trousers

But isn't that piecemeal approach too risky as he may run out of negotiating time in due course, or be usurped by an earlier bid from another team? Contracturally, is there any obligation to purchase a player if a bid is accepted? If yes, then I understand the stepping stone approach, but if there is no obligation then I can't see any advantage in delaying bids for the 2nd, 3rd, etc, choice layers on the wishlist.

Time for a sweepstake on our first signing of the window. 13th Jan for me

Why are we only bidding for two players (as far as we know)? Let's say the average success rate of getting a bid accepted is 25% we could end up getting no-one if we cast our net too selectively. Why not target, say, 10 - 15 players who CDAJFU and put a bid in for each early doors. We can always back down on some of the deals if we get too many bids accepted. But there again, I know nothing about football management.

How can a manager arbitarily not rate a player who has played for their country and in the Champions League? Surely it's either a personality clash or, as Pardew suggested in an interview a while back, that Saga doesn't fit into his way of playing. That doesn't mean he doesn't rate him as an individual per se. IMHO of course

Why would Pardew only be looking at the pool of 'available' players? Surely he should be looking at ALL players and targetting the ones he feels he needs? 'Available' or not. Surely?

Keane set out to wind up Saints fans. Sounds like he was successful. Why give him the satisfaction of taking his bait? The more people that try and goad and abuse him the happier he'll be. Think about it.

Well, since you ask....[bANG] [THUD]

hmmmm... Whoops, pondering has started early...

Wouldn't surprise me. Gosh, an ironic thought has just popped into my head....say we get P*mpey in the next round at home, we could inadvertantly end up helping to keep them afloat by attracting a full house and TV income....I can see the headlines now...."Saints Fans Save Pompey's Bacon".....unless no-one turned up of course....

I think we should give Pardew a bit more time to be honest. Oh, you meant a new player...?

The decision was largely made for him. The fact we are in a period where we have no league game for 11 days made it a no brainer for him to pick his '1st team'. Had there been a league game in 3 days time I'm sure a few 1st choice players would have been rested, and rightly so.

Sign a few new players next week please Mr Pardew and Mr Cortese

Easy

Can I log back on yet?

Why do Saints always score the moment after I logon? Most annoying....

Lambert!

Bad sauce?

Looking at my tea leaves this morning there are indeed signs that Mr Lowe is in tha background stirring things up. It will emerge that he was pulling some strings which helped reveal some of PFC's darker secrets and ultimately lead to their demise. He will then be welcomed back to St Mary's as a hero and take over from Mr Leibherr once our Swiss saviour's mission of returning the club back to Premiership football has been accomplished. Damn tea leaves - I'm sticking to beer in future.....

True, but if Saints are still going to mount a serious push for the playoffs, and Pardew believes that we need to strengthen in certain areas to give us the best chance of that, then we need to sign those players before the next league game rather than towards the end of Jan. If we don't make any significant signings next week I'll be starting to ponder.

I agree with playing a stong team today on the basis that anyone rested would not be playing a first team game for 11 days otherwise. I suspect that's Pardew's stance too - i.e. he's not playing a strong team on principle (per se) just that he doesn't have a lot of choice in order to keep up player's match fitness. If we had an important league game on Tuesday I'd venture that Pardew would be resting several '1st choice' players today.

I'm coming to the same conclusion

Logically, the 'qualifying' games for a given tournament are not actually part of the tournament they are qualifying for. The clue is in the word 'qualify'. That said, I am assuming the FA don't bother themselves with trivialities such as logic so I guess in the eyes of the FA it will be classed as the same competition. But if it's the same competition then why call the early rounds 'qualifiers' rather than...ahem....round 1, round 2, round 3 ... (you get my drift...perhaps...)

cheers! Now where did I put my chocolate teapot... :-)

Saga is an international and champions league player - Leeds should be offering us beckford + cash, surely? On second thoughts.... ;-)