david in sweden

taking another look at that squad line-up...it's not so bad - is it? YES it does take time for new players to settle in - let alone adjust to a change of formation (Diamond), which may yet prove to be a success (given time). I'm well used to reading " the regular critics " who judge a new player by; his height/weight, stats that are only stats, the size of his fee(t) and /or previous experience - or the lack of it .....in the Prem. Nothing matters now and until we've seen them for half-a-season, it's totally ridiculous to condemn someone without giving them a chance. It's just a couple of years back that those people were writing off Pelle as a failure who could only score in the Dutch league, and Mané (who someone suggested was worse than Ali Dia . Rarely do players look World-class on their debut(s). I hope those same people will not seek to label Boufal "a waste of money" - if he doesn't score a hat-trick on his debut.

we do not know.... yet

about sums it up, Duncan. I'd really hoped for a bit more activity....

of course Saints are renowned for doing deals "under the radar " but if Haller has the goal-scoring success that is boasted...then he (potentially) looks like a good buy . .......so why the arguing about paying out £8.5 million. Of course everyone has a price, but surely in the present market situation it's " no big deal ".... even for Saints .

..........and there was a Combination Cup....which we won 1968-69 season beating WHam in a two legged final and Saints had a 15,000 crowd for the Final at the Dell.

....and of course, it's good for them to have players who they can speak to in their own mother tongue.....(or father's tongue)

? the very fact that he outscored many others in the Prem. despite the fact that he was playing for QPR...surely speaks volumes for his ability in a poor team.

it would have been a lot worse, if we'd sold a lot of players for around £10 -12 million.... and had to buy their replacements for £20-35 million...

I posted the OP ....just because I saw the item on a site, but I was surprised, not to say shocked ..... by so many mixed responses that came. I did a straw poll from comments up until now....and it looked like this. 20 people .....said he would be a very good loan acquisition and would take him (and especially if Arsenal subsidized his wages). 22 more said very negative things (bad influence, continually injured, etc) ......say no more ! 28 others made comments, but didn't express a definite opinion (they were the don't knows) One thing we can be sure of, that (in the unlikely event of him coming to us) ...for better or worse....he'd cetainly get " a lot of attention " on this Board.

would be nice to think so wouldn't it?

well now..... It seems that Arsenal are trying to " farm out " JW in an attempt to get him properly match fit again... It's now noted that http://www.clubcall.com are suggesting that Saints are in the market to loan Jack Wheelchair (sorry Wilshere). As if we don't have enough injured/recovering players in the club already.. Yes OK. he can be good on his day, but he hasn't had a "good day" in quite a while. Nice if it works out but....and I recall the reputation that Jamie Redknapp had before his Dad brought him to Saints in our relegation season, but it ended up with a "good day " if JR could last 45 minutes a game before heading for the treatment room. If true, and it works ....then it'll be a feather in Les Reed's hat ...if not (inevitably).....it'll be more ammunition for his critics. Let's hope there a good resolution to this one.

we'll have to wait a bit on that verdict, but if he's " only as good as Mane " ....we did get him for half the fee that we received for Mane

Agreed !.....but in the end you might say they did both LOSE two points.

Perhaps .....the £5 million we got for letting him go to Everton tipped the balance?.....and I'm sure there must have been a little more for Erwin and Jan's contracts to move with him.

think it was a bit more than that, but still a really fantastic deal. After the Lovren deal to Liverpool, I asked myself if he was really " worth " the whole £8 million we paid for him ?.....or was it just Jose Fonte who made him look good.?

Rules say a minimum of six ....U21 players ....and the rest can be...."whoever " we want. McCarthy? Stephens? Gardos? Jay Rod? the same age balance of players that you might find in an average L1/L2 club, so if we make it through this group and a few knockout rounds , it'll be good alround.

Harrison Reed has "proven " himself in our youth squads - and even played U20/21 (?) for England, yet doesn't look close to ousting any of the regular squad members. He needs football week-and-out, and a loan to Championship club would be a win-win situation. His loan club would get a tough midfielder and Saints could see exactly what his performance level is for future planning.

Welcome SaintSeb, Interesting post and I hope you will contribute more often, but be warned that some of the trolls on here can find fault with the weather every day of the year.

tough luck on Pied, but at least we didn't pay £20 million for him in the first place.......

well ...he's signed at last, but we have to wait a bit longer to see him play. Just as long as his fitness issues don't include " a minor operation " .... Hopefully he's fit enough for the Europa League games, although we should be sure to get his visa cleared in time for the visit to Beersheba at the end of September.

Now we have four attacking MF / strikers ...who are all over 25.(JayRod, Austin, Tadic and Long) not sure what /where Redmond will end up playing, but somehow I still find myself still looking for another striker (?) with a good goalscoring record on his CV, but maybe we'll have to pass on that one for now. However, we are " back to square one " (what good old fashioned football phrase that is) with regards to the RB spot. It looks like Cedric has got the role at present, but otherwise it's back to Coco Martina (if he's still here-come Thursday morning)...a difficult call that. There is no obvious 3rd choice ...and no-one in the youth squad (at present) who looks like becoming another Chambers or Shaw... (please no-one say Yoshida again). Maya has always DAJFU when called upon to cover LB or left-sided CB, but he's also down the list for those slots and always gets himself into trouble when he plays at RB.

Several times Les Reed has stated that we try to identify potential signings months in advance, and don't punt for someone just because they had a good Euro. It doesn't mean we can get that player just because we can pay the asking price, sometimes they might not want to come, or can't agree terms. Maybe they go elsewhere. Les stated the same again, most recently in interview (on You Tube), which ironically was a week or so before Koeman up and left, after which everything went on hold. The Redmond transfer was obviously a done deal (said he'd talked to JWP and Targett about it at U21 camp), although I can think that Hojdbjerg would have been our sort of target for a while. Everything else stopped until we found a new manager (in Puel) who as we see has his own ideas about formation / players etc. I can only assume that after the Osvaldo fiasco the club thinks twice about buying in players they haven't done " due diligence" on - (as Les Reed always seem to quote). Jeremy Pied was " Puel's Coco Martina ". A low-cost transfer for a player he thought CDAJFU. Can't see Pied being in the top 50 anywhere in our Black Box? Jay Rod (the subject of this thread) does need game time, and on Saturday seemed to have convinced a lot of people - that it should be with Saints. Over to you Claude.

give it time... the next game is almost 2 weeks away....and a lot can happen over a weekend in the football world........

..or David Moyes? .....but let's not mention LvG.

.....bet you he's paid more than " a low grade bank clerk".