saints_is_the_south

This. I love it how now they are well below us it doesn't matter anymore, yet when they were above us it really mattered that they were playing United whilst we were playing Rochdale. Sha la la la la la...

Yet the British stereotype which is about 10 to 15 years out of date still remains. I find it amazing that so called pundits in this country still label Italian football as defensive. Have they had their eyes shut when watching our own national team in the past decade?! We played the Italians last summer, and all WE did was defend for 120 minutes! As for the league, since I started following Roma 10 years a go I have watched pretty much every game of theirs (including 18 live) plus another 2 or 3 Serie A games most weekends, and as you say, the days of Catenaccio are a very distant memory. The football Roma played under Luciano Spalletti (and this season with Zeman) was free flowing attacking football. Napoli are also another highly entertaining team to watch, Fiorentina too. Posted my views on Osvaldo on page 57, which I feel is an accurate analysis on him. I would take the gamble on him, think he'd get on OK here and we'd see less of his personality problems, which as I said IMO stem mainly from the high pressure environment in Rome. If you've ever been to Rome, and seen a Roma game live then you'll know what I mean, there is no other city like it when it comes to football.

How often do you watch Italian football may I ask? Serie A is not a defensive league.

Just a thought - if we were to end the summer with the signings of Lovren, Wanyama, Stoch & Osvaldo we'd have signed 4 players with 43 Champions League & 33 Europa League (incl. qualifiers) appearances between them, not to mention all 4's international caps. Exciting stuff.

Only reported by one Italian newspaper - Il Tempo - as far as I have been able to locate. Would still be surprised to see this deal happen, not surprised by the bid but just can't see the player wanting to come here.

Try putting the application through in a relative/friend's name but keep your bank account details (as advised above by a few). I renewed on 3rd June through Zebra, and ST renewal shows on my transaction history on SFC's ticket website but not received my pack through the post yet. Anybody else had theirs? Tried phoning the club but had no luck in getting through on the 0845 no.

Ability wise, he is definitely worth that amount. He has been a nightmare at Roma but still managed a goal every other game. Also,I have not been able to find any reports of him causing problems at Espanyol or Fiorentina before that, so it could just be Roma. As I said, the atmosphere in Rome is like no other city when it comes to football, the intensity and scrutiny is extreme on the team and it's players. I'll be interested to see how he behaves away from Roma, whether it be here or elsewhere.

The blog posted above is a very good piece on Osvaldo, by the excellent James Horncastle - one of the best football writers in Europe IMO, expert when it comes to Italian football and he's a Roma fan too I believe.

The Italian daily Il Tempo reporting today that Saints are willing to offer Roma €20m for Pablo Osvaldo. Following Roma as my 'foreign team' as I do I'm quite close to all of the news reported about the club, and I think Roma would be certain to accept such an offer, they are looking for between €15-20m for him. Big question is whether Osvaldo would want to come here. I think probably not, there'd be plenty of teams playing CL football out there that I think he'd probably prefer to sit it out and wait for them to make offers to Roma for him. Then again, maybe Cortese can work his magic and convince him to come. His personality is a huge issue, but I am not sure how much that has been down to the atmosphere in Rome affecting his temperament, and perhaps the more serene atmosphere in this country compared to Italy and Rome would help to change that stinking personality of his. The majority of fans in Rome hate him and want rid, despite a goal scoring record of 27 goals in 55 games for the club, a goal every other game. Says a lot about how bad is personality is, if he is so disliked despite a very good goal scoring record. Footballing wise, he'd be an absolutely brilliant signing, having watched him 50+ times for Roma over the past 2 seasons, on his day he is IMO one of the best strikers in Europe but that is the problem, if he is having an off day or simply looks like he can't be bothered then he is a real pain in the arse. He's got everything you'd want from a modern day forward though, great physique, strength, power, good technical ability, scores all sorts of goals from headers to overhead bycicle kicks. As I have said before on this thread, I'd be hugely surprised if it happened and I still consider it very unlikely. My bet is he'll go to Atletico Madrid, or maybe Spurs now that Franco Baldini (ex Roma DG) is now there.

Much kinder start than last season, a real chance for us to hit the ground running and secure ourselves in the top half by October/November time akin to what Swansea and WBA did last season. The run in could be better, but could be a lot worse too (see Norwich's last 4 games, ouch!).

+1. This is a bigger issue than the kick off time, IMO.

