Tom28

I'm not sure we need to worry about RL not being available...the guy is a freak. He's missed 2 league games in 4 and a half years - that's unbelievable.

Richard Chaplow - 77 high intensity sprints during the Hammers game. Great stat!

I'm really starting to think we can keep this pace up. My concern seems to be shared, that we may not quite have the depth in certain areas. However, I think only Leicester are the only team that can say they have good depth at every position. Even West Ham look light at the back if they were to pick up injuries. I think we only look short of depth up front. Everywhere else, centre back included, I think we have adequate cover. I'd hope we could add a quality striker in the january transfer window and then I really don't see any reason why we can't achieve promotion with the way we are playing.

If we do win on Tuesday, there is a great chance we will open up a 5 point gap to second place. Boro away to Forest where it will be SC's first home game, and Derby away to Reading.

This is nonsense. I've been to most games this year, home and away, and one thing you can't fault Guly on is the effort he puts in to track back. I agree, in away games, as an attacking threat, he's been quiet, but he's certainly no luxury player. If you don't believe me, have a watch of NA's press conference after the Watford game on Saints Player. I'll paraphrase what he says: "Look at Guly, comes from a different culture of football, but he was tackling back, chasing the ball down late in the game. Steve de Ridder will learn that in time, too". All that said, I'd go for the same team selection as Watford.

Attention seeking post. Don't know why I'm biting. Lallana and Cork on the bench? Why exactly?!

I think the one thing that will prevent him from being world class, is unfortunately the one thing that he can't change. Pace. He doesn't have it. If he had pace, he'd be unbelievable good, but he wouldn't be with Saints anymore. The fact he lacks pace is, in my opinion, the reason he's still with us and not the likes of United, Arsenal, Liverpool, City, Chelsea, Spurs.... I think we could all agree that Lallana was better than Chambo last season, but the reason Chambo was believed to be the better target for the big clubs was because he was lightning quick.

Generally, my opinion on these types of things is there's no smoke without fire. You've got to be very unlucky to take a pasting without being at least partly to blame. I suspect he was doing something to provoke this attack, and whilst I don't condone it, in this day and age, everyone has to expect that if you wind someone up that this could very well happen. I used to go out lots, I'd behave myself, and never got in any trouble or got started on. The one time I did take a pasting, I deserved it, so I can't complain.

Has Rahdi been left out because he's been fasting for Ramadan? If so, thats now ended so he should be back next week.

If he's available for that amount of money, its a no brainer putting in an offer in my opinion. I can't see it myself though, Matt Mills at £5.5m will push Dann's value up way past that. I think Adkins would spend that amount of money of a defender. We are led to believe we're willing to spend that amount on a striker and Adkins' philosophy is 'defense wins championships' so he clearly sees the value in a solid defense. I'd rather we spend all the money on someone like Dann than a million here and there on 2-3 players, especially as I don't think we don't really need anything other than a CB, and I'm not even convinced we need that. .

there should be

Whats the fuss? So we haven't signed a CB. Last I checked we were sitting on top of the league. Has that changed? Look, we're not in a rush. So we spent three weeks mulling over Gorkss. So what? We may have been researching him, speaking to people that know him, reviewing tapes, doing our homework, making sure that he was going to be worth the investment. For once, I have faith in the regime that they are thorough, that they think things through fully, and they only make decisions once they have made sure it is the right one. Anyone has a problem with that, have a read of the Simon Clifford thread to see how it used to be. If we **** off morons like Neil Warnock along the way, all the better. Fans like new signings so you're all on here saying oh I wanted Gorkss, I wanted Fontaine, I wanted Jemal. Seriously....had any of you actually heard of these guys before we were linked? People always think the grass is greener; I personally have faith in the guys that had the best defensive record in League One last season.

Benefits cheques stopped coming through?

In the same sentence, your friend both queried and supported the decision for Saints to sign Fox.

Golden Balls already did that. Embarrassing!

Liam Fontaine baby, Liam Fontaine ooooooh oooooh

I got it.

It would be very difficult for a club to agree a fee with us for Adam. He's on a four year contract so we have absolutely no reason to sell from a contract expiry perspective. He may very well be the difference between us getting promotion to the PL and not, so his value to us in that regard could very well be the TV revenues we'd generate from getting to the PL - in the region of £30-40 million. No club, not even Man City, would pay that much for him. I suspect we'll get a number of 'enquiries' for him in January that will be dealt with in a similar manner to Liverpools approach for AOC last January...

I think he just walked around the same player 3 or 4 times...

Its smart advertising. I just booked a Thomson holiday and the advert is...Thomson holidays. Euro...you must have been buying your weekend mascara....

Just watched the first 45 and we were ruthlessly efficient. Seemed at times to be playing a 4-2-2-2 formation with Guly and Lallana popping up left, right and down the middle. With that formation it makes the full backs so important to provide width. FR looked quality but DH did look a weak link in possession - he never really seems like he wants to be on the ball, so maybe the DF signing was a good one. Generally though, the whole team was excellent - it just looked effortlessly easy. Admittedly we'll come up against better opposition this season but it bodes well that we look so 'gelled' so early on in the season.

I'm kind of hoping that we tie up a deal for J-Rod that sees Forte going the other way. I just don't see where he fits in, and he seems a nice lad so if he's not getting a look in, we should let him go somewhere to compete for a starting spot. Not for a minute saying he's not good enough or done poorly for us (in fact, his two goals at home to MK Dons to turn around a 2-0 deficit was probably the biggest turning point in our season last year), but he's clearly down the pecking order.

Yeah, he's off. Not bothered. This will be Holmes' season anyway.

Im sorry but there's a reason why 'pace and dribbling' attracts the 'high fees' and that's because players with those abilities are the most important players to the best teams.

I'm left with questions every time you post.