Chez

this is worrying.

but last year he had Schneiderlin, James, Wotton, Gillett, Pulis, Gobern, and McNish already at the club so perhaps was reluctant to bring in another player to effectively sit on the bench. He did actually bring in Mellis as well I might add. With James and Gillett gone perhaps wages are not freed up, but perhaps he still needs to lose Pulis and Gobern to keep squad size down to respectable levels.

are you sure? His profile and photo in the new kit are on the website http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/page/ProfilesDetail/0,,10280~45372,00.html plus his name was not mentioned when others were released, plus he has another year left on his contract I think.

apparently you don't need to provide an alternative it is just perfectly reasonable to just moan.

Christ, if he signed three players tomorrow you'd still moan about them not being signed before pre season.

Gobern? The only other option I see is maybe Wotton in the holding role as a three with Puncheon, Lallana or Chamberlain in the role Mellis played briefly to good effect before he went away with England. I can see another loan deal filling this back up CM slot. Maybe even Mellis again. if we are going to buy a CM then Sameda from Charlton for me.

Greatest hope for this season?- Champions Biggest fear?- Losing Lallana and Morgan and subsequently failing to get promoted Most important player?- Lambert Terrace favourite?- Lambert Keep an eye out for...- Morgan, if he doesn't make the PFA League 1 team of the year I'd be surprised Player you'd happily drive to his next club?- Pullis. There is room in the back for Wotton and Holmes though One change you'd make at your club? - Get rid of the ticket tax and replace with a payment plan Have we got the right manager?- Who else are we going to get that is better? What advice would you give him?- Sign Sameda from Charlton Which team do you most want to beat this season?- All of them Opposition player you despise?- Seval fouling cheating bastards at Colchster spring to mind Opposition player you secretly admire?- No secret that I liked Stephen Dawson and thought he was worth a punt on a free from Bury

that will put an end to all this happy clapping.

at best he tore Bristol Rovers apart. I can't see him being allowed to join us. He came on against Farnborough the other night and caused them `all sorts of problems' apparently. I think reading may now know he might be worth keeping and not just so they can get a decent fee.

no, he played left back in all but one of the 14 games whilst he was there. If you are talking specifically about the final, then still no, as he didn't play

you could pick almost any player (Fonte, Harding and Davis apart) and they will have had 5 or 6 poor games last year. Even Lambert had games when he won **** all and achieved nothing. Besides Antonio played bloody well in other games and everyone knows a winger has good and bad days because hes not trying to keep it simple, he has has to try things, beat a man and do something unusual - much harder than winning headers all day of you are 6'4". Take Bristol Rovers away in the cup or Leyton Orient away for example. He was absolutely bloody brilliant in both games. Tranmere at home was the only game that made me even think twice about him. I've not enjoyed watching a player at Saints so much for a long long time. I just love how he murders a fullback without having even got the ball under control. He caused so many probklems for teams last year and Pardew should have given him more time on the pitch than he did. Raw but exactly what the side needs - pace, power, effort going both way, confidence to try and beat players and shoot. He gets to the byeline as well and smacks some decent crosses in. Yes some go into row Z, but the more measured Puncheon does that and certainly not at the pace Antonio is trying to do it. He's not a world beater for sure, I mean he struggles to control a ball at time, but he is certainly worth 6 figures in my book.

Didn't know Butterfield started there, but perhaps he was pants so that's why he moved back to play at fullback? SKP started at fullback, would you want him playing there now if he rejoined? Interesting to know about Chamberlain. You could say the same thing about Mellis, but he was terrible out wide and looked far far better when played down the middle and making surging forward runs. As for Mills, he came on several times at left midfield to try and stifle the oppsition and each time he looked a fish out of water parden the pun. I saw his goal against ajax, so what?

several people on here suggest he is pretty average to say the least. Not seen him myself.

for some reason I thought he was a centre back. That explains the Seaborne signing then!

any suggestions? Lines and Danns appear to be the only ones anyone on here knows of since I stopped nagging about signing Stephen Dawson. Whether either is the answer I'm not sure.

to be fair to the scouting system, Puncheon was bought long before he appeared in the PFA team of the year - and there was only a few people suggesting him before that, besides they don't just identify them, they have to watch them and put their heads on the block as to whether they are good enough and the right players for the club. Also they have clearly identified other players that not many on this forum knew anything about like Calderon, Dickson and Adomah. Calderon looked a gem from the videos posted - did you spot that talent in the games against us?

I'm not saying we have one, although the mid game change from 4-5-1 to 4-4-2 worked well last season, but who are these other teams with such impressive plan Bs?

in other words until the appeal has been heard in court they're signing no one. Are they allowed to start the season with less than 20 players?

That certainly is a long list, but if Lallana is injured, are any of those good enough to help us win the league? Puncheon can't play right AND left midfield so you can't include him unless we sign a top class right sided player. Mills has shown he struggles in that position. Holmes is not good enugh in my opinion and Dickson is a full back not a left winger by all accounts.

Has anyone snapped up Chris Riggott yet?

I've not seen him in the reserves or for Eastleigh (not that either is a great place to judge him) - how has he looked? In the Gillingham game I thought he looked poor, extremely nervous (which is understandable), poor on the ball, slow to turn and not at all dominating in the air. Not every Saint felt that way though. I was one of the few non drinkers that day I might add. I'm sure he will improve and I'm not judging him on those couple of games I'm just stating what I saw. Seaborne does not dominate in the air, that is his biggest problem. He is reasonably quick and not too bad on the ball, but if you don't win headers at this level you get caught - as we did for a couple of years with the likes of Perry and Thomas (neither ever good enough in the air IMO). Funnily enough he looked quite good at Gillingham, but that was in comparison with Fonte who had an asbsolute shocker. Of all the positions you'd think CB would be Pardews area of expertise. Jahdi and Fonte have been tremendous signings, maybe in time the other two lads will be great as well. Time will tell.

agree. Its all very annoucing a new signing to the press, perhaps to give Cotterill confidence that something is happening back home while he is away, but until the FL allows it he's a Reading player.

will they get it though?

its not really Saints' fault that Reading won't let Antonio go. It looks like AP doesn't want Waigo. Not having gotten another CM won't effect our start as Hammond and Schneiderlin are still here, touch wood, although as the season progresses we certainly need more competition there thats for sure. I'm not concerned about the quality of the starting side, so with a little luck they will all be fit for the opening games. But like almost everyone on this forum I know that more quality is needed to win the league - hopefully we can secure it. Why don't you cheer up a little. If we don't sign the players by the end of the window then is the time to lament our lack of signings not now.