SaintBobby

I want us to keep Che and KWP, but the idea that our chances of promotion completely hinge on that outcome is mad. I’m not sure we could find good enough replacements at a reasonable price - but it’s not a case of our promotion chances being blown to pieces. It just, perhaps, dials them down a smidgen.

Isn't the problem that we need both CA and AA? It doesn't matter which you prefer...we are weaker if we lose either...

yeah, that's true of all financial arrangements - from buying a house, to buying shares to placing a bet on the horses.

Yep. If JWP had said "I'll stay if you give me an extra fiver", I'd have said "yes".

The value to us is he plays this season for Saints rather than for another club. I can't work out why - in principle - it's much different to any valued employee of any company getting a pay rise.

Well, he earns an extra £20K a week for 3 years then. There aren't any "guarantees". Maybe he sees out hsi contract here...but picks up a bad injury and can't play football at a high level again. To say "there are no circumstances in which signing a contract is beneficial to him" is surely wrong. If we offer him £100K a week for life, I bet he'd sign! It's all on a spectrum, I think. Not black or white.

I think I tried to make this point on the "stop the sales" thread. Not very well, but can someone please try and explain to me what the variables are here and what's "out of our hands"? It seems to me there are three options. Not two. 1. We say "you're staying. No one has matched our valuation, so you are serving out the last year of your contract here at £40K a week. At the end of the season, you are a free agent" 2. Someone matches our valuation, whatever it is. Most likely Everton. Most likely about £15m. We can argue about what that valuation should be, but at some point the club sells. If some Saudi club offers £200m for him, do you think we should say "no"? (obvs, not going to happen, just an illustration). But why can't we do.... 3. We say "we'd like you to stay. We will bump your pay from (say) £40K to £60k per week, with a big promotion bonus on a new three year contract. But we will include a release clause meaning that you can go to any other club next June if a bid of (say) £10m is received." Why are we locked into 1 or 2? I'm not saying Adams or his agent jumps at option 3. But it should be on the table. And surely, to him, is more attractive than option 1?

His enhanced contract would be for 2 or 3 years but with a release clause next June.

Presumably not with a release clause...?

No. I'm assuming Che is a player we want to keep. I wouldn't offer the same deal to, say, Lyanco who is a player we want to sell.

Why not offer Che an enhanced contract with a major bonus if we’re promoted and a £10m release clause from next June either way? He might say “no”, but I dont see why the choice is between “sell” and “lose him for nothing in the summer”.

Agree. And showed some terrific tracking back (again)

It’s all down to price. And time too, I guess. If we lose Tella and Adams on deadline day without incomings, we have a huge problem. But obviously every player has a price. I agree though that if we can just unload players who haven’t really featured yet (Tall Paul, Aribo, Bree) then keeping those who’ve done well is the right call. Adams at CF with AA on the left looks pretty tasty.

I'm all for technology if it can be pretty much instantaneous. Goal line technology is great. It's the delay that's such a bind. Might AI be able to give immediate off side calls before too long? If so, great. If not, let the game flow.

Does anyone think Aribo might fit such a role. Just running this up the flagpole to see if anyone salutes....

Certainly, watching in real time, it seems like a Tella goal. In painful slow motion, it clearly deflects off Armstrong. Tella can't claim the goal because it "was on target". If player A takes a shot that's on target, but player B gets the last touch, player B is credited with the goal. It's hardly fair, but it is technically correct. (actually a case can be made that Dawson would have saved it without the deflection)

I thought that watching it on TV...but it got a slight, and possibly decisive, deflection off Armstrong's shoulder.

The way we played out the 9 minutes of stoppage time was just fantastic. Pretty pleased, all in all. But if we are going to play 433 in this style, I think the CF needs to be a strong player who can hold up the ball and bring others in. They don’t need to be prolific, but they need that strength. AA definitely isn’t that player.

I was in Mick Channon/Saints bar....£36 each, included 1 drink, 1 hot dog, 1 programme....good deal.

Is it a 715 pm kick off? (UK time)

Please tell me that Leicester have given Harry Winks the no. 40 shirt...

Rice is fantastic. I'd argue England's best player. In old school language, he is "engine room" but so much better than that. God knows if they are paying over the odds, but this is a brilliant player.

It's kind of tricky. We clearly need to utterly kill the wage bill....that is surely a huge priority. So, not "fire sale" but "smouldering sale"...we might know the 10 or so player we want to get rid of and the 5-10 we want to keep, but we need to rebalance fast....so even if we wanted to keep Lyanco, we might just take the option ot save wages....

We're probably down. Likely need 12 or so points. Maybe 10 or 11 could do it, maybe we need as many as 15. So, basically 4 wins out of 10. Or 3 wins and 3 draws. That sort of thing. And that's to survive by a whisker - especially as our GD ain't good. Big ask. Good knows where the points come from - but then I didn't expect to get 2 from the recent Spurs and Man U games. We will probably beat Newacstel away and lose 4-0 at home to Palace...

This is hopeless. We are down anyway, but the appointment of Jones 100% confirmed it. Idiotic appointment.