SaintBobby

The Hillsbrough thing isn't just 96 dead. In cold, numerical terms, that's a very minor airline accident. It's 30 years of dissembling and cover-up by the establishment. I've got Liverpool's back on this one.

If the market is going mental, and it seems to be (£196m for Neymar FFS.....) then keeping what we have is probably good business. Before you know it, Jack Stephens, Sam McQueen and Matt Targett are worth £25m each.

Don't we have debts/loans though?

I'm pretty sure he will be an influencer at the very least. If he says "don't sell, he is worth £80m at least" or "keep him for a year, we will get at least £65m for him next year" or "we simply can't replace him this year, we'd risk tumbling down the league if you sell him"....well, I think those sort of comments would influence KL. Of course, ultimately, just like any company, the owner can do pretty much whatever they want. If she decides to offer Liverpool £10m to take VVD off our hands, that's her prerogative, I guess.

Maybe this is hope over expectation, but I think the club are going to dig their heels in on this one. He isn't going unless we get utterly insane money. The club may be strong enough to just shove him in the reserves for a season. Or until he wakes up to reality. Like I say, maybe this is hope over expectation. But we could do that.

The deepest darkest days of Lowe involved us having our overdraft facility shut down by Barclays, being relegated from the Championship to the third division (winning only 10 out of 46 games in the process), being placed in administration and thus carrying over a 10 point penalty and having the likes of David McGoldrick as our best player. I must say I don't find the parallels with our present situation particularly striking.

Problem is a good chunk of that is wiped out by Puel's pay off and the £5m signing of that new Polish defender. May have a million or two left over, but that buys you sod all really.

Sure, that'd be great. But you're looking at, say, £15m each in transfer fees and £4m a year each in wages etc? So where does that c £38m come from?

Isn't the main problem that we fans don't think very much about balancing the books. Understandable in a way. We want results on the pitch. The money side is a matter for Katharina, Ralph etc. However, if you take a step back, then it seems clear to me that the current model is a pretty good one. Basic truth is we don't bring in enough cash from TV rights and ticket sales to sign and pay for the quality of players we want, so we also seek to make a tidy profit in the transfer market (or at the very, very least, break even). If you don't sell Mane at a £20m profit, you probably don't have the cash to sign, say, Cedric, Bertrand and Romeu. Obviously, the Liebherrs just shoving more cash on the table would be nice from our perspective, but I don't feel I have the right to expect it.

Haven't we only ever won 9 knockout games in the entire history of the World Cup?

That 6 year contract he signed really does give the club the whip hand. If he was down to having just a year or two left, he could call the shots. But the fact that in theory - we can make him train alone and play him in the reserves for 5 years does place us in a strong position. Whether the club plays those cards well or not is another matter....

I think we should employ Fraser Richardson as a floating centre-back

Not really. Don't seem to be controlling midfield at all well. But it's a slightly odd XI we have out there.

Hmm, that 45 mins of football was even more boring than peak Puel!

Thanks, v good stream.

So, does anyone know if this is being streamed or is on Saintsplayer perhaps?

He is listed as a substitute, no?

Well, if it's the last 5 years you're interested in then Everton, on average, finish five points above Saints. This obviously includes two seasons where we got our highest points totals in the Premier League (60 and 63) and Everton got amongst their worst ever (47 and 47). Debatable whether you consider this an outlier or part of the "new normal", I guess. I think it's an outlier. Looking at the bookies' odds, to finish in the top 4, Everton are 8/1, we are 20/1. To finish in the top six, Everton are 2/1 and we are 5/1. To finish in the top half, Everton are 1/8 and we are 1/2. To be relegated, Everton are 100/1 and we are about 20/1. Sound about right to me - i.e. very likely that Everton will finish above Saints, but not a total racing certainty.

If we keep all the players we have, I'd be happy just signing a decent DM now.

Yeah, it's possible, I guess. But the season before last was Saints' best ever points finish and Everton performed well below par. Last season is more of a reversion to the norm, I guess. All things equal, you'd expect Everton to finish above Saints. Of course, it's never the case that all things are equal, but I'd guess that Southampton finishing 16 points above Everton has been very, very unusual in the last 50 or 60 years (possibly the biggest Saints lead ever? I haven't checked)

Gotta love self-referential. What a miserable, utterly sad **** you are.

Once a player makes it utterly and publicly transparent they want to leave, it's hard to keep them. Not impossible, but very, very hard.

Lukaku from Chelsea to Everton for £28m?

Sad news indeed, but this isn't Saints-related is it? It's odd to me how some tragic cases like this capture the public imagination, there are many such cases but only a few seem to grip us. That said, maybe it's a way for us to think about sadness and mortality overall, through the example of one magnetic and engaging boy.

Please. Close. This. Thread. Embarrassing.