Saint Charlie

Boruc won't play for us again. It wasnt a happy ending. Otherwise agree with all you say re Kelvin and Forster. Nobody gets better after 14 months not playing in their late 30s and whilst he made good saves on Saturday, he always could. Its the other aspects.

Vertonghen is their biggest issue defensively (tied with Walker) because he was become dramatically worse this season then previous.

Good post. I agree with many of those points. Seems Toby is keeping everyone happy with his comments it seems.

Loads of people on here know there is little chance of us keeping him. Whats the issue with that Jamo?

If you want to you can. You will only be more disappointed when the inevitable happens.

Mason IMO deserves his place far more than Rose, Townsend and Walker. Good luck to the lad. Good player.

No chance for Everton I wouldn't have thought. At this stage I would settle for him being out for the season. Beyond that and its a major pain.

If he dropped one he probably wouldn't venture too far off his chair to retrieve it.

Worked this year but won't every year. Don't envy whoever replaces Morgan and Clyne. If they are anywhere near their performances this season then we will have done well.

Absolutely will never change, but it is probably the reason that its hardest to qualify for the CL as a non big club. As a good but small team you are high profile enough for teams to notice and buy your players and also to attract good replacements but each summer your recruitment process is a lot harder than Chelsea, City, United, Arsenal, Liverpool and even Spurs. The poster was right saying we arent far away but I bet by start of July our squad will be worse than it is now whereas the likes of a Liverpool will probably have kept Sterling and added quality. Especially as we often lose our best players to other PL teams. Clyne and Morgan will improve teams that we consider rivals whilst weakening us. That is just the reality and why the status quo is always preserved.

Problem is we cannot keep building from where we are because we know pretty much each summer that a bigger club will take at least one or two of our best players. To replace Clyne and Morgan AND then on top of that improve positions we need to is very tough to do year on year.

I know we still are annoyed when not mentioned for top four, but... Seven points behind Arsenal and six behind an improving Man Utd with a (slightly) worse GD than both. 1. Did the United win put us pretty much out of the race? 2. Is there even a race or will it just be the top 4 as they are now? 3. Were we ever realistic contenders or does our relative squad size make it nigh on impossible? 4. Would you be in any way disappointed with Europa League because you thought we had a shot at the CL? 5. Assuming we get there, would Europa be of equal, lesser or greater importance relative to the PL and other Cups next season? IMO... 1. Yes 2. Depends on Utd results next 3 games 3.Would need a perfect season with no injuries or loss of form and that never happens to anyone. 4. No 5th still well up for grabs, what a result that would be. No pressure really on us as 7th would be a great season and almost impossible we will be below that. Coming ahead of either Liverpool, Spurs or both would be a sweet moment and has implications for which Europa League round you join. 5. Got to treat Europe seriously as you do so much to get there. Go hard at early games and only rest players when you can afford to IMO. We play league footy every year, Europe is a rarity.

Depay going to United apparently.

It is funny/odd that Cropper gets in US squads yet is 4th in our keeper order. Think his contract might be up at the end of the season. Are barely any MLS keepers actually American?

He can't say he has been a good PL keeper though, can he? Poor for Sunderland and then dropped by us after a few games for a rookie with 20 pro apps to his name.

Only suprising thing is that anyone is suprised.

Byram would be a risk as he basically has played midfield for the whole season.

They ****ing hate it.

No to the first which is all that matters.

Miles out of his depth when he has played in the first team. Hence behind a veteran keeper.

He is mostly injured these days.

Most IMO. Lots of Intls sat on benches of the likes of Palace, QPR, Newcastle etc. But true, he is Saints through and through. Main issue is Gazza hasnt progressed as planned. If he had then he really should have overtaken KD as no 2 keeper by now. Not Saints related but WBA just confirmed Ben Foster has had ligament reconstruction surgery and is out for 6 months, targetting an October return. He walked off the pitch last week. Forster could easily be similar. Hopefully not.

Yeah of course a club of our size won't have a no 2 as good as the 1. Other backups include Cech, Valdes, Szeczny, Joel, Jaaskalinen, Henessey, Elliott, Butland, Vorm, Friedel, Tremmel, Myhill, Hamer, Jones, Mannone, McCarthy etc. Some fairly decent keepers there. Someone like McCarthy is a great prospect yet is behind Green at QPR. It is possible to have a solid no 2. Maybe Davis will be that in which case we are fine but he has not been great since we returned to the PL over a run of 5-10 games.

Being blunt - most other PL teams do have better backup than Davis, so it is possible.

Boruc cannot be recalled. The only way the Club can play it is to play Davis and hope he plays well. The Club have known all season that our backup to Forster is lacking so presumably they feel Davis is an adequate PL keeper. Hopefully he does a good job as he is a cracking guy and a Saints stalwart...but he has not done well in the PL over a few years. Its not the shot stopping that lets him down...