verlaine1979

Yup, his passing has been rubbish and he looks like he's running through treacle.

Vest doesn't really jump - he leans towards the ball and hopes his height advantage will be enough.

Marginal gains at that age. Do you have anyone in mind that went from having poor technique to good technique (bearing in mind that I'm only talking about his ball striking/finishing and nothing else)? You can usually spot whether a player has good control or shooting from their first handful of appearances.

That's not the point - the point is that Adams' finishing is what it is. He's not going to gain technique at 24.

Two things: 1. 27 isn't a player's peak anymore. It was when teams didn't debut players until they were well into their 20s, but according to Dortmund's sport science team, players decline from 26 onward. 2. Adams isn't fast (he was easily outpaced by a Burnley CB only a few games ago). Like Redmond, I'll leave the reason why people assume he must be quick uninvestigated.

I hope so, but I'm not convinced. His technique striking the ball looked pretty ropey at Birmingham, and there's no reason his confidence would've been low then. I think with the exception of the goal against city, all his goals for us have basically involved him whacking the ball as hard as he can in the direction of the goal. When he tries to go for placement, it usually ends up straight at the keeper. Still, he's very strong, holds the ball up well and is much more of a nuisance for defenders than Long ever has been for us. I can see why Ralph appreciates him.

"tamed" ffs. Missionary Christianity of course having such a spotless historical record when it comes to not engaging in territorial conquest and genocide.

Still looks painfully slow running with the ball. First goal was a superficially nice finish, but the keeper was stranded and he had literally no defender to beat carrying the ball forward. Essentially invited to bend it into an empty net from 20 yards.

Not really - leaving aside the likes of Chelsea, Everton and Man City, who have received scads of cash from their owners, even clubs like Brighton, Palace and Wolves have continued to receive owner funding after their promotion seasons. For the rest its too early to say, but I see no reason to assume that Villa, Fulham or Leeds' owners will follow our path rather than the one taken by Wolves.

That was the best I've seen Adams play for us. Held the ball up well and was very energetic in pressing and chasing. His finish was still a bit hit hard and hope for my taste, but I suppose we have Ings providing the precision.

11 out of 20 clubs have received meaningful owner financing over the past five years. And among clubs who haven't had any money from their owners in that period, both Leicester and Newcastle have had very sizeable (£100m+) loans from their owners immediately prior. Arsenal, Spurs and Man U also haven't had any cash from their owners, but they have significantly more commercial revenue than any club of our size. Only Burnley, West Brom, West Ham and Saints are really trying to make it in this league on a self-sustaining basis without having large commercial revenues.

Only a few glimpses, but seems like he plays on the half turn and looks to move the ball forward quickly, which our midfield hasn't always done the past few years.

Salisu looks pretty slow off the blocks, but like he might be able to get up to a decent top speed over a sprint. Agree that Diallo looks more mobile than any midfield option we've had since Schneiderlin (okay, Lemina was pretty nimble, but he wasn't an option for long).

Isn't that how scouting internationally has always worked? I don't think they were flying back and forth from Southampton every weekend before this. Scouting has been pretty gash for several seasons now, so a shake-up is welcome.

Odd, I'm often struck by how rarely Vest seems to jump when defending in the air. If he can win it simply by stooping over his opponent, he will, but if someone is jumping up to contest him, he's much less dominant.

If you spend the additional money well, why is it giving it away? A better squad will generally result in higher placing and higher merit payment, more frequently tv appearances and a higher facility fee, and if your scouting team know what they're doing, it's obviously better to double the value of a young £30m player than it is to double the value of a £10m player when you consider player sales. Anyone hoping to make money out of this club without making the investments necessary to keep pace with recruitment in the rest of the league is playing a very dicey game with fine margins and a potentially huge risk of sudden, catastrophic asset devaluation.

I think all anyone is saying about Adams is that being our clear second-best option (which he assuredly is) isn't the same as being good. Personally, I suspect the 15m we paid for him could've been spent on someone with better finishing and technique, but there we are. The comparison to a young Shane Long seems fair enough to me - what he gives up in pace to a young Long, he makes up for in upper body strength. They're probably about level in finishing from what I've seen.

There was a lot of interest in Slattery when he turned 16 - another one who has now become an identikit lightweight blonde without standout qualities. Was the academy secretly being run by a Nazi eugenicist for a few years? We have clones of JWP the way The Boys from Brazil had clones of Hitler.

Surprised at how his career has developed. Couple of cameos in the cup 4/5 years ago and he looked like he had the raw materials (good shooting, neat passing and awareness) to become a decent attacking midfielder.

Oh you sweet summer child.

You haven't looked very hard. Examine the seasonal transfer balance of Bordeaux before and after the takeover.

JWP has played more games for Saints and scored & assisted more Premier League goals. How much more of a stint do you want?

I've only ever had a problem with the overblown hype - of which comparing him, even charitably, to Iniesta is right up there. Back when this debate was actually relevant, Davis was always compared very favorably to JWP. The forum majority decried Ward-Prowse as an impotent, sideways-passing lightweight, while to me the two of them were practically indistinguishable in contribution, aside from JWP's better delivery. So, now that he's comfortably surpassed Davis's PL contribution in both goals and assists, are we nominating Ward-Prowse as the most underrated player in the league?

Of course, those qualities - so subtle as to be almost ineffable - must be why he's had such a storied career lighting up the Premier League with Saints, Villa and Fulham. 'Model pro' is how successful players describe average players who've had long, unspectacular careers.

He was unspectacular in both the defensive and the attacking phases. We conceded many goals through his lack of marking, and saw many attacks break down because of his conservatism. He kept it neat and tidy but forgive me if I consider that to be the absolute bare minimum for any premier league midfielder, and not the defining characteristic of 'the most underrated player in the league (tm)'.