disconnect

He was immense in that Swansea game. Dont know why he gets so much hate, clearly better than Stephens (at centre back anyway).

I'm excited about this guy, think he could be a big help in getting more solid at the back, and also help weigh in at the other end and be a bit more dangerous from set pieces. Welcome to Saints Jannik (hopefully)!

No idea really. Think he questioned something. Stephens looked a bit dodgy for the (deflected) goal

Austin booked pretty early on. Cant work out who's at right wing back either. Lemina, Long or Redmond have all been around that at one point or another

What's the schedule out in China then? Are we doing any pre-season games there?

Sounds like Everton are now also keen...

Thought he was one of our best players in the last few games of the season. Maybe he wont ever reach the level of Van Dijk or Lovren, but think he's cutting out the mistakes and next season can hopefully push on.

Scored a good goal in the playoffs!

I thought the whole point was that he was supposed to be promoting youth and giving players from other clubs a chance etc. Outside of the goalkeepers I think I counted 20 players from only the 6 or 7 biggest clubs in England... and half of those players arent regular starters. Feel very bad for Bertrand - the best English left back. If he sat on Utd's bench or something he'd no doubt be there. The 'wildcard' is Loftus-Cheek - but he'd definitely not be going if he was a Palace player rather than a Chelsea player on loan there. Hopefully some goals with Kane and Sterling (if they can forget their truly terrible Euros performances), but the midfield looks weak and the defence not much better.

Looks like Olufela Olomola has been released, so expect to hear news of others soon.

Les wont ever get rid of his 'yes man'. By all accounts he a nice guy, who is probably happy to work with what he's got for fear of losing his job / understanding he's somehow got a very good job in the premier league, and will therefore be super nice to his bosses for the sake of trying to keep that. We've seen that anyone who wanted to push the club on over recent years have moved on / been moved on by those above, most likely as we're too tight or naive to think we don't need better players and managers to stay competitive and grow. With this we have to settle for second rate managers and coaches, and the players left behind (half of which would've been subs the past couple of seasons).

Must win game (and at home) and how many goals has that lineup scored between them in the past 12 months? Im guessing no more than 10?! Pathetic.

Stephens is not premier league standard. Sure he's solid enough for Championship and against some of the lower level teams, but gets shown up when he comes up against a top class striker. It's quite telling of all the younger English centre backs, you never hear of any links to clubs wanting to buy Stephens.

The manager's going to look like a fool (yes even more so!) if we turn up at the weekend having not signed anyone... Dont announce you're expecting signings this week if it isnt basically done! It's a bit of a joke it's taken this long, but if we're getting someone as good as Promes it'll be worth it.

S**t Les, wrong Ryan!!

So... did we win?

Also agree with this. What is he doing with his back leg there dragging it along the floor?! Unless he can somehow run without his feet leaving the ground (and without screaming at air), he's diving.

Great draw for England, couldnt have asked for much better. Belgium are a good team and I think that'll be a good match, but we should be beating Tunisia and Panama...! How many Saints are going to go? Not many I'm guessing. I think the only ones almost guaranteed (if fit) are: Yoshida Bertrand Cedric I'm guessing we may have a few more for England with Forster possible as third choice (unlikely on current standings), and we could have a wildcard with Ward-Prowse and Redmond both having been in the squad but neither playing much or particularly well at the moment. Austin will need a lot of goals to go.

I'm a bit late to the party, but Valery has looked good in the games i've seen at u23 level. I imagine it'll be Pied though, but if he gets released / moved on next summer (not sure when contract is up), we probably wont sign a replacement and plan to use Valery.

Always been impressed with him when I've seen him, and looked pretty good on his few chances in the first team. He's got great skill and can actually score goals from around the edge of the box. Think he definitely should be in the match day squad on a weekly basis.

Will this be streamed on our Youtube channel or similar? Be interesting to see whose playing and see what players like Hesketh are looking like. Hopefully close to getting around the first team squad again...

He was playing like a defender on the oppositions goal line for matches last year! I remember him missing about 4 of the easiest chances you could dream of last year. Think one match he even managed it twice... Yes, he did score a couple of good goals (notably against Bournemouth which was either just after or a match after he missed a sitter), but to say he seldomly missed sitters is like erasing half of last season from memory!

Wasnt he one of the three(?) along with Ward-Prowse and Redmond who trained with / made the England squad in Southgate's first or second match in charge? Certainly got a lot of potential in an area where we dont have much strength in depth, especially now Reed's gone out on loan.

Always liked Hesketh as an attacking midfielder, been a bit unlucky with injuries but fingers crossed he can stay fit this season and be the next one through

5 year deal confirmed!