Minsk

I can honestly see this happening. We have too many CMs and it would get his wages off the books; win, win.

I didn't say they would need replacing. What I meant was we wouldn't bring another CM in if either were to remain on our books/in our squad for this coming season (as they would take up that space/spaces). To be honest, I think we are well stocked at CM (even without Classie and Reed) but we do seem to have been linked with a few.

My thinking is the same as Hodgey. No way will be buy another striker after just spending the best part of £20m on Carillo. Whether we rate him or not, unless he is moved on for the fee we paid (no way) or we sell another one (or two) strikers, we won't be bringing another one in. In fact, we may well sell Gallagher and still not bring another one in. I think we will bring in 2 attacking players (AM/winger types), and they will replace Tadic and Boufal. I think we also bring in a CB (Gibson) and possibly a CM if Classie and Reed are sold. I also have a sneaky feeling Steve Davis may move on. Unless Cedric goes we will not sign a new RB. Can see one of Bertrand/Targett/McQueen being sold. We will not sign another 'keeper unless either Forster or McCarthy go (can't see either happening). So, by reckoning, 7 or 8 out with 3 or 4 coming in.

GK-Shilton RB-Ivan Golac CB-Mark Wright CB-Killer LB-Mark Dennis CM-Steve Williams RM-Mick Channon LM-Gareth Bale AM-Le Tiss CF-Kevin Keegan CF-Alan Shearer Subs: Tim Flowers, Mick Mills, Toby, Jimmy Case, Danny Wallace, David Armstrong, James Beattie

Boufal wanting out is a given - but it's news to me that Carillo wants out. Where did you see that? And who else wants out? Can you post some links? Thanks. Every squad, even the top 6, have players who are past their best. They also all contain players who will improve. Don't really see your point. Every transfer there are sales - and purchases. Which means loss of talent, no matter how good or bad, but also gaining some as well. Again, don't really get your point. But why are you so sure we will be in a relegation scrap again? I agree with the two posts above. I am pretty certain we will sign (only one) new CB. It seems Gibson is our first choice. I'd be pretty happy with getting him. I think one of the LBs will be sold and we will go with the other 2. If Cedric goes we will bring in a new RB. I doubt we will sign one otherwise, and will make do with playing Stephens/Bednarek/JWP out of position if Cedric is unavailable for any reason, or maybe giving one of the U23s a go. Unless we sign a young, promising, RB from a lower league as backup. We will certainly sign a wide attacking player - Promes/Sisto (for example) - and maybe an attacking midfield player (such as Rogic). Sadly, I cannot see us signing another striker unless we manage to sell one or two; and I could only really see Gabbi going, until I read his interview with an Italian journo where he said that he wanted to stay here. To summarise, I think we will see the following happen this transfer window: Incomings: CB, AM, wide attacking player - only if others go: RB/Striker Outgoings: one of the LBs, Boufal, Classie, Reed and Gallagher. Although I also wouldn't be surprised to see Davis returning to Rangers.

Should be a good match. How was the Swaziland game yesterday? Did you go or watch on TV?

I thought the bit in bold was about friends down the road Then I saw the 'they play in red and white' bit, and all was normal once more. I'm sure they would be happy to give some of our 'fringe' (for want of a better word) players some experience and game time. Players such as Hesketh, Flannigan, Cull, O'Driscoll, Tella and Carillo...... Nice story. A friend once had a favourite t-shirt with the following words on it: 'Help Save Mice, Eat Cats' - not many people realised that they should just swap the word cat with a synonym beginning with 'P' and ending in 'y' to get the real meaning. (Something to do with cunning-linguists.) I thought that was what Sue was alluding to until you gave the full story I like the word 'magnagati' - it is similar to a beach I will be on in a could of weeks called 'magnatiti' because of the black, magnetic, sand. Anyway, I think it will be very interesting if this does come to pass. But I am sure there are some on here will mank and moan regardless.

