Chez

He was very poor in a number of games, struggling to find a team mate five yards away. His long passing is as bad as I have ever seen at this level. Also I would say that we were a little boring to watch in a lot of games he played in. He slows the play down so much and everything is square, everything. Personally I preferred watching us when a cork played. That doesn't mean I don't like him, just don't think he was mr wonderful last season. At 22 he is just going to get better and better though...

Malky is Mates with the chairman too.

if Corks' Dad's tweets are anything to go by then he has wanted a new contract from Saints. Whether or not his agent is asking too much money, who knows.

Is this not just Koeman's decision?

amazing end to that game. Saints never do that (Fulham away apart). I think that win made me think we'd get promotion. We just seemed to have the knack. Also enjoyed the FA Cup replay there (it it really 10 years ago? Brilliant atmosphere.

even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day. Sadly I'm with the **** on this occasion. I think we will go down.

not overly impressed, nah, I can't remember.

did they ****.

the original youtube video of him leaves me a little flat, but those videos can be totally misleading. I wonder if we will throw him straight in. In the old days they would, but these days players seem to require a period to learn the system/ropes.

could not agree more. watch the game, support the side. No wonder the atmosphere is disappearing at games.

Cork must be absolutely ****ing terrible in pre-season as both Poch and now RoKo have turned their noses up at him. I'm conscious of not being too precious about one of our own players, and it is important to remember that keeping average senior players can prevent top notch youngsters coming through, but I don't understand this move. How much is Cork demanding a week? Not more than Palace can afford!

JWP and Reed? That's encouraging improvement, if accurate, because Cork was excellent last season and JWP and Reed were merely finding their feet in games rather than having any impact on them at all. Taider surely has to prove himself before you can make that claim and there are many, me being one of them, that would argue that Cork was better than Victor last season.

good point, but if we are replacing Morgan then Dembele is a good fit. Based on what I saw last season I'd pick him ahead of VW every time. If we are needing players that run beyond Pelle then dare I say it, the ever dependable Davis takes up one of those positions able to do that, but he doesn't do that.

lower league sides do win the odd game against superior opposition and as yet we don't know what our first team is going to be like. We might be woefully short. They have started brightly too. Boy am I a pessimist.

I've slated Yoshida more than most on here, but I have to agree that he had a couple of decent games last season. In those games he got tighter and tougher, choosing to stick his foot in rather than stand off and jockey all day. He needs to do that all the time if he is going to be an asset. My concern with is he is not quick, not good enough in the air and quite frankly at times his distribution is woeful, way below the standard expected at this level. Not exactly the stuff of dreams CB wise. Whenever I watch Japan he looks a weak link to me. I am not too concerned with him as cover, it's the first choice pairing that worries me. Losing Lovren sets us back miles in that area.

I was going to post along the same lines. If they send Dembele the other way that would seriously soften the blow of losing Morgan. He was an absolute beats at our place and when I have seen him in the UEFA games he has been dominant. Maybe a little too similar to Victor to be honest and wages will always be a problem for players coming from these big sides.

Whenever I saw Long against us I have been reasonably impressed, especially in the air. He doesn't seem to be especially tall, but he always seemed to beat our CB's to headers. He offered good movement and was a tidy enough with the ball.

he has used Shaw brilliantly to take charge of the dressing room. Perhaps a bold move considering the huge outlay, but one made from a position of strength and now he has every players attention. Not sure why they are bothering with five at the back. Shaw already does the wing back job as part of a four. Meh, what do I care? **** him.

Isn't the YouTube video enough for you to make your mind up? No? Oh well, someone will have seen him during a visit to Bucherest, Cluj or suchlike and will post soon.

He earned it last season, proving to everyone including the manager that he was good enough to play. Mopo treated him like **** at the start of the season, but as far as I know he kept his head down and when given his chance he was ready (after one rusty half a game) and shined. Maybe there are better players out there that can offer his unbelievable work-rate AND the outstanding ball skills needed to take us forward. But I don't see them queuing round the block to come here. The only thing I would say is if his agent has asked for a wage fitting of a player that can offer both those elements, then I can understand the club not rushing forward with a new deal.

It pays to have a few players that run around a bit. It's not as though he's a headless chicken. Never noticed him applauding the fans to be honest. I think fans like him because he works his socks off for the team and that has paid dividends over the last few seasons when he has the right players along side of him. I suspect be wants a big old wage though...

Liking that. A player I prove suggested previously. I like the idea of dreaming off the best of the football league. It worked with our own players. Extremely highly rated, although I am not sure he had the best season last season.

Er, just to clarify, I was talking about Ramirez not Alpine.

Plenty of hate figures after this summer, not sure why one still at the club still receives such vitriol. No need for whipping boys this season chaps...

Price seems high, but that's the market these days. Great if Boruc is going nowhere. Davis announced club captain yesterday, so he's not retiring. Wonder if Gaza will go out on loan or Cropper?