Chez

Slight risk taken there by Mane grabbing the snake so far from its fat head...

I know we have brought in a shed load from sales, but I still think by and large that we have sold slightly short. VVD fee should be astronomical. Anything less than £50m is simply not good business on our part. The market is moving very quickly. Before you know it £100m players will be two a penny.

With Classie? Do me a favour. Couldn't lace Morgan's boots.

It will be Quite depressing to see Morgan go to WBA whilst we have Classie filling a squad number

I was just about to do exactly that when I saw your post. Great kudos to Puel for moving to a four four two that caused Boro problems and enabled Boufal to pick the ball up in a more central area, leading directly to the goal. The defence, Puel and Boufal got us that win and deserve praise.

good point. Would be good to have someone pushing him for a place though. Not sure Sims is the answer (yet). Boufal is the key... The fact he can beat a man all ends up provides me with confidence, he just needs to improve what he does after he has beaten the man.

like it. Not sure why he has been singled out for so much vitriol. Saints fans always need a whipping boy. Hojbjerg has been much worse IMO (but lets not go down that route). That said I have to agree with those that didn't think he was a starter and certainly not a striker. He's got long term promise, but failing to get into Norwich's starting line up countless times last season tells you everything about where he is right now in his career. Sadly we have very few options in forward areas. Austin is now injured and quite static anyway. Tadic is just coming back from injury. No goals from Davis goes without saying, but he's not one to unlock many defences either. Long runs around, but is hardly creative, Rodriguez obviously struggling to get back to his best and Boufal not yet up to full speed ...on bad day our attack looks quite limited really. Hopefully Puel can find a way of getting the best out of what he has quickly.

hard to compare with other clubs abroad as Premiership clubs are charged a premium for signings, although you do have a point, especially as many of our signings are from overseas rather than other English teams.

Good memory. Swallows and summers...

neither were terribly effective, Saints fans are just a littler more forgiving of Sims. In all honesty our attack as a whole is struggling, not just Redmond. They are very static and there is very little fluidity from the front four, with players sticking firmly to their sides/positions making opponents lives easy. The attack is also very one paced and when we get the chance to break or get between the lines, especially when having made an interception we don't take that opportunity. We slow things down and allow teams to get behind the ball. Once they do that, we are not good enough to break them down.

why do we continue to play a completely right footed player on the left wing? Every time he beats the full back, which he does quite often, he has to check back and cross with his right, which is often blocked. I know there is the possibility of coming inside and shooting on his stronger foot, but that area is congested and opponents can quickly see he has no left foot (he doesn't even throw in the odd left foot cross to keep the full back honest) so are already there waiting. Get him on the right wing and simplify his game - beat man cross, beat man cross etc..

I was surprised Fonte didn't get the chance to play in the San Siro. I would guess he would be annoyed at missing the opportunity. I know I would, but in general I think Puel has been wise to rest him during the Europa Cup. In the end, the season as a whole matters more. As regards his contract. It makes total sense to me that he is not offered an extension in terms of years. He will be five months from his 35th birthday when his current contact ends. Do we really want to paying a 35/36 year old £80k, £90k or perhaps more a week? For once we hold the cards. We have him signed on a contract that is just long enough to see the best of him. After that we can offer a one year deal if he is still playing well. If he has faded we can let him go wherever he wants. The club gave the right deal at the right time. If he wants to go elsewhere now that's up to him. But remember, he signed his current contract with us. No one forced him to. We've offered him more money - we didn't have to do that, but the club values his role at this moment and is willing to reward accordingly. What they are not going to do is hand out a contract extension that means he is earning a shed load of money, but possibly (due to his age) not able to put the performances in that warrant that wage. The club has it spot on IMO. We don't want an unhappy player, but if he thinks he deserves an extra year, then earn it over the next 18 months. Come then end of his current deal if he is playing well he will get another contract either with us or someone else. Everyone says football is a business these days (which I hate, but I guess its true), well this is just business.

I don't believe that is the case

When Higgins left he took two players, Cureton and Eadie, with him and hawked them both to Norwich. Regarding Rods transfer, Somehow over the course of time this 'act of treason' became the reason for Higgins departure from the club rather than Radfords allegations. However, Higgins left in 1989 and Rod moved in 1991.

Whether anyone at the club knew of anything untoward prior to Radford bringing it to light is open to question.

He stopped being employed by Saints in 1989.

yeah, don't they realise cafe profits are at jeopardy here?

two very poor games games Inter, giving the ball away far too much in dangerous areas, but he shows flashes of real talent so I'll look forward to him becoming a fantastic player very soon Batman.

likewise. Apart from a decent shot, well saved, I saw nothing from him to explain the fawning on here. As previously stated many times, happy to give him plenty of time to fulfil his potential, but don't see a first choice midfielder yet at all.

Its a very small sample I know, but from what I have seen, McQueen is a much better option than Targett. I'd be very disappointed to See Targett selected ahead of him. They both have a decent touch and composure on the ball. Both put in a decent cross, but only one offers the required pace and strength at this level. Targett may get stronger, but he will never have pace. Targett only looked good when we hid him in a 3-5-2 and he wasn't asked to go one on one with an attacker. when he was he was taken to pieces by Zaha. Loaning at Targett in January might be a good idea.

Just a few hours of work left. Starting to get excited. 30 odd years supporting Saints and never thought I'd see us play the likes of Inter. I realise the result is not the be all and end all, but let me assure you that once you are in the ground and you start to consider that this is our chance to beat Inter at the San Siro you will deem the game to be a huge moment in your Saints supporting life. Win and you have a story to dine out on for ever more. Can not ****ing wait.

are there loads of Saints there already all trying to find lunchtime refreshments?

if you go down that route you will probably end up paying for the hotel rather than the airline, who will be responsible for not only finding you a new flight but also putting you up in a hotel (plus refreshments). Personally I wouldn't try to second guess the airlines as these situations are very fluid.

12.20 flight time back. Bugger.

the half empty stadium will no doubt put a slight dampener on our hopefully impending victory, but the shear wonderfulness of playing Inter at their place in a proper game is enough to place this game in my memory books for ever. It's something that we may never experience ever again and tops off a tremendous period in our history. Dellhurst, the victory against Sheffield United to keep us up, the promotion at Plymouth and the home win against Cov to take us to the premiership are hard to match in terms of joy, but this will be something equally special, just in a different way.