It's good that you get to see lots of English lower league football in Kenya. They only show Premier League matches here in Belarus. I can sometimes see the occasional Championship match on Russian channels. They showed the Championship play-off semi-finals, but not league 1 or 2. Which TV channel(s) show the lower league matches in Kenya? How many matches do they show per week? Football is only shown on Belarus 5 - the 5th national channel here. And only one premier league match per week. But we are lucky that we also get Russian TV Channels. Are there big crowds at Kenyan matches? Is it a good atmosphere at the matches? Is there ever any crowd trouble there? It's good to chat to people from other countries and hear about their experiences. Solidarity Comrade

Do you get to see much of the Championship in Kenya? What about League 1 and 2 matches? Where would you rate Kenyan league football compared to them?

Yes, Hughes was sacked by Stoke at the beginning of January with them in the relegation zone. As I said, no one knows whether or not Stoke would have been relegated had they not sacked him. What is know, however, is that the previous 3 seasons he led to finish 9th in the table. You state that it is your belief that Saints have, and have had, a better squad than Stoke. Therefore one could could easily come to the conclusion that he COULD get that better squad to a higher finishing position. Just 2 places higher would almost certainly European football. Yet you feel that in appointing Hughes the board would be giving up any ambition to get Saints back into Europe, and that they are only aiming to finish 10th. How can this be? Why couldn't he finish higher than he has done for 3 of the past 4 seasons given a better squad? Now, maybe he will and maybe he won't but the logical conclusion is that given a better workforce a manager should attain better results - no matter what the business. No? Or are you saying that if we swap squads - entirely - with Manchester City that Pep will get this Southampton squad to finish as champions, whilst Saints would be in relegation scrap fielding the likes of Aguero, Silva, Jesus, Sterling, Otamendi, Walker, et al? Of the course the squad (work force) makes a difference. You say that appointing Hughes would show a lack of ambition, yet cannot offer any serious possible alternative. Jokanovic may well get Fulham promoted on Saturday. Why would he want to leave then then? Why would Fulham even allow us to talk to him? Then again, maybe Fulham will lose to Villa. Would that make Bruce the better manager? Should we try to get him? Is he so different from Hughes managerially? Yes, Saints only won twice under Hughes since he took over. A Saints team that many on here thought would not get another single victory the way they were playing. Yet that 2 could easily have been 3; was it Sparky's fault that Bertrand didn't hit row Z with time up at Everton? Given a little bit of luck (of which we had very little in the season just gone) it could have been 4 or 5 wins. But, yes, it was only 2. How bad is he huh? I remember a year ago you bleating on about how Saints didn't score in any of their last 5 home matches of the season. I am sure that it was Puel's fault that in those 5 matches players missed 2 penalties. I am not (and I haven't seen anyone else say so) saying that Hughes is the ONLY option to take us forward. There are many managers who COULD take us forward. There are also many more who do far, far, worse than Sparky would - in my honest opinion. Who is to say that the board wouldn't appoint another Pellegrino? That, I believe, is far more likely than us Stealing Emery from under Arsenal's noses; or luring any of the world's top managers here. What I have seen is a Saints team start to play with desire and belief under Hughes. I have heard some of those players say how enjoyable it is to work under him. Those things give me the confidence that he could well be the right fit. I would certainly rather we signed him than took a throw of the dice over someone less experienced. Or maybe you want us to go for Moyes? Or Big Sam? Oh, and I also remember many people saying (this time last year) anyone other than Puel. How did that work out?

Those were the basics I would have expected the previous two managers to do, but they didn't. Hughes has proved he can regularly get teams to finish above the 10th place you mention. He well have done so again this past season with Stoke, we will never know. If he is appointed (and I fully expect him to be) that will not say to me that the board have given up any hope of us qualifying for Europe again; it will say to me that they have realised the way forward is with an experienced manager for our level, not someone with an unimpressive record in another country (such as his predecessor). Last summer many were calling for Puel's head - look where that got us! Now that I have answered your questions, perhaps you will answer a few of mine: Why do you think Hughes won't be able to qualify us for a European campaign? Do you think we have, and will have, a worse squad than Stoke had for 3 of the past 4 seasons? If so, where do you think they were superior to the squad we are likely to go into the new season with? Who, realistically, do you think we could appoint who could guarantee us better results than the past two seasons and better than Sparky could achieve with us?

