RobM

Sky are reporting Morgan is a doubt. Not sure how true that is.

Billy Sharp to Ipswich seems the current rumour.

If they do get promoted, it'll be fascinating to see if Hammond stays with them and gets to play in the Prem.

Good move for him, he did very well for us and will do the same for Leicester City I'm sure.

Last season they had players who are now working with the first team. Take your best players out of any team and you'll notice a difference.

No surprise really, I'm sure they aren't the only club looking at him. He's a talented, young, English left-back who can defend as well as attack, has pace and is still developing. There won't be many teams that won't have at least looked at him. Doesn't mean he's going anywhere though.

Why do you think he has been singled out? The club haven't terminated his contract or put him on the transfer list, somebody came in for him, he has asked to go, we have said yes. That's not being singled out, that's being allowed to leave. Those players who have even less to offer will no doubt experience the same if somebody wants to buy or loan them, but that doesn't seem to be happening at the moment.

I do believe our manager knows how many games are in a season, yes. Our squad needed to trim down, would you prefer we kept on paying the wages of those 14, just so we had a big squad? Do you really think Chaplow and Co. would be able to contribute positively to our team? And let's not forget our younger players coming through, who don't count towards our maximum squad size, but do seem ready to take the place of Hammond, Sharp and others. Seems sensible to me, we get the quality cover we need, we promote youth players, we give youth experience and occasional playing time, we save wages and we do all this without any sacrifice in quality (based on what we've seen so far).

Perhaps that's because nobody has come to us and asked to take him. Somebody did with Puncheon and we seem to have said yes. Same with Hammond, Barnard, Sharp etc... when somebody wants them, I'm sure we'll look at their offer. But if nobody wants him...

We offered the contract as we don't want him to walk out for nothing and, I assume, still believe he has something to offer us (he does, IMO). But if the chance to play more regularly comes along, should we say no and make him sit on the bench? If he was so incredibly good that he was guaranteed a starting place it would be different. But he isn't, he's not even in the first 6 or 7 names on the teamsheet and we have other options in his position. If he was happy to sit on the bench and wait, superb for us to have that option. But I say fair play to the lad for wanting more regular games. As somebody quite rightly says above, it's not Punch of Saints that would have instigated this, but Palace. It's not like we signed him up and have now said he isn't good enough, off you jog...

So negative, why the hate and anger? What if the conversation was actually Palace asking about him, Punch asking us if he would get regular games, us saying we can't promise that but he will get game time, but us also respecting he wants to play week-in, week-out? We were never going to offer him a guaranteed starting place, so if somebody else is and playing is his priority, why stand in his way? So long as the club feels they have the right cover in the squad, we're all good.

No doubt: 'Who's to blame for our relegation' 'Who's to blame for us going bankrupt' 'Who's to blame for St.Marys being shut down'

These strengths you list make him a good partner to Lovren, IMO. Yoshida showed this last season, there were times where his reading, timing, composure and control really made the difference. Put that alongside Lovren and you have a good partnership, IMO. That said, I do agree with the sentiment that it is an area we could still upgrade. But that's a sign of how far we've come, when two international defenders are considered a weak link.

I thought it was a great debut performance, but when you consider he is naturally a midfielder it seems even better, IMO. We've witnessed far worse players in that position who are naturally defenders.

Prefer Whiskey, thanks all the same.

Hopefully not for long. And I suspect you've missed the point of this thread, mate.

Holloway is a Championship manager and an egotistical, arrogant cock, which are my reasons for wanting him to get sacked first.

Holloway. I hope.

Great performance, fantastic debuts all round, great to see Chambers step-up and take the pressure off of Shaw and Clyne, good attacking performance today, Lorven looked impressively good and Wanyama, what a signing he looks to be! The only downsides... we still look nervous defensively at times, Fonte looks the weak link and we gave away 24 fouls, which is a worry statistic. We needed to be tougher, but I worry it'll end in injuries and suspensions. Still, great performance and a bloody brilliant start to what looks to be a very promising season. MOTM for me... Wanyama, closely followed by Shaw.

Rickie scored, 0-1, WBA went on a very good attacking run, had a great header that Boruc saved excellently, Cork has come on and we're now looking OK in the last few seconds.

**** the bed that was close! Nearly 1-1

Rickie takes... Rickie scores! Great time to score too.

PENALTY!!! To Saints, I should add. Well done Shaw!

Yes, he has. More than one in fact. Shaw's long-range effort has been my favourite so far.

Are you suggesting it stopped in pre-season?