woodsaint1

Those two inches must really matter to you 👀

Its not. Most top full backs in the league are quite short - likes of TAA, Chilwell, Robertson, Walker and Tierney are all 5'10 (178cm) and below. As long as hes got a good leap

Take Grealish out of that team and they're bang average, as their form when he was injured showed last season. They may have a bit of money to throw around but would take significant investment to see them break into the top 6. They could just as easy regress to a 13-17th place side again

So we now should be focusing on distribution when it comes to targeting keepers as opposed to the basics of what they're supposed to do - shot stopping, commanding their area, taking crosses, instructing the defence? They could ping passes like Beckham but wont be much use to us if they cant keep the ball out 🤷🏽‍♂️

Be very surprised if Dragowski lands with us. Dortmund were reportedly interested last week before opting for Gregor Kopel instead. Some Dortmund fans were not best pleased. Can imagine Dragowski having much bigger clubs interested in him.

Has a Cedric feel about him. Same height and defensive qualities. Does seem to offer alot more going forward than Cedric though based on his highlights and stats. Could be a very good signing

Maybe Crook was right and Firpo isnt our number 1 target after all

Ajer is shite. A Norwegian Hoedt

https://twitter.com/alex_crook/status/1400365392640552961?s=19 Crook claiming that Firpo is not our number one LB target. Though to be honest I'm not sure hes even in the loop with Saints info anymore. Gets more wrong than right

Whats the chances Eddie Howe was hanging on for a PL job and then when a few come available he gets none of them 😂. Everton talking to NES and Lage all but confirmed for Wolves. Would Palace take a chance on him, looking less likely

Indeed. I did suggest Willi Orban before but think he signed a new deal at Leipzig recently. They dont even have to be overly experienced as long as they have good leadership qualities. Look at Dias for example, yes quality defender but for a kid hes directing players around him and very vocal. Leads by example. Our defenders dont look as if they would say boo to a goose, very timid. Communication from a CB is massive to the players around them

Strongly disagree. If Vestergaard does leave we need to sign a quality CB to replace him imo. Its a crucial position. You need to improve your starting 11, not buy back ups. An injury to either Salisu/Bednarek and we're relying on Stephens again. An injury to two and we're screwed

Yes theres the lure of european football, but if he goes there he wont start ahead of Cresswell and will also face competition for backup from Ben Johnson who can play both sides. He walks straight into our starting lineup however

Remember the lack of enthusiasm about Armstrong from some Celtic fans (and our fans) at the time. Christie is one of only three players you would take from Celtic right now (Edouard and Turnbull the others). Would definitely take him at cut price if his contract runs out in Jan. His creativity would be welcome

Many thanks for this, some excellent research. There is really no hiding place for many of our players when you see the raw statistics. Hopefully Ralph has this all laid out in front of him. Some shocking numbers in there particularly at GK and CB. No wonder we conceded so many. Redmond flatters to deceive as we all expected and Adams demonstrating how much value he adds to the team. Impressed with Diallo's numbers. You could see his quality at times, particularly in the Liverpool game where he barely gave Thiago a kick. There was alot of pressure placed on him filling in for Romeu (arguably our second most important player after Ings), but he performed admirably imo. Interesting to see how he kicks on next season with the experience hes gained and a full pre season training with the team. I see Jankewitz gets a mention despite only playing about 6 PL minutes in total lol

When did I mention average players? Theres plenty of good players who would improve us who dont play for a top european side - the likes of Armstrong and Salisu both come to mind. Is this not where the infamous black box comes in - identifying good players with lots of potential. As opposed to queuing up with 10 other clubs to look at some barca kid who will go elsewhere anyways

No doubt we're seriously looking but knowing us it will have been players who we have <5% chance of actually signing. If you're on the fringes of Barca or Benfica I imagine you'll have much more attractive options than us. Will take us until mid-August to realise that and then we'll be onto our 6/7th choice

Why? Hes only featured twice since February with a hamstring injury missing the run in and playoffs. They might decide to cash in on him given they've other decent options at LB

Freddie Woodman who has been linked with us gifting Brentford a penalty in the playoff final

We wont be signing anybody of VVDs calibre I can guarantee that so not sure how thats comparable. Our recent signings - Salisu, Diallo etc have been a few tiers below that and they certainly required time to get up to speed (accepting that Salisu was injured). You could argue neither is fully accustomed to the system as yet but needs must last season they were needed with injuries

Cant help but feel that come the season start we'll still be scouring the market for new signings after multiple knock backs, despite indications from the club that we'll be getting some deals done early. I understand that sometimes we need to wait to see how the market develops and what opens up, but with Ralph's high demands and style of system to learn, it would make alot more sense to get signings in early. Depressing when you see clubs like Liverpool who have identified a shortcoming at CB and secured a replacement already. Yes their appeal is much greater than ours but the turn around in getting it done is impressive.

LMFAO people having a different opinion to you. Christ

No chance with Rose, hes still waiting on AC Milan coming in with an offer 😂😂😂. Seriously though, I wouldnt go near him with his ego and wage demands

Nobody is paying 30 million for Ings, not with him having one year left and with his injury record (not serious ones recently, but persistent ones which add up to a lot of games missed). We'll do well to get 20 million imo

Hasnt convinced me at all since his initial purple patch and I'm not buying the "hes still young" argument. A younger Tella is streaks ahead of him at the moment in terms of impact and potential. If we can move him on for something similar to what we paid and use the money for the likes of Rashica or Danjuma then that would be good business imo.