Chez

how abut a loan and obligation to buy, but with a get out if we are relegated (the player won't want to make the move permanent anyway)? This aint happening. Just doesn't feel doable. can't see him wanting to come to us. too big a drop from arsenal to us.

I am sure we will have enquired and then tried to come up with a deal arsenal might go for, but it feels beyond us to be honest. maybe we will look again, and try and match this deal...go all in and have three keepers on a combined fortune.

if we had not chased survival and spent £60m or whatever in that January window, we'd be in a cracking position now.

to the bench? Arsenal bid for Wolves second choice keeper Dan Bentley. So they will need Sa. Another reason why Wolves might win over us if we really are interested.

committing to buying next summer instead of a loan fee might be preferable to Arsenal. Not sure we will want to match that, as we'd have Ramsdale, McCarthy and Baz next year...but perhaps we should. Is ramsdale likely to choose Saints over any other prem side?

I'd be very surprised if the club chose to spend £12m (fee and wages) loaning Ramsdale. Just seems like a huge number.

Not cheap. Sort of amount you'd expect for a guy worth £40m though I can see some people on here saying the £10m-£15m we would give up if KWP stayed would be worth it. I guess the £12m spent on Ramsdale might be seen in the same light. However, if you do both, that's a lot money spent to earn an extra £70m or so next season.

not sure who you are talking about, the Hoffenheim medical team in relation to ABK or Stewart, or indeed what your point is. Can you clarify?

yeah, I keep mentioning him on here. That's what I do. Find a player I like and repeatedly mention him on here until the Saints scouts wake the fuck up and do as I suggest - recommend we sign him. But he aint coming to us. He is too expensive, and he has a nightmare situation with two agents claiming ownership and one of those wanting a massive personal fee. That is why the Rennes deal fell through and I dare say why we won't touch him with a barge pole. Which is a shame, as he was one of the most impressive players I saw at SMS last season. Oozed talent, class and time on the ball.

I don't think Archer is a left winger or an inside forward. From what I have seen watching a lot of highlight videos of Sheffield United games last season, he plays right up top, on the shoulder of the last defender and he is always looking to get into the box, far more so than say Adams, Ings or even Lambert. He may not have scored many last season, and that's a concern, but I'd say his single role and duty is getting in positions to score goals. He's a striker. What he's isnt is a target man.

if we are looking for an alternative, then my vote is for Yaser Asprilla. Alternatively, let's get Gundogan. I can dream, can't I?

I think if we make the sales we need, we will pay Celtic what they want.

Sounds like a cub with a meticulous medical team. Perhaps if ours had the same clout, the deal for Stewart would have been abandoned, fallen through or at the very least loaded in our favour. Someone may have already posted this, but how about we make a bid for their medical team. Could save us millions in the long run.

I've missed these posts. We need to see this image at least once a week trousers.

Could not agree more. I said at the time that both McCarthy and Forster should have been allowed to leave. I also thought both Lumley and McCarthy should have been allowed to leave this summer. Two great opportunities, with clean slates, to get the position right, but both times we have `bottled it' and not trusted our scouting and/or ability to bring in new players.

Hopefully the players will gain a bit of confidence from the performance, but can we maintain that and add some ruthless finishing. There were some proper chances on Saturday. The strikers have to be lethal. Forest are dangerous on the break. Hudson-Odoi finished las season on fire. Need to prevent him getting too much space, while also cope with the physicality of Wood and Awoniyi.

Pep made just one change yesterday and he had some bloody good players on his bench.

You are not a fan then? Or did you mean, we needed a centre forward that can lead the line on his own?

Not sure. If they had stayed up, would he most likely have stayed at Sheff United?

How did he look yesterday? Did he get involved or many touches? Did he receive the ball with his back to goal at all? When watching highlights of Sheff United games, I got the feeling he made lots of runs but was never found, so it looked like he just wasn't involved. Not necessarily his fault.

This won't be the first time we are punished for a poor pass, decision, positioning etc. by far superior players to that we faced in the Championship. Last season we made a lot of mistakes that just went under the radar because subsequent attacks/opportunities fizzled out. Not sure we had a single thing to moan about Bednarek for all season. Players like THB did make mistakes though, but they got away with it, and even had time to recover their own errors. In the Prem, those same opportunities don't go begging. When mistakes are made it will be painful, but we might need to cut them all a little bit more slack, otherwise we are going to spend the entire season just moaning about how crap the players all are.

Ha. Very good. It's been a year now and I think it's fair to say that far more goals scored have come as a result of this tactic than those conceded. Some of those scored have been absolutely brilliant to watch. We have seen very few `bloopers'. Far less than I personally thought we would or was even be happy to accept. Championship finishing might have had something to do with that. If McCarthy is in goal for an elongated period, that obviously won't help. But with the right keeper, it can work. The alternative option it to `clear the lines' but goal will be conceded as a result of conceding possession to ooften. I think there has to be a balance. It needs to go long sometimes - when not under pressure, to keep teams honest. There also has to be very good decision making. Which pass helps get us into the position we want to be in and which pass puts us in a massive hole. The side needs even better footballers to do that. The one thing I'd also say is the Prem sides set traps and spot weaknesses in players and individual passes very quickly. The intensity and concentration needs to step up if we are to make it work this year.

Perhaps it's time to stop describing it as "dicking about at the back" and go with "doing everything possible to keep the ball, create space to get between the lines and open teams up"?

Do you want to or need to? Chelsea sell us a keeper now and £15m goes into their FY25 books. For us, let's say the keeper has a three year deal, a £5m expenditure goes into FY25, and the rest would be accounted for in FY26 and FY27 (although it never does). In FY26 they spend £10m buying him back, £10m goes into our FY26. Chelsea give him a 2 year deal, so £5m of expenditure goes in FY26 and £5m in FY27. Effectively we pay a £5m loan fee in FY25. Everything else balances/cancels itself out. No idea how you do it `legally and within the rules', but if any club can work that out its Chelsea.

if we are going to pass it short (a lot) deep in our own half, then it's inevitable that the keeper will see the ball a fair bit. He therefore simply has to be decent with the ball. If he is not, then you have to adjust the philosophy/style/tactic.