sockeye

I more meant in an attacking sense.

Based on that showing today the midfield needs serious work. Middlesbrough’s Azaz - worth looking into?

Most of the standouts this preseason have been those who weren’t in the side last year. Food for thought.

Stephens needs to go. It is gross incompetence from top to bottom if he appears during the Wrexham game. Utterly awful player and a symbol of our mediocrity over the last few years. I don’t want to hear how much passion he has, he should not be at the club.

Great captain material though

5, the skates will get us over the line.

Stephens: I just sort of space out for about an hour

If he's got pace and power, could be a good option to bring on as a sub to inject a bit of energy into the side in the closing minutes of the game and reduce the risk of conceding due to tired legs and minds (which would probably be exacerbated in a high press system), which is something that has happened too often with Saints.

Those Captain Tsubasa kits are tidy. What a classic.

I can only guess it’s a classic “start at an outrageous price, then a rip-off is a good deal”. I reckon he goes for 6m.

Nobody is paying that.

Wednesday doing a good job of clearing the deadwood, take note Saints

I must say I am a little bit worried. It's been 3 weeks since Larios left and we've failed to shift any more players in that time. There's been nothing substantial about incomings either. We had one of the earliest relegations from the PL in history, they have had a long time to get their ducks in order. Obviously there is still a considerable amount of time left in the window, but we are lining up against Wrexham in just over 2 weeks. We then have a tough away against an automatic promotion rival in Ipswich. Building momentum in that first month is crucial. This season will be very competitive, and we need to start strongly. If we concede soft goals or our attack is meek (so many of our signings in the last 2-3 years just cannot hit a barn door) then it will be very troubling.

Very glad this era is now behind us. Seeing that gave me some kind of flashback

From our perspective, letting him go out on loan to a higher-placed club satisfies his desire to be in the mix for the World Cup squad but allows us to keep him in the medium-term if we were to be immediately promoted.

I think Ramsdale is a good keeper, and were we to have stayed up, would be one of the first pieces of a genuine PL quality team. I would think a £25 million price tag puts nearly all the other PL clubs off though rather than them thinking he’s crap. (Also, probably not a massive upgrade on their current options.)

Ramsdale to Sunderland has gone quiet.

Apparently so. "You played alongside and were captained by James Ward-Prowse at Southampton, so what has he told you about the Club? “Everything! Since he’s been there, like I said, I’ve been linked a few times and he’s been trying to make it happen and the last few days he’s been speaking to me and telling me that I’ll really enjoy it. So again, I’m really looking forward to it. I’m excited and I think I’ll settle in really quickly.”" https://www.whufc.com/news/kyle-walker-peters-first-interview

Raphinha

Matsuki.

Still states that the squad taken to Girona will be trimmed. I suppose those left out are going to be the ones we want to ship out. Wonder if the club will refuse a sale past a certain point in the window.

I don't know what was going on at Staplewood, but what I saw in every game last term was a strong start for 15 minutes before most of the squad began to blow smoke

Very glad Still is pushing the players' fitness hard and that he's playing them to their strengths. Simple ideas that were missing for far too long...

They may be disappointed to hear that only those in Islington North can vote for him.

Five five games unbeaten