CanadaSaint

Most of what Phil said. IMO the people clamouring for big money signings that won't dramatically improve the team when we are already showing strong signs that we could be promoted this year are somewhat detached from reality. We had an extremely wealthy owner but he tragically passed away. Even while he was alive a key word was "sustainable" - a combination of players bought and players developed within. Yes, the money would be found if we needed to bring someone in but we were never going to be a Man City or a Chelsea. However, Markus died but by most accounts he left provision for us to achieve his/Cortese's vision - Premiership in five years. This in my view means that he probably set aside a FINITE sum, which means that if we spend it this year we can't spend it next year or when we reach the Premier League. If that's the case I'm all for caution and prudence, especially while we're doing so well, because it will cost a lot more to establish ourselves in the Premier than it will cost to get out of the Championship. Sure, there are some gambles attached to that but we're still in a very good position.

The answer probably rests in the wording "unable to make an informed decision on ankle injury". So he wasn't rejected because of his current ankle injury but because that injury made it impossible for him to do the things they needed him to do to satisfy them about his fitness. If that makes sense. It means that both the Club and the agent can be correct even though they seem to be saying conflicting things.

From what I saw of the U21s, the farther we keep Lallana away from Pearce the better.

There seems to be an assumption that Puncheon's problem is with Adkins, and I know that Adkins has been (for him) quite outspoken about the guy. Is it possible that Cortese is more behind this? I know there was some anger on here about how Puncheon dressed for Markus's memorial service but I can't remember how much (if at all) he played after that. It seems to me that this supposed incident and Puncheon falling out of favour were quite close together.

There seems to be an assumption that we'd buy him, contract and all. Surely one of the options is to negotiate a new, longer term contract as part of the pre-signing process.

If Adkins and Cortese want him gone that's more than enough for me, pretty much regardless of how good he is/thinks he is/could be. They have a very good thing going inside that dressing room - something that teams work years to create - and it would be madness to risk it.

It seems that we're better playing on the front foot, using plenty of width and movement, and we're better against teams that try to play football rather than dominate the midfield with physical strength. I think we'll get the chance to do those things against Leicester, and we've been gelling as a footballing team (which takes time) for much longer than them. I fancy us to win but for the first time in ages I feel confident that we have a manager who can make the right adjustments if things aren't working.

God, I dread to think what that Ipswich fan is going to say to his webcam this time. LOL.

I should have put a winky thing in but I didn't think it was necessary.

No need to kick them when they're down - a caravan flipped on the M27 near Fareham today.

Occasionally the lag is quite significant. Disappointing for a home game.

This is exactly the sort of game that will win or lose promotion for us. Let's see what we're made of.

It sounds like we need that second goal, big time. We're certainly not dominating. Millwall currently likely to leave town with their original arsehole.

Is Saintsweb already starting to slow down for anyone else?

Have you unlucky folks tried re-starting your computer?

Okay, 1-4 it is, then. Who's going to tell the League?

Indeed, Dave, and we've certainly felt the sour taste of the underlined bit. I'm not just concerned about the sky-high prices being quoted for relatively modest and unproven talent - at least for the level we're aiming at. I'm probably more concerned that sky-high wages normally accompany those transfers, and that this could damage the wage structure at the Club. Adkins seems to have built a rock-solid chemistry in the dressing room and the last thing we need is an over-inflated ego on structure-breaking wages. These things never stay secret for very long. That could kill so much that Adkins and his team have fought to achieve.

Fair enough but your question was "Were you expecting the championship to be harder?", not "Why did we struggle in Division One?" I think we did well last year despite the fact that we had players who weren't best-suited to that division. Better players tend to let good players play, if you know what I mean.

That. The test will come when the pitches get heavier but I think we can handle that because the surfaces should still be better than what we saw last year.

Absolutely right - and on better playing surfaces. Just as I think Nigel said - we'll see how they do against teams that are comfortable on the ball, or something like that. This side can clearly play with style - purposeful passing, moving off the ball, triangles and tons of width. But they have to do that on heavy pitches in December and January as well. Still, I'm loving the moment.

This was a team built to succeed not in Division One but higher. And perhaps much higher. Our players are looking better in the Championship than they did in Division One.

Given the prices being quoted for some others, Cork could be the steal of the season.

Dave's up to 17 arbso-loot-ly soop herbs already

Well, two straight wins to start the season could be a powerful attractor for players choosing between several options.