saints_is_the_south

http://www.goal.com/it/news/1942/esclusiveinterviste/2013/01/07/3654857/il-liverpool-si-fa-sotto-con-il-cagliari-per-astori-ma-al?source=breakingnews Saints have an agreement with Astori. 3yr deal worth €2m net per season. Likely to be a contract termination clause in the event of relegation included (similar to that in Ramirez's contract). Now we have to find an agreement with Cagliari. We offer £8m (or €10m). Not much we don't know, other than there is now a contract term and wages per season.

Guly did put in one excellent corner yesterday at 1-0, right in the mixer. Why nobody got on the end of it was beyond me, would have been a 5 yard tap in. Other than that I agree they were very poor. AL is not much better with corners tbh. Best set piece deliverer we have is Fox.

+1. 3 games a go nobody gave us a prayer against Arsenal, yet there we are getting a draw and being the better team.

http://www.tuttomercatoweb.com/?action=read&id=411992 Difference between Saints and Cagliari is €2m (£1.6m approx). Clubs still working on agreement, especially since Astori has already agreed personal terms with Cortese.

You could make a case for any of Fonte, Morgan, Cork and Lambert. Punch also gets a honourable mention, he has probably been the biggest surprise of the season.

Exactly what we are doing. Should be a good couple of days.

I know Chelsea comes first but I feel this game is of such massive proportions that it warrants a build up thread already. Firstly, if we don't sell this out then there is something very wrong with our support. Biggest game of the season by a long long way. It is huge. Carry on like we have in the past 3 games (and 2 months overall) and I think we'll win.

They are every week! Had we been about to play Arsenal 3 or 4 weeks ago I'd have been more confident of us getting something, possibly even nicking a win. As it happens we are about to play them as they are going through something of a goal glut. I think they'll just simply out score us. 4-2 to the Gooners.

59/92. Not bad at the age of 23.

€10m offer. Cagliari are in dire financial straits at the moment. All season they've been playing their home games on neutral turf around Italy as their stadium hasn't been deemed safe enough for spectators. No match day revenue + cost of travelling. Players salaries also unpaid for October and November. http://transfernewscentral.com/cagliari-is-in-financial-trouble/

Astori is wholly owned by Cagliari. They bought the remaining 50% of him from Milan in June 2011.

I follow Serie A a lot, this would be a really good signing. Top CB, a lot better than anything we currently have.

Quelle surprise, no reply. Liverpool was £42 a ticket and we sold out for that.

Yes. Around 750 seats left there as per above post.

@philmcnulty @Marcotti @RorySmithTimes @paddybarclay The above are decent follows for football in general.

Howard Webb is probably the best referee in the division so we may have a decent one for a change. Lets hope the linesmen are also up to scratch for a change. Can't get much worse than we had against this lots neighbours that's for sure.

Emailed the club regarding LC games not being included in the sales criteria. It's bonkers that you make a 500 mile round trip on a Tuesday night to watch the reserves yet can't use the "loyalty points" that were awarded in any way. If I get a reply the I shall share it on here. With regards to will it or won't it sell out, we took 1700 to Everton at £35 a pop and 2000 to Liverpool at £42 (that sold out) so I think this will sell out. New ground for the younger generation and a big big game in terms of league position/survival.

On a purely selfish basis I'd be we'll chuffed if it was postponed. Decided to not to bother going with there be no trains Boxing Day, so a midweek London trip in the new year would be great.

3 red card offences each meriting a 3 match ban, so that's 9. Barton got 12 after his antics at City last season so don't see why Fellaini should be looked at leniently. Just because he and his manager have apologised I don't see why that should make it all better and he shouldn't get punished.

Sunderland - W Fulham - D Stoke - L Arsenal - D Villa - D

Hope United put 4 or 5 past Sunderland today, dent their goal difference and confidence before they play u.

Express FM reporting that despite what Trust are saying the adjournment is a disaster. Club set to run out of cash flow money on 21 December. There is money in the club but that will need to go towards creditors and Birch. Club may be liquidated before Boxing Day if issues are not resolved.

Newcastle 1-2 Man City Liverpool 2-0 Aston Villa Man Utd 3-0 Sunderland Norwich 2-1 Wigan QPR 2-2 Fulham Reading 1-3 Arsenal Saints stay 16th.

I can speak basic Italian. Reading I am good at, listening I find the hardest. I love the language, it's very expressive and passionate. I want to learn to be abLe to speak it fluently but like everything it is finding the time to do it!

Once we have played Sunderland we will have played all of our direct rivals for survival once, results so far: Wigan (H) - L 0-2 Aston Villa (H) - W 4-1 QPR (A) - W 3-1 Reading (H) - W 1-0 You could also throw Newcastle (H) - W 2-0 and Norwich and Swansea - both (H) D 1-1. I don't think those 3 will be involved though, it will be the teams above + us and Sunderland in the mixer. Beating the teams around you can make all the difference and we are certainly doing that with 3 wins out of 4. I think if we'd played Wigan now rather than at the start of the season we'd beat them too. We have to play most of them away in the 2nd half of the season but we've shown already we can go away and win in a high pressure situation. A good base to build on.