VectisSaint

Actually two very good examples, Jos will be in the first team, no doubts there (barring injury), it is Fonte that is debatable. As for Chung, he will be in the match day squad as soon as he is fit, and I fully expect him to be in the 1st XI before long.

"He looked confident and competent enough in a match treated with stunning indifference by the Southampton fans." Surprises me sometimes that 5000 pay to go to a friendly match, especially when it is live on free-to-air TV.

I really don't understand this type of comment. Why does getting a striker/midfield or whatever Theo actually is have any bearing on getting new CB(s) in? As far as I know its not an either/or situation. How many more times does it have to be repeated that Adkins has said he is still planning on bringing in more defenders?

Not just Adkins, interview with kids Saintsplayer said the same. But people on here don't listen, or have no patience. Its stii July Ffs.

Yes, the sooner Chung is fit the better.

Davis, Lee & Cork - thats 3 of them. Everyone, including Adkins knows we need at least 1 more CB and we are chasing a LB, I suspect we will still sign another front man. Not sure how much was NA getting it wrong and how much was us being 3 weeks away from season start (and Ajax being 1 away). We were poor for 20 minutes, but after that we outplayed them until they scored against the run of play and we had much the better chances, give it another 3 weeks, we will be OK, this is a very long pre-season - 7 weeks in all.

Partnership with Clyne looked promising as well, they seem to have a good understanding already. Guly works hard to cover for Clyne when he gets forward. Things were not so good when Richardson came on. Guly looked class today probably because he had more of a free role, the rotation in midfield was excellent at times. There were times last season when Guly was clearly asked to do a specific job by NA and those were often the times when he looked poor, he relishes the opportunity that a bit more freedom gives him. Adkins could have a tough job this season picking his midfield. Hope Morgan's injury is not too bad, he did look to be struggling at times.

Would like to know how far off playing Chung is. He was training in France, but maybe not ball work.

Shame he's gone, but clearly the writing was on the wall, not likely to be 1st or 2nd choice, as we are still chasing LB. He is a better defender than Fox in my opinion, I think Fox may be No 2 this season once we get new man in. Always liked Harding, reminded me a lot of Nick Holmes. Good luck Dan.

So does anyone know much about Jean-Armel Kana-Biyik? According to the Sun we are monitoring the Cameron [sic] defender.

Oh noes, Dalek's prediction is not going to be good. We're doomed. Your prediction was not good last year, and your prediction will not be good this year, so what. Anyone who seriously thinks that NC is aiming for a y-yo strategy is seriously out of touch with reality. Bit like people who advocate the return of Hoddle.

No. Not concerned with who we are linked with, since most of that is speculation & rumour anyway. Quite content with the actual signings so far, clearly there is more to come. The time to be concerned is when the PL kicks off (still more than 3 weeks away) and even then the transfer window has another 2 weeks after that. We will sign at least 1 CB and probably another GK, and maybe another MF. I don't want stars (aka mercenaries) coming in, but good quality honest players are what is needed. The team from last year would have been good enough for bottom half PL, unless we are trying to qualify for CL this season then the increase in quality does not have to be massive, people overestimate the difference between top 6 Championship and bottom half PL, it really is not much of a gulf.

I think he uses sign language :-)

I know this is meant in a light-hearted way, but how would you propose that Barny stays and helps out in the cup competitions? That would mean playing 1 or perhaps 2 competitive matches this side of Christmas (3rd Round of FA Cup is in January). Paying someone on good money to do nothing for 4 months is a nonsense. He doesn't need to play in the development/u21 squad, everyone knows what Barney is capable of, and in the end it is clear that NA does not consider him to be in his plans. Harsh but fair. Saints will be looking to sell him, or if that doesn't work loan him out with an option to buy.

That might be true, but Steve Davis is not a bellowing Northern Irishman. He is quite softly spoken (I refer you to SaintsPlayer if you have not heard him).

A loan with an option to buy. If Sharpe were not that much better then NA would acquire someone else, not replace him with Barnard, it actually wouldn't surprise me if we see another new striker yet, although I'm chuffed with what we have, is Hooper definitely a no-go now? In any case Sharpe is miles ahead of Barnard.

I think some are still not quite grasping the squad situation or the fact that he did not go to training camp in France. He won't be named in the 25-man squad, so he won't be able to play, except in cup matches or development squad games. He is also not 5th choice, Guly would be ahead of him as well, so at least 6th choice. He was left behind for a reason and will be shipped out one way or the other by September. I seriously doubt we will see him in a Saints shirt again, unless its in the dev/u21 squad. Forgot that De Ridder and Lens can also play striker, so guess that would put him 8th.

Slightly different though. Pardew wanted an outfield player as match day captain, we had almost completely changed the team and almost all the new signings were captains of their former clubs. We don't have a completely new team this season, indeed I could easily foresee a situation where all 11 starters against Man City would be players who were here last season, in fact I rather suspect this will be the case. Not saying that Jay Rod, Clyne and Davis won't play significant part in the season but at the moment at least that is the extent of the signings that will seriously impact the 1st team, with due respect to Gazza, hardly a new team. Still, we'll see, won't we. In my own opinion I would be more inclined to give the captaincy to Morgan.

The problem now is that it is much more difficult to work your way back into the managers plans. Once the squad is name in the first week in September that is it until January (unless you name less than 25). Even then you can only come into the squad if someone else is "dropped", so the question then would become who would you like to see dropped for Barnard to get back in, Lambert, Sharp, Rodriquez or Chung (because that is the reality)? I would hope none get a serious season-long injury. The other scenario is that Barnard sticks around and we get relegated (another scenario I hope not to see), even then would he get back in? Nope. Lets face facts, Barnard, together with Forte and Dickson are surplus to requirements and will I am sure not be around come the end of August, either due to transfer or at least a loan.

Seriously doubt it to be honest. You don't just parachute a new captain in, would be quite a kick in the teeth for some current players. Maybe Hammo won't be skipper but I bet it will be someone who has been with the club for a year or two min.

I think it may be this week, but would not really mean much until the end of the transfer window. Although squad numbers have to be confirmed, the squad itself does not have to be named until 1st week in September, so changes are allowed during that time. If Punch is alloacted a number all that we will know is that that number will either be with Punch or will be unused for rest of season (may be until end December, not sure). What may be interesting is if Punch is given a low number (1-18), rather than 42 or something high, now that might give us a clue.

In the case of Punch, I suspect he is on the fringe of NA's plans. In other words unless someone better comes along and assuming he gave a decent account of himself in France (which he appears to have done) NA will persevere with him, or may at least use him as a makeweight in a transfer. But if an opportunity to bring someone better were to arise Punch would find himself out of the squad. Different situation to Barnard, Forte & Dickson who will not figure under any circumstances, whose positions are already adequately covered in the squad and who will be set down from the bus as soon as a suitable alternative bus route is identified.

Unless we draw a lot of games of course. I am expecting somewhere about 12th. I hope we don't do so well that we qualify for Europe in any way, its a curse for newly promoted teams.

For English transfers the money is paid to the FA, who then deal with any sell-on clauses etc. Money does not change hands directly between 2 clubs. Not sure if there is equivalent for "international" transfers as in this case.

Think its bull as well, unless the Team GB Olympic team is there for some reason.