Chez

forget the mackems, Charlton took the skates apart and will do so again.

Solomon Otabor is my new hero. What a star you are my friend. A play off failure (Charlton will go up by the way) and you will go down in Saints folklore

Aribo is more Pogba than Antonio, but that's a good analogy. He's very technical, skilful as they used to say. He will want paying, but its a no brainer signing if you ask me, so long as we can offer him an opportunity to get games. I like the look of James and Adams. We need additional dribblers in the squad to compliment Redmond and provide cover.

I should have mentioned that he's out of contract this summer, so will be available for bobbins.

didn't we sell Gabbi in January? If we can sell him again in the summer then that's a great piece of business

I like looking at the lower leagues for possibles. The way David Brooks has played this season shows that there is still genuine talent in the football league that can make the jump (as the likes of Lallana did for us of course). Joe Aribo might be that next gem. He looked absolutely terrific when I saw Charlton this year. He has brilliant feet, great vision and surprising strength for a `gangly' type build. The only thing that let him down was his shooting - he seemed to scuff everything - which reminded me of Lallana. I still think we have a lack of flair in the final third and he might offer us that. A two league jump might seem crazy, I know, but this guy just looked head and shoulders above anyone at that level and I think he might make the leap...OK, it's too big a gamble and one for the future, but watch him get snapped up in the summer if they fail to make the play offs. This guy is (as the kids say) a `baller'. Maybe I need to focus on the championship. I really liked the look of Harry Wilson (on loan at Derby from Liverpool) when they played us. Another with obvious ability and the much needed flair in the final third. Might not quite have the pace or power we need to go with that talent, but you can never have too much quality. Big gamble as I am sure he will very expensive. Jamal Lewis at Norwich looked decent too in the Norwich games I saw, but that ship has sailed I suppose. One player I have always wanted to list on this type of thread is John Marquis. I go to watch Donny a few times a year and over the last three years or so he is always impressed me. Great first touch (which is probably the most important thing to determine if you can play at our level), leads the line well and gets in good positions to score goals. He's a one in two scorer, all be it at a lower level. He's not Ricky Lambert, but everyone says we need a target man and I have always wondered if he could replicate at a higher level. OK, so this isnt going to work, but I am posting this anyway.

all the loans will be impossible to shift permanently, which will restrict us financially, again. You can bet that any that do go out the door, will do so towards the latter end of the window (why pay them during the summer if you don't have to), which again will tie our hands a little.

if you want to just survive in this league, then Long will contribute to that, but after being spoiled by the likes of Lallana, Lambert, Rodriguez and Mane that had us challenge for best of the rest, I hope we can, at some point, do better. Long works his socks off, and we all love that, but some genuine finishing ability and maybe even dribbling capability wouldn't go a miss.

blimey, that's a lot. With all these opposing teams pushing for equalisers we need to have been scoring much more goals on the break...but we are not nearly ruthless enough. Long, Ings and Redmond work hard, but the team needs to see these guys score more breakaway goals

some half decent stuff from us at times, but defensively we look ragged as soon as the midfield legs started to go. We seem to lose our shape and struggle to retain possession for extended periods towards the end of games. Watford pushed brilliantly for the equaliser, throwing everything at us, but time after time we just cant see games out. It's not easy to pinpoint the reason for that, but I actually think we are terrible defensively and this is covered up by the workrate of our midfield. When they get tired, gaps open, defenders face one on ones and our frailties at the back are exposed. Players also panic hacking it anywhere. When we do pick a man out we don't then manage to keep it. Forwards make poor decisions, try to do to much or don't get support from tired midfielders. Not easy to solve. Better quality players that retain the ball better throughout the game, this means less chasing from midfielders, who then are less tired, leave defenders less exposed towards the end of games and then hopefully it much harder for opponents to build pressure and create chances near the death.

I am going to burst a blood vessel if someone doesn't sort out what we are doing from our corners. ****ing crazy how exposed we are. We have a team of midgets that never win headers ever so why are they in the box anyway. Leave every last one of them back on our half way line.

what on earth is Yoshida doing there? We are such a lightweight team.

Bertrand has to get there. We are second best all over the park.

We are our own worst enemies at times.

yet again we leave ourselves exposed from our own corner. Happens every week. **** poor game management from players and management. JWP should have got a red there. Great foul.

Can't argue that the likes of Klassen were poor signings and as a result Glover's ability must be questioned, but Bolasie for £25m, was IMO a steal for a tremendous player and one we certainly could have done with. Not the fault of the scouts that he ruptured his cruciate. Must be noted that it is hard to know who to blame with transfers as there tends to be a committee at clubs and the manager will have a major say.

...and what a ****ing fantastic player FF was for us.

we showed a lot of fight and some ability at times, but ultimately the gulf in quality in the forward positions was there to see. We hung in there well, but yet another goal conceded from our own corner. How frustrating is that? When will we ever learn? Always painful to lose. Painful to see a (potential) title winner get another victory too, but we need to get back on it and ensure survival.

why did agree to a loan with a guaranteed £20m transfer after the first year? Why not just buy him then he's be available for the two Liverpool games? If it was about delaying the transfer payment, could a staggered payment process not have been negotiated as part of the transfer fee, or do clubs have to pay half up front and the other half after one year?

If he's available to Inter for £8m then no one is going to pay more than that. in the last 6 or 7 years Celta have sign one defender for more than £1m (he cost £6m) the the rest have cost buttons. I'd be surprised if they offered any transfer fee. It will be another load with a percentage of his wages paid for by us.

he's only played three league games out of a possible 9, one of those being just a 1 minute outing. He was an unused sub in five games. He's played four times in the Europa league too, once at left back (subbed after an hour). I think Inter can sign him for 9m, so that 20m figure isn't realistic.

nice post. Even a draw might be enough to give the title to City, but a win...now that really would be poetry in motion.

you are right there was no evidence of a break in, in fact the position of the pull down shutter seemed to change, along with the McCann's statements, which raised question marks. I find it strange that the apartment was left unlocked, but then again, leaving three kids so young unattended is strange too. The dogs barking ultimately means little unless other evidence is there to support it, which it wasn't, and that was the conclusion provided by the handlers themselves. On face value it certainly seemed damning, but the failure to really understand the evidence is exactly what led to quick conclusions made by the police, who in tern fed the press, which then gave us lots of powerful headlines that swayed public opinion. The DNA evidence was based on just a few cells and because of that it doesn't give a perfect or complete match. It becomes almost worthless when you have other McCanns with similar DNA in the same locations. I may not have understood or explained that very well, but in no way was it a 100% match to Madeline McCann as was leaked to the UK press by the Police, which when published, again swayed public opinion. The failure to really understand this evidence by the police was really poor IMO. They had made their mind up who was guilty and made the evidence fit their conclusion.

they had a field day, before being sued for over half a million quid.

I think I remember that pink panther film when he translated the opening gambit of a DNA evidence document but didn't bother with the conclusion.