive and on the front foot, brought in a target man, but then seemed to look to play pretty short and through the lines. Forrest game apart, we didn't really go long and hopeful. In the City cup game, it was about pressing, and taking chances to break. I am not sure how to describe the philosophy in games like Brentford or Wolves. Flounder? Selles initially seemed to also want to press, but that quickly morphed into more of a deep lying defence and slow, possession-based build up. We passed the ball left to right, probing, trying to get the ball to a player with space to move into. We didn't hit it long, we didn't hit it down the channels, we didn't ping it to a target man. We passed it short, tried to keep it, tried to pass through teams. We have been terrible at it, but that doesn't mean we haven't tried to dominate possession.

Also not sure MGW has been all that impressive. It's johnson that consistently catches the eye. I recall that we spent half of last summer discussing (some laughing at) Forrest (within several threads), their transfer policy and how they would go compared to ourselves. Although there was obviously a number of transfer failures (as there are almost everywhere) - Lingard did little, Dennis less and O'Brien absolutely nothing, Boly looked poor, Danilo and Scarpa unimpressive etc...ultimately they did just enough. You are right, they weren't exactly a good side and only just survived, but considering they only had about 10 senior players after promotion, they did OK to achieve that, despite significant injuries to Henderson, Wood, Richards and Awoniyi along the way. In the end it was our own transfer policy that was the more laughable.