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Danns would be a good choice as Waigo is an effective striker. This way you have Danns/LJ/Antonio competing for the RM spot and essentially Connolly/Papa competing to partner Lambert. Only big issue is should Lambert get injured we have no other classic target striker in the squad, so although people might not like it, Pericard would be a useful reserve addition. If you are getting greedy then Stock would be awesome to compete for the 2 CM spots with DH & MS. Of the people we have been linked with, I reckon in order of importance you would go for: 1, Danns 2, Pericard 3, Stock Having said that the 3 signings so far have been the least predicted ones on the grapevine, so I suspect it will be none of the above.

I'm one hour ahead and can exclusively reveal we actually resigned the oil rig........

Very funny.......quite liked this one ;-)

Debt is the only thing we need to worry about. As long as the club remains debt free, financially it will be fine. Take this as a senario, ML spends millions of his own cash, getting us to/staying in the Prem in a hugely exciting 5-10 years. Once there, he has enough, packs it in and sells for 80m, in all likelyhood getting his investment back + a small profit (based on how little he initially bought the club for). He sells to a less wealthy consortium, but leaves no debt. At that point Saints probably have too high a wage costs and will need to sell some of their big stars to stay in the black. Lets hope we as Saints fans remember, we need to maintain the financial wellbeing of the club (even if it means relegation), rather than demanding player investment based on debt. I don't really fancy almost losing the club a 2nd time. For the moment we should all massively enjoy being the club signing exciting players and only start to worry if any of it is built on debt.

Agree pretty much with this, if we sign Danns/Ward/Stock. Pretty sure Danns is playing on the right for CP at the moment. I would also guess Waigo on the right in 451 is the more likely, as his attacking instincts would be more suited to that formation than Danns.

Excellent....all been a bit quiet on this front since Mario Licka left.......

James!!!!!!!!!!! yes!!!!

Again brilliant job from the Saints, just enjoying being happy on Sat afternoon. Only slight downer is we made no progress on 6th, thats what I always look for now. Still, I reckon if we could be between 6 and 8 points short by Jan 1st, we have a good chance of making the playoffs.

There's no way we could ever be a top 4 team, the cost would be huge and I honestly would not want to see Markus wasting his money trying to achieve it (fairly unlikely he would throw money around like that too). I would settle for being a top half team, occasional cup run, UEFA push, attractive football. A sort of South Coast Villa, that suits the size of our club and is sustainable if Markus ever moved on.

Brilliant! 9 points of 6th, still over half a season to go, thats the important stat.

Its crazy to suggest Papa does not know the offside rule. These pro's live football everyday, reherse, watch, discuss and train. To suggest that even a junior player (let alone one who has been a pro in Serie A and England) would not know the rule seems bizarre considering the amount of time and influence coaches spend with them. How he executes his game is what needs to be worked on by coaches, rather than suggesting to explain the rule in his own language. Papa is clearly a talent, who I think scares/stretches the opposition. I think this has been most effective when playing 4-5-1 from the start and reverting to 4-4-2 later in the game for Antonio and Connelly to exploit (more space, tired defenders etc.). When we have gone 4-5-1 and then later 4-4-2 in games, I'm pretty sure we have been more effective than games where we start 4-4-2. Papa has been a big part of that.

GK - No change DF - AP will sign Trottman permanently MD - No change. Antonio will get loan extended for the season, but Mellis will return to Chelsea or go elsewhere on loan. ST - AP will sign one Lambert type forward on loan Saga, Pulis & Gillet will leave permanently for a near pittance. Thats it I reckon. If anyone else comes in, it will be a "big" name such as Connelly rather than a squad type player.

I'm hopeful rather than confident we will make the payoffs. If we are 6/7 points from 6th place come Jan 1st, I'll be getting confident rather than hopeful.

Was going to post something similar. Realistically I doubt Jan would be a good option for either party. The summer might be a different case, especially if he continues on the bench, Wolves get relegated and we lose Morgan (fairly similar players)

I think he will certainly leave in the summer if we are not promoted, simple as that. There is no way he (or Morgan for that matter) would want to play another season in L1. If we go up however, maybe offer a new contract and demonstrate investment in the team, who knows he might be pursuaded that the project here can meet his ambition. The more I guess a few wins give us hope, the more I start to think getting promoted this year might be quite important in keeping and attracting the players we need.

If he's competent, you want your main goalscorer taking the pens unless there is a specialist in the team. Builds confidence and opposition fear if the main guy has a healthy goals scored record. So Lambo it is. Interestingly, Paul Wotton had a Le Tiss like status down at Plymouth for taking pens, dont think he ever missed one and was their regular taker. Think he has already missed for us though last year!

For me the biggest problem with this show and many other shows for that matter, is the incessant drive to let the public have their say. (thus the crap email & text section) The public are fools (me included) and dont know their arse from their elbow. I prefer to listen to a panel of experienced football people who's views I can then digest. I dont want to hear what Barry from Bristol thinks about his current club predicament. At least we on this forum all recognise the value of our comments and thus keep them to the internet ages "chat down the pub" equivalent instead of texting the bbc like anyone cares what we think. I still even go to the pub for a chat with my mates about football, which is to be honest where my views should stay.

Think Jaidi captained Tunisia..............Morgan was the French U19 captain I think as well. I'm not sure actually if its the fact of being made captain is important, more the case of now having players who are mentally strong during difficult moments on the pitch. Ok typically those type of players get looked at for captain material, but its not the reason perse. I guess you can also add Harding & Lambert to the list of mentally strong players.

Its time for him to go, as simply he does not "fit" here at saints anymore. This is not to say, he is not a good player (which he is - at Euro 2008, he was probably the best player in a poor Polish team), or that he has not tried his hardest when playing or that he gave nothing to us during his spell here. Sometimes its just time for a player and club to move on and this is it. We should wish him well.

I think personally AP will revert to moving Morgan back to Wotton's position once Mellis returns, at least for those games at home. As someone mentioned however, there are options now and they all look pretty good.

The new Saints Player is MUCH better than the old Saints TV. Quality of the highlights and interviews are great and the radio stream is not bad. For me its a good deal and if you pay monthly, you can always cancel it during the summer........

Ultimately to get to the final, its likely we would have had to play Charlton at some point, so to get them at home is a big plus. IF we knock them out, my money is definitely on a Wembley trip in March v Leeds, 90K fullhouse........Magic!

AP will probably also quite like the fact that all the goals came from those he rested on Tues and challenged to have big games tonight. Great result, job done. Saints fans sounded brilliant on the radio.

Completely agree we should be putting out our strongest team. Lets face it, we are unlikely to get promoted or relegated, so this could be a great chance for saints fans to feel good about their club again.

I've always really liked the "fancy dan" type footballers (e.g. Svensson & Fernandes from the recent past), rather than the limited but whole hearted ones. From the current squad its therefore Morgan & Lallana who even if they dont always have an end product, I would have them in every time, as I could watch them all day long. In fact I'm quite surprised and happy at the number of fans on this thread who are saying Morgan considering the amount he gets slated. Good to see I'm not alone in my love of class players with no end product! Always liked Saga too, though his time at the Saints is now done. Davis for being a top bloke & Harding for being surprisingly good also get a mention.