david in sweden

the week afterwards. I expect....

he means ....last match ....just in time to get his revenge against Citeh.

yes, he wouldn't make the squad today... but the 6-3 massacre of Man Utd at The Dell (1996) was probably one of his best games...... tbf...he was a bit of a greedy s*d with the ball, but his passing was superb, and his goal celebrations were out of this world.

maybe sounds right ..?

can we ever forget that?.... but I think JWP has a much better disciplinary record that that. So far this season, he has started / been subbed in ...21 Saints' games ...with no cards all. (Now someone will say he's too weak and midfielders should get "stuck in " regularly, and expect cards.!)

For those who think Pellé is a poor striker....well he's not the worst. At least according to some recent OPTA stats. which show that; Connor Wickham and Swansea's Gomis convert less than 7% of their shots. Next " worst of the bunch " is ...Danny Welbeck 9.76% followed by GP who has converted 9.88% of shots, but has the dubious stat. of hitting the woodwork SEVEN times. They are only slightly worse than a list of other Prem. names..like... Hernandez (are we going to bid for him?), and Valencia, Benteke, Ashley Barnes, Dzeko, Sturridge and Lukaku are all in Top 10 WORST, (or should we say unluckiest). With the Everton game upcoming we can hope that Pellé is on the up, (but hopefully Lukaku can wait a bit before regaining his form...at least until next week).

Saints will sign...wait for it ... 19 new players in the summer. If that's not an April Fool joke, I don't know what is, so I won't bother to list them all. Well that's the sum total of players who are " being watched / are about to sign / Saints' are interested in "..according to a range of sites I've read (in the last 2 weeks). Either their agents are working overtime, or those" hack journalists " who go out with these stories have run out of real ideas (and I suspect the truth). so we can wait and see, personally I can't see more than 3 or 4 new names coming into the squad...but who knows...Oops, now it's 20. That Dirk Kuyt rumour.....AGAIN !

in some circumstances...it's good to have debts, and it doesn't mean you have to pay them directly off with money from a profitable years trading, either....

my thoughts, too. I thought he was along to help the kitman....

...not even on the bench, so it's a good game to miss, Jose...you'll be back.

......you mean as Wenger's successor ?

you know, you're the first to mention that ... but, if they offer 3 tons of Llama hair in exchange... what do we do then?

It probably true to say Shane Long's fee was too much, but that's not his fault. Hull paid £6 million for him, but couldn't afford to refuse our offer, and we needed cover. It's not his fault either, that he hasn't had more game time, especially when Pellé was scoring regularly, (although some criticise Koeman for perservering with Pellé) after which Long was out injured for 5 weeks. Hopefully, we will see the benefit of the investment in the remaining games and into next season.

Having waited all season, might we be seeing the " real Shane Long " coming into form? His " wandering goal-poacher role " is difficult to pin-point. .... he drifts in and out of games, but when you see his name on the scoresheet after 90 mins.......you know he's done his job.

......of course, the big question is : Has Pellé really found this level too difficult, or is this just the sort of " dry-spell " that many strikers go through? The history of great strikers shows their " inconsistancy / lack of regular scoring " is common to many of them. Saints have some historical examples. In Saints' 1966-67 promotion season, Martin Chivers had scored 30 goals by mid-February (incl. 18 goals in 11 games)....but then failed to score in the final 13 matches. The "young" Steve Moran began 1983-84 with just 3 goals in the first 12 matches (he was even dropped), but then returned to score 17 times in the remaining 22 games. Colin Clarke (started his Saints career -1986) with 16 goals in the first 20 games, but then went 10 games without scoring at all. Not so long ago, James Beattie started the 2002-03 season and failed to score until game no.10, then he netted 23 times in the next 25 games. (just missed Golden Boot) ...so is anyone willing to "write off " Pelle, sell him on and cut our losses......or is this just another .. " striker's blip " ?

It's really a case of; personal ambition ...or club loyalty. But in the " international / big club " world of football the system scr*ws the players. You can ask yourself ..would Alan Shearer have been an England legend...if he had stayed at The Dell all his career ?....very doubtful. MLT (to his immense credit) stayed all his career with Saints, but several England managers (Venables and Hoddle !)...ignored him even when at his peak. I don't blame anyone wanting to better himself, but I do admire loyalty, especially when those who observe it ......pay a financial price - by not moving away.

...might encourage him to find the net for the first team, he's be so close so often this season .......

I'm sure Boca won't care too much. If he keeps scoring in their matches.... then they won't care how he scores in his leisure time.

what a condemnation !.........if I did it was pure coincidence....

aside from knowing about their transfer embargo already, I really couldn't think of anything more daft to say ... but in this crazy world ......who knows?

yes of course, but by the time he finishes his loan at the end of the season, he will be " too old ". Neither of the other two guys have made a dent in the first team squad yet, and so the question remains ..will they ever?

which also means the £91 million income from player sales...isn't included and will come into this years figs....WOW !

Er.. I forgot to blame my .........ah:rolleyes: ........Alzheimers?

Apologies....a bit of brain fade on my part... it should be Forster, of course. (Fraser Forster...and not Campbell Forsyth)....

oh well, perhaps we should forget him then .....can we quote you on that ?