benjii

If we're signing a striker I want it to be someone who is manifestly at a higher level than Rickie and Jay Rod. Bent might still be able to do a good job but personally I would sooner give Jay an opportunity as the central striker. If we can bring in an Osvaldo, Damiao etc then great. If not, I would go with what we've got.

Interesting to see if Jay Rod gets a crack as the front focal point or whether it's Guly with Jay Rod on the wings.

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/article/welcome-the-squad-back-on-10th-august-919547.aspx Reasonable prices IMO. I will go if any of my friends (I have well over 100) are keen.

That's Banega and Ramirez's job

Whilst "lightweight" is a bit over the top I think this is why we signed him. If we are playing a team at home and likely to have 60%+ of the possession then there's a good chance Wanyama will be on the bench IMO, especially if we are still looking at adding Banega as well (and assuming Morgan is staying put). Where we will probably hope to really see his value is when we think MP's agressive defending style is going to be the key factor in a match or in tough away matches. He will also be a useful front shield for knock-downs against teams that like to whack it up to a target man. It's about having a good mixture of attributes and the ability to "change things". One thing our squad really missed last season was the ability to throw on a player who would make a difference and give the opposition a new problem. If he's "worth" £12.5 million remains to be seen but you can see why we wanted a player of his ilk given our approach to defending and pressing.

"pre-Madonna" always makes me chuckle and feel despondent at the same time.

Did you read my post? Those were examples of forwards with a contrasting style to Dzeko. It was not a list of players that LB must be able to handle. You also appear to have entirely missed the point about "competition" as opposed to "reserve". My point was that Fox can handle a certain type of attacker. We could get a LB for a few million much more competent at handling a wider range and giving Shaw some genuine competition. So, to your answer your question: "not necessarily". But it was a stupid question.

Replace "cover" with "competition" then and there is a valid argument that reinforcement is needed IMO. Obviously we shouldn't be deliberately signing a left back who is worse than Shaw just to sit them on the bench but IMO, we will be in trouble if Shaw misses a lot of games ("trouble", not in the sense of relegated, but we will struggle to get where we want to be). Our system needs full-backs that are comfortable getting into advanced positions, carrying the ball and running at people, if needed and also have the pace and engine to get up and down quickly. At RB, Cork is arguably solid cover for Clyne and Chambers seems to be well rated and, having previously been a midfielder, should be comfortable enough getting forwards. Yoshi is clearly not up to playing full-back adequately in our system and I'm surprised people keep suggesting that he is. So, RB is ok. IMO. LB, however, is a different story. If Targett was felt to be nearly ready he would be in Spain along with Chambers, Turnbull and Isgrove and not up in Middlesbrough or wherever the others have gone. Fox - well he's ok against a certain type of attacking player, the same way Hooiveld was good against Dzeko but would usually get murdered by Suarez or Rooney, for example - really is not adequate for the type of full-back game we will demand. He doesn't get far enough up the pitch and his defending is too bad. His greatest virtue is that he is by far the best taker of a corner we seem to have (I will be pulling my hair out if we allow Lallana to take them again next season). In conclusion - if Shaw got a lengthy injury we would struggle to meet our aspirations. And, forgetting lengthy injuries for a second, even a 3 game ban or a small injury could be enough to make the difference between say 8th and 14th at the end of the season. If we are willing and able to pay £20million on a striker then we should also be looking to buy a LB who can compete with Shaw. Shaw is great but he had a few dodgy games last season and we should not be relying on him playing 40 games this season at his age and given the physical demands we will put on our players.

Valencia have just signed Romeu for a year from Chelsea.... Banega leaving?

I have hilarious and brilliant one: He's black he's quick we've got a massive Vic Wanyama...Wanyama It's like Jones K. never left.

Big Vic knew.

Not sure why the mods don't deal with Turkish. If he ****ed off this site would be so much better.

I hope he's actually good. I'm not convinced at all.

Needs some chicken and a fishing rod IMO.

Actually, I think people just get fed up with people like you repeating the same half-a-dozen posts over and over and over.... And ruining the forum.

Yeah, rather Banega. Not convinced Wanyama is much good.

That's the key to being a forum ITK!

Phil, you seem like a knob.HTH

Best way to judge Les Reed: 1) Some old quotes; or 2) Recent performance. Well, either he is heavily involved in the successes/failures at the club or he isn't. You can't have it both ways. I would say, on the whole, the Liebherr/Cortese era has been a success. If anyone would say otherwise, I would suspect they are a tool.

Steve de Ridder is actually not a bad player at all and gets an unjustly harsh press on here. Fact.

I'd be tempted, if only out of curiosity driven by the prospect of meeting Alpine.

Murray should make it to the final, given who is left in his half of the draw. Djokovic is the best player in the world at the moment and should get through the top half. Having said that though, I like Del Potro and Berdych at 16/1 and 25/1 respectively for the tournament. I wouldn't put much on as they will probably have to beat Djokovic to get to the final but those are great prices considering the stage of the tournament we're at. Got to be worth a tenner or so. Del Potro is a former 'slam winner and would probably have had a more illustriuous career were it not for injuries. He's got Ferrer next who is a very tough opponent but if Del Potro plays well his game should be too big for Ferrer on grass. Berdych has reached the Wimbledon final before but is more of an outside shot as he has a terrible record against Novak Djokovic (2-13). That said, he has a good record against Murray (5 wins to 4 losses) so if he could get into the final he would have a great shout (assuming Murray makes it through his half).

If you go down to Plymouth dockyards on a Friday evening and ask for "Brett from Camden" you will get what you're looking for.

We're not looking for a foil for SRL, we're looking for someone better than SRL. IMO, of course.

We're being linked with Damiao, Banega, Osvaldo etc and you propose Keane or Adam as a "sexy" signing?