Chez

Strange to say it, but just too much flesh on display. Also strange is that we somehow never lost to Cov at home since we dropped out of the prem in 2005

We didn't go through the season thrashing sides. There was a fine line between winning and losing. Having Lallana and Shaw in our side (and Morgan and Lovren), among the best players in the league, is why we secured so many points. Without that quality the fine line in our favour may move towards the opposition. Wins may become draws and draws become defeats. Obviously Lovren and Morgan haven't left yet. That will have a major bearing on our final league position. The players coming in to replace them will also be critical. Hopefully there will be more Lovren's than Osvlado's in terms of instant impact and season long performance. My fear is the players come in are simply not as good (immediately) as those that have left. Time will tell.

Chelsea Arsenal City Manure relegated Newcastle Saints (if Lovren and Morgan go) Burnley

as we well know from their trip to the Spurs training ground shortly before MoPo's move.

Stomper

Nathan Dyer - Thief

hope we keep him. The side needs a whipping boy with broad shoulders for the potential tough season ahead.

From the little we've seen of him in the first team he looks more of BT to me. What has Gallagher been like in the youth team? Alan was an absolute goal machine for the youth team.

I really like the Veho sponsorship, especially if they paid the going rate. Nice logo, local firm and not some loan shark either. Excellent. Looking at the ManU deal the kit manufacturer seems to be paying more than the shirt sponsor. Is that the same for all football clubs in the top flight? I don't know how much Veho are paying, £2m is mentioned on here. That would be roughly 45,000 shirts sold at £50 (assuming £45 profit per shirt).

Would it not be prudent to see how he fairs once he returns from injury before offering him the earth, or does a delay open the door to his departure? As much as I'd like our top talent to stay, it doesn't half show weakness that a player out with a serious injury can still force the club to offer him a new deal.

Away at West Ham and Swansea and at home to Spurs in 2012/13 he looked a genuine threat with pace and acceleration causing problems, but I know he failed to impress on other occasions (I am led to believe he was terrible away at Leeds in the league cup). I thought he was worth a place on the bench and possibly a few more chances as a sub a lot more in that season. We hardly had a striker as an option. I am not sure his close control (as probably seen a lot in five a sides) would have been deemed tidy enough for Poch (perhaps that's also the reason why Cork was given the cold shoulder by Poch), but maybe his erratic/unauthodox style could be beneficial on a match day? Or maybe he's just not good enough. At 23 there is still time. I wonder if Koeman likes that sort of pacey erratic style attacker to compliment the neat and tidy players we have?

My guess is `greatest'.

"...supporters asked to pay £20..." and some Simon.

This is what worries me. When we sold Bale, Baird, Jones and Pele we had the money and spunked it on the laziest striker in the world, Stern John, Wayne Thomas, Chris Perry, Paul Wotton, Jason Euell, Lee Holmes... Sell quality, replace with ****e and you go from the top end of the table to the bottom,overnight.

Shame that blue wasn't used on the home shorts. Think the kit looks slightly strange without a logo, but I suspect that will actually start to look good after a while. Feels lie it fits together with shorts and socks unlike the striped kit which doesn't sit well,together at all. Have to laugh at anyone buying one of these things though if they are £50. Absolute madness.

Only idiots were concerned about the left back slot last summer as it was blindingly obvious that we had a gem in Shaw who played a comsiderable number of games the season before.

Badly. The idea that Shaw and Morgan can be replaced by target and reed next season is the quickest route to the championship. We are talking about two of the bets performing players in the league last season. We need to be bringing in some top notch replacements otherwise we will struggle IMO.

oi, enough of that winning stuff, let's get back to the two year period of self punishment including watching Jordan Robertson and Jake Thompson drowning in waters way beyond their depth.

Another Brum player I suggested years ago we steal when they would have taken peanuts for him. That said he seemed to struggle to keep his place in the Norwich starting 11 last season. subbed a fair bit too. Maybe he flatters to deceive?

I can't recall that home game. I think Lee Johnson scored, did we lose? Probably. I certainly recall the game at their place. One of the most abject displays from a Saints team I have ever seen. Right up there with the Bristol Rovers game. They ran rings round us and only Davis' performance kept it respectable. Despite raving about him since his first touch in a Saints shirt, I recall having serious doubts about Morgan that day. He simply would not or could tackle. He, like many Saints player was embarrassing. Mind you I'm not sure why we played him at right midfield that day.

That was the game we played Lallana in the hole and he was absolutely amazing. For some reason we never really played him there again up until last season of course. Was Preston the 2 nil down come back to win 2-3? Can't remember us ever doing that before or after.

I recall describing him (Pulis) as a terrible signing at the time and being lambasted on here for doing so, "got to give him a chance to show what he could do before slating him". Still waiting...

you've contacts at both Spurs and Arsenal or did you Spurs contact tell you that Arsenal had won the day? IMO he is the perfect player for Arsenal. Exactly what they have been missing.

Might be best to wait and see before suggesting he was easy to replace. Regarding Morgan, he will be very hard to replace. It goes without saying his touch and range of passing is tremendous. I know the word `pace' is a no no on here, but Morgan has unbelievable pace. I doubt their is a quicker CM in the league. Pace isn't perhaps the first facet you'd look for in that position, but a good passer with pace is better than a good passer without it. He covers so much ground quickly and when teams break he can actually have a massive impact in breaking them up. I don't see Prowse or Reed being able to do that. Prowse is the slowest player I have seen for some time in fact.

With Lallana no longer taking up the space in the hole (and to a degree Lambert too) you'd think that Ramirez would be the natural replacement (from the clips I have seen Tadic seems to play wide left), but I get the feeling he prefers to drop deep than to work between opponents defence and midfield. I'm not sure any Saints manager is going to trust him to play that deep (not to mention having Morgan, Cork and Wanyama there already) as he can be a little careless with some of his passing and at times risks getting caught in possession in dangerous areas. He's wasted out wide, so he really needs to grab that 10 role by the horns. Perhaps Lambert leaving will leave a little more space to play in. A new number 9 playing on the shoulder rather than dropping deep, as Lambert did so often, might help him. I suspect if a decent offer comes in he will want a move, as he will want to be playing more regularly, but if that doesn't materialise it could actually all turn out great. Or not of course.