CamSaint

Having 3 RBs assumes that Tino makes a full recovery and gets back to the level he was at before the injury. With an ACL, that is far from a given and even if he does it might not be until some time in 2023 before he actually gets there. So what do we do if KWP gets injured in the early part of the season if we don't have any proper backup? Obviously finances are a key factor, but it makes perfect sense to bring in another RB, with KWP also vying for the LB spot with Perraud. Maybe Small goes out on loan. At the end of next season we will know where we are with Tino and I assume at least one of the RBs would be sold then. Just MHO, of course.

Is it therefore reasonable to assume that all of our new signings so far this window would be on similar salaries? I have no idea, but if so, the saving on Forster's salary alone has more than comfortably covered all 5, with some to spare! (I guess some of that may be allocated to contract enhancements for Moi & Salisu). And of course, we have savings on Long's & indeed Broja's salary as well. If we also manage to off load a few players, it further reinforces the cracking business approach from SR so far this summer. Although I've no idea of the numbers involved, they seem to have applied the same principles to the coaching team - 3 coaches out and 2 new ones in along with an internal promotion. Add in the replacement of Glover with Joe Shields and they really seem to have shaken things up big time.

....and he wears the No. 7 shirt........

Huh? Was inflation from Delap to Carrillo 450%? I don't think so.... Interesting discussion. Going 'all MLG' for a moment, the Bank of England inflation calculator shows that 'Goods & services costing £4M in 2001 would cost £5.758M in 2018'. The average rate of inflation over that period was 2.5% but football transfer fees don't follow the normal rules of inflation because of the TV money that was pumped in. According to https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/how-much-average-premier-league-16552046, the average Premier League transfer fee in 2001/02 was £4,609,341 compared to £16,068,469 in 2018/19. If you apply that ratio to £4M, you get £13.94M, which would make Carillo 'more expensive' than Delap. Lots of holes in that argument, since it is only applying averages, but quite interesting, nonetheless!

It is also interesting that he is looking for more first team opportunities. According to Transfermarkt he started 12 games for Arsenal last season, playing the full 90 in 9 of them. He came on as a sub in a further 7, and was an unused sub in 18, so he was an integral member of their first team squad last season with a decent number of PL minutes. If it is true that Saints have approached them for a loan deal, you'd think that we would have to be suggesting to them that he would be a regular starter to convince them that he would get more playing time, unless he has fallen down the pecking order there with the signing of Viera (don't know enough about either player to know if they'd be in direct competition).

Anyone know when the players report back for pre-season training? That would be the point by which you'd hope that the significant 'ins' & 'outs' had been completed. But then again, we are talking about Saints..........

Andrew Sparkes, the goalkeeping coach is still at Saints. Oops, already answered above!

You would imagine that Crocker would be instrumental in such a signing and you would like to think that current goalkeeper coach Andrew Sparkes would also have been consulted. Can anyone remember whether Crocker and/or Sparkes were at Saints when Gunn was signed?

Foot fracture - out for 5-6 weeks. https://www.southamptonfc.com/news/2022-05-17/romain-perraud-injury-update-southampton-liverpool

I seem to remember in a Total Saints Podcast, Martin Semmens said that as the new screens are much heavier, the delay was due to sorting out corrosion that had been discovered in the steel supports to which the new screens will be fitted. He did imply that that was well in hand, though, but clearly it hasn't happened yet. Obviously my memory wasn't quite right! - See Mozz's post below!

There seems to be a lot of confusion about this. According to my Sky Go planner just now, it says is being shown on Sky Sports Main Event (401) and Sky Sports PL HD (402) but not until 10.30 PM (10.30 PM - 12.15 AM).

OK, thanks, although I thought others had said that KWP's ban for 5 yellow cards was specific to PL games whereas Salisu's suspension for a red card could be served in any competition, so that he would get his out of the way today.

A question for the knowledgeable on this forum. KWP would be suspended for the Brentford game, but can't play anyway as he has Covid. Does that still count as serving his suspension or is it held over until he is available again? Obviously it would be good for Saints if the former is true, but it seems a bit pointless to me if a suspension could effectively be nullified through injury or illness.

Given that Saints are currently the flagship (only) club in the Sporting Republic portfolio, I'm sure they will not want us to to lose our PL status. It seems to me that the financial backing that has been alluded to in enabling possible transfer targets to be brought forward without waiting for player sales would also enable the manager to be replaced if relegation became a real possibility. While I'm sure that they will continue with Ralph at least in the short term, I think that the days of 'we can't afford to sack him' are behind us. I would hope, however, that Ralph will perform well enough for that not to be necessary.

You never know, we may need to play the Covid card as Adams was part of the squad only 48 hours ago.......

Just from a goals scored perspective, Ings got 5 goals in our first 15 games last season & his replacements, Broja & Armstrong have also got 5 between them this season. Adams had 4 last season and 3 this season. That's the real problem. After 15 matches last season, JWP had 4, Vestergaard 3, S Armstrong 2, Walcott 2, and Djenopo, Romeu, Bednarek & Redmond 1 each. This year, JWP has 2, Livramento, Elyounoussi, & Bednarek 1 each, plus an OG. 10 fewer goals overall. Of course, Vestergaard has gone & SA has barely played, but I wonder whether Ings all-round play contributed more than we appreciate in creating opportunities for others to score?

Something similar happened back in the old 1st Division in November 1968, although in a slightly different context. Bill McGarry walked out on Ipswich Town to take the vacant position at Wolves. His last fixture @ Ipswich on 16/11/68 was an 0-0 draw away at Man U and his first fixture @ Wolves was a 2-0 defeat also at Old Trafford on 30/11/68. However there was actually another fixture between these two so that they weren't consecutive fixtures, but McGarry hadn't actually taken over at Wolves for that intermediate fixture.

Be interesting to see how Gilmour develops under Smith. Thought he had another good game for Scotland yesterday.

Also interesting that we have 4 clean sheets in the 7 games that Bednarek has played, so I wonder whether Stephens would get back into the team if fit for the Norwich match?

Given that JWP played on Friday yet withdrew from the England squad on Monday (I think), I wonder if Ralph's 'work from home' directive for this week is an attempt to prevent any further possible spread through the squad? This assumes, of course that JWP does indeed have Covid.

Romeu, JWP & Diallo all played together for the last 20 minutes of the home game against Manchester United, when Diallo replaced Djenepo.

Is JWP eligible for this? I'd assumed his 3 match ban was for PL games, so presumably he could play in this one?

Looked like he was feeling his hamstring, as went off.

Adams off injured......

My tickets for the Chapel End were delivered by post within 48 hours of ordering them. We got to the ground at about 12.50 thinking there would be long queues & unsure how many people might be asked to show Covid passes. Walked straight up to the turnstile - no-one in front of us & straight in. Queued behind 2 people to buy a coffee & were in our seats by the time the teams were announced at 1 PM. I applaud the club's decision to reimburse the ticket prices as quite a few people with seats near us were still coming in after the game had started, and clearly many experienced real problems in other parts of the ground. However, the stadium looked about 2/3 full @ kick off so a lot of us must have made it in on time even though some will have no doubt had to queue for some time in order to do so.