VectisSaint

Assist for Davis, good build up by Tadic

When did Long come on?

What about if Virgil doesn't want to go to Chelsea? We can't make him. He has said he only wants to play for Liverpool.

It wasn't just money though was it, he was also made Captain (which is more important to both player and club than some on here seem to think), and that at a time when we already had a captain. That was a big deal for the Club and meant that the Club were already planning to relieve Fonte of that responsibility, which could only mean by getting rid. Something happened between VvD and the Club (Les) during the months that followed, presumably after January. Liverpool's approach was not the catalyst for change, it was a result of whatever that catalyst was (in my opinion). Would love to know what it was that happened to sour the relationship.

Bednarek is u21 as are Sims and Hesketh, they do not count towards the 25 man squad. We have 25 over 21s, no gaps at present. Gardos, Gazza and Gallagher are the most likely to be shipped out, or we may have a gap if that Virgill chappy is sold.

and keeper

You can't just sell a player to someone unless he wants to go there. This is not a slave market. He has stated that he only wants to play for Liverpool, maybe he would go to someone else if they made an offer, but its a bit simplistic to just says, "let's ell him to xyz...", it doesn't work like that. I would still like to know what it was that turned Virgil against Southampton in the period after he extended his contract and early 2017. People seem to think it was because Liverpool tapped him up or because he changed agents (do we know when exactly he changed agents, was that a cause of the issues or an effect). There have been hints that this all started back around January, what lead to him and Les Reed "hating each other"? It must have been after he was announced as captain, was it something to do with how his injury was treated (we have history of our medical staff falling out with players, Ramirez had a similar dispute with his dead leg problem), or was it something to do with Puel - this seems to be hinted at with regard to other players allegedly looking to leave (Bertrand, Tadic) who have now changed their minds. Don't know the answer, but feel that there is more to this situation than meets the eye, based on some hints by the ITKs on here. Personally think the Club should just dig their heels in and not agree to him leaving, whatever the price. If he stays will we renegotiate his contract (downwards) as he will presumably no longer be Captain (and was this why Fonte fell out with the Club and pushed to leave as I suspect). Its time that players started showing a bit more professionalism, as MLT says and behave in a more mature way.

Forster

Nice to have 2 Saints in the 5. Actually think Yeboah's is best as well (but voted for MLT). Would like to vote for Rod as well. Beckham's is the least good of the five, overrated ****.

Maybe it's because MoPe is planning to go 3 at the back. Just a thought.

Imagine the players are back in tomorrow, given they have just come back from training camp and we have a game on Wednesday.

If there was a metric for the pass before the assist you would see why. His corners are not great and that is the source of most of JWP's assists (together with his free kicks). But his strength is so often the pass that leads indirectly to the goal. Of course not many assists because we were so pathetic at actually scoring last season. The reliance by some people on the "number of assists" statistic in deciding whether a player is good or not is one of those things that highlights the ignorance of some modern day football fans. Don't get me wrong, we could do better than Davis, he is coming to the end of his career and we need to replace him, but at the moment he is still the best we have.

Bednarek is classed as under 21 (he turned 21 in April), so we have at least 2 spaces if needed. I assume that Gazza will still go out on loan

No and no.

Quite.

Daughter's arrived this morning. They could save some money and packaging by sending together.

Mine arrived this morning as well, but not my daughter's.

Yep, you didn't see my 2nd post. Senior moment. Anyway Saints lost on pens.

Doh, today's Thursday.

What isn't clear from the BBC report is that while its true we stopped Man Utd qualifying for the top part of the competition, they still finished 7 places above Saints in the overall qualifying standings, as we also lost to Cherry Orchard (Dublin) and drew with County Antrim. Next up Middlesbro in the Bowl semi-final, was played yesterday but can't see the result anywhere.

...and appears to be injured again this season already. It looks like now we are relying on Gazzaniga as backup (not that I think that is such a bad thing, he is certainly as competent as Forster and arguably as a fit McCarthy) because our other keeper (Taylor) is a non-playing keeper, and has been for almost the entirety of his career. I really don't understand why the club continues to be so blind to the goalkeeping position.

He was with us on loan, unlike Caceres. His loan ended, went back to Nice and now he has been loaned to Chateuaroux.

Was expecting him to have been back today, given that he tweeted last week that his holiday was over. I guess though that as his last game in Russia was 2 July and JWP/Redmond's last game was 27 June end of this week is probably more likely. Its a real drag these delayed player returns after summer internationals, really messes up pre-season. In future it will apply to the Africans as well, though I guess thats better than the current January/February window.

Strange to compare with Shaw, completely different situation. When Shaw made his PL debut, he was 17 years and 4 months, Jack was only 17 years and 3 months when we signed him from Argyle, it was hardly keeping him back from PL, he wasn't actually our player. Stephens also made his league debut when we were in the Championship (Coventry, away) so again difficult to "hold him back" from the PL limelight given we weren't in the PL then. But he has matured during his loan spells and at 23 is ready for the step up into the PL, and will, in my opinion, become one of the best CBs in the country in years to come.