VectisSaint

Would be surprising if it was someone who has just arrived in China. On the other hand Boufal or Carrillo would hardly count as a surprise. Suggests it might be Cedric, Yoshida or least likely Bednarek, if true.

Actually its 5 u21s, so that we mean 3 over the 25 man limit

No that's not how it works. But I think I'm right to say there are 7 U21s on the trip. So assuming Boufal and Carillo are off and with 3 to come back from WC we are 1 over (26).

Not seen a list of who is travelling but some notable omissions from the pre-season training photos/videos other than the expected WC absentees and the new guys of course: Bertrand, Long, Carillo, Hojbjerg, McCarthy. I think Davis is in the background of one picture (13) but not certain. Clasie is there. Can't read a lot into these media shots but strange that some of the senior players were not around.

He never was. Even in the days when clean sheets were kept it was blindingly obvious that he was dodgy at best, behind a brilliant defence and midfield. he had one or two outstanding games, but always looked clumsy, slow and lacking in authority. Then our "goalkeeping coach" got hold of him and he went from bad to worse.

I won't believe it until I hear it fom Spar, Mace or the Co-op. Just hope he works out better than our last Norwegian signing.

Noticed him fleetingly inside an office, he's definitely there. Unfortunately. Hopefully he is busy arranging buyers for Forster, Boufal and Redmond (and our "goalkeeping coach").

No great loss (he has been great for us in the past), now if we can get shot of Redmond and Sophie and replace with two good creative midfielders things will look much better. Dusan was great for the last 8 games last season but a liability for the previous 30 and for much of the season before as well. He was also great for us when Ronald took over, but players abilities wane with time, we should not cry about a player who used to be great leaving, especially if we get half decent money for him. he used to be good but now he is avreage at best, it happens, the crime would be to hold on to a player because of his past glories.

Really find it odd how people lump players together who really play very different roles, Romeu and Ward-Prowse for instance. The holding midfield and the attacking midfielders at least are two very different roles, OK so some players can play both, Davis for instance often was employed in the defensive midfield role (and struggled) whereas his best position is in the more advanced role, which is the roles that Armstrong is most suited. Anyway we all (I thought) know that Clasie is off, Reed has struggled to break through, the only way I can see him being a part of the plans for next season is if Hughes employs him as a backup for Cedric, as that is the position he did well at Norwich. Davis is probably not "off" but its pretty clear that he won't be around for much longer and is not reliable enough to play the whole season. I am also beginning to wonder whether JWP is going to be moved on, he has been much better in the last couple of seasons but really has not kicked on enough to hold down an automatic place, useful squad player but nothing more. Lemina is unreliable, Hojbjerg has not been convincing, played very well a couple of times but never really showed that consistently, and both he and Lemina have been "rumoured" to be unsettled. So that leaves Romeu, our best defensive/holding midfielder. So I can see quite easily our main middle three being Romeu, Lemina and Armstong, with Hojbjerg and Davis fghting for places. If we can keep those three anf keep them fit that would be a pretty good central unit in my opinion, with a couple of decent options as backup.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/06/26/danny-ings-leave-liverpool-summer-seek-regular-first-team-football/ Surely worth looking at. Wouldn't lose out to Leicester for family reasons, just what we need up front.

He played 27 out of 38 SPL games, 2 injury periods (out with knee injury for 6 SPL games in Jan/Feb), hardly "not been a regular" despite the contract dispute at the beginning of the season (he didn't sign new contract until August). Played 41 times in all competitions, including 10 Champions League.

Fortunately he never looked anything like that when he played for his employer. Bloody awful team and players look crap.

Don't think it means Davo leaving. But he is not reliable as Hughes found out at the end of last season, makes sense to bring in a replacement/competitor/backup for his position going into his last season. They could probably play together in some circumstances. In the past I thought Davis might go back to Rangers, but can't see Gerrard wanting that (don't know why, just doesn't feel like the way Stevie G will go). Think Davis is possibly being lined up for a coaching role once he retires. have we even heard any news about his injury? Diid he have an op as was suggested. Can't see us offloading our club captain.

Not renewed. Last season finished it for me, missed quite a few games, ****ed off with the appalling football, hacked off with the hassle of travelling to games. I'll still go to games I expect, just not as many and won't feel an obligation. Don't feel too bad, after over 50 years of support, find it hard to support current owner and the muppets running the club.

It did, because he initially did not want to sign, he wanted to leave last summer, and made it known fairly forcefully (after we showed interest in signing him). He reluctantly signed an extension last summer knowing that Celtic were giving him the new contract so they could make a better deal when he did go, otherwise he would have been able to leave on a free this summer. No commitment to Celtic so Brenda knew then he was going to leave and decided to find an alternative as he was no longer part of the future for Celtic. On top of that he picked up some injuries.

Looks like Davis understudy/replacement, as well as alternative to Wilshere. Not likely connected with Tadic. Last season performance E at Celtic has to be taken in context of contract dispute starting last summer. Brenda has sidelined him somewhat because he knew he was going.

He's better than Gardos who he is replacing, so improvement already.

As long as we are getting rid of Boufal and Redmond as well, and replacing all three with 2 proper creative AMs then I don't see an issue. These three were the major cause of our appalling season and apart from 8 games at the end by Tadic none provided anything to the team. Credit Tadic with being very influential in the last quarter under Hughes, but he has been getting worse each season since his first under Koeman and really will not be upset if he goes, especially if someone is mad enough to pay 15m whatevers for him. Bottom line is getting good replacements though, players who can create, play for the team and don't consistently give the ball away in dangerous areas/at dangerous times (all reative midfielders give the ball away, its part of being creative, its when and where that is the problem).

Clearly replacement for Steve Davis who is probably going into his last year with us and is struggling to keep the fitness levels needed. In my opinion Jack would be just what we need, a combative, creative midfielder with leadership qualities. Only concern I have is his tenda y to be a knob off the field.

He was only 23/24 then, younger than Hoedt/Stephens, another year of experience since then, probably matured a lot, still only 1 year older than Jack and Wes.

Some on here will be disappointed, a modern football playing CB, modestly tall 6' 1", not as tall as any of our current CBs, i.e. more suited to the current PL. Hope we get him, has been decent for Boro, will give us decent options for 3 at the back, possibly pushing Hoedt out until he gets over his current lack of concentration.

Bloody hell, you must have been watching a different game, thought he was awful (defensively) against an awful team. Looked nervous, was quite good going forward though I would concede. Stones was also gash, those two will get slaughtered if (when) they come up against a half decent team. Mind you having Henderson in front of them didn't help.

Well 10 minutes longer than for us :-)

Mouez Hassen in goal for Tunisia, at least we get to see him play, unlike for Saints.

Basically the same as the tweet posted earlier, but JM pictured leaving Matty Targett trailing in his wake: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/06/17/leicester-city-make-20m-bid-norwich-forward-james-maddison/