Chez

do we have to pay him £750,000 a week for the privaledge?

you'd have to search long and hard to find anyone with a good word about him other than that he speaks his mind.

hope he is better than Licka

fair point, but I'd of thought a move to a CL club that also pays a shed load of money is on the cards for him. He was linked with Barca earlier in the year, who knows if that interest was real, but I think it gives an indication of his level. What a signing that would be. The kind that would instantly ease the pain of losing VVD. Just noticed that Ajax went out of the CL qualifiers, so one less reason to stay at Ajax.

there certainly wasn't anything questionable about Nigel Quashie's display away at QPR a week or so before he ****ed off to WBA. He didn't ****ing care or try, simple as that.

Seemed a decent keeper to me, but it's been a while since I saw him.

He's not going to give up CL football for us. Looked tremendous last season. I think that boat has sailed, sadly.

Nothing, but a multi million pound investment is worth shouting about and if you want the club to increase its income from commercial streams then it becomes essential.

If one is not Krul then I'd like to know why.

But would a 21 yo Bertrand dispLace Target?

if we are to do that we need players with desire to do so, tremendous engines and can cover the ground quickly. The likes of JWP, Classie, Austin and Tadic simply do not fit that mould IMO.

I'd like to see him sold and someone decent brought in.

Its only a pre season game, but getting stuffed at home does give indications of where we are at and what we have. It's a long season, plenty of time for the side to come together, but unless Hoj comes good we still have a huge gaping hole in the most important area of the pitch for another season. The club needs to stop simply seeing gaps in a 25 man squad and start seeing where players are not up to the very high standards we have set in recent years.

there are stats and there are stats, but that's quite damning and not unsurprising to me. Without VVD we have looked incredibly vulnerable in the air, not helped by losing the likes of Wanyama, Morgan and Pelle. Our side is far too small IMO.

on the transfer fee, but what about wages?

Are they? Only difference I see between the two clubs (apart from the obvious) seems to be that one has a player willing to get on with things until a move comes to pass, whilst the other has a player sulking in an attempt to force a move.

Everton were probably worthy winners, but were fortunate with their goal and a tad lucky not to concede.

not sure how many of those `chances' were guilt edge though. Lots of half chances and shots, but how many `seriously, he should have scored that chance'? I don't blame the midfield for that. I'd put our problems down to a lack of quality throughout. Defensively we were only good enough when our midfield provided the right kind of protection. They did this, but it prevented us from getting bodies into the box to help score goals. When we pushed men forward, we left big gaps. Getting the balance between attack and defence is critical, but without the quality of player in the middle it is very very difficult to do both. I don't think we had that quality of player and as a result they couldn't do both tasks. A lack of quality also led to the ball being given away a lot, lots of energy used trying to get it back and not enough energy used making runs and stretching teams the other way. We also didn't have individuals that could unlock doors fully. Lots of decent passing, but very little Cryuff turn before finding an unmarked man arriving late into the box. We also didn't have individual that could get us out of jail defensively when hit on the break. The number of times we used to be caught out from our own corners but Morgan would race back and extinguish an attack. Without him we got hurt on the break a lot. What does that matter in this conversation, well, conceding goals and going behind just makes scoring even harder as teams sit back and close off the space leaving us with half chances. A lack of quality could be seen by the number of poor first touches, passes not perfectly placed or weighted, headers not won...the list goes on. Lots and lots of small things that add up to us not dominating and not creating guilt edge chances - just shooting opportunities. Maybe I have over complicated things...but I have seen a gradual erosion of quality in recent years that was covered up by the brilliance of Mane. Take that out and we became largely average, not terrible, not without good points, but overall average. The solution - better players!

I agree. Business first, Trophies second, but I guess in this day and age and with the amount of money involved that is essential. Regarding buying old heads, I am not sure you can get away with it as much as you could. I still think Jimmy Case was one of our best signings, but wonder if he would have had enough in his legs to be effective at the same age in the current game? Putting to one side that hes a total ****, would you have taken John Terry for example? Returning to the ownership, I still think the most important aspect is leadership. I was not a Nik Nak fan, but whatever he said and did always made me believe that even though we were not the biggest club, we saw ourselves becoming one and we would be doing everything in our power to be one. If that meant giving players big contracts to ensure they didn't get their heads turned, he would do that. Whether that would have worked when Lallana got the chance to go to Liverpool I don't know, but the current leadership has to reignite that feeling that the group really are going places together and to leave now would be tantamount to treason...

I'm not one that calls for ex players to come back and coach etc, but with his experience at all levels and in different departments, Adkins doesn't half strike as someone suitable for a role on our football board, should there ever be a space available. Maybe Les wouldn't fancy it, but he comes across as very pragmatic and is certainly a very good ambassador for Saints. I couldn't stand his press conferences, but remove him from that pre and post match spotlight and he speaks a fair bit of sense.

Currently addicted to Slowdive's fantastic come back album entitled Slowdive. How do they come up with these titles? Anyho, it's absolutely ****ing brilliant.

Is he any good The9? Would you be comfortable with him displacing Forster and playing the entire season as our first choice? Reserve keep has been a blind spot since we allowed Boruc to leave.

but we aren't at the top of the football pyramid, so we are effectively a stepping stone to a player aiming to reach the top of the pyramid. Anyone thinking otherwise has their head in the sand. Or, are you saying that when we recruit, we shouldn't be saying to the player that `if he does well for us for a few years and then get an offer from Man U we wont stand in their way'? Are we giving that line to players now? Does that help us get better players? Did we manage to sign Wanyama and VVD because we said exactly that? If we hadnt said it would they have gone elsewhere to a club that did? I notice that Rogers revealed that he had said exactly that to Moussa Dembélé. Come here, play well for two seasons and then the floor is yours son. How you retain talent is very difficult. Perhaps things have gone too far and players now don't think a side will stick together, so they will always jump at a move. Perhaps only a new owner and management team that make the players believe that things have now changed and that the club really is looking to keep a team together (like Spurs are trying) and will pay what it takes to do so. However, can that even be done without taking on greater debt.

Are we the best of the rest though?

Gulp. Now you that's the way to turn a title contender into a league winner.