WALK DMC

Palace look to have lost their 3 first choice centre-halves (Cahill, Tomkins & Sakho) for the game. They are likely to play Dann and Kouyate instead, although Kelly is another option. While most of those players aren't top notch and some have left their best days behind, that is an impressive amount of premier league experience for 5th & 6th choice centre halves (I recognise that Kouyate mostly plays in midfield). They also have injuries to their full backs. When you compare that strength in depth to our own at centre half, it is fairly frightening to think what would happen if we lost our 3 first choice centre-halves (or even more terrifying our 3 first choice centre midfielders (do we have 3 ?)). It does highlight that a few key injuries and our season could be blown off course very quickly. Fingers crossed.

It would be helpful to have this thread updated to be a sticky by a moderator. It may help the casual visitor to the site understand what is going on (assuming that they can get on to read the sticky).

Koopmeiners looks interesting although from the clips doesn't strike you as a high energy hard pressing midfielder. However, he has played a fair few games as a left sided centre half so perhaps having somebody who can play multiple positions is attractive to Saints with our limited funds and Salisu not available any time soon.

Thanks @SNSUN. I agree with your sentiments, but also concerned that we have such reliance on two individuals (although both have good injury records). I recall that post-lockdown we lost two wingers (Djenepo/Boufal) for virtually all the games; we got away with it because we had decent replacements (1st choices); we may not be so lucky if our two defensive midfielders suddenly have to drop out for an extended time. Having said that, I would still prefer to get one guaranteed starter than buy 1-2 average players immediately who we are desperately trying to get rid of in 2 years time. That would be my worry with Ntcham. Some difficult decisions ahead; wait until October and get a bargain (possibly), or dive in now, pay more but provide some immediate cover. I'd still wait a while for the right midfielder, but recognise that when you take a risk you can end up with egg on your face .....

I'm obviously missing something but I don't understand the enthusiasm for Ntcham: a) He isn't a certain starter for Celtic playing in an inferior league. Somebody said Armstrong wasn't either (but this was mainly due to injuries) b) He has a reputation of someone with a poor work rate - not something you want in a Ralph team c) He is a nice passer of the ball but isn't renowned for his ball winning abilities - again as a replacement/option for Hojbjerg/Romeu this is a necessity I could just about see the benefits as a make-weight for Frazier earlier on in the transfer window, but with the loss of Hojbjerg we now need someone to compete with JWP & Romeu as a starter and I'm not keen on spending our limited funds on someone who hasn't been entirely successful in Scottish football. As I said at the beginning, maybe I am missing something here .....

I agree with your comments although I'd add that there is no myth that Romeu lacks pace (Though like you I don't subscribe to the lazy 'legs gone'). We still refer to Romeu as Slowmeu is our household. Unfortunately it isn't anything that he can change, but he adapts his play to these limitations. Where it does get exposed is when he is further up the pitch and the ball is swiftly played by the opponents on a counter attack and he gets left behind and takes ages to catch up with play. I think this means he is more effective away from home where he doesn't play so far forward and gets exposed. I just think that we need a pacey defensive midfielder so that we can subdue teams who like to play like that on the counter. JWP is also very one paced (as was Hojbjerg) and this is where we should invest (good in the air would be nice too :-). )

Totally agree, I thought that we were one midfielder short last year but got away with it. Romeu is a good solid Premier player but we remain one paced in the middle of the pitch and having a quicker more mobile option available will help. I'm not convinced that you'd want to rely on either Smallbone or Janewitz yet in a crisis. Smallbone also strikes me as someone who will play better in a slightly more forward position.

Somebody can read the game brilliantly and still be lightweight.

Very good point. It wasn't until 2018-19 (Year 3) that he started to show some potential - I thought that he was excellent that year, he even scored a few goals, but certainly hasn't kicked on from then in the last 12 months.

In his early performances post-lockdown I wasn't sure about KWP. There were still concerns about his physical strength and his ability to overlap past the last defender. However, he has performed well and demonstrated great technical skill and a fair amount of pace. He had a poorish game against Man U and made mistakes which he got away with against Man C. However his general performances have been good and I am not too disappointed about him signing, but I am not as gushing as some of the posters on here who seem to think that £12m is cheap. My biggest worries remain his lack of size & physicality which is something that is difficult to remedy, plus the fact that Spurs are so happy to let him leave. Mikey88 compares him to Bertrand but lets not forget that Bertrand had at least 40 games in the Premiership and a European Cup Final under his belt before he joined. His pedigree was strong. KWP is much less proven and I still see significant limitations which will be difficult to overcome - along with some impressive attributes too such as his control and passing. Personally I think that £12m is an excessive amount of money for someone with his experience and we may regret this signing once the honeymoon period has gone. Really happy to be wrong with this, but I instinctively feel that we have been too strongly influenced with some good performances in the last few games of the season. But we've seen that before, haven't we ? Marek Saganowski anyone ?

In his early performances post-lockdown I wasn't sure about KWP. There were still concerns about his physical strength and his ability to overlap past the last defender. However, he has performed well and demonstrated great technical skill and a fair amount of pace. He had a poorish game against Man U and made mistakes which he got away with against Man C. However his general performances have been good and I am not too disappointed about him signing, but I am not as gushing as some of the posters on here who seem to think that £12m is cheap. My biggest worries remain his lack of size & physicality which is something that is difficult to remedy, plus the fact that Spurs are so happy to let him leave. Mikey88 compares him to Bertrand but lets not forget that Bertrand had at least 40 games in the Premiership and a European Cup Final under his belt before he joined. His pedigree was strong. KWP is much less proven and I still see significant limitations which will be difficult to overcome - along with some impressive attributes too such as his control and passing. Personally I think that £12m is an excessive amount of money for someone with his experience and we may regret this signing once the honeymoon period has gone. Really happy to be wrong with this, but I instinctively feel that we have been too strongly influenced with some good performances in the last few games of the season. But we've seen that before, haven't we ? Marek Saganowski anyone ?

