Saint Charlie

Not sure why these questions are even bothered to be asked. Most fans don't care, we just want to hear about plans for the team FFS.

Tired no. Two disrupted pre seasons - yes.

I always change my mind on this. Based on last 3/4 months last season Hooiveld probably has more of a calamity in him but does tend to dominate strikers more. They are both of a similar level - Top Championship/Bottom 5 Prem

We need them to sign Gervinho. It makes them happier to let Osvaldo go.

Yes mate.

Quite recently. Last summer (Olympics) and this summer (Confederations Cup).

Everyone keeps saying this, and they have made some good signings on paper, but haven't bought anyone apart from van Wolfswinkel that would be a guarenteed starter for us. Fer is promising but we are well stocked in midfield. Redmond is not currently anywehere near Puncheon, Lallana, Ramirez. Garrido & Olssen are decent, but nothing spectacular (and not as good as our fullbacks) and Carlo Nash is a Davis style backup keeper.

Could still happen and would be a great signing.

Problem is, no team gets through a season using just two CBs. The chances are that Hooiveld and Fonte will start 20 games between them....and they will cost us points.

Exactly. With so many teams in the PL playing a 4-2-3-1 or 4-5-1 system the strikers en vogue are now the bigger but still athletic players like a Cavani, Benteke, Bony etc. They can do a bit of everything and still get goals. That is exactly the sort of striker we need but once they are above the radar they cost a fortune.

Hooper set to sign for Norwich.

The whole striker with pace thing is a bit of a myth IMO. Look at a lot of the top goalscorers and they arent pacy. In the PL last year RVP, Benteke, Michu, Lambert. Suarez is fairly quick but not lightning. Already this summer Higuain and Cavani have sold for 100m - neither has a game based on pace. They are just good players and good finishers. Players that combine pace and skill etc are so rare. Bale, Ronaldo etc - very, very few of them about. The strikers we have been looking at, Damiao, Osvaldo etc arent lightning quick and they don't need to be, they are just good strikers. We need someone who is a good alround player, more mobile than Lambert, and can create chances for themselves. Mayuka is lightning/genuine pace etc, so is Jonno Forte, but neither is much good...

Based on the fact he is clearly a better player than the CBs we already have. We need a good partner for him though.

Seems then that it depends on Zenit and if they want Damiao. To be fair we havent been mentioned at all in connection with him for a while, and if Spurs and Napoli have failed to do a deal then it must be tough, especially when you consider all the Cavani money that Napoli are flinging about. Plus, in a WC year (in his home country) it would be hard to persuade him to move to Europe for a team not in any European competition.

Lovren IMO will be fine, but its about a solid pairing and whilst Yoshida is good I have no faith in either Fonte or Hooiveld at the level we want to be. Wouldn't even cost a lot to get a better defender in than those two.

Its interesting that lots were crying out for full back cover, or wingers yet actually these areas we are fine. We only need two more signings to be a really decent team: striker and another CB. Up front we are light even more so if Lambert gets injured as we don't have any else proven at scoring in this league. We badly need a striker. At the back we are still also fairly weak. Put simply, we need a partner for Lovren. Yoshida is far superior to Hooiveld and Fonte but we could improve on him. Currently, we are an injury away from Fonte or Hooiveld being a first choice, and nice guys as they are, neither is a top 10 PL defender, and IMO no other PL team would be interested in either of them - they probably aren't even lower half quality. They were the weak links last year, and in all other positions we have largely phased out the previous weak links...

He had played for Japan though and scored the winner in the Asia Cup.

Poch just doesn't like talking to the Press unless he has to. Rd Osvaldo there are so many different reports that we will just have to see. But the ITK Di Marzio seemed fairly certain he has turned us down twice already.

David Sullivan did a twitter Q&A on Sunday and was adamant he wouldnt get a WP which is why they lost stopped the move.

No, too much off field drama.

Oh well, he works for his own agency so over there on a jolly. His Lambert quotes will probably be from the Saints Player interview. Bit of a joker really.

He blocked me on Twitter because I told him that our OS said Ramirez and Yoshida wouldn't play tonight, whilst he said the same thing prefixed by 'I understand' about three hours after it was in the OS. Best was when his Star article said we had bid 15m for Nainggolan and then he tweeted to deny it the same morning it was published!

Alex Crook.

Plus his best pal in the squad is Danny Fox.

Everyone bleats on about full back cover and wingers but its clear we need two more additions to make us a properly decent team. A top striker A defender to play with Lovren That is all.