verlaine1979

No surprises, but if one of them has to play (because we don't invest in a conventional AM or box-to-box CM) then we should prioritise JWP above Davis. Neither of them have much in the way of pace or strength, and both are likely to carelessly give the ball away a couple of times per match. However, JWPs corners and freekicks & penalties are orders of magnitude better, and based on last season he's marginally more likely to make a run into the box. Back five picks itself, but beyond that, probably Romeu/Hoj, Boufal/JWP/Tadic, Gabbiadini. Redmond, Tadic & Boufal all strike me as streaky, so I'd just let them play themselves in and out of the starting line up as form & sub appearances dictate.

If one person has ten £1 coins and another has ten 1p coins, which one has more money?

Less Ajax following the Southampton model than Southampton following the Ajax model in reality.

Hmm so other clubs have good recruitment, statistical departments, youth programs and sports science. It sounds like the only thing separating us from the likes of Atletico, Sevilla, Ajax and others is that they win stuff from time to time, while we haven't won anything of significance for over forty years. We're pretty well run, but let's not kid ourselves - we're copycats with most of this stuff, not trailblazers.

Gabbiadini looks great - hope the rumours about homesickness aren't true. Long isn't a good enough finisher and never will be. If we want someone whose only attribute is being able to close down defenders at pace, get one of the quicker academy kids to do it and save the £80k a week. Get rid. Austin can finish, but almost certainly doesn't have the mobility or physical robustness to play a pressing game. Will probably stay, but I doubt he's MPs ideal kind of striker. Gallagher is completely untested at this level, but is worth a shot as 4th striker on the roster.

You mean apart from Mane, right? Whose goals in the latter half of that season were basically the entire difference between a bottom half finish and qualifying for Europe?

If there are no TV broadcasts, there'll be no streams. Most streams seem to come from US sources, so if streaming becomes an existential threat to the survival of the PL, they'll probably just stop selling exhaustive rights in the US, which are only worth about £100m per season.

It enhanced their CVs, but whether it actually made them better players is a separate question.

Well, both played successfully in the Premier League under us, which automatically increased their value when other PL clubs came looking (whether it's important or not, there's a definite premium for 'PL-proven' players). Toby in particular was immense from the moment he joined us, so no, I honestly don't believe we made him even the slightest bit better. Lovren is clearly a confidence player - Lyon undermined his confidence, we gave it back to him, and he started playing again like a guy who'd cost nearly 10m back in 2010.

Huh? Lovren and Toby were both full internationals who cost their previous clubs 9.5m and 7m euros back when that was proper money for a CB. To suggest we 'made' either of them is typical PL myopia.

Never a convincing finisher at the best of times. Good money, especially with his injury record and post-injury form. Hope we can still mug someone into over-paying for Shane Long's pace and hard work before the summer is out.

Most of time you'd need two Peter Crouches piggybacking to get on the end of them...

All I'm saying is that while he's a good player, he's not good enough for Barcelona, so I'm taking that rumour with a pinch of salt. He's a decent defender whose pace elevates him by helping him get out of trouble, but I completely stand by my comment about his final ball. His crossing is absolutely rubbish, and is probably actually better when he cuts back onto his weaker foot, which is says a lot about his general delivery.

Transfer rumours sound like guff. His final ball is nowhere near good enough for Barcelona or Juve to be interested in him.

JRod and Long are both ropey finishers, though the former is at least also capable of the occasional strike from distance (B'mouth last season, Fulham away many years ago). However, neither have ever filled you with confidence in a one-on-one with the keeper, and both have a tendency to scuff finishes more often than not. Probably not enough evidence to go on, but looking back at Gallagher's goals for us and a few for Blackburn, he at least strikes the ball more cleanly than either Long or JRod.

£5m now seems to be the going rate if you want to invest in youth internationals for the squad/future.

The appeal of managing an also-ran club in the PL really seems overstated with some of the names being bandied about. Nagelsmann's stock is so high he's probably only one further good league season + a pop at the early stages of the CL away from being offered a chance at a top ten European club. Same with Tuchel/Emery etc - you don't p*ss your career momentum away on moving back to a middle-of-the-table club when you're in the prime of your career - not unless your fortunes have taken an absolutely calamitous dip.

Is it more impressive to win the league with an unbeaten season than not? Unless you're going to argue that it makes no difference, I don't see how you can struggle to comprehend that not all league finishes are created equal.

Mhmm. Like us being a stepping stone after managing Dortmund. Modest recruitment outlay last summer, huge uncertainty over ownership and investment levels this summer - I'm not sure anyone will be looking at us as a stepping stone to a top job, so much as a nice fat premier league pay day.

Assuming that you're right that he'll have to prove himself elsewhere (though winning stuff at Dortmund and getting to the latter stages of both European competitions two years in a row seems like adequate proof already for somewhere like Arsenal) which is the lower-risk next step for him? Keeping a second tier European club like Roma or Inter or whoever pops up in need of a manager over the next 6 months in their place, or taking a no-rank club like Saints into European contention, which is what he'd have to do to stand even a sniff of progressing from us to a top four premier league job (assuming that's what he even wants). In terms of career planning, we make no sense at all for someone with Tuchel's CV, and that's why he probably gave us a straight no when we asked if he'd be interested in interviewing, as per the story that came out last week.

Like I said, we're a bit bigger and better resourced than those clubs, but would it be enough to make a comfortable and established manager switch to us? I suspect we'd have to sweeten the pot a great deal and that our history and standing would hardly factor into the decision at all.

Let's be honest, we're not a *much* bigger club than either of those. A bit bigger, sure, but if you're in a stable job at a club who are £95% funded by tv money, just like us, it's hardly a case of 'when Saints come calling...'

Mystery outsider/widely reported out-of-a-job-but-managed-a-recognisable-club-at-least-once candidate.

Yup, it's pretty obvious from what his agent said that he wouldn't ever consider us as his next move.

Based on what Tuchel's agent said about the importance of the history of the club and the pedigree of the managers and players who'd been there before, it doesn't sound like he's seriously considering a mid-table premier league team for his next move.