Chez

Alcaraz simply gave the ball away too much, which for a possession based side is the deadly sin. I can't see Juve signing him, which is a shame, as we could do with that money to buy someone RM does want.

Amen. Slow, technically limited and couldn't wait to leave. If our scouts can't find a better left back than him they should be sacked.

Ouch. That will hurt.

We will need to win a few games, which will require some magic in the final third. We may need to sacrifice consistency to get the flashes of brilliance that create or score goals at that level. Fraser's work rate is admirable, but we might need the pace of Sulemena or a flick from Brooks. If we can get both elements, workrate and skill, brilliant, but if not, maybe we need a mix. It was great to have so many options out wide, even if some fans felt it confused RM. Having AA, Fraser, Edozie, Brooks and Sulemema was good. Lots of fresh and fit attackers, all of which contributed (let's not start a Sulemena aguement...so) although to a lesser extent Sulemena.

He had one hell of a fantasy football season, so was obviously involved in lots of goals. Did his performances match the fantasy figures? Only watched the odd Luton game.

You are not the only one, but I don't share that opinion. He got injured in both Forrest games, which were key games. Both were really bad performances from us and the defeats were nails in our relegation coffin. He didn't go AWOL when it got tough. He did his knee in the first game. He slipped just of the edge of the pitch on the astro and you could see straight away it was nasty. To slate him for that (as Doswell did) doesn't make sense to me. He pulled a muscle in the second game which put him out for the rest of the season. The injury happened when Johnston skinned him, but to suggest he feigned the injury strikes me as just confirmation bias.

sure, but has it forced our hand to give McCarthy another contract. That would be my concern. I do wonder how highly RM rates Baz. Certainly higher than most on this forum, but is it higher than the average Saints fan?

If you aint a stand out player and ripping up the championship, then the Prem is going to be extremely tough or even down near impossible. I think we have three or four that you could make a case for being among the better players in their position in the championship (KWP for example) that will just about make the step up. Even KWP has had periods of poor form in the top flight and he's been just about the best player we have had for the last four years There are a few that had periods in the Championship when they were in that group (Smallbone and Aribo for example) and a few that have showed flashes here. We have to hope they keep progressing and can make the step up, and by that I mean look comfortable and effective).

With you. Once again we have an opportunity to reboot at the position. Let's not `settle'.

Hmmm. It's a perfect fit, as it was last summer, but I'm not counting my chickens. West Ham may have seen progression and want to see if that is reflected in performances for them in preseason. We haven't got money to burn, so will want to negotiate reasonably hard. West Ham hold the cards. I'd be amazed if we didn't have some alternative targets - our scouts would not be doing their jobs if they didnt.

Oh, forgive my hesitancy, I didn't realise he was coaching god. All is forgiven son. Welcome 'home'.

When are the "summer departures" usually officially announced?

Sounds like RM was keen to keep him, at that early point, so you would think it was ABK and his agent that pushed for the move - but you can't be 100% certain. There was a lot of murmurings about several disgruntled players wanting out in the summer and when players left we just joined the dots. Highly likely the ones that left were the ones that wanted out. But a few that stayed may also have wanted out, but we couldn't find the right buyer.

Forrest had a similar issue with Garner. He was fundamental to the way they played in their promotion season. They tried all summer to sign him from united, eventually failed and it left a gaping hope in their midfield (I guess not too similar to our failure to sign Broja). I hope we have three or four very good options.

I care. If he wants to threaten to go on strike, that's up to him, but don't come back looking for a job and expect me to welcome him back.

Surman had retired, was a fully qualified coach and had done the job for a year at Bournemouth before taking a role at Saints.

but he's here, with a long contract. So unless someone comes in for him, you either integrate him back into the side or you pay him a massive wage to play in the reserves.

Not sure what you are talking about with regards to the "shoehorn" comment. If it's about Stephens getting games, then I'd say he was picked, quite rightly, to play, not to mentor. I think the whole mentoring thing is a load of bollocks. We pay coaches and managers to mentor the players. That is literally their job. Paying an older pro a shit load of money to train, sit on the bench and tell the younger guys how he did it at Liverpool makes no sense to me. I don't really care about Lallana's own coaching aspirations. I've no idea why we would want to bend over backwards to help him transition from player to coach. If we have a youth coaching post open, we should simply employ the most highly qualified and well respected youth coach we can find (who's annual salary would equal a week of Lallana's), that will have a wealth of contacts/scouts and knows exactly how to work with youngsters to get the best out of them. if that is Lallana, then I'm all for it.

Ok, fair enough, but why do we want to sign a guy that Brighton planned to start less than 14 games? Are we similarly planning on him playing 20 minutes here and there?

Queue lots of lowball bids for Pickford, Branthwaite and Onana. I'd take James Garner.

Don't really understand the Lallana signing. If we want a youth coach, get a youth coach. There are thousands of them. If we want a player to come on for 15 minutes, to keep the ball, then O'hare is available in a free. Much higher ceiling than Lallana. Has Lallana done anything over the last four years at Brighton? Seems like an overpaid bit part player that they could have done just as well without to me, but maybe I am mistaken? Our transfer policy has been shite, but not spending £100k plus a week on him was one thing we got right IMO.

Why on earth do we want to sign a player that thinks starting 14 games is too much football?

he's got a sweet left peg.

I wondered the same about Lawrence Shankland.

Hamer at Sheff United might be another option if we are looking for that small, technically good link up player to play in the hole. I think he did OK in the Prem. I wonder what his relegation contract clause might look like. I thought you were more of a tried and tested Prem player fan? I guess it's not easy to attract those types as a newly promoted club. We had our chance to go for that type two seasons ago and went City youth team instead.