suewhistle

I think that would summarise my view too. There are plenty of players who arrived late at the top and as Saints fans we should be aware of that. His career has been a bit disrupted and I don't feel giving him a place in the 25 man squad would be wasted. Him, Vestergaard, Yoshi and Stephens might combine to get one of those late goals from a corner or free kick that we used to get a few years ago and have been sadly missing..

Good innit? :-) I'm sticking pins in my map of France, and bookmarks in my Wine Atlas, so more contributions welcome. I'm partial to a Muscadet sur Lie and some of the Jura whites but my main wine interest is in ******* wines. I can't mention exactly because it'll upset Turkish, the delicate little flower. Back on topic, any sign of Lemina yet? I didn't notice Targett in the pics either.

Ta! I saw a sparkling Picpoul blend the other day in Aldi or Lidl, of all places; I nearly bought a bottle but need to make space first, I've been overdoing my new membership of The Wine Society.. As much as I appreciate the pleasure of en vrac I prefer the quantative safety of bottles.. I probably wouldn't when it's this hot!

Cheers. I don't know much about Burgundy, and mainly disappointments when I've spent more but I once opened a cheapish bottle from a shop in St Vaast near Cherbourg (!)and kept under my stairs for some years and it was so good I rushed round the neighbours to share a glass.

Nooo. It's dangerous. If you like wine and are a bit skint, that is. Still, the Leclerc just of the autoroute is handy for a petrol fill and they've even got some slow points for EVs. Thanks for the tip about Dijon, although isn't that the same for most big French cities? I fancy going to the women's world cup next year so may need to get some gen. Window Cleaner is somewhere near Moulins (I think) but I'm not sure the board has got much coverage elsewhere in France.

Saw an article about Liverpool's loss to Dortmund. I just perused the headline and first paragraph but couldn't face any more. I suppose I should expect it of ThisIsAnfield, but it reminded me of the nauseous, sycophantic crap we'll have to put up with now it's back to domestic football.

I think you're meant to predict, not say what you hope will happen. ;-)

Rowthron! Bloomin' Jack Stephens!

Cedric and Yoshida still on well-deserved holiday I see. 26 players including 4 keepers (including FF). Only Sims of the younger players, but at least Jones, Flannigan, Valery, Slattery and Vokins got a taster with the first team in China.

Dear Fan the Flames, please don't quote the ****. (See I'm not always nice.) Why he feels he has to make the effort to follow me around, specifically post on my threads and be an online bully I've no idea, but it's a bit sad. It obviously gives him some satisfaction and he appears to have time to waste. So yeah, just for his benefit, since he's obviously so interested, I have skied there. Did you know most of the itinerant knife grinders you see in London and around Europe come from the local valleys?

Cheers. Near Madonna di Campiglio where some of you might have skied. Most Italian teams seem to do summer camps in the mountains to avoid the heat and humidity of the plain. Good for the lungs too, from personal experience!

Abramovich loses interest after his visa troubles. Chelsea are magic, and disappear from the top division. Puel has interesting possibilities away from Leicester. BFS (wherever he is?) gets another chance at a team yet to be determined, around about Christmas, for a club rather more decisive than Saints. Klopp has an unfortunate incident when the wind changes and his gurning gets fixed in place. Everton remodel their dugouts as they realise they can't afford a new ground. Citeh continue to make the Premier League boring: playing great football.. Gallagher scores a hat-trick for Saints and the forum goes into melt down. We lose 3-4. Apart from that I haven't a clue.

Oh come on, that's a tap-in prediction. :-)

True, but the natural state of the football fan is anticipation of the new season tempered by black-humoured cynicism. How many of you are are going to meet up with your footie friends in the pub before the first game, looking forward immensely but saying something like "oh gawd, here we go again"? It's a useful reminder to the team before they disappear on their French training camp as to how much needs to be done. I'm pretty certain Hughes won't be as obtuse as Pellegrino. Derby were ahead of us in the physical and teamwork side, and I'd never expect Lemina to bust a gut if he's not at 100%, but certain aspects such as the defending for the last goal were worrying. At pretty well any level of the game leaving that much space between the two central defenders would be subject to heavy criticism.

It's in The Sun. Make up your own bloomin mind. As much a fact as anything on here. ;-)

It came up on one of my feeds :-) :-) https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/6822537/arsenal-danny-welbeck-sell-unai-emery/

That seems to have a certain internal consistency. Long could do well in Scotland (C or R). Ings is a local lad hence his presence, but any interest has been denied pretty strongly. We definitely need a new striker. Welbeck appears to be on his way. Thanks for that, and for that price he'd be a good buy in today's market. I thought Everton were sniffing, but then at the moment they seem to have a permanent cold..

Probably. I noticed Dalek's got his prediction in already. But there's nothing original here, and some posters are as predictable as Ashley Young cutting in on his right foot. Best to leave it for a bit and enjoy the sun. I may be a bit worried about our central defence but not to the extent of lamenting too much on here.

Thank goodness we have Cedric, Yoshida and Bednarek to come back. Interesting article about this close season in The Grauniad: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jul/21/premier-league-2018-world-cup-preseason

Hagiology Press have a range of books you may be interested in..

Ooh, beetchy! You could have added Long.. To the other things people have pointed out re family and chaotic loans you could also add that he had a couple of growth spurts in that time, which tends to mess about with fitness and coordination. Anyway, we'll no doubt see him for a bit this afternoon and get an idea of where he is. Some players look the part from the beginning (Stevie Mills, Bale, Shaw etc.) but others take a little longer to get into their stride. Let's hope he's a late developer like Lambert.

I see there are some supportive dads on here, and others who have been so blinded by the professional game that they don't seem to appreciate that sport is enjoying yourself, enjoying the challenge and trying to improve. Do you tell your daughters not to bother in other walks of life too, "because you'll never be as good"? The 19th century called and wants their attitudes back. For all the talk about 'investment' at these higher levels the money involved is peanuts: a week's pay for Zaha, shared use of decent facilities. The reality for most amateur teams is scrabbling around to get matching kit, decent practice balls, access to all weather training facilities, coaches who have had some training and a little shovel to clear away the dog sh*t. It's enthusiasm for the game that we share: at one stage I was training twice a week, travelling hours and not necessarily getting off the bench - unfortunately getting slightly better technically coincided with getting a lot slower! Forgive me if all this negativity makes me feel a little weary. But at least some of the attitudes here don't surprise: some names you just know the attitude they're going to have on any particular subject, and they rarely disappoint. This is a subject that obviously and directly interests me: why some of you are here gawd only knows..

If I had a quid for every guy who made the effort to come onto a thread about women's football and say they were not interested and/or it's substandard I'd be paying for my season ticket in bags of coins and not by credit card, which my statement reminded me of in the post this morning. Let's just posit that GCS is a fat c***, and he may even acknowledge the fact. I go into the pub and make an express effort to go up to him and tell him he's a fat ****. Nah. Just keep quiet, in neither case are the comments helpful, needed or wanted.

Training with the under 23s? Have to admit I checked the background of the training photos and not even there out of focus!

Absolutely this. It will show what is available as you progress, none of which was around 40 years ago. I'm vicariously excited about the opportunities, so get out there in the back garden with a football tonight, DT. :-) Incidentally, I was watching one of the videos with MSC inside the dome at Staplewood with some of the girls practising in the background. More control than I've ever had!