notnowcato

Vlaar and Fonte would work, not so sure about Fonte and van Dijk - to be fair that would be more about not having seen as much of Dijk compared to Vlaar. Fonte and Big Vic would work too..

Absolutely. We know what standard Samaras will be come the end of this season, I'd rather Gallagher was given his chance. It could be argued that Gallagher's mobility and aerial threat would cause opposition defences more headaches than the fairly immobile Samaras. Samaras is a quality player on the ball, kind of like a c**p Berbatov. The game has moved on since that ilk could shine in the PL. IMO.

Agree and hope this is the case.

Potentially yes but don't let that individual circumstance stop those that want to from shaking their pitchforks at the board...

IMO Bertrand has never been nothing but a solid left back, that is what Shaw was for us - Shaw was sold on potential and the probability of a lengthy service at a top club. We are a club that doesn't need a £30m left back. Bertrand is a proven left back and I expect him to be more than adequate for us. I also think you should apply a large amount of salt to any "links" or reports of "deals falling through" - for your own good, also to be fair to the board it is an unfair stick to hit them with.

Without knowing the facts how can either of us actually know. You're happy to broad brush the board with an opinion, the FACT is you don't actually know what is going on. It could be that they are making an absolute horlicks of things, or they may be adapting to change really well. IMO we can judge the board on 3 separate pieces: 1 - Sales and Purchases 2 - Squad for start of season 3 - Squad at end of transfer window 1 - the direct replacements - Tadic, Pelle and Bertrand aren't too shabby - time will tell but on the face of it there are signals for optimism here. 2 - 12 days to go but centre back was in need of improvement before the sale of Lovren. Hard to see us getting 2 centre backs in that are better than Jos and Yosh - would happily be proved wrong on this. Back up striker and right back would bridge the gap between first team and current youth players. I really would like to see Gallagher step up considering all that he went through last season, impressed by his attitude and application still need to see his quality. 3 - too early to comment.

Haha. Opinion as fact with no consideration for individual circumstance.

Because the purchase that you desire will already be labelled as a replacement. What good would it have done having Lovren around whilst we secure a CB?

Bit early to judge for me. Without knowing the exact timings of Lovren informing the club as opposed to informing the media that is head was in Liverpool we don't know if a replacement could have been found before the word was out. For all we know replacements were identified and were either competing in the latter stages of the world cup or were part of a squad involved in UCL qualifiers, where the club wanted that player to be available for selection. As I said, we just don't know. Without knowing we are not in a fantastic position to judge.

Get to 40 points ASAP that is actually a MUST. The SHOULD for this season is a decent cup run. The SHOULD cannot be at the cost of the MUST.

My money is on this thread being dug up again in 2 weeks, to which Alpine will respond that the board should have sorted the CB out before selling Lovren. Of course he is right and by all accounts he loves his ivory tower. Oh to be as perfect as Alpine - Football Genius.

Pelle - Lambert Lallana - Tadic Shaw - Bertrand / Targett Lovren - to be replaced Chambers - arguably a squad player, we need to replace with a squad player Taidir and Schelotto - how the feck did they sneak in? Overall not too shabby considering the window is open for another 4 weeks.

Lovren's head was already in Liverpool - manage that!

Yeah and I'm sure the board are to blame for Lallana and Lovren alerting the social media world that they intend to be elsewhere next season had jeff all to do with it. They must have insisted that Morgan put "that" tweet out too. Whoever leaked the Jay Rod contract story MUST be a board member too. Nasty board. Boo to them. Take your blinkers off and change the record.

Harsh but fair in this case.

Morgan is mustard and different gravy at the same time. We (fans) have taken a hammering the last 4 weeks, this would be a major statement if we can build a side around Spiderman. RonKoe was quoted a few weeks ago on how he wanted Morgan to stay, seems he could be getting his way.

thanks for posting this up

Feels like I'm halfway through a novel, first half was really dark. What happens in the next few chapters will shape our season, absolutely critical point in the transfer window - will the owners release the necessary funds? Will the transfer committee line up suitable replacements? The Southampton FC rollercoaster just keeps on giving. Buckle up!

WHOOOOOSH

and then pay him wages for 9 months for next to sweet fa return? nah, it's bonkers.

Disagree. It shows how desperate / dumb Spurs are.

Why would anyone buy a player that 2 months ago did his ACL? I just don't understand that. Having gone through the off season as we have it's not impossible but I just can't square it. I guess adding Spurs into the equation does make the improbable plausible but even so this is bonkers.

Have they checked the moon??

Why wouldn't de Vrij be a "target"? Ticks the boxes.

AWESOME post, from an AWESOME poster.