Saint Charlie

At least he is fairly quick and often makes good runs to stretch the game. K Billy - Gardos close? With him and Long do you think just one more addition after that?

Long at 10m smacks of a lack of ideas from the much publicised scouting setup. For a bit less he would be a decent option though, but there must be better value in Europe for that sort of cash.

Thanks. Is he right footed? I think Chiriches hasnt had as much game time at Spurs as he should. Is perhaps a bit lightweight at times, but very good on the ball.

Thanks! How is his pace? Do you know if he speaks any English, or would be likely to? Would you say he is on a similar level to Chiriches but a little more physically suited to English football?

Probably not many, but its never going to improve with a keeper that is no 23 or 31. Your no 1 goalie should wear no 1.

I'm sure it does, and by all accounts he is a great club captain, so absolutely no slight on him. It doesn't really make a huge difference, but might sell more shirts with a number one, which is obviously the most recognisable GK number. Hooiveld got the no 5 taken off him when Lovren joined, and Cork got 8 taken from him so S. Davis could have it. I would say there is more of a rationale for the no 1 shirt than for either of those, especially when you have signed a 10m keeper and told him he is the undisputed number 1. Just kind of makes sense to give him that shirt. Especially when the guy who has it won't play.

SSN saying Rojo has handed in a transfer request and wants a move to Utd. This one is done as far as Saints are concerned.

Regarding a wide player, it has to be someone capable of scoring goals. We are lacking goals in the team, so a Redmond type, who is hit and miss and scored I think one or two PL goals last season doesn't cut it for me. We need a wide forward who will offer a threat in behind, otherwise we are a tidy side, but one thats easy to defend against.

Until we know what squad we have its impossible to say, especially as every team will probably make more signings. I would say I am encouraged with the players we have brought in of late, but am also well aware that we still haven't replaced the goals we have lost from the team, haven't accounted for not having Jay for the first 15 or so games at least, and are still weak at centre back - a very key position in the PL. If we sort those then no reason we can't have a good season, but time will tell. However, the pundits suggesting we will be in the bottom three are underestimating us - which probably suits fine.

Interesting that Koeman has the balls to tell Boruc that Forster is his number one, yet nobody was brave enough to ask Kelvin Davis to take no 23 so that Forster could have the much more marketable no 1 shirt. For a club that wants to improve commerically, surely it was a no brainer to give your new 10m goalkeeper the no 1 shirt, rather than your third choice who is unlikely to even feature in the league? Kelvin doesnt strike me as someone who is overly precious, and he was given a 3 year deal even after it became clear he was not of much use as a player, so handing over the no 1 surely wouldn't have bothered him. The Marketing Manager from Apple has some serious questions to answer, if she is still in the role.

Koeman suggested earlier this season that LVG should look at Van Dijk for the WC squad so not sure how its been interpreted that he doesnt rate him. Fact is, we may still get another CB, or we feel Gardos is a better player/value than Van Dijk with better experience, or perhaps Van Dijk is off elsewhere.

Exactly right. When you take that into account, we basically won the league that we were really able to with the players we had. I still maintain that our first XI last season was at least on par with Everton. The difference was that they had Stones as their fourth CB and we had Hooiveld and whilst they could bring players like McGeady and Mirrallas off the bench, we had Guly or JWP.

We were on of few teams to actually have a clear playing style, which is certainly a decent achievement. Plus, he improved some players immeasurably, or at least put them in a system they could shine in. Little doubt that he is a very good coach. Time will tell, but he could be superb. Or he could be found out a bit. But he certainly got us playing the best football Ive seen Saints play in the top flight in 20 years.

They are old quotes. The Daily Mail used them in an article again this week so thats where they have come from. Pretty obvious JR would like to play for MP again, and who can blame him? Pochettino raised his game to a high level, so its understandable.

Agree. In the Bournemouth game he was more of a threat as we got a few more decent balls into the box. If we give him good service, he looks like he will score.

He will fine. Has some good attributes, knows his game, knows what the Manager wants and will be keen to impress. Hope he gets some early goals.

Pretty much every club has a no 1 keeper and the idea of there being a serious challenge is just lip service. De Gea isn't being challenged by Lingard. Some of the very top sides have two good keepers, but could anyone see Begovic being dropped by Stoke, or Guzan by Villa? Of course not.

Lots of the Dutch Journalists mentioned that one of Koeman's key strengths is setting up the team for games against the top teams. Will be interesting to see if he tries anything to particularly stop Liverpool playing their usual style or just focuses on what we do.

Pretty obvious he was going to be no1. Boruc did well but isnt a long term option. Hope he stays, and if not we need another keeper as KD and Gazza arent good enough. But I don't feel sorry for Boruc. He was a free agent when we signed him and we have got him back into the Poland team. Football is a ruthless game and it is 100% the right decision for Saints, and that is all that matters.

A few intellectual levels above Shaw I think!

I would say backup should be the 4th choice and really you need three centre backs competing for the starting places. It shouldn't be that one injury or suspension hampers the team hugely.

Looks a decent signing, need another one to go with him, that would add competition.

We can do better.

Camerman wanted some shots of Forster I think. They are doing a double session according to Jan K and JWP/Bale on Twitter so wonder if Morgan intends to come back for the second part...

Wonder if he turned up for training today? Seems unlikely his head will have been cleared by having two days off but hopefully he will realise he should train whilst it all gets resolved.