coalman

Let's hope it's not a Caleta-Cartastrophe

Thank you, Oriol. You were a great servant and a model pro.

Apparently Gakpo decided not to get on the plane at the last minute. I take a tiny bit of solace in imagining the Leeds director's lonely journey back having failed to screw us over.

While I'n be gutted this won't happen. It gives more chances to Adam Armstrong (who is finding his place), Mara and (if we sign him) Edozie. Would rather the club stuck to their guns than they panic bought another Carillo. If the money is there then spend it well.

What I'm getting from this is that saga threads result in transfers falling through. So I firmly expect Saints to finish today having acquired no more players.

To be fair it really does look like we tried hard here.

I feel that it's unfair to combine this into one thread when everyone else gets a thread to themselves.

I thought it was selfish he didn't sign off his Arsenal career with a hat trick.

Bloody Chelsea

They could play a new signings vs old signings match.

Nothing is official yet. This day either ends in deliriously happy or crushingly disappointed.

Signing off with a hat trick for your soon to be former employers is about as classy a goodbye as it gets.

#saintsy

One thing that bothers me in all this. If all these transfers come off the forum is going to melt down under the weight of new player threads being created.

Should win this is where our problems tend to start.

Negotiation skills 101. The other party has to believe you're willing to talk away from the deal if you're going to extract maximum value from it. It's just brinkmanship. Or, we're not really trying to buy him and this is just a terrible fever dream.

It's telling that JWP is on less than 1% of the vote. His level hasn't dropped that appreciably. I can't think of many games last year where that would've been the case.

This is the first window since Koeman came in and signed Pelle, Mane, Alderweireld and co where we've signed more than one player I'm genuinely excited by. Already it's hard to imagine the first team without Lavia, ABK or Bazunu. Aribo doesn't look out of place and Mara is exciting from his cameos to date. Throw in the fact that Adam A has found his role in the team and Djenepo looks like a viable left back and this is the strongest our squad has been in years. If we can add some more of the same it's got to be the best window / backing Ralph has ever had.

This is where we won the game last night. This nipper got in their heads in the tunnel before they got on the pitch 🤣

I'd be ok with getting both.

This is another game where all the omens are against us. Wolves like to sit deep and hit you on the break which has been our Kryptonite under Ralph. They always seem to nick a goal or two no matter how well we play. We tend to play poorly after putting in a big performance against a top team. We're away from home and tend to struggle at Molineux. It's for this reason I can see no other result than a 3-1 win to Saints. For the first time they'll be going up against ABK and Salisu so there won't be our traditional lack of pace at the back to exploit. We're also not pressing as high up the pitch and happier to soak up pressure than we were. Lastly, we've seen goals across our front players - Adams, Armstrong, Aribo, JWP now. Adams is making the target role his own and Adam A has a new lease of life now where he can be attacking defenders from facing them rather than trying to spin off them. 433 seems to give us more options in attack as well. Our new coaches offer fresh perspective tactically so we're more adaptable. We have an extra day to rest and prepare. And, Mara is still waiting in the wings to make his case for the first team. Lavia will be a big miss though I'm hoping Ralph's immediate post match comments were expectation setting and we'll know more in a day or two once he's been properly assessed and had a chance to rest. Diallo and JWP looked good as the two at the base of our midfield.

Struggled between ABK, Adams, KWP and Lavia... Went for Adams

Boom. Get in!