Chez

who knows if that was true, but if the clubs policy on minimising agent fees hasn't changed then quick transfer are unlikely to happen. Large agent fees tend to oil the wheels these days.

Fulham are the worst side I've seen this season. Have they improved much since their visit to SMS?

understandable, and the left and right wing (do we even play one of those - its more Lallana in the hole) are positions we don't have a great deal of options in, but the way I see it, we have plenty of players, so we'll field a half decent side come what may. If our best players get injured it will be weaker, but that's life. The one injury away from Jos concept doesn't worry me that much at all. I know the club has moved on from the nightmares financial problems of the past, but I still just can't let myself get worked up about whether or not we have spent a wedge in the window. As long as the club is ticking over reasonably and we are not ****ing ourselves with outrageous contracts that would kill us if things went pair shaped that I'm ok. Obviously being content is not allowed on here, you have to have ambitions of grandeur, but not too much otherwise Turkish will take you to pieces.

You can expect signings if you want, but I said in my eyes I don't expect them.

could be a good signing that for Fulham. Their centre midfield looked terrible against us last time out.

it's not, but I doubt we had it in mind to buy a striker up until a week or so ago.

nervous about what? Signings are bonuses in my eyes, not something to expect in a January window.

couldn't we have used the Osvaldo money to steal Yevhen Konoplyanka from under Liverpool's noses like they did to us with Coutinho? He looked a proper livewire in the Ukraine game against England at their place. I'm in dreamworld aren't I.

if he is fit, but is not selected, he will still want paying.

with Ramirez injured we could do with another attacking midfielder. A flair player that can dribble and beat a man. We've got plenty of neat and tidy workers, but not a great deal of variety off the bench. If Ramirez can get fit quickly and find a way of making his style work then perhaps there isn't a need.

After suggesting him as a HCDAJFU many moobs ago, before feeling the need to defend him on here against a barrage of abuse at times, all be it some time ago now, it's strange to now not need to back him as by and large Saints fans have warned to him. I always said he had real quality if you recognised the fact he isn't pacey, so had to play the game a slightly different way - coming inside and taking his time to deliver a pass. I hope by now every Saints player will know which foot he can kick with and which side to keep him on so he doesn't poke one past us coming in from the right touchline. I also hope over the next few years we can bring in a few players with similar dribbling ability to back Lallana up. You need players willing to keep the ball just that little bit longer than the English crowd are comfortable with.

spot on. Jos played very last season once the side as a whole found its feet. He's not Lovren, the side will be weaker, but no weaker than if Lallana gets injured and Ward Prowse or Guly is our attacking midfielder option. That's football.

now you are talking. A left and a right sided attacker, or in the hole type player would be a good idea, especially if Ramirez is going to be out for a while.

you can't stock pile strikers in case three get injured. If you have that sort of bad luck then you just have to accept it and play Guly up there or Jrod. No biggy. What do you do with this signing when Lambert gets fit, especially if Gallagher plays well in the mean time?

...and back to villain.

I didn't know Robert De Niro was part of his entourage.

That kind of how I feel about all that side. Mini legends the lot of them.

Arsenal looked beatable at SMS the other night and we beat Liverpool earlier in the season and at SMS last season. Not saying we will win it, Sunderland will be tough enough, but no reason why we avoid all of them in the next round, or Arsenal beat Liverpool and we beat Arsenal. Maybe the winners of those top four side games get each other? Who knows. One thing I do know is getting in the top 4 is a lot less likely than winning the cup.

not sure we are weaker in any way with those three leaving. None were part of the playing squad. Their departures are just natural for a team recently promoted. if their contracts had been up in the summer we got promoted they would have gone then, but they stuck around because the wages were higher than they could get elsewhere. The no one will be sold statement was before the headbutt wasn't it? So I am not sure you can hold that one against the club should Osvaldo depart.

he just lacked pace. Every other failing relates back to that, dropping off, not going out to close players down etc. You can't play at fullback at the top level (and be good) without pace. It's as simple as that.

Their youth development side of things has always been crap. Well, as far as I go back anyway. Certainly in the mid 80's it wasn't a patch on ours and from Lowe onwards there has been no comparison. Strangely enough their policy back in the late 80s was quantity over quality. The best players were at Southampton and any rejects went down the road. Loads of them. I know a lot less about their current structure, but the fact we offer first team `Premiership' football pretty much takes all the high ground, leaving the skates with almost nothing to work with.

give it a few years down there where they belong and they'll start to realise (or remember) that players naturally go up the pyramid if they have talent and don't hang around the fourth division hoping for cult status.

I don't agree with the new system where Prem clubs with top level academies can steal the best youngsters, but it was the football league teams that voted to accept this system in return for more cash each year out of the TV deal. You can't take that money and then spend forever after crying about how unfair the system is - unless of course your club voted against. I wonder how the skates voted?

as good a stepping stone club as any other, plus living in London or Swansea/Stoke/Sunderland. No competition. It will interesting to see how well he does. As we have seen top notch championship players certainly can succeed in the top flight despite the apparent rise in standards. I hope he does well, but if he does I'll be disappointed we didn't sign him, as he seems to meet many of our requirements, young etc.

why not go on twitter and give him that expert advice?