The Kraken

Nothing concrete, just that Martin said he’s training well and building himself back up after illness. Martin almost told what looked like it would be a funny story about him but got interrupted and the conversation changed tack. Overall said he’s been really well received by the group and is very happy to be here.

Leeds’ team has also been utterly decimated by loans out. Really can’t understand your logic of saying they haven’t had to los3 players due to relegation, they’ve lost loads as the post above yours shows.

Really? This summer Leicester have sold Maddison, Amartey, Evans, Mendy, Perez, Soyuncu, Tielemans and Barnes, all who have been senior members of their first team. Leeds aren’t any better off themselves having also seen a summer exodus of senior players.

Russ Martin speaks well. Very open and honest. I felt like he was going to relay a funny story about Flynn Downes at one point but he got interrupted. Interesting to hear him say he wasn’t happy with the Plymouth performance, made that clear to the group and expects a better performance against QPR. Could do with the Che situation being resolved one way or the other.

.

Definitely a good amount of soiled underwear to be washed later today from some contributors on here. Comedy gold reading some of the posts 🤣

The Spanish FA fella has gone off the reservation; he turned up at his resignation announcement and declared that he’s refusing to resign as it’s all a witch hunt. 🤪 https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/66609945

7 points from 9, Gordon 😉

CB is the one place I’d agree, although if we go further into the season with Bednarek and Stephens as starters, I still think that’s pretty decent for this level. Can’t see much else where we’re missing unless we lose players, and if we do that the club have said there will be replacements.

Seen you say this before, and this is a genuine question, where do you think we’re so deficient?

23 now. And I’m only passing info on, don’t shoot the messenger.

Just asked my WHam pal about him. “Amazing first season, dog shit last season. I think he could be a solid player but too patchy atm”.

You can say that again.

Yep, I thought that too…

You really are excited, the game isn’t until Saturday! 😉

Meh, I’m quite positive about where we are. I find it a good thing that we’ve only so far lost 3 or 4 genuine first choice players from last season (Salisu, JWP, Lavia plus Livra). It’s been great to see three ex-loanees come in and have such instant impact; Tella with goal impacts, Smallbone looked very tidy in midfield, and Stephens installed as club captain. A week to go yet but we’ve still kept hold of KWP, Perraud, ABK, Tella, Adams, Sulemana, Alcaraz; before the window I genuinely thought we’d lose all of those. Flynn Downes looks to be a great signing for this level, Shea Charles looks like an absolute prospect, and Sam A-A is a star in the making. And we’ve got 7 points from 9 playing football that is easy in the eye. I’m thoroughly enjoying the season so far, I very much like the incoming players who have come in and generally replaced the key players we have lost. A week of mayhem to go, but I see much positivity in where we are.

I wonder if Sean Dyche would be interested in a striker who is (supposedly) good in the air and previously banged in goals for fun in Europe. Going cheap.

Have another look and see if you can spot Zach Awe in the first pic. Hint: he’s wearing a Saints away kit.

The club statement reads: “Although disappointed to lose Livramento, the club chose to accept Newcastle’s latest bid as it both represented fair value for a player of his ability while the fee will also support the wider rebuilding project within the squad this summer.”

He might but does he really give us anything that Adam Armstrong doesn’t? I still think we could do with a Lambertesque striker, thought it would be Piroe but that ship is obviously sailing so who knows. Maupay, meh, and I’d imagine his wages would be considerable.

I’m sure he doesn’t know in full what’s going on, but I get the feeling that Che Adams is being open and honest with the club about wanting away and what options he’s talking through with other clubs. Saints dropped him from the starting line up for the first two league games as a move was looking likely, I get the impression there’s decent communication between him and Wilcox. Of course we’ll all be much happier when the window is closed and we can get on with the season, but I’m reasonably confident if Che leaves we’ll get a striker in. Whether he’s actually any good or not…….

The words of Russell Martin last week, from TalkSport: “I love Che as a player and a person, he’s fantastic and will be huge for us if we can keep him. I don’t know about the talks being ongoing, I’ll talk to Jason Wilcox tonight. “I’d love to keep him. If we don’t, we need to replace him. It’s that simple.”

Where are the press reporting this? The only rumours I’ve seen are that Saints turned down Everton’s bid because it was only £t5M up front and the rest over the duration of the contract.

Fear not lads, the always reliable football insider has said we’re putting in a double bid for Piroe and Wood that will “blow Leeds out of the water”. https://www.footballinsider247.com/sources-southampton-submitting-joint-bid-for-joel-piroe-and-swansea-teammate-to-blow-leeds-united-out-of-the-water/ That’s definitely him off to Leeds then…

If Adams doesn’t move I don’t think we can afford Piroe. Would be great to get some cash in for Tall Paul and then make the Piroe deal happen, but that’s pretty wishful thinking on my behalf.