Chez

Brendon Rodgers has already said Ward is his number 1 and they will look for backup. Might be smoke and mirrors, but doubt it as it would effectively be leading Ward up the garden path. Feels like Saints drumming up interest.

It was £46m, possibly. the club hasn't confirmed the pricing of any of the players that i am aware of.

How about you sell Lynanco or one of the ever increasing number of CBs and then we talk about how to upgrade him/them?

wasn't he a player we were heavily linked with before West Ham blew us out the water?

This is very important. If he wont sign a deal, wants too much money or we don't want to give him that extension, then now is the time to sell to maximise the return. That could be the bigger picture and for our financial model to work, tough decisions like this must be made that us fans don't like too much, especially when it involves strikers. If we want to spend more on talent, we need to ensure we maximise the income and avoid the Hoj type scenarios where players leave for relative buttons. It's a very tough balancing act.

I would say that the combined fees are more like £20m than £30m, but you make a good point. Until the window is complete it's difficult to make an assessment. I dare say we made bids for strikers at the start of the window, but we probably aimed high and failed. It's not easy bringing in players. Whenever we do make a signing, I actually wonder, was that too easy and why did we get him. Why didn't someone else want him. The harder to get, the better the player, perhaps? When we signed Armstrong last season I felt exactly the same. If he was shit hot, why isn't another Prem side signings him? It felt like we were the only ones in for him.

ha. I hate 5 at the back. It's fine if you have forwards and attackers that are brilliant, but with our lot, it just means one less attacker. I also think a lot of players simply don't know where to be, who they are marking, what the are doing. I can understand why we tried it. We shipped goals last season, so we needed to add bodies back there, but overall, I just don't think we play well with it. As soon as I saw we were playing it during pre season, I thought we had `given in' and weren't going to put to put the end of last season behind us. I had hoped that refreshed, we'd have a new skip in our step, possibly, and look to take teams on, again. If I don't see positivity against Leeds, then I am going to be concerned. Not sure how easy it will be for the side to switch from a defensive frame of my mind to an attacking one overnight. That's what will be asked of them. I guess the alternative is just keep attacking and risk getting slaughtered against the top sides and criticism for being too rigid. Fingers crossed we can do it, but if not then the whole preseason and tactical switch will start to be questioned. It's one game. I know. Win against Leeds and things will be rosey in the garden.

Realistically, which players are sellable and will bring in, say £20+? JWP, KWP, Salisu, Che...? If we need to sell to buy, which of those would you prefer we sell? Players like McCarthy, AA, Valery, Lyanco, Bednarek, Redmond, Theo, Diallo, Djenepo mike be preferable, but unless we get a bid, `shipping out' is just words. I guess the other option would be to stick with what we have and sell no one.

Makes sense. Is BK not better than Valery, Bednarek or Stephens?

If we had gone 4222 then almost everyone on here would moan about him not adjusting and playing five at the back. I'm with you though. 100% Ralphs side (unless he has little say on transfers, which would be silly) so should have all the players (and type) he needs to make it work.

AA did play the last game of last season and the finish for the ruled out goal perhaps have him confidence that he could step up this season? I have no idea, as not watched preseason, but maybe Che just hasn't looked sharp? If we are selling, then you wouldn't play him for risk of injury of course. Everything feels a mess right now, but a win in the next game and we'll all feel good.

Is the potential Che sale so that we can sign a player that 'better fits Ralph's system'? I'd of thought that would need justifying as we seem to have given up on his 4222 - or is the use of 3 CBs just going to be used against the better sides? Let me rephrase, against the CL sides?

stifle them, get a set piece goal, confidence increases, time flies by, Spurs get edgy, we somehow get a second on the break and hold out, getting a little luck on the way. 0-2 job done. I'm playing cricket and will miss the game, so a brilliant away day is bound to happen. COYR

New transfer policy, new first game result?

I guess my question was, do we look a decent outfit now after this `great' window? Perhaps no one knows until we see us play. Beat Spurs today and things will look very rosey indeed.

"we've had a good window", "we've strengthened the squad", "we have never been in a relegation fight with Ralph" and "we will finish top half" etc. yet most think we will lose badly to Spurs. They are a good side, but are we a `half decent outfit' or not?

do you think we could get a result at Spurs? Or is unsigned striker the key?

what's our valuation though? Maybe we are quoting £70m.

I've not seen Djenepo play left back before. I saw him play left wing back away at Sheffield United a few seasons back and he was terrible. How's he looked during pre season there?

some of Undav's goals were in the Belgium second division, so not quite the same as Pelle, but I'd much rather sign a player who has scored lots of goals previously than someone like Carrillo that never had. Sure, of course it was different for Ricky, my point was only that, even Ricky, a tremendous scorer of goals, hadn't scored as many as Pelle. Pelle was a proven goalscorer and I'd argue that we were signing a top player, certainly at our level of the game.

Wha makes you think that?

I know Saints fans aren't meant to like Zaha, but I've always loved watching him and he really is a top player. Palace look a decent outfit to me.

we had buttons to spend until Ings was sold. Hadn't he already signed for Brighton by then?

They were a solid side. We battered them at SMS last season and they lucked out getting a draw, but they improved as the season went on. Not sure losing Cucurella will hurt them too much.He's decent, but I didn't see them relying on him.

Tino should be considered a non entity for the entire season. if he comes back in the new year, great, but a team with a £114m wage bill should have two left and right backs. We keep ignoring the position and hope that KWP doesn't get injured. It worked last year, but the season before it killed us.