Very good summary and diplomatic terminology 🙂 I think this sums it up well. Romeu's contract is up next summer. He is 28 years old, so would be worth a decent amount to Saints. Regardless of his good performances in the last few months, Saints will want to generate some cash if he decides not to sign an extension. I suspect that he'll sign an extension, but nothing is certain and maybe he is fed up being a "back-up" (sorry, "squad player") and wants to return to Spain. In which case, we could be looking for replacements for both Hojberg & Romeu (Reed +1 ) ? Anyone have any news on his contract extension situation ?

I agree, they shouldn't be influenced. But, in any negotiation there is always bluff and counter bluff and any angle might be pursued to get a competitive advantage. I thought the earlier newspaper headlines "Saints have accepted a £25m offer from Everton" was already an example where this technique has already been attempted, but with a direct line to Hojbjerg that was easily dispelled. Just because it is a clumsy technique it doesn't mean that it isn't being tried ..... whether anybody falls for it, doesn't mean that it isn't being attempted.

When I saw these reports today, the cynic in me suspected that Spurs had placed the West Ham interest in KWP to put pressure on us to pay up, while we had put the Cash rumour out there to indicate that we are looking elsewhere for a right back .......

At the moment there is nothing to suggest that the deal won't go through, but it will probably be closer to Spurs terms than ours and that is largely due to Hojbjerg insisting on joining in Spurs and rejecting all other options. It looks as though the only way a deal won't be done is if Saints genuinely play hard ball and reject all Spurs' offers until Jan or allow him to leave for nothing next year. I personally don't see that happening - money talks and I can't see our CEO wanting to explain to Mr Gao why they've effectively lost a £15m asset for nothing. I'm annoyed with the situation as I don't like losing somebody cheap to Spurs, but unless Hojbjerg changes his stance and agrees to consider other teams, we're knackered.

He is only £15m because he has a year left on his contract and is reportedly refusing to go to other clubs who would offer more. He'd have fetched £30m+ if he had 2 years+ left on his contract and in a bidding competition with 2+ clubs. Spurs want him, they just want to pay the lowest amount possible. And they probably will if Hojbjerg is on their side in this transaction.

If only life was this simple ..... This is Mr Levy you are dealing with and Hojbjerg who has no reason to play ball with Saints

I'm more surprised that Maguire got in as centre half. Surely there are better performers in the Premier league ? I am not suggesting the statuesque German who plays on the south coast as an alternative .... I think Maguire is a decent player but surely there must be more complete defenders like Rudiger or Laporte ?

Also looks to have more pace that Reed. All our midfielders are one paced and it would be helpful to have at least one with some speed.

I was interested to see how Sam Gallagher was getting on at Blackburn as I haven't heard much about him. I always thought that he had the attributes to be a fine player, but something was missing. It appears that whatever that was, it remains hidden. Not a disastrous year at Blackburn but not quite what they were hoping for. This article gives a good overview, although the comments at the end are less subtle in their feedback on his performances ........ https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/18265810.5m-question-rovers-wanting-sam-gallagher/

Very true, but not sure that we want to play hardball until the last day of the transfer window as Newcastle did nor do I think our finances are up to waiting that long if we want a replacement. I fear the worst here. I suspect Spurs, agent and Hojbjerg are all working in tandem and we are going to struggle to get close to £20m (never mind £25m). Let's hope I'm wrong.

Because Levy has us exactly where he wants us. Hojbjerg only wants to go to Spurs. Saints can't afford to let him go for nothing, so without any alternative suitors (assuming Hojbjerg refuses Everton) then the most likely outcome at the moment is for Spurs to underpay for Hojbjerg and Saints to overpay (or don't buy) KWP. Levy has us by the balls and will wait and wait because he knows that we will get more desperate the closer we get to the end of the transfer window. He has history of this. He is proper business man and this isn't football manager.

Is Romeu definitely signing a new contract, as he is on his last 12 months ? If he doesn't sign (maybe he might want to return to Spain or feels that he is always the backup ), then we would have the difficult decision on whether to sell him now or allow him to leave for nothing. Before Hojbjerg made it clear that he was leaving, Romeu was linked to a return to Spain in January. We may yet have to get a replacement for him - although I suspect that he knows with the Hojbjerg situation he is in a very strong position to negotiate a significantly improved contract. It still does add a potential complication to our midfield planning. As stated elsewhere, both Bertrand and Boufal are in their last 12 months too - they could both decide to wait a year and get a juicy signing on fee. Surprised that there haven't been any whispers about Boufal being linked with a move. I hope he isn't planning to sit it out we could do with the cash now.

Looks like Cedric's honeymoon period at Arsenal is over. A fairly familiar assessment of his talents at 3:10 onwards 🙂

He really isn't a terrible player - he has played 75 games in the Premiership and been one of the better Watford performers in recent seasons. Their forum rate him and Sarr as the two players exempt from recent performances. He isn't the greatest player in the world but if he was I wouldn't suggest him as he would be too expensive. I mentioned him to my son before last night's Man City game and I got a similar response to yours 🙂 However, after watching the match he did change his viewpoint and say that he could be an option ....... BTW - I would love to get Sarr for Saints, but as he cost £30m last year and Liverpool are monitoring his availability I somehow feel that he is outside our price range ... We need to look at realistic options even though they have their limitations - but even so, I suspect that Hughes would be outside our budget anyway.