Chez

There are lots of players in the England squad that aren't playing cl football. Ruddy, Baines, Lallana, Barkley, lambert, walker, jagielka, Townsend, sturridge, Johnson,

I'm interested to know who this £10m left back is who can dominate our left side as shaw has been doing since he came into the side. I imagine united and City would like to know too. I'm sure there are left backs out there, but no matter who we sign there will be a gamble to it. The only gamble we have with shaw is whether he gets a major injury at some point. We have two or three absolute class acts in our side...Lallana, Morgan, shaw and Lovren. Sell some of these and the lessor acts start to look like the solid but not outstanding players they are at the very top level. If we want to keep going up,the table we can't sell any of our class acts. We must keep them and use the tv money each summer to strengthen squad.

Not really. Shaw will need to just be playing better than them. Gibbs can be playing all the cl games he wants but if he isn't playing well he won't be selected.

You make it sound so simple, but there lies the problem...finding a suitable replacement. We have shown already how easy it is to spend cash only for the player coming in to take time to settle and not overly impress. My fear is we end up with another bridge to Chelsea, le Saux to southampton deal, which IMO was a massive step backwards.

I thought cork had his worst game since he has returned to the side. His touch wasn't quite good enough at times which led to a few last ditch stretches to recover and on a couple occasions he lost the ball completely and in dangerous areas. That is not typical of him but might explain why mp has been reluctant to play him over the last 6 months. Vw is not immune to the odd miss control and stray pass so I am not sure his return to the side is going to suddenly catapult us back into a champions league position. He doesn't venture forward much and he passes square and backwards even more than cork so possibly we will slow the game down more and dominate possession, which is what we did earlier in the season and seemed to work well. Our early season football was not all terribly fun to watch I might add, with very few chances created (Fulham game aside), although when you are winning, as we were, that tends to be overlooked. Having said that we haven't been creating hundreds of chances in recent games anyway.

It is but players like lamela, willian and fernandinhio are going for that kind of money. Is shaw any less effective than those guys? Does shaw offer any less potential? Is he any less certain to hit the ground running? In today's market that price seems right to me. I dread to think how much worse we will be if he goes. When bridge and especially bale left we went backwards massively.

Perhaps that was a one off and he hasn't hit that mark since or maybe your judgement isn't quite as good as you'd like to think? If he has to beat shaw or clyne in training every day his ability might be nullified. Maybe that explains why we don't play wingers. Anyone that plays out there in training does nothing because our fullbacks are so good?

I know wright was famed for being able to bring the ball out, but I always thought he looked a little uncomfortable myself. Perhaps it was more a style thing than a quality thing. I was pretty young when I watched him. All be it on just half a seasons evidence, I think Lovren is easily the best cb I've seen bringing the ball out of defence in a saints shirt in the last 30 years. Having said that he has been a little loose in the last couple of home games, but I am comparing them with some tremendous displays. Cb has become an incredibly tough position to play. Andy Carroll one week, Suarez the next. You have to have some real pace and height to go with an ability to read the game. Hard to find them as England have found in recent times.

£30m. At last the press have got up to speed as to how good this guy is and how much teams are going to need to bid to prise him from us. For me I wouldn't let him go for anything less than that. It may seem like a fortune for a left back, but if you consider him as our whole left side including both defence and attack the amount is less ridiculous.

Graham and jelavic. Steve bruce certainly doesn't buy his strikers based on current form. Fair play if he can get them two firing again.

very well put sir, and a post that should be reused whenever Davis is abused on here by `fans' with short memories. Whether he will be seen as a Saints legend in ten of fifteen years I doubt. Just far too many fans who jumped on his back in the early days and weren't ever willing to swallow their pride and admit he was great for us after a ropey start. The fact Davis gave up a Premiership wage for a league 1 shirt says everything about the man, unless of course we matched his wage in league 1, which might have been the case.

At least he acknowledges the accusation and deep down I think Ashley knows that they bought the cup. Progress.

I think you get awarded an MBE for attending those.

