saints_is_the_south

Hopeful that Bresnan, Broad and Swann can combine to put a few more runs on the board. If we can make it through to lunch tomorrow then that should mean we've got 350 or so. Still a poor effort, should be getting 450/500 on this.

http://www.gianlucadimarzio.com/calciomercato/roma-vicino-gonzalo-bueno-i-dettagli/ Set to sign for Roma.

Jesus. Typical England. Hard work done, dug ourselves out of a very big hole at 28 for 3, get to 271-4 and then throw 3 stupid wickets away. What was Bairstow thinking playing that full toss straight back into Smith's hands? Gone from a commanding position back to being behind the game again. Need the last few to try and take us up to 350 at least, if not 400.

I've always found it very easy to find the games that are being shown on their website - http://www.en.aljazeerasport.tv/Schedule - Find it a reliable guide. With regards to renewing, as I posted above all I've ever had to do is contact the original seller of my viewing card and request a renewal. I pay, they do it within 24 hours. Never had any problems. Never had to deal with Al Jaz at all. The thing I am interested in the most is the price, and how PL football will affect that. Even if I am paying slightly over the odds for my viewing card on ebay, £11/12 a month for the shed loads of football that they offer is still a bargain IMO, just hope they don't hike it up too much now.

They currently have 2 HD sports channels, the normal 1 to 10 sports channels are SD. Quality is fine though, proper TV not a stream.

No, he made his debut for Greece in 2008, they won it in 2004! For my money he is currently the best Greek player out there. Nearly joined Fulham in January but Roma came in at the last minute and he went there. Scored a corker of a goal in the Italian Cup Semi Final last season. Suspected you'd concur, Crab Lungs!

29, and spent the last 6 years playing in the 2nd tier of Italian and English football. Don't think so somehow.

Not somebody we've been linked with, but HCDAJFU - Roma's versatile Greek right back Vasilis Torosidis. Although he only joined the club in January, Roma have just signed Maicon in the same position so not sure what that means for Torosidis' future. Can also fill in at right midfield or left back. Would be very useful cover for Clyne. Roma signed him for just £350K in January, so he wouldn't cost a lot and if offered a small profit expect they'd accept. Again, I'll stress not somebody we've been linked with, not ITK, just a personal suggestion.

Al Jazeera Sports have won the rights to show all 380 Premier League games from next season up until 2015/16 season. I currently own a viewing card for all 10 sports channels which I have used to watch Serie A for the last 3 years. You can purchase the card on Ebay here for £139.99 - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ultimate-12-Months-Al-jazeera-sport-card-Channels-1-10-Channels-NEW-/150741155480?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Viewing_Cards&hash=item2318df7e98. Youl also need a receiver box and a 80cm diameter satellite dish and LNB, and have it aimed at 13.0E for Hot Bird Satellite 6-8. Cost me £165 to set up, plus the cost of an engineer to correctly tune the dish. I purchased my gear from http://www.satellitesuperstore.com. Once installed that's it and after purchasing the Al Jazeera Sport viewing card you can renew it annually via the ebay seller who will do it remotely. I'm not sure how live Premier League football will affect the price of the viewing card, but if it stays at the current price then it's a bargain, every Saints game live for £140 quid, or £11.66 a month. Compare that to what Sky charge per month, and you'll only get 8 or so live Saints games. Al Jaz Sports also show Championship, La Liga, Serie A (virtually every game every weekend, great if you're into your Italian football like me), Ligue 1, Champions & Europa League & Internationals. Perfect if you are exiled from Southampton and can't get to many games, or even if you're not and do home games only. If anybody would like any further information on the above just send me a PM.

Saw him a few times for Siena in Serie A last season, joined them on loan in January and went on to score 7 in 12 games. Couldn't save them from relegation though. Decent talent, but probably not the level we are after now.

When is it going to stop? £18 for a meaningless friendly FFS. Should be no more than a tenner IMO. I'll save my cash for WBA & Norwich away at.

He mentioned Banega's name in the same interview too! Spanish & South American media have reported we've bid for him today too. Christ if we do pull this one off, wow what an amazing signing it'd be.

