Badger

I can agree with both points of view here. Gerrard's contribution to the national team is overrated due to club form and media 'love in' with his club. Can I recall any great moments of his time playing for England ? No. At least Beckham - who also lead England in a period of non achievement - has a few spectacular free kicks that stand out. He may deserve some "respect" , but lets not go overboard about another underachiever for the national side. He offered "commitment", but little else. Lahm also retired from international football with about the same number of caps. What has Lahm won in that time, and how many finals/semi-finals has he played in ? Compare that to Gerrard to put some perspective on it. Gerrard may have been a decent servant for England, but no no means an England legend.

Aren't they also selling all their better players after last season's exploits. Not much ambition there then. Would suit us perfectly though selling him elsewhere than to Brendan or north London yobbos.

An open invitation to disaster if we do.

GK - Forster/Marshall, and if not one of these two then McCarthy from Reading CB - de Vrij/Van Dijk , or for younger prospects Kongolo from Feyenoord who can also play LB,or Maguire from Sheff Utd LB - Robertson MF - not sure of a wide player, Grenier if we need an AM (although seems unlikely if Ramirez is staying). ST - Ings Also agree with St Rees above Clasie if Morgan goes

An issue for us is timing of getting new CB's in as you'd imagine De Vrij for example will want to know if mancs are a possibility before considering other clubs. The MEN article states: I doubt that it'll take him 3/4 weeks before making a bid for De Vrij, if they want him, but if they spend time exhausting the Hummels option first. I hope we don't wait for all this to unfold, as we might end up missing other options. If come 7th August De vrij signs elswhere, does that leave us scratching around wondering if Caulker is available to find, "oh bugger, he signed for QPR a fortnight ago.."

I read that the reason the West Ham moved did not proceed was that Nice suddenly hiked the asking price to 9m (not sure if £ or euros).

Although FF is a couple of years younger, and Watson will have worked with him with the England set up.

That would be a step in the right direction.

Agree, I'd rather we brought the player in asap rather than stint on the extra 3m or so. There are of course options to this. Agree some spurious add-ons with his club, or better still tell Liverpool that Lovren's fee has just increased by £1.5m ! For £9m I suspect we'd get Marshall from Cardiff - so it's decision time for the transfer committee.

Yes, this p1sses me off as well whenever I hear that stupid nickname bandied about. Ruddock was briefly known as "stomper" when he played for Saints. The 'razor' crap was given to him when he arrived at Liverpool. Another example of genuine, and unique 'scouse wit', that we're all supposed to admire.

But will probably want ludicrous wages.

I thought the FA Cup was back on BBC from this season as well.

I too was hoping RK might be able to persuade him to come to us but think its unlikely.

Sounds well worth avoiding. If we have that money to 'throw around' as a gamble then I suspect we'd test Burnley's resolve to keep Ings with that.

Comments last week from Feyenoord is that Clasie will not be leaving this window. http://metro.co.uk/2014/07/18/feyenoords-jordy-clasie-will-not-move-to-the-premier-league-amid-interest-from-manchester-united-liverpool-and-arsenal-4803415/ Of course it remains to be seen if their Technical Directors comments prove more reliable than Les Reeds, and if Feyenoord limit the exodus having already accepted the loss of others from their young squad.

Largely agree with this although it is not necessarily Krueger as chairman that is the prime problem, but the lack of a more experienced hand to steady things. Williams as you say was the obvious candidate rather than leaving Rodgers to find his feet, and Reed to become presumably involved in more of the business and negotiation of transfers. The management does seem indecisive and weak at the moment, and the club lacking fight and direction.

I certainly don't.

There's a feeling of familiarity to all this: http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?51019-Enlightening-Pochettino-USA-Press-Conference#.U8uoL_ldV2o Fact is that having learnt to say this in English, MP will be stating the same to anyone who will listen.It justifies his leaving, and greed. I look forward to hearing what he has to say when he gets the boot.

With the suggestions of the Leonel Vagioni and Tosic though it appears we have slipped beyond even our second options for LB.

But assuming our transfer committee is still in place, and some discussion on recruitment takes place, then this should be a 'safety net' to prevent the signing of 'old boys' etc.

I heard that reference during the WC commentary. Thought it mildly appropriate as my recollection was seeing him for Villa against us once and it appeared his feet had been cemented into wellington boots judging on that performance. Had he impressed prior to the WC for Villa ? From an onlookers view looking at their team he looked fairly slow and cumbersome. But happy to be proven wrong if he joined us.

Now thats a theory I like, can you post more often please ?

That is the bare minimum to retain even a threadbare squad though. I'd be surprised if a GK isn't also signed by then.

There certainly appears a bit of an imbalance between some of the departures and names recently linked, although I'm reasonably optimistic re Tadic and Pelle. THe recent suggestion of Tosic is disappointing after previous links with Kolowhatever, or Robertson. Perhaps we are discovering that despite having the £m's to spend, the calibre of player we really want and can afford, is simply aiming higher than Saints and does not want to join. Like you, am hoping for better things to emerge over the next seven days or so.

You may not like it, but he does have a point in that, Ralph has been notably quiet recently during what seems a period of change. Hardly leading from the front is he ? Although I think we all realise his 'motivational speeches' may not be required either at the moment.