He's like a striker version of Ramirez. He oozes style, offers lots of fancy touches, but at the moment is always wanting just that little bit more time than he has actually got, leading to some fan frustration when he loses the ball. Like Ramirez, there is more than enough in his game to suggest that he will come good, as so many foreign signings do given time/a second season. Pires/Nasri for example - first season ****, second season world beaters. But right now, he's not exactly set the world on fire, one wonderful goal aside, so must improve to justify the hype and the investment. Personally I'd be amazed if either player was allowed to leave, unless they were desperate to move (perhaps for family reasons). You simply don't invest so much time and effort to sign a player like Osvaldo to then give up on them 6 months down the line. Ramirez has had longer here to settle, but he is still pretty young and given more time could well be an amazing player at this level. Like you I am more than happy for them both to stay. Both offer something very different and in the short term both are great impact subs at the very least. One thing worth considering is if they did move on, would we reinvest the available wages on the right player?

It wasn't really a shock, was it? He has been making mistakes ever since he got here, it's just that many mistakes aren't punished and therefore noticed or remembered. He's certainly not the only player that makes mistakes, they all make them, but don't think for one minute that this performance was a one off or unusual, just more obvious. He's a squad player, no more no less. I think of him as very like Chris Perry. Not terribly good despite diving around enthusiastically.

I'd have Lallana down as a legend, especially if he stays another three or four seasons. Obviously he has been fantastic to watch for 5 years, but signing that 5 year contract (admittedly probably for huge money, especially for the league we were in) despite us being in league 1 when he had offers from Prem sides (so I was told) is what club legends are made of. Sticking by the club, all be it with a great contract no doubt, was fantastic and fundamental in our rise back through the leagues. Him staying attracted others to the club and things snowballed. There hasn't been a player at Southampton I have enjoyed watching more over the last 30 years. Not even Le Tis. If he turns down Man United in the next two windows that would solidify his status as a Saints legend in my eyes. Lambert can't be far behind, simply for his Roy or the Rovers style rise to England glory, whilst banging in goals at all levels, taking Saints through the leagues at the same time. His signing, performances and team results have been like a perfect storm. Talk is cheap in this game, but even a cynic like me is willing to lap up his comments about how much he loves playing for the club. He genuinely seems as though he does and not just because it means £30-40k enters his back pocket each week. If he ends his career here and it doesn't go sour over the next couple of seasons he will become a legend in my eyes, if he isn't already. These last four or five seasons have been glorious times and will live long in the memory despite them being in the lower leagues. Both are far more deserving of the tag Legend than Keegan and Shilton that's for sure.

is it?

They beat in form Newcastle in their last league game. That's more than enough for me to be concerned, never mind how they took us apart the last time we played them at SMS. We will need to be at our best to win. I thought we shaded the game at their place,but a draw would probably have been fair. Malumbu was the class act in that game. They looked decent in midfield, but really short up front. Angelka was poor. Sessingnon and berahino have improved their options greatly. I think a 2-2 draw.

Buy and buy as early in your life as possible even if it means being skint for many years. Houses are not being built and the population is increasing. Prices will go up.

He was poor in that game, but to be fair he was playing at left back.

Birmingham went down to the third tier and the owners stuck with them, reinvested and brought them back up through the leagues. Much bigger debt this time round. As was the case when west ham were in championship last, the owners can't take the club into admin as the debt is to them, so it's them that lose out. gold and Sullivan simply have no choice but to ride out the storm no matter what happens.

I've never rated him at all. To be fair he has had some decent games and is far from terrible, but overall I would say that his positional play is average, his distribution is terrible, he doesn't get tight, doesn't win enough in the air and he is not terribly quick. I've watched japan quite a lot and he is their weak link IMO. I am more than happy to have him as a squad player, how many sides have top class centre backs sitting on the bench? He can and will do a job, but if he left it wouldn't worry me so long as we turn to the scout who suggested Lovren not forren.

it's been fascinating to see opinions about Puncheon change on this forum as it was Schneiderlin before him. It will be equally interesting to see how Ramirez does going forward and whether the gash tag sticks forever.

Top work Jessica, but they announced it to the world in the summer http://www.portsmouthfc.co.uk/news/article/pompey-to-train-on-university-pitches-881242.aspx

Do you believe that?