Matthew Le God

If you relocated Stadium:MK to Southampton and filled it with 30k+ Saints fans, why would the atmosphere be worse than at St Mary's? In any case, the discussion was about the quality of the stadium, not the people that fill it.

Video interview with him last night.... http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34062586

That was a quarter final, not the 3rd round potentially in a month of Premier League & midweek European games.

The return soon of Clasie & Bertrand from injury, plus possibly van Dijk added to the match day squad and we'll look a lot better.

The training galleries from the last week show Ramirez training with the first team squad.

Sutton doesn't understand the rules either, because the ref shouldn't give a penalty and red card for such a handball when the ball was in the back of the net a split second later. Had the ref not deemed it a foul by Celtic he should have just allowed the goal to stand with no need for a penalty or sending off.

In La Liga... 2013/14 - 15 starts + 14 games coming on as a sub 2014/15 - 10 starts + 20 games coming on as a sub

2013/14 - he played 29 out of 38 league games and in 11 Champions League games 2014/15 - he played 30 out of 38 league games and in 7 Champions League games

Koeman not using a zonal marking system would. Its very hard to win a header if the manager wants you to statically mark space as opposed to the opponent who is able to take a run and jump at it.

If the manager decides your team are zonal marking, the players are going to be static holding positions. The attacking players have a big advantage as they can more easily attack the ball. If van Dijk plays for Koeman he'd be man to man marking at corners and would have a far better chance of winning the ball. Zonal marking is a daft idea by managers and it makes things extremely difficult for their own players.

I couldn't see them making our bench, let alone the first XI. So little incentive for the club or player to agree to a loan.

Saints don't zonal mark at corners. Blame the Celtic manager.

Who said it wasn't?

Thats what happens when you zonal mark at corners.

Why would their clubs agree or the players want to come? They'd be unlikely to get game time ahead of players we already have in those positions both in the XI and bench. Its a centre back we need.

BT Sport Europe

If it does I'd hope Koeman makes an exception and fields our strongest possible side. Unlikely I know, but it isn't your typical Premier League team vs 4th tier team match and I'd like us to rip them apart by as big a margin as possible. Bizarrely they still clutch onto the 1-1 and 2-2 draws in 2011/12 Championship season when we were promoted and they were relegated. Even more bizarrely they still clutch onto the 4-1 match in 2005, when a decade later there is a vast gap between the two clubs in every possible regard.

That doesn't stop players leaving. Players have to agree to the contracts, plus once a player is down to 1 or 2 years left the problem arises regardless if a top club wants him. They did with Schneiderlin last summer and they weren't accepting the first offers for the other players. Although they've been sold, Saints have received huge amounts of money, so they are hardly a soft touch.

I didn't say it wasn't a factor, I just said I think it is unlikely to be the main factor. A player could live in London and commute to Staplewood if he really wanted, live halfway between the two or even live in Hampshire and visit London quite easily whenever they want.

As I expected.

Based on what?

You've mentioned the key one... lack of loyalty bonus. It increases the amount of money the selling club get and so a transfer offer becomes more attractive to them compared to giving away some of it as a loyalty bonus. For example which is more attractive to Everton to convince them to sell...? a) Stones makes no transfer request, Chelsea bid £30m and Everton have to give Stone £2m in loyalty bonuses leaving them with £28m. b) Stones makes a transfer request, Chelsea bid £30m, Everton keep £30m. (for sake of this example I'm ignoring money owed to Barnsley) Plus it acts as official confirmation the player is unhappy and wants to leave.

I'm not sure why you think the last of those is the most important. I doubt players would put it above the other points you mention in a list of priorities.

When the elite clubs come calling with significant interest Everton and Spurs sell. What players have West Ham had in recent years that would interest Champions League clubs?

A Chelsea/Man City/PSG style takeover. Although very rich, Liebherr isn't running the club in that way. But we have still risen from 68th to 7th in English football between 2009 and 2015. So the Liebherr's can hardly be knocked for what they've done. If Saints didn't have players the top clubs wanted then that is the time to worry, as it would indicate the quality of our squad has declined from the level of the last two seasons.