SNSUN

Old Brendan doesn't stop, even when he's not even Liverpool manager any more! This time casting lustful eyes over VVD. http://outside90.com/brendan-rodgers-i-tried-to-sign-southampton-star-for-liverpool/

I would have put a fat wedge of money on Hull, Sunderland and Swansea in December (had I had a fat wedge of money spare) as I thought they were all nailed on for relegation, but my God what a job Clement has done for the Swans. I thought selling Williams in the summer was like shooting themselves in the foot, but Mawson looks an astute purchase, Llorente and Sigurdsson look decent and their midfield is solid. Nobody has been cut away yet though so it could be anyone from Bournemouth down. However I think Sunderland's time is up, despite their usual late season resurgence, Moyes and his Everton rejects won't have enough about them defensively. Then there's Hull, who flogged their best players in January. Too risky of a strategy that. That's two spots taken. That leaves one slot between Palace, Leicester, Boro and Bournemouth. Wilson's injury could hurt Bournemouth, but they might just have enough with 26 points. It's hard to choose between the others. All three have some good players. What a story it would be for Leicester to go down though! However I'll go for Boro, despite their resilience in recent fixtures. Draws aren't enough at that end of the table. That'll make Newcastle's season.

Big of a Mangina going on in that beach pic. Also looks like Cesc Fabregas has put on a bit of weight...

If he curls in a cracker of a goal against a Manchester team first, I don't think we'll be complaining. :-D

Thanks! I'd have to go back through my post history but I mentioned Caceres in terms of a transfer last year before Fonte was even thinking about leaving. Although, as with any HCDAJFU thread, it's more a case of 'throw enough mud and some of it will stick' when recommending players for Saints!

For anyone into that sort of thing, there's a picture of Caceres's willy on the Holmesdale Palace forum. It's not what I was expecting when I clicked on the thread...

Signs, gets fit, gets MOTM keeping Ibrahimovic quiet in the cup final. Tis the dream.

Have we ever "panic" signed a player in the Premier League since promotion? Elia and Djuricic felt a bit like that. There were plenty in the Championship relegation season! As for Caceres? Worth the risk. It might knock Stephen's confidence but it's a risk worth taking. Caceres has pedigree. Make it so Reed.

West Ham are 1/9 to win this. It's like printing your own money! (Seeing if reverse psychology works...) Saints are making it very difficult for us 'glass half full' people at the moment. I can't see a new manager making much of a difference, we'll still have a makeshift central defence for the rest of the season. Our only hope is a freak League Cup win instilling some morale in the squad. Today's loss makes it harder that it's West Ham too.

Jesus I'm glad I'm not watching this, it's bad enough getting the updates from Sky Sports News. What a joke we are. At least Palace are outdoing us for crudness at the moment. It all started so well too. It's still within our capabilities to get a point, but we've given West Ham a morale boost. Chris Samba anyone?

I will be working on the Sunday of the final and thus I cannot go, so my seat will be at home, behind the sofa, sticking pins into a voodoo doll of Zlatan's cock. (Which I have yet to procure...) If he bends over double a few times during the game, you can thank me afterwards. Hey, I got to the JPT final, so I'm reasonably content.

"Hey Swansea, we'll let you win if you loan us a centre back!" "No." "Ok, then we'll just let you win." Yoshida, third choice at the start of the season and prone to the odd error. Stephens, young, raw, a lot of faith being put in him. Gardos, out for a couple of years and rusty. That's our centre backs until we get VVD back. That's worrying. A last minute announcement doesn't seem likely. Finally we've addressed the attack, and it's at the other end we're weak. I don't think we'll get relegated, but we need to put in a performance from heaven to win the cup. No more injuries, please!! Martin Caceres is still a free agent. Anyone? :-)

Is Les there? You think he'd be absent trying to find us a centre back! I echo what Allardyce said earlier, it's odd having a game on deadline day when managers are keen on strengthening their squads, but then I guess any manager worth his salt would have done his business already. As for this match - well I guess it can only get better. At least we have Boufal on the bench - I can only assume we'll see him sooner rather than later. I'll take a draw right now if you offered it (even though I think we are good enough to win.)

Anyone else going to breathe a sigh of relief when we sign a centre back today? I'm trying to hold my wee-wee but relying on our 3rd, 4th and 5th choice centre backs (as they were at the start of the season) for a while (especially with a cup final in a month) has me worried. Gabbiadini will add something extra to the front 3 (as long as JRod stays) which should strengthen our attacking options, and of course the new Keeper means we're not relying on Taylor or Lewis if Fraser got injured. A busy deadline day for us. I still wonder if there is a surprise later. The game gets in the way really!

Ah, the old 7-4-6-2 formation - I reckon we'll scrape a few 1-0's with that. Anyone else rather that we didn't have a game on deadline day? I always feel like it gets in the way of late business! Seems the Gabbiadini deal is done now. So if we bring in a centre back, I think we've done OK business. 2 centre backs AND a keeper and we'll have done brilliantly. Gabbiadini's sister is a bit of a looker too, so that'll add glamour to St Mary's.