Remember that Inter are in no European competition at all next season too, and aren't likely to qualify for the CL next season IMO (which has been down to 3 places in Italy for the last couple of seasons). So whilst they are obviously a far far bigger club than we will ever be, in terms of footballing prospects they don't offer an awful lot more than we could right now.

I'd pick Moreno out of all of them. Sadly that rumour only came from a fake twitter journo. Top class CB, over 40 international caps for Mexico, won the Dutch title with AZ before moving to Spain where he picked up Espanyol's player of the year award in his first season. He was actually signed under Pochettino's tenure too (June 2011). Good age at 25, so just about to enter his prime. Ruiz would be decent too but Moreno is better IMO. Chelsea have been linked with him recently, on Mourinho's very long wish list apparently.

Wanted by Real Madrid and Barcelona, both of whom have had €25m and €20m bids rejected by Roma. He'd be more than a decent signing, he's one of the best, if not the best young defender in Europe, but he will not be signing for Southampton, absolutely no chance (same as Lamela and Pjanic!)

I've phoned them twice now, just get diverted to reception every time. Been promised a call back both times, still nothing.

I've received the credit agreement from Zebra Finance by email, but no text with the unique PIN no. Completed the application about 2 hours ago.

My suggestion of signings in the HCDAJFU thread (Trippier, Figueroa, Moreno, Nainggolan, Lens) would see us push into the top half and towards top 8 IMO. That lot will cost between £30-40m. Would give us this as a squad, First XI with cover in brackets. Boruc (Davis, Gazzaniga) Clyne (Trippier) - Yoshida (Fonte) - Moreno (Hooiveld/Forren) - Shaw (Figueroa) Schneiderlin (Davis) - Nainggolan (Cork) Lens (Rodriguez/Puncheon) - Ramirez (JWP) - Puncheon (Lallana) Rodriguez (Lambert/Mayuka) From there I think we'd probably need another £20-£30m to make us regular top 6 contenders. Left side of midfield and another real top class CB to replace Yoshida would then become the biggest areas for further improvement and upgrade, as well as maybe a top class striker, depending on how J Rod's development pans out. Could also look to bringing in a younger top class keeper for the future. Would obviously require us having to keep all of our best players too. So in summary, to answer the question - circa £60/70m over 2 summers plus keeping our best players (by next summer the likes of Clyne, Schneiderlin, Shaw, Rodriguez would all have 2 seasons of PL football under their belts). All IMO.

Nainggolan è il giocatore che ha vinto più contrasti in #SerieA negli ultimi 3 anni: 298. @OfficialRadja un vero lottatore. Nainggolan is the player who has win the most tackles in Serie A in the last 3 seasons. 298. @OfficialRadja is a true fighter. Little stat there for you boys and girls.

@jfelixdiaz: Pochettino tiene una oferta del Benfica. http://www.elconfidencial.com/deportes/futbol/2013/05/29/el%2Dbenfica%2Dquiere%2Dque%2Dpochettino%2Dse%2Dconvierta%2Den%2Dsu%2Dproximo%2Dentrenador%2D121942/ @SimonPeach: All quiet at #SaintsFC on this evening's reports of Mauricio Pochettino to Benfica. Will keep digging.

+1. The others were easy, IMO.

I have only seen one fleeting comment from Alan Nixon where he said, "don't rule any names in Italy". If people want to take that seriously, then we may as well start talking about Saints signing Edison Cavani, Francesco Totti and Stephan El Shaarwary too.

Didn't do Newcastle and Sunderland last season, so they're definitely on my to do list. Will probably give Liverpool and United a miss next season in return for Chelsea which I didn't do last season. Cardiff and Palace are good ones, and Swansea, Everton and Spurs were all cracking days and ones I'd look to do again next season.

Anybody thinking we have any chance of signing Lamela, is absolutely deluded. If he were to leave Roma, which I don't expect him to do then it will be to the likes of Manchester United or Barcelona. Roma would want £25m or more for him too. And to anybody who would respond with, "Well we signed Ramirez when everyone said we wouldn't", Lamela is on a different level to Ramirez, and plays for a much bigger club than Bologna and ourselves.

Sunderland, Hull and Crystal Palace down for me. The teams coming up from the Championship this season are nowhere near as strong as those that came up last season, IMO. Hull for example, finished 2nd despite losing 15 games (nearly 1/3 of total games) whilst we only lost 10 when we finished 2nd. I think Cardiff will invest enough to just scrape to safety in 17th place.

I watch a lot of Serie A, Nainggolan is a very very good player. Would be an upgrade on Cork. £15m is about right.