Chez

converting from a defensive formation and plan to a team on the front foot is always going to be tough. We perhaps will play a slightly conservative game to prevent being hit on the break. The heat is not going to support a pressing game. I'm struggling to predict how we will play it.

clubs want to release news via their website, to encourage people to come to the website, which then creates a vehicle to promote sponsors/advertising. Press conferences are to give news to other outlets to then promote via their own mediums. Press conferences are simply not in a club's interest.

Tactics and formations are important, but the game is about the players. Perhaps we have better nippers than our opponents, in contrast to our senior side, where, i general, our opponents may have better players.

I'm not sure he has played well since we first discussed him on here a couple of summers ago.

Sure, see 13 posts above yours for one. I've been making suggestions on the HCDAJFU threads for years. I suggested Aribo three and a half years ago. This summer I liked Broja, Scamacca, Flynn Downes, Omar Richards, Vinegre... I'm not great with CBs. I thought Caleta-Carr's youtube videos looked good, but two years of underperforming at Marseilles suggests he might not be all that. I suggested Joe Worrall last summer, but he's been hiding in a three man defence since then so not sure if he has progressed. I thought when Spurs were having second thoughts with Sanchez we could have made a deal. We could do with focusing a little more on power (especially in the air) and pace as we have ball players back there. Issa Diop may have fit the bill. Not seen ABK, so maybe we have what we need. I expected him to play from day 1 though, which is concerning.

not the recent days. He was pretty shit last season and the Leicester ST holder that I know said they needed to upgrade. I don't think they thought Ward would move up, but their financial situation is well known.

why did we sign Lis full stop?

Doubt it.

Another no from me. He isn't very good IMO. Grass ain't always greener.

It's a no from me. Pretty slow, limited with the ball. He can head it. That's about it. Mind you, many of our CBs struggle to do that.

I thought we'd be using our loan on Issa Kabore. Certainly looked the part.

but Ward might be an upgrade on Kasper. Rogers said he would be signing a 3rd keeper. McCarthy was thus never an option.

Available for less than £8m apparently.

Didn't they beat Wolves at the weekend? Absolutely no divine right to win this game.

from the highlight, the goal looked massive with him in it. Did he come for any crosses? How did he do?

He really was poor last season. We are in Jordy Clasie territory here, where you wonder if we have just signed a guy that will never do it in the Prem. Like Clasie, he just doesn't dominate a game, while Diallo seems to fail to understand the role given to him. Maybe things will fall into place, but can we risk another season as bad as last or do we just cut our losses and try again?

Excellent. He was poor last season, so I am glad we will look to someone else to fill his minutes on the pitch. Hopefully whoever that is will be a damn sight more effective.

Not sure there were many Saints fans happy to see Long get a new deal. There were some that thought he might get one, I was one of those, but I was certainly not `content'.

I want to know about the loan, was the last of it (£28m) used to fund transfers this summer, when will repayments start, is the wage bill being trimmed to allow for that £10m-£20m a year payment (or whatever it will be). We've made huge losses over the last three years, was that all down to Covid? If not, how will those losses be reversed, or will the club just increase debt to cover them? I also wanted to know about where we stand in terms of outgoing and incomings. Is there any pressure to sell this summer, or is next summer when things will be rebalanced?

His movement in that game at craven cottage reminded me of a stopped clock.

Did anyone ask a question about the club finances?

better to go for a striker that is weighing his options rather than a striker that only has one option, us. If no one else is interested, the question has to be `why'?

didn't they just let Benteke go for nothing, despite him having 12 months left on his contract?

slightly surprised we have not been linked to Gyokeres. We had a good look at him and he caused us issues. Maybe we have had our fill of Championship strikers that just lack an X factor?

as with most. of our CBs, they have a few games where they are not exposed and found out, then they are and we see how good they really are...not that good. They are often not helped by our formation, tactics and personnel in front, but individually they come up short too. We've seemingly decided in recent times that being a good header of the ball is not necessary.