Shortchanged? I'm sure if you told people at the start of the window that we'd be signing 3 players they'd be delighted, and that's before the VVD injury. I don't know much about Tasci but he has decent pedigree, and will add to the experience of the defence in Virgil's absence. That leaves Maya and Tasci as first choice and Stephens and Gardos as the back ups. I can live with that for this season. The keeper is young and back up while McCarthy recovers from injury, and Gabbiadini will add to the attacking options with versatility. In a season where we're unlikely to finish in the top 7, and unlikely to get relegated, and really have one game left that truly matters, I'd say those signings plug some vital gaps. I can't believe how much Hull are selling their jewels. Surely relegation favourites? Livermore, Snodgrass, Robertson and also no Mason. That's some loss.

Yep. Reading RAWK and it's almost like they didn't care about the trophies, they just want to finish top 4. Madness. Of course they "don't care" about the trophies now they're out of them. That line up today was pathetic, showing Wolves no respect. I'm very glad they got their just desserts today. Even we coped without Mané at times. They've completely folded their season because of his loss.

£14 million for Van Aanholt is insane. Sure he gets a few goals from left back but defensively he's poor. There's a reason Sunderland struggle defensively. Sunderland have the better end of that deal, especially if they invest the money wisely. As for Palace, they seem to love throwing huge money at players. They overpaid for Benteke too. As for the Mariano Diaz link for us, I'd never heard of him, but at first glance he looks to have a promising future with a decent pedigree. However if the club think Gabbiadini can offer us something, I'm behind it.

John Terry? Absolutely yes... If the choice were between him and, say, Oliver Lancashire. I'd marginally rather have Jagielka over Terry if we were talking about geriatric old duffers. We can do better than both.

At quick glance, the bloke at the back on the far right has a touch of the "Hojbjerg" about him...

I was working through the game, but was sneaking glances at Sky Go throughout the night. I caught the goal live, and went ballistic. What a run from Sims, what a finish from Long! Great stuff. Needless to say I was going mental, and my cleaners and contractor on site were puzzled as hell until I explained. I then watched the game all the way through on Sky+ when I got home. (A lot easier after knowing the result!) Stephens, Yoshida and Romeu were exceptional, I gave Stephens MOTM as he looked like he'd been playing for us for years, rather than being a youngster thrust into the spotlight after losing VVD. Liverpool offered very little, it's surprising how much better we cope with the loss of Mané than they have! Losing more players to injury as a worry. JWP has really stepped his game up of late, but he went off with a knock, and Jay too. As good as the team spirit may be at the moment, we still need reinforcements. Especially at centre back. Overall I was delighted with the game. We thoroughly deserved to win both games with our counter attacking style, especially with a depleted defence. Now it comes down to one game against (most likely) United, and a great performance and a bit of luck sees us with a trophy. Who'd have thought that a month ago. As ungracious (and wrong) as Klopp was last night, neither penalty claim was a penalty), he did praise us. He even said we were a better team than Swansea. I liked that. Finally, Puel has made a few mistakes this season, but he has also done some decent things, like bringing through the youth. Next season, if we can keep VVD (the one player I think we're in real danger of losing, albeit for huge money), with the right additions I think we can be back up the top of the table fighting for the European spots. Sadly I'm working for the final as it stands.

Strong line up but no centre back cover presumably means that Bertrand will be the man shifted across if the worst happens. I do think we'll be beaten tonight but it's just a case of how many by. If we score once, they have to score 3 in 120 minutes, and we could park the bus. Saints really need the first goal tonight - hence why I'd go gung ho for the first few minutes. Score one - park the bus. I don't care if it's ugly - as long as it gets us into a final. Unfortunately I'm working, and not the good kind of work where I have a telly I can keep an eye on - literally I can only check on here or on the Beeb for score updates. UTS!!!!! We can do this. We're good enough. Tonight we need the attack to take any chance they get.

If he is out for "3 months", and if his recovery doesn't go as well as expected, and if he's truly off in the summer, could this be the first time a Saints player was officially made captain and never got to represent the club in that capacity? Lots of "ifs" but it's possible... One thing for sure... We need a centre back this window.

Good news! I still think we're a defensive midfielder light in terms of squad depth, unless Reed proves himself soon, but keeping Romeu (who has improved massively this season) is huge. By plucking unwanted players from Chelsea, we've come up trumps with Romeu and Bertrand. Maybe a decent transfer policy for the future - as neither were expensive. With the top 6 starting to power away with the league, I reckon some decent squad players can be had from them for reasonable sums of money.

Hypothetically, a mate was asking honest, if a Saints fan were to be a bad Saints fan and put an insurance bet on tomorrow's game, what would be best? Liverpool appear to be big favourites. Would it be a Liverpool -1 handicap for the win?