All the reports in the press are that it is 99% with the lawyers just needing to make sure all the fine print is correct. And yet, because it hasn't been officially announced that Sparky has signed today he is just sitting at home, with his thumb up his anus, refusing to to do any planning, researching, etc? Whereas, if it had been announced earlier today that the contract had been signed he would be beavering away at Staplewood getting everything ready for next season? Or maybe it matters not one jot whether it was announced today, will be announced tomorrow, or some time later this week. And hey, guess what, Sparky will likely have a holiday over the coming weeks no matter when it is announced.

Wow! Really? I had never heard this. Thanks for the information. By the way, are you back 'home' now or still visiting the UK?

Can you please link to the (now) confirmed information (the poster in question) posted before anyone else? Many thanks.

Good performance. Deserved a point, but the least bothered I've ever been about losing to a last minute goal. At least it gave City the ton. Hughes has done a great job to turn our performances around. Deserves to be given the job full time, which I hope will be done and dusted within a week. Short transfer window this summer and a World Cup thrown in to boot. Let's get our business done early and give Sparky a good preseason to have them up and running from the get-go next season.

Saints biggest home league defeat both since promotion back to the prem and since the turn of the century is by 3 goals. Indeed, our only league defeat by more than three goals was away to Arsenal in our fist season back up. And yet there are people on here who seriously believe we are going to get beaten by seven goals this Sunday - which would still need Swansea to win by three, something they have done only once in the league this season! Of course, it could happen, anything is possible. It is also possible that I could win the lottery this Saturday!

I honestly think that we can and will get something from this match. 1-1 or 2-1 to Saints.

Spent the entire matching match literally sat on the edge of my seat, watching on a Russian channel with a bottle of vodka. Mrs Minsk came in from work at half-time then sat through the 2nd half with me, and helping with the vodka. I think, for the first time ever, she shouted than me both when the goal was scored and at the final whistle. We then went on to finish the bottle. It helped that today is a public holiday here and, rather aptly, the occasion is 'Victory Day'. I know it is meant to be victory at the end of WWII, but I am still celebrating Saints' victory last night. COYS

I suspect had we held on to the 2-0 on Saturday we would have virtually sold out by now. Anyway, as luck would have it (or not, as the case may be) I had planned to fly over this coming weekend months ago. Now it seems that I will have to add a trip to Wembley to my agenda. Just goes to show though, last season I bought a membership thinking we might have a good cup run. The club then went and sold extra memberships after we won the semi-final meaning I failed to get a ticket to the final. This year I decided not to waste the £25 and despite not having been to game thus far this season (first time in many, many, years - despite having lived abroad for 14 years) I get a ticket. Should we win on Sunday I sincerely doubt I will get a final ticket though......

A click-bait story from some Serbian journo. No direct quote from Tadic. But let's jump on him regardless eh? And yes I do fully expect Tadic to leave this summer anyway, especially if we go down. Why shouldn't he?

Yes, it was Kelvin's former role. They should have tasked someone else with contacting the loanees when they moved him into a coaching role. It will be absolutely criminal if we let both Bertrand and Targett go in the summer.

Well, well, well...... I was wrong. Hope Mourinho does make a big thing of being the away team, despite having been drawn as the home team!!

I will be amazed if United and Spurs are drawn against each other; especially if Leicester beat Chelsea! Apart from the big teams always avoiding each other the FA won't want Mourinho going on and on about how it is unfair that United have to play away to Spurs in a semi-final.

Absolutely this. Well said!

Quite right too - I'm glad someone is paying attention. Thanks, again, Fred. Match by Match Comparison should read: 15 point deficit Note to self, double check things when posting after too little sleep and too much alcohol the night before. Anyway, while I'm here.......... Match Day 29 - home to Stoke - drew 0-0 Match Day Comparison Last season we won Match Day 29 (3-1 - oh those days when we could score, and more than one goal in a match) at home to Palace. Two points dropped gives us a double digit.... 11 point deficit Match by Match Comparison An improvement on last season, in so far as we didn't concede - having lost at home to Stoke 1-0 on the last day of the season. One point gained puts us where I said we were (wrongly, or was it a premonition ) at the last update, which is a...... 14 point deficit Next up, on Match Day 30, is the long trip up to Newcastle. Last season we won Match Day 30 away from home, against West Brom (can we play them every week please?) by a goal to nil; this season the Newcastle result is being compared vice Hull and last season we lost 2-1 away to them. Squeeky bum time is certainly here. Come on Saints, please win this one. We desperately need the points! COYS