Banega then.

Why are the club ceasing sales on Friday, a month before the season commences? They are missing out on a lot of people's July's pay days. I'm sure if it was extended until 1st August say, they'd shift another 500-1,000. I guess the club would rather people buying on a match by match basis as it works out dearer. Still seems odd to stop selling them so far in advance of the season starting.

If that were to be our team for next season it would consist of 84 Champions League (including qualifiers) appearances between them. Add Banega to the side and you'd be up to 100. Would be a clear signal of where NC wants to take us if we did end the summer with such a line up. It does look a fantastic team.

No changes in the squad for the 2nd test, but I wonder if there will be in the first 11. I'd be inclined to think about bringing in Bresnan for Finn. The latter looked woefully out of form in the first test, particularly in the 2nd innings and Bresnan is an equally adept bowler, but also offers more depth in our batting at the tail end.

Ties in with NC travelling to Spain with the squad, could be attempting conclude this one whilst we're over there. €10m for a player of his quality would be an absolute steal.

Norwich's bid for Alderweireld was reported to be £6.9m & accepted by Ajax. Bit of a bargain, I'd put him in the £10-12m bracket. Would love to see us put a bid in and get him, we'd have two top class CL standard centre backs then. Christ, imagine getting him, Banega, Damiao and Stoch plus Lovren and Wanyama. We'd definitely have a side capable of knocking on the door of the top 6 or 7. Dreaming a bit now!

Could have done with nicking one in that session before lunch. Won't be long before Swann is on after the break I shouldn't think.

Very difficult to say at present. I think it's going to be a lot closer at the top than it has been in recent years with all the managerial changes. I think Palace are certainties to go, but the rest will be to close to call as it often is. A lot of people keep saying Cardiff will be fine because they have money, but look what happened to QPR. I think the best equipped of the promoted teams to stay up may be Hull, as they have a manager who has been there and done it in the PL before and kept Birmingham & Wigan up and led the latter to their best ever finish in the PL, football might not be great to watch but he may get the job done there. Sunderland are heading for disaster IMO, Di Canio is a nut case and not suited to working with PL players egos. They are signing players left right and centre, but QPR did that last season and look where that got them. Don't rate Hughes as a manager so I think Stoke will struggle plus they've been on a steady decline for a while and remind me of us a bit when we got relegated in 2005, stagnating squad...etc. West Brom could drop down the table a bit, higher expectations may take their toll and the loss of Lukakau is a big void to fill, but they've got enough about them to still be OK. Had tipped Villa for an improvement on last season and possible top half finish but if/when they lose Benteke that will all change. I fancy that to be a long running transfer saga where he ends up leaving late on in the window and Villa not having the time to replace him properly. As for us, until we've completed our acquisition process then I couldn't say for definate, but early signs are good with the 2 signings and Shaw's contract. I predicted 8th last season and if we do as I expect by the end of the transfer window then I'll be sticking with that. So far, Norwich and Swansea have done the best business for me and I think they'll both be competing for a top half finish, the latter's European commitments may hinder them a bit though. As things stand I will say: 1. Chelsea 2. Man City 3. Man Utd 10. Saints 18. Sunderland 19. Stoke City 20. Crystal Palace Ask again 2 weeks before the start of the season, and then again on 3rd September when the transfer window closes!

Absolutely spot on.

Like that. They've taken it from this chant (majority of Italian and other foreign sides use it), which sounds awesome when it gets going and a whole ground is singing it. Simple but effective and would create a good atmosphere.

Of course, he'd be another stunning signing for us.

Who next for us then? And what more do we need? Winger (Stoch) and striker (Damiao/Osvaldo) the priorities for me. Being greedy, I wouldn't say no to another quality CB as an upgrade on 1 of Fonte/Jos and some better cover at left & right backs. Do we consider the Banega deal to be off now we've signed Wanyama?

Going for a QPR approach? Think that's 7 they've signed now. On another note, I've been impressed with Norwich's business so far, and if they do sign Fer & Alderweireld they'll be looking very good.