verlaine1979

Isn't beating a man one of the things that *creates* overloads?

Sadly was closer to £15m I think - BBC pegs it at £13.5. Clearly the club thought he'd be a cash cow in a couple of years, but lost faith in him after the 9-0. Bearing in mind how awful McC has been, they probably should've stuck with Gunn.

Yup - it just so happened that 3bn was also the net worth of the other Liebherr siblings who *hadn't* handed back their shares and were still involved in the company. Based on how hard she fought to be allowed to sell to Gao, I'm pretty sure that Saints was the most valuable asset KL inherited. As you say, multi-billion dollar companies don't get wound up just because the owner dies. As for Gao, no idea where that 3bn figure has come from. At the time he first appeared on the scene people were suggesting he was worth 1bn, which would've been about 20% of the market cap of Lander, which isn't unreasonable for the founder of a listed company. Since then the company value has absolutely cratered, so I've no idea why anyone would imagine his wealth to have tripled.

You might be right, but it's not something Saints could do unilaterally. If all the other clubs that recruit in our catchment continue bringing in kids from 8 up, then all we'd do is miss out on anyone who shows exceptional early promise, while still having to compete on an equal footing for anyone who develops later.

Would definitely add more to the squad than Minamino.

If recruitment is good, as it has been in the past, then all of those players are replaceable for less than we'll get for them. If recruitment at the club is still bad, then we're screwed in the pretty near-term anyway, as Ings and Vest will be gone in a year and you can't stake premier league survival on JWP alone. I guess it's gamble on recruitment now with a little money in the bank, or gamble on recruitment in a year with no money in the bank. Either way, if the scouting is sh*t we're done for.

You could look at the absolute collapse in value of Lander. Early references to his wealth were derived from the value of that company, which is now worth only about 20% of its peak value. On that basis, £200m is probably a generous estimate of his total net worth now, unless the Chengdu authorities gave him a very soft landing when they took over control of Lander in 2019.

With Gunn I suspect they were investing £15 to get a definite £30-40m in a year or two. He was incredibly highly-rated, had name recognition from his dad and had come off the back of a decent season on loan. To be honest, based on how poorly the other two did this year, I suspect we'd probably have been slightly better off with Gunn, as he can at least pass the ball out accurately and quickly, which is essential to how we were trying to play all season.

Can't see anyone paying £150m for Kane at 28. He'll still be worth something at 32 I'm sure, but not enough. With rare, Messi-shaped exceptions, big money like that will probably only be spent on players who are going to be under 30 by the end of their initial contract.

Need to upgrade Bednarek. He's too uncomfortable on the ball. We're trying to play out from the back, and his slow decision-making and generally poor passing put us under pressure far too often. Added to that, he's declined as a defender this season, so not sure what we'd be preserving by keeping him as a first choice.

Elyounoussi's big flaw from what I remember, is that he had no acceleration. Whenever he received the ball it took him an age to get moving with it, and there always seemed to be a man on him immediately to nick it away. Maybe memory is playing tricks, but it feels like I saw him get reeled in and dispossessed literally every time he tried to dribble forward.

Leaving aside the relative merits of those three, which have already been hashed over endlessly, I'd suggest that the last thing we need to add to the squad are players lacking physical presence or pace. Games against the likes of Leeds, Wolves, Newcastle and even West Brom have shown we get absolutely bullied by teams with a bit of size and speed, and we don't have the ability to do it back to them. We practically walk forward on the break.

Collectively is the only way it *would* work - after all, there are 19 other clubs offering a PL platform. Businesses that announce they are only going to pay half the average wages of their competitors tend not to last very long.

Sell Vest anyway. Like the club as a whole, his performances over the latter half of the season are a far more accurate reflection of his capabilities than the brief flurry of good reviews at the start. He's a good passer of the ball, but a sub-par defender. Bin him, Bednarek and Stephens and buy a new partner for Salisu - it's not like our wealth of PL experience has yielded any real benefit defensively this year, so either bring in a couple of old warhorses or a few promising young CBs - they're unlikely to do any worse than our first choice pairing and at least offer the hope that they might do better.

We look like a team of midgets compared to them. A team of technically inferior midgets. If you're trying to follow the Guardiola-era Barcelona template of not caring about pace or strength, you do have to make sure your players are actually good on the ball.

Agreed. If we keep those two but can't buy anyone else, there's only one direction of travel for the club. Might as well roll the dice.

Not devaluing JWPs contribution, and there may be stats that prove me wrong. But I'd say he's actually the least progressive passer in our midfield? I notice Romeu and Diallo both looking for a forward pass more often than Ward-Prowse, as does Armstrong when he's playing in the middle. Aside from his lack of pace, it's probably the one thing you can hold against him - he's so determined to protect the ball that his body shape often demands a sideways pass rather than a forward one.

Maybe Ralph is thinking about JWP playing further forward. Though if that's the case I'd rather keep JWP where he is and spend the £9m on a genuine attacking midfielder.

In both games, Leeds had pace, power, a quality final ball and good finishing. When Ings is playing well, we've got one of those in the side. When he isn't playing well we've got none of them.

Entertaining half, but it's not a great sign for our attacking play that our best players in terms of regularly beating their man are the two CBs.

Which aspect of Kick It Out obliged fans to confront their own complicity (or overt racism) before each and every game?

He was already close to the top of our price range when B'mouth bought him I think. Wasn't he about 15m a few years ago?

For the illiterate, the point isn't whether the Palace goal was a good or bad finish. It's whether it shows that he's a good finisher. And the answer is, it doesn't. He's a terrible finisher, as the last five games or so have demonstrated over and over.

I want him to be a decent finisher, but he isn't. Putting one in from 2 yards with the outside of his boot doesn't erase the host of much simpler chances he's wasted over the past few games.

Nice goal, jammy finish. He got it because he went with the outside of his right, which is something he does because he can't use his left, not because he knows its a delicate wand of a foot. Che isn't a good finisher, as the numerous one on ones he's scuffed straight at the keeper or wide of the post amply demonstrate. And at almost 25 years old, he's not going to improve now. He's good enough for second choice, and nowhere near good enough as first. So it'll depend on what we find ourselves needing this summer.