VectisSaint

Agree, but I fear Lemina and Ralph do not see eye to eye. Striker is not a priority this window if Ings stays (as I believe he will). Full back(s) is top priority, sorting out GK and DM is next. I do expect us to make changes up front, but only in a one out/one in way, Long, N'Lundulu and Obafemi all potential outs

Ralph has not said this consistently. I think it was at the fans Forum he said it was a priority to provide depth in the centre of mid. He wants 2 for each position and currently we only have 3 first teamers in that area for 2 places, Oriol, JWP and Diallo. Unless he is now including Lemina or Jankowitz his plans have not been fulfilled. It is quite clear that we have a major shortage in CM as highlighted towards the end of last season, another season with injuries and we will be short again. Obviously it helped playing Armstrong there latterly, but that is not a solution, because it takes him away from his AM role, where he is better. Its great to know he can play there very effectively but until cloning becomes an option or we sign a better AM it is not a solution to the problem and I think Ralph will still be looking to bolster this area. We have starting quality but we clearly do not have depth.

As long as the £5m is guaranteed, it is the amount we have to work with, not £2.5m. Transfers are not generally transacted with cash in hand (unless your name is 'Arry). Obviously the unlikely add ons are a different matter.

Some good news then.

You clearly did not watch the last few games then. Your ill informed observation is much appreciated.

All a bit irrelevant if we continue to play 3 at the back, with wing backs.

JWP will not go to Villa, no matter what they offer, doesn't matter what Saints think. Doubt he would go anywhere, but if he did it would only be to a club that is a serious step up, i.e. so-called Big 6 or Europe, maybe Leicester. Villa does not give him much more than Saints (other than a pay rise), a move would be for an honour (trophy) or CL.

He's been on loan before to Dundee Utd in the Scot Championship.

Actually it is exactly that. Racism is despicable, and affects every colour and creed. The worst racism in this country tends to be directed towards Asians and even white Eastern Europeans (see Brexit), having a tag Black lives Matter is racist in itself (ignore the BLM organisation) and taking the knee is an American idea which sticks in the throat of many here. Support anti racism but do it in a way that is all embracing and uses some other symbol than an imported American idea.

6 league goals in the last 2 season (none last season) including in the Championship. Only ever scored double figures goals twice. Not exactly prolific. Reputation based on one good season 5 years ago.

A "dependable" defender; that would suggest the Torygraph don't know what the fuck they are talking about.

In what world do 'bidding wars' actually occur?

He played 5 times for us on the right, but he always plays left or centre for Celtic. He is right-footed so its no surprise that you would think he was a RW, but the reality is that he isn't.

Think you answered your own question there. What would have been the point of subbing Redmond at the end of the last game of the season. He was given opportunities to prove his worth in the experiments and in the final game he demonstrated conclusively how he could not cut it for Saints, even Ralph would surely have finally concluded that Redders was a waste of space.

Preferred, tried to get him to perform, but even Ralph saw eventually that it wasn't going to happen. There is no reason on earth that Ralph will not usher him out of the door, and to be fair, he could be someone who we might get a few quid for, people still see him as a good player, one of the promoted teams might think his experience his worth having (they'd be wrong but that's for them to find out). If we can't/won't shift players like Redmond then we have no hope of improving the squad for next season.

I think the problem is that people are just looking at this from one view. Of course we can't buy a load of extra players (other than a LB) but what we can do is wheel and deal and unload some of our (many) under performers and replace them with low cost alternatives in the hope that we may be able to improve the squad. We have at least 2 GKs we can offload (take your pick which ones), that surely was the point of the experiment at the end of the season. We have a RB surplus to requirements (Valery) and we have some AMs and forwards who we could get shot of (Redmond, Djenepo, Obafemi, N'Lundulu). Then of course there are the loanees, Hoedt, Moi, Lemina, Long. None of them will make us a lot of money obviously but would help to fund some replacements. We've also got some out of contracts which free up some funds, not just Bertrand, but Harry Lewis and unfortunately Sam McQueen, possibly others. Overall this could be a very busy transfer window without any significant net spend. Then again, it might not.

Really? We definitely need reinforcements in midfield, primarily to replace existing players (Redmond, Djenepo, Minamino) but also to strengthen in CM, as Ralph originally mentioned (but subsequently backtracked), we need to backup Romeu, JWP and Diallo, now possibly that could be helped by reintegrating Lemina. BUt we should definitely be looking to strengthen midfield, if not in numbers in quality.

I guess at least PvA would fit in to our defensive system well, good understanding of getting a tonking at St Mary's and contributing an own goal in the process. He is almost as old as Bertrand. Shirley you can't be serious.

Rose would be the fat bird, so hopefully we won't end up like that.

People turning their nose up at a player that hasn't played a competitive match for over a season and wasn't even included in the Squad for Spurs last season. Christ.

Not true. Teams have different facilities, at different locations, rules for use by the health authorities are devised on a case by case basis. I'm not entirely convinced that this was actually ever an issue, I'm sure things could have been done to mitigate, though perhaps financial constraints may have come into play.

Whereas the reality is that he conceded 3 or more in a game 10 times out of 31, which included a win (4-3 v Villa) and a draw (3-3 v Chelsea)

For the second and third at least McCarthy certainly wasn't the cause of the goals, appalling defending was the cause, you can't blame the keeper for either, but a better keeper may have got us out of the shit on at least one. For the first he was certainly at fault for pushing the ball out into a dangerous position, he should have turned it around the corner rather than parrying it back into the danger area. Nevertheless, any notion that Forster would have done any better is laughable, which is terrible to admit, but we have two below average keepers (four if you include Gunn and Lewis). I must admit I had high hopes that Andrew Sparkes might have improved us in the goalkeeping department, but there is no evidence that he has, no improvement on Dave Watson is not a great recommendation.

Today wasn't the first time he has been awful though. It was just the latest in a line of absymal performances. He was certainly very good last year up to Christmas, was like a new player from the one the season before. But since his injury he has reverted to type. Do you not remember the awful moment that ended up with him being red carded, it may have been rescinded but the error that lead to it was appalling, right out of the Wesley Hoedt drawer. He was shocking against Leeds as well. Its not the forum thats pathetic at times, its Vestegaard. Bring back the player that was playing before Christmas and we have a top class defender, still think he was probably a previously unknown identical twin, and since then he has gone missing again. Today he had to play alongside Calamity Bednarek as well which makes things even worse, we had at least seen an improvement while the back 3 had been Salisu, Vest and Stephens.

Vestegaard completely asleep, of course his was a significant factor in the goal. If that had been Stephens this forum would have gone into meltdown. Really piss poor defending from Bednarek and Vestegaard.