Matthew Le God

Targett, Reed, Seager (and Ward-Prowse) were the only under 21s players training with the 1st team today.

It was mentioned in the commentary last night that McQueen and Sims are injured.

People keep bringing up Long's price of £12m but for a domestic transfer it isn't out of place. If it was 2004 then £12m would be a lot of money. But it isn't... its 2015 and £12m is the price you have to pay for a striker like Long in the current market. The English to English club transfer market is at the level where if someone has a good season in the Championship clubs start asking for £10m+, so £12m for Long isn't out of place. It will get even more inflated with the new TV deal from 2016 onwards. 3 years ago is still historic. I don't see how "big" Saints transfers before the Liebherr takeover are particulary relevant. We have new structures and scouting/recruitment systems in place and of the thirteen £7m or more deals Saints have done only Ramirez and Osvaldo haven't worked out.

Have they? Since 2012 when Saints signed Jay Rodriguez for £7m and broke the 11 year transfer record set by Rory Delap (£4m in 2001) they have signed the following players for £7m+ Succeses at Saints Rodriguez £7m Wanyama £12.5m Pelle £8m Long £12m Bertrand £10m Lovren £8.5m Tadic £11m Mane £11m Forster £10m Recent signings Clasie £8m van Dijk £13m ​I think both Clasie and van Dijk will end up green Failures Ramirez £12m Osvaldo £13m

That doesn't by itself mean he is not injured. Do you know for sure he isn't injured?

We had a stronger team than that in the last round against a relegation threatened Championship team. Koeman clearly wants to win a trophy and picking a side like you have suggested won't do that.

Shane Long played in 39 games for Saints last season (32 of those in the Premier League) and has played in 8 games so far this season.

Probably because Sky are showing three games on Sunday and they need a later kickoff to do all they want in between each of them. 12:00 Sunderland vs Newcastle 14:05 Man Utd vs Man City 16:15 Liverpool vs Saints

Davis/Gazzaniga are 3rd/4th choice for Saints. Take the best two keepers out of every other Premier League team and a lot of them would struggle.

In 2013/14 - Rodriguez was on the left, Lambert central, Lallana right In 2014/15 - Rodriguez injured for entire season In 2015/16 - Tadic is on the left left, Pelle central, Mane right

I'm confused how you've come to this. Are you suggesting if Saints had signed Ings that whilst a Saints player he would have injured his knee in a Liverpool training session?

4 weeks from now takes us to mid November.

Are you implying it means something? I doubt Koeman informs the media team of his selection choices, plus Clasie rather than Ramirez is probably more likely to have Long's spot on the bench.

Rumours about Mane, Pelle and Fonte all unfounded. All were in training today.

One person said... And you've managed to twist it to "one of the best strikers in the world". He was talking solely about target man strikers, not all strikers. I don't think its unreasonable to think Pelle starting now regularly for Italy would rank highly among other target man strikers currently in world football. How many can you name that would do a target man role better?

He has been back in training for weeks and played in the friendly against Ajax last Thursday.

He is also injured and recently seen wearing a protective boot in the stands at Newcastle games.

I very much doubt that would be enough to tempt Saints to sell their best player mid-season. He'll probably be sold summer 2016 for a huge price, especially as the new 2016-2019 TV deal will inflate transfer fees even more. I'm not saying we'll get this price... but is Raheem Sterling at £49m really significantly more effective than Sadio Mane? Mane has given Chelsea the runaround in three games now, he is a huge threat to any defence in this league.

Reed and Gallagher are with England under 20s. Ward-Prowse, Stephens and Targett are with England under 21s.

Those aren't proper international dates in the calendar, so if the friendlies with Guinea on 16th and 23rd October are going ahead then I very much doubt Mane will be playing in them so close to a Premier League game. http://www.fifa.com/associations/association=sen/index.html

Perhaps something like... Gazzaniga/K.Davis Mugabi McCarthy Caulker Debayo Clasie Romeu Ramirez Juanmi Rodriguez Long Subs: K.Davis/Gazzaniga Wood Isgrove McQueen Gape Hesketh Seager Sims Little

The first Premier League game at Anfield for their next manager will probably be vs Saints...

Spurs losing means Saints are currently up to 8th in the live league table.

He starts over Martina as as a left back when Bertrand was injured because Targett is a natural left back and Martina isn't. However when up against each other for a place on the bench as the backup fullback that matters less and Martina is the more senior player. With Bertrand back fit Targett will probably play for the under 21s (like Reed does) to get game time.