Lord Duckhunter

I thought victor was class, was talking to some scousers in the ship and mitre about their 3 signings told them they should have signed victor to replace Gerrard . They laughed at me, so I'm glad he completely bossed the midfield. Thought the left worked well before Tadic tired. Jose looks like he stepped up to the plate and Yoshida did ok . Around me there was quite a bit of moaning about Pelle , but he was up against a solid pair. He started to win some flicks second half. Tough game for him , and I doubt if Lambert was playing he'd have got much change from those 2. I have a feeling he will bully poorish players but struggle against the best.

I thought victor was class, was talking to some scousers in the ship and mitre about their 3 signings told them they should have signed victor to replace Gerrard . They laughed at me, so I'm glad he completely bossed the midfield. Thought the left worked well before Tadic tired. Jose looks like he stepped up to the plate and Yoshida did ok . Around me there was quite a bit of moaning about Pelle , but he was up against a solid pair. He started to win some flicks second half. Tough game for him , and I doubt if Lambert was playing he'd have got much change from those 2. I have a feeling he will bully poorish players but struggle against the best.

. You are joking , right? I'm meant to give him a warm welcome, how about the French twt comes over to me , apologises for his behaviour and promises to do what he's paid for. I won't boo him, never would do that to a saints player, but I'm not fawning all over him. What so you think, he's doing us a favour by turning out?

Club can't win, imagine his posts if we spent £10 mil and put Forster on the bench.

I expect him to be ****ed off, there's something wrong if he isn't . However he needs to be professional about it and keep his frustrations between him and the coaching staff . We are not in the same boat as last year if he leaves. Last year we had an injury prone number 1 followed by Kelv and Gazza. Chances are Forster will play every league game , keepers don't get injured that much. Personally I'd get a number 2 in who is class but ending his career , like spurs have or Chelsea last year. Tell Boruc " thanks for being a stop gap for 18 months " and let him go. I think he's a good keeper but to me he's not for the temperament or the professionalism to be a number 2, he'll look like Blooby by the end of a bench warming season.

Cheers Pap. We normally stay with a mate in southport if Mrs Duck is with me, but he's on holiday. For some reason Mrs Duck doesn't like traipsing around real ale pubs, strange woman. Good news , checked the ship and mitre web google entry and looks like a 10am opening sun. Enough time for my prematch away ritual of 5 or 6 pints whilst mrs duck shops.

Ship and mitre for me if it opens early enough , been in there the past 2 games. pap, I've got the mrs and nipper with me this weekend and we're staying in Liverpool 1. Any decent tips for boozer or area that will let 15 year old in sat eve

Pulis is obviously flavour of the month at the moment because of the job he did for palace. I don't know the ins and outs of it, but it leaves a bit of a bad taste leaving this near to the season . I've read reports that he wanted players on £40k week salaries and the board don't think that's sustainable . Seeing as they've been in admin twice recently , you can't blame them. There's always been a bit of Harry Redknapp in Pulis IMO , so pushing the board to overspend is no surprise ( if it's true). At the end of the day, managers should manage the players and the board manage the finances.

A handful of saints fans. Why not make something up about a man utd player, that would get more interest. I would imagine most hacks would be trying to get MS side of the story, ringing him, contacts at saints or his agent. With his links to the previous regime it woulkdf masks sense for MS to use Ashton to put his spin on. This is not a made up story IMO. The claim maybe pony, but only if somebody has lied to Ashton. He has not made it up. My view is there may have been an " understanding" or a nod and a wink. Nicola probably made it a grey area and hard to prove. More fool ms and his agent for not insisting on it being clear, transparent, and in writing.

I don't know how I'm going to cope with the thought of never watching the great man in a Saints shirt again. I'll always remember where I was when I heard the news , a true Lady Di moment for me. I don't know if I can face the humiliation of seeing my work mates knowing that we only got £3mil for him, they're going to really rub it in.

Anybody who thinks that Rogers was unaware of lovren and his abilities before he signed for us clearly doesn't know anything about Rogers. Say what you like about him ( and personally I find him a right big head) but he has great attention to detail and a vast knowledge of players.

So you think Ashton just made it up? Went in to work and thought " I know I'll make something up about Southampton" . If that's the case then the bloke is a complete plum, if you're going to make something up, why choose Southampton? Now I'm not saying the story is true, but somebody ( MS or his agent I would suggest) has given him this spin on the on going story.They wanted his side out as he was getting some bad pr and this was the vehicle they used.

It does make you wonder if all the premiership scouts are wandering about with their heads up their jacksies . We have a great little player , available at an unbelievably cheap price and only crystal palace seem interested. Why aren't spurs,Everton,stoke,west ham, villa , hull or wba chasing up this bargain. It appears that not only RK & Les are complete idiots for failing to see how great the guy is, but half the premier league managers and their scouting network are also complete clowns.

Get some perspective man, it's not a tragedy.

You've got a strange understanding of the word great

If you think he's a great player , you are either drunk or related to him

He is not a "great player" and palace will not finish above us. If we are going to have a pathway to the first team for players like HR and JWP we can't have average mid/bottom premiership players standing in their way. I'm happy with the midfield we have without him, he's not as good as people make out . Playing for palace is about his level, we have a far better midfield than that.

In what way was he badly treated by the club? We're not some Sunday pub team .

FFS you lot are like a jilted boyfriend. It's bad enough singing a stupid song when he's playing , but doing it when he's out injured just makes us look small time . Maybe if we're winning with a couple of minutes to go then some **** taking maybe in order . But if we're 3 or 4 down and singing stupid songs "clatenburg was right, you've changed Adam ". Will make us look right numptys. The best thing we can do is go over the top with our apprication of his replacement, that's the best way to dent his ego. Not some stupid song

At least we've got the scapegoat sorted preseason. I was getting worried with the departure of Foxy and Guly plus Gazza slipping down the pecking order , we'd be starting the season without one.

He'll be better value than Gaston or Osvaldo .

When sky broke the Lambert deal they initially said £9 million. Turned out to be £4 mil ( according to you). Perhaps you could enlighten us as to exactly how much we are paying for Long ( excluding add ons ) , your source for this information and finally how much you think Shane Long is worth

If we were signing somebody like jack cork today this board would be in melt down. He is really not that good, if he was as good as some make out on here , going into the last year of his contract loads of clubs would be in for him.

I bet he'll end up better value than Osvaldo or Gaston .

I think longs a pretty decent player, but then what do I know I'm just an ordinary joe who posts in a football forum. If I was an ex international defender who played for barca and won the European nations cup and champions league I may be a better judge. Particularly if I had a massive scouting network behind me. I would have thought RK thinks he can do a job, and I'd say he was better qualified to judge than anyone on here. I doubt the fee is £12 mil , remember what lamberts initial reports of a fee were for the same outlet . He's a good solid pro, used to the rough and tumble of the premiership , exactly what we need right now. I'll also be happy with a solid pro from within the premiership as a centre half signing this week. Pelle is the gamble, long is proven at this level, I'm happier with him than Ings or that borini bloke.