OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint

Haven't Arsenal offered to pay the last year's wages of one of their players to help with the transfer? Like Trousers has intimated, I'm hoping after the Newcastle game we will make one last push for him. Am guessing we will still do a couple of loan signings. Let's hope there's some quality out there wanting to come our way. Last time in the premier league we brought in the experience of Maitland-Niles on loan!

It was a good day out and yes, Tall Paul was one of the best players on the pitch. I'm not so sure RM has totally given up on him. Getting a few minutes in the last pre-season suggests RM realises our options are very limited up front and he may well bring him on from the subs bench. And with Suguwara showing he can cross the ball, that's not such a dumb idea.

He probably is still worth a good wedge but I'd like him to stay and I don't believe it's that difficult to change tactics slightly to accommodate him. At the moment, our goalscoring ideas seem to be THB threading a through ball and a slow build up down the wing which fizzles to nothing. Whenever Alcarez had the ball, you felt something could happen and opportunities would open up and to be fair to him, they often did. Yes, he loses the ball a lot but surely the team can work out what to to do when that happens. And as for ABK, from the stands you could tell his attitude stank. OK, not everyone has to show Lyanco style passion but he didn't seem to care and did seem to want off injured at the earliest opportunity. So it comes as no surprise when Blackmore says he's a bad egg. One of the worst in that crap team of two years ago

We know why. Buying a crock has worked before (eg. Danny Ings), so we bought this guy on an 'injured' discount hoping the plan would work again. I feel very privileged to have actually seen him live at one of his cameos at Huddersfield last year and he was very ordinary. Dibling's got more about him.

And I also think he would be a key player for us in the premier league, especially if with play with two wing backs. Newcastle didn't play him in that role (nor did we in his first few games), and he showed how good he is in those last couple of games of the season. He's more than a squad player, depending on our formation, he could be one of the first names on the teamsheet.

See where you're coming from, but people are talking about O'Riley as if he's the new Messi. Perhaps we can use that bid money to go towards a striker because you're right, and we all know, we need a striker who's going to knock in at least 10/15 goals this season.

West Ham have spent another £27m on the striker Fullkrug. Apart from selling us Downes, they haven't done a lot of sales, so they must still have some of the Rice money left over. But will they still bid for KWP? Here's hoping not.

Think this is more likely than the 4 or 5 - 0 doom forecasts. Teams are quite tentative for first few games. Dibling has been one of the standouts in the pre-season friendlies. Again at Millwall he looked good. Wonder if Russ Martin will do with Dibling like he did with Sam AA last year ie. give him a couple of sub try outs and then maybe even a full game to show his worth. Otherwise, who stands in the middle and please don't say Adam A?

Used to read this website for years before joining and maybe it was his name tag, but always read Dalek's comments. Don't know if he's now looking down from above, but we'll be ok this year. Prefer 17th and an interest/escape in the final games to mid-table mediocrity. Unfortunately, Everton don't do relegation. Ipswich will join Leicester and Forest.

Bit early. Usually there aren't for friendlies but check on this thread just before the game tomorrow. Thanks St. Neal for finding the last one for Wednesday's game and if there's a link to be found and he's around, Convict Colony can normally find it.

Exactly. SR/the recruitment team may have a blind spot when it comes to our goalkeepers, but in their eyes, I'm sure they think that's sorted. Mac will be our No1 choice goalkeeper this season. And RM will stick by him. Just like Baz was undropable last season despite his record, Mac will be undropable too.

Everyone is expecting Leicester to get a points deduction. Team spirit and 'sum of the parts' counts for a lot. One of RM's strengths is that the squad seems united and working for each other. Win a couple of games early on and we can finish way above the relegation zone.

No KWP? Appreciate there are rumours but he surprised some last year by not moving on and he could do the same again this year. Guessing/hope RM will go three at the back.

I agree, these friendlies give some useful pointers and if they were that meaningless, they wouldn't play them. What I noticed was:- - The Vicar (of Dibley) played the whole game so reckon he is part of RM's plans. Could well be a sub in league games. - Where are our chances going to come from? Today, they looked to Edozie to run down the left and cross but he still can't seem to provide that end product and to THB to lump a meaningful pass through the middle. We need more options. - Do like Sugawara. - Would like us to sign Fraser. Not too sure the flat back four will work in the premiership

Yes, the thing about those friendlies is you can pick up some of the coaching staff's comments on TV. Half expecting the standard "Apologies to anyone who has been offended by the language...." And I thought Ronnie Edwards played well in that last friendly. Certainly didn't hear the coaching staff whingeing at him...

I get the impression tickets are going to the person rather than who bought them, and if the person is a registered supporter with an email address, the ticket will go to them and not the purchaser.

Apparently he's learning Spanish so he can sing his country's national anthem! Rather sounds like this is our striker signing. Is he better than AA playing a centre forward role? Can't be any worse. England international no less (albeit U19s).

I also clearly missed this. I thought THB, Downes and Fraser would all be key players this coming season with the Bournemouth loan duo going back to their club. Bearing in mind RM stumbled across the three at the back plus wing backs and Fraser filled that wing back role perfectly in the last couple of games (arguably man of the match at Wembley), I thought he was one of our priorities. Who's going to fill that role now or are we going to use a flat back four? The next couple of friendlies may give us some clues.

Exactly, and that's why Edozie should not be put in the same hat as Sulemana and Mara. Those two are wasting too much time and too much space which should be given to the likes of Dibling & SAA to show their worth, especially as these friendlies move from warm-ups to pre-season tactics. But boy, doesn't our front line look weak? Already liking Ronnie Edwards looks very good at the back.

All very reasoned, Turkish, but it could be argued he will have more opportunities to be in the spotlight and show off his talents with a Saints team playing against other premiership clubs teeming with internationals. I believe Matt O'Riley is Danish so may be open to playing outside the UK more than others, but look how Lavia shone in our team a couple of years ago and got a dream move...not that we're going to be a team full of crap like that season.

I think playing in the premier league for a manager you know would be quite a draw. In fact, I'm sure to many players that would be preferable to upping sticks and playing in an inferior league albeit with a couple of European games in a season.

That's the weird thing. I always thought of him as a Shane Long. Likeable but genuinely awful, no real talent, when on goal he just thumped the ball as hard as he could but somehow we were worse last season when he didn't play. Good luck to him but now can we please have a real striker.

....to one of their players and then they hit the post. Suguwara will be a good first team addition. Lis didn't do his reputation much good, so it seems we're left with Mac and Lumley in goal, which is hardly a premiership goalkeeping dream team, unless they bring in someone else.

Commentator says that'll be a tongue twister as the season goes on "Suguwara to Sulemana". Easily solved. Don't play Sulemana. He seems to be given licence to roam the pitch and his touch still looks useless.

SAA certainly made an impression in pre-season games and as a sub, but like you say, one bad game and he was dropped like a stone. Don't recall him even come back on as a sub after that. Given there were a number of games when we were searching for goals, it all seemed strange SAA wasn't given more opportunities. He was often on the bench but RM always turned to Sule, Edozie, Fraser every time. On the basis that we can't/won't use SAA, Dibling et al, we have 5/6 weeks to replace Che/Mara.