VectisSaint

What about Bonio?

Yep, looks like he'll be at Staplewood a little earlier than expected. What a fecking useless pen.

There seem to be a few players not back, at least not noticed in any of the training pics/videos. Haven't noticed Armstrong, Bednarek, Moi, Long, JWP, PEH, Redmond, Gunn, Sims. Maybe one or two of them have been missed (by me) but it looks like anyone who was involved in any sort of international game during June is not here yet (even ones who were not actually selected for final squads).

The Italian season finished 2 weeks after the PL, plus he got married last week, probably agreed an extension due to that. All his antiSocial Media posts suggest he is no his way back from holidays.

When do you think Ralph is going to be able to watch him pre-season? He is at AFCON and won't be back in England much before the season starts (maybe 2 weeks depending on how Morocco actually get on). Expect them to beat Benin tomorrow, they could well go all the way, possibly to 3rd/4th place which is on 17th July. At least 2 weeks holiday after that, might see him a week before our first game.

Takes one to know one was the old school days explanation, certainly seems to fit the bill in this case.

Oops, forgot about Cedric, Carrillo, Boufal, Clasie and Hoedt, all of whom we expect to be shipped out.

You need 8 home grown players over the age of 21 if you are going to have a full squad of 25 (you can have a maximum of 17 non home grown players). We were already well stocked with home grown players last season, this reqlly isn't an issue any more. McCarthy, Stephens, Long, Ings, Austin, Gallagher, Ward-Prowse, Bertrand, Redmond, Gunn, Sims, Forster, Barnes, Adams. I make that 14 and I suspect there are one or two more that are now "21 or over" that weren't last season. I think we only have 9 non-homegrown over 21 players at the moment. Currently

You sure? He was in Utah on Saturday (Amangiri) after he got married. Perhaps he got an extended holiday for his honeymoon.

He won't be next week. The fact that he is permanently crocked and can't run is more pertinent than a random birth event.

The whole issue of using VAR for offside is pure madness. The offside law was never intended to be to penalise minute infringements, it was designed to stop what we used to call goal hanging, and the tactics that used to be employed to overcome it. It is only the re ent obsession with deciding if a player is half a millimetre offside or not that has resulted in VAR being employed. It should be perfe tly reasonable for a referee and lino to make a judgement unaided as to whether a player has gained a serious advantage or not without the need for technology. In most cases where the call is close the benefit should be given to the attacking player. People have simply lost sight of the reason for offside law. I think this is what Whitey was getting at, generally I reckon he is spot on with his assessment of the ridiculousness of VAR in this context.

Not often in agreement, but would bite their hand off. Must be the inflated market for him to be worth 8m.

Generally considered passing style?

The bit where you pass to a teammate.

Very unlikely, even if Morocco get knocked out athe group stage. Doubt he will be back much before end July by the time he has had his holiday.

I know referees are getting confused but didn't realise she thought the Matildas were playing Denmark.

Don't think Adams is the issue. Looks like he has already decided where he wants to be.

Really don't know what you think a premier league player should be, some people on here, you apparently included, seem to hve an idea that a premier league player is defined as someone who is better than any player currently playing in the premier league outside the top 2. Targett has shown often that he performs adequately in the Premier League. He may not be top PL quality but for a mid table team he can do a decent job. McQueen was certainly better (going forward) than Targett before his injury. Whether he can come back from that type of injury is a big question for sure.

No great surprise, RB doesn't seem to have been completely settled for a while, it may be that he has hinted he would be happy to move on. Bear in mind he also lost the captaincy to PEH. Targett is adequate, and we also have McQueen who should be back from injury soon, always thought he was better than Targett, but of course that was pre injury.

The real issue here is that due to the dates, the finals of the World Cup are being played to a different set of laws/rules to those played throughout the qualifying tournament. On top of that the players and officials have had no opportunity to get used to the new regulations and coach to the new (controversial) rules. VAR is not actually the issue here. FIFA have made an enormous cockup. Booking the keeper as well for this infringement is just madness as well, so do it twice and you are off.

Perhaps we could get Darryl Flahavan as well to replace Watson. Southampton lad (we could ignore his short spell with the Skates).

How is Ralph going to judge Boufal pre-season? He won't be back from AFCON and holiday until end July (like the new boy). Think Boufal's card was marked when Moussa was signed. We don't need a RB, at least not until we shift Cedric.

As things stand we already have 2, Cedric is still our player. Unless/until we shift him doubt we will sign another RWB.

He was on the bench, still new signing injured is indicative of the Southampton Way. ?

Didn't get any game time in today's friendly draw with Cameroon.