david in sweden

...now that has really put the cat amongst the pigeons. There will be 20 new guesses posted in the next 24 hours ....

ouch ....be fair - he says what he can .....how much do you expect him to give away?...next question will be...which letter does him name begin with.....

.............spoken like a true Saints fan Patrik - well said.

..he didn't say lunch on which day though ......

if we REALLY want to have van Dijk..we can do a deal before the window closes - and loan him back to Celtic - until they are eliminated from CL......

....will be 34 around Christmas time..... not a good age for a striker.....unless your name is Drogba

oh yes...and quite a few in the first half of the Championship season......around 10 goals before New Year. Unfortunately he went off the boil just as Billy Sharp arrived ...and the rest, as they say ........

ouch, funny though

I think that recurring injuries are often down to the manner in which the club handles the problem. Coming back too soon, or... wrong handling of the injury can make the situation worse. We really don't know about this lad's injury record or how he was treated. There must be some magic formula to getting the right treatment or why else would MU have poached " our injury expert " last season....(his name escapes me) Some players called "injury-prone" which might also suggest they have many different types of injury, whereas it's important to ensure they're 100% on return. Alan Shearer once said ...." there's a lot of difference between being match fit ....and being fit enough to play." At present Jay Rod is in the second category. If he's a key player - a club may want him back ASAP.....whereas Saints had fewer soft tissue injuries (according to one quote in the Southampton Way" than any other Prem. club. This is surely down to the right attitude in terms of rehab. I'm sure Jay Rod wanted to get back playing as soon as he could walk properly again, but frustrating as it is (for him and fans) ...he's not reached the level of match fitness where he can play twice a week ( Ronald Koeman quote last week) ....and that means we go a few extra weeks without Jordy Clasie ...then so be it .There more to regaining fitness than just; rest, diet, and a bit of light training. IF... Goretzka comes, and IF....he has problems.... it'll be up to our fitness team to get him upto Prem. standard, before he's reliable enough to play every match.

well Johnny boy, I suppose it's a matter of how you learned to count. Steven Davis record since signing; 2012-13 - 2 goals, 2013-14 - 4 goals 2014-15 - 0 --- totals 6 goals in 114 apps. (it just seemed like more at the time) Interestingly .........Morgan Schneiderlin (in the same period) scored 12 goals in 102 games also to compare.... Victor Wanyama .......(in 2 seasons) has scored 6 goals in 62 games.

the latest chapter in the "Great Spurs Fire Sale" appears to be.....Roberto Soldado. Rumour has it he'll be on the move ..with Spuds taking a loss of £15 million ..but....that's only a drop in the ocean for a "big club" like there's. Still I bet there are a lot of Spurs fans who will breathe a sigh of relief at hearing that news.....

Thanks Vectis, I know we'd never get a new ground record in a Prem. game, but how many places do we actually " lose " because of fan segregation?

.....around our " standard fee ", then ?

Yes....but whilst what you say is true ....the " mighty Arsenal " (who incidentally have never been out of the top division in their entire history... haven't won much in the past 10 years or so ....despite Wenger and their annual CL qualifications....so nothing is foolproof.

thinking back ....I would have said the same about Nick Holmes......

now Rickie has gone to West Brom....I'm satisfied. I hope he knocks in goals against all the top 6 ......(but not against us, of course). ....in fact now.....I don't even mind if he finishes his career playing for Pompey in L2....well almost.

true or not, you can bet no-one tried to steal his lunch money at school...

stats question... commentator suggested match was a sell -out?....does anyone know the official attendance?

A while ago.......he signed an extension to summer 2017. (He will be 34 in December 2017).

Not at all. We should give him an extra fiver ..he's worth it !

I think a lot of people have " revised their opinions" a bit since then....I was beginning to wonder what my comment was at the time, but I found it .....

I don't know how many British players Ronald Koeman knew about (before he joined), but the above-mentioned in OP were fairly obvious from his Dutch experience. Certainly, the " Black Box " must have played a significant part, and (apparantly) Les Reed said ......." that some of RK's choices were already on a list ". Don't think there were any " bad buys " last season..or ?.... and the situation with the loan players we had.... has seemingly resolved itself. Many of our deals were " kept under wraps " until we knew they'd signed, but people are more alert to ourrecent progress and the average interested fan with a knowledge of the squad could predict our ongoing requirements. Anyone with vague connections to Dutch football may well be quoted as " being of interest to RK " ...but he's no fool and knows who he wants. Over several years a few contributors seem to be ITK, but unless they have a brother-in-law, or neighbours milkman closer to the action.most of us are just guessing.

previous quotes; (if not totally word for word - more or less recalled from interviews) Les Reed - Ronald Koeman was number 1 on our list, after we interviewed him ..we knew we had our man. Ronald Koeman - It wasn't about money, but the whole footballing set-up at the club impressed me. I'm sure that Katarina Liebherr could " drown the club " with money - if she wanted to, but expenditure has to be sustainable and the UEFA rules on spending v. income means we are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Extending SMS - though desireable in theory, would make no sense if we couldn't increase income and " sell-out " every match.

Although he is seldom a " stand-out " player, he does a lot of off-the-ball running and many of his good passes go unnoticed, and 70+ N.I. international caps isn't bad. His lack of goal-scoring does seem to downgrade him in some peoples eyes, but if he were to score 4-5 goals a season, they would say how good he was a good MF-er. Koeman obviously rates him and gave him a contract extension to 2018, by which time he'll be past 30. JWP is his likely replacement (if he can get his act together) He's a real grafter and I expect to see him in the squad for another couple of seasons, though RK may sub. him a bit earlier in games to avoid injuries/wear and tear.

well ....you sound as though you're more ITK than I am on that one.....I only recalled the story about the part I highlighted... .......obviously he never signed him as a schoolboy, nor did they see his potential as anything else......it cost them £16 million to correct the mistake....