Saint Charlie

Not confirmed he is out. Was a Serbian report saying he had a minor knock to his knee and was excused from their second game which was a friendly and had come back here for treatment.

I will be the first to moan about any January signings being **** before I have seen them play because I am very negative and need to get a life. But we will need some cover and if we are still up in the top 4/6 it will be well worth the cost. See Bony has signed an extention to his Swansea contract, would be great if we could get Clyne or Jay Rod to do the same.

We would need an extra body in attack though if Jay isnt going to be up to speed by Jan (or not even back playing) and Mane goes away for a month. If Pelle, Tadic and Long are the front 3 there is nothing behind it at all bar Isgrove or McQueen and with respect they arent going to win games of football to stay in the top 6. No point jeopardising a brilliant start for the sake of a 6 month loan. Even a Sinclair or someone would do until Mane is back and JR fit.

Good player. Main problem is he isnt good enough defensively in the holding role (not strong enough yet IMO) and in a further forward role we have more creative players who are likely to trouble defences more. I think he is still growing and when he finds his best position his clear technical ability will be a great asset. His best form was out on the right early last season IMO. But that wouldnt work in our setup now as the wide players need to be a goal threat.

Even City will probably struggle to keep Aguero once Real or Barca properly go for him. But I think there is a difference between those types of moves and a player viewing a club as a good platform to get a bigger move. Although as many have said, it is great in loys of ways because it shows the players you have are quality. Its just a shame at times like watching England when you think what might have been. Imagine if we had Tadic, Pelle, Lallana and Lambert how good we could be.

Harder might be navigating the period just after that when Mane (and Mayuka) are away for the ACON. Likely to need a loan signing IMO.

Whilst they are a much bigger club, Atletico have done it really well because they managed to keep a team together that was good enough to win the league and even though many left they are able to attract other class players because they have a good reputation, still a strong squad and are a pathway to the very top clubs in Europe if you do well. What we are doing is similar albeit on a lower level but if somehow we could have a season with minimal injury problems and the others continue (Chelsea apart) to self destruct and we were to reach the CL then it would enable the progression to continue because we could then attract players from better teams to join us rather than look to leave in pursuit of the CL. Regarding the shortcuts mentioned in that video, the principle of it makes sense, but in reality, players and Managers think a lot more short term than the club as a whole. Someone like Tadic will be trying his best to get to a high position, but as with last season, as soon as that isn't likely the first thing they do is look around and see if they have impressed enough to take a shortcut via another team. You need the one big season where you "make it" otherwise its very hard to sustain four or five years of solid performance because there is so much churn of staff.

Pretty much agree. Although if somehow we did get 4th it woulf be interesting to see the types of player that suddenly thought Saints arent beneath them. The comments from Vlaar's agent last week were interesting, basically he discounted us this summer but would maybe be keen now.

Its an interesting debate I think. If it was back in the era where only 1 or 2 English teams qualified for the CL then moving to a club like Spurs would give you no additional chance to get there than from staying here. The whole top four thing gives hope to other clubs but also increases the pool of sharks to take your best players.

For Players, Manager and Staff... 1. Is it a bad thing? 2. Is there any realistic way to go beyond being that type of club? 3. Does it annoy you that people feel they need to leave to progress? 4. Would it help if only the Champions or Runner Up qualified for the CL instead of the top 4? (Obviously for Saints you could also read many other clubs)

Davis dropped out the NI squad with a minor injury, hopefully will be fit. Schneiderlin came home after the first game with a groin injury. Tadic came home after the first game with a minor injury (knee I think the report said). Pelle didnt feature even on the bench in Italy's second game but no confirmation that was due to any injury. Mane and Mayuka are playing today but as we don't play til Monday that is a better situation than usual. Hopefully all will be fine, the injuries all sound minor.

In January yes but quite likely not in the summer, especially if he doesn't sign a new deal which would seem unlikely now he has this extra attention.

Not sure you would. He is seriously highly rated and Spurs were linked a lot at 18m in the summer. He wouldn't come here (unless we were CL).

Does it matter? Malonie has been bright for Scotland.

Clyne looks very much at home for England. Will be playing Champions League next season regardless of where we finish IMO.

Agree that Welbeck is a much more selfless player than Sturridge and others play better with him than they do with Sturridge.

Just that Downing has done nothing and should 't have 35 caps. Other than that just annoyed at people saying Wiltshire. Oh, and hope Brainho comes on second half.

Not really but its not exactly a hard name to spell. Probably the same as the Llanna and Davies fans.

Its Wilshere FFS.

Good news unless injured. Many other players not even on the bench? He only came on for 10mins the other day so not exactly a prime candidate to be rested.

Pelle not in Italy squad apparently and Tadic has a knock so not playing tonight.

Not bothered by incomings apart from maybe cover for Mane going away. Would rather we tried to extend the deals of Clyne, Jay, Cork and Targett.

The only wind up here is saying Chambers probably wouldn't have played a single minute for us in the league this season. Fair play if you really believe that. Other than that I mostly agree, Clyne is a better right back than Chambers but for me Chambers much better value for Arsenal than Long for us, not that it matters and my post about it (with the winky face) was meant in jest at Batman's comment.

Yes because its good PR for the decision to sell a future 60+ cap England Intl for a fraction more than Shane Long cost.

Good article on his impact at Saints. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/tottenham-hotspur/11236180/.html As I said a couple of days ago, he may feel he has done his job here and that the challenge of revamping a poor setup is one that excites him. No reason Saints can't continue to excel in his area without him. Fair enough and very interesting line of work. Shame the Black Box hadnt been developed sooner and couldnt have told us Chambers was a better centre back than Hooiveld last December!