Smirking_Saint

Agree with the last statement 100%, and actually most of it… but pleading poverty probably does have a place IF Saints were financially needing to sell (we don’t) OR Tella was pushing hard for the move (he isn’t) which is why I don’t think you will see much of an escalation of this transfer before, probably the start of our season.. if at all As per young Trafford I think he is a terrific young keeper, and its probably realistic to say that right now in world football that keepers are much rarer than wide forwards, hence why a lot of their budget went there.. funnily enough they’re after another keeper so shows were Kompany is looking to strengthen Edit - Coulibaly is also a CB… so I guess in a way ‘yes’ they have extra cash… but Im assuming they still need a CB, they’re obviously trying to stretch their budget but if 17.5m is too much then im not convinced they’ll push the boat out for Tella (who historically never looked much in the prem) FWIW I think Burnley are down anyway

Maybe.. plenty of noise going around footballing circles saying exactly that though… they’re being very particular in their buys due to budgets

We could see Liverpool ramping up the Lavia chase now, they previously missed the signing of Tchoumeni due to their delay Im not convinced they’ll let a further top talent in RL slip through their grasp.. its up to us to push for the best possible fee

The Coulibaly deal fell through because they can’t afford him The whispers going around the media is that Burnleys budget is incredibly small this year… Im not sure, if we stand fast on our fee, that he’ll be going anywhere

Yeah I think Smallbone could look v good in a 3 man possession based midfield

Yeah IM not getting hung up on the quality of opposition and how we get on, it’s important to see how these players perform under pressure For instance, as suspected Stephens is an awful player but Smallbone looks good on the ball… Tino doesn’t look too comfortable but this is match 1

Benfica are doing an exceptional job pressing us and hemming us in, a lot is due to the fact we don’t really have enough options moving the ball forward So we have nowhere to go with it

Great first signing and great work Saints 👏🏻 As suspected SR aren’t hanging around and are comfortable funding a promotion project, quietly excited about this year More to come too

He’s wanted out since the end of last season So I imagine it won’t be long

Its only indicative that the player/club relationship hasn’t broken down… there’s not a lot to it really but, for instance I wouldn’t expect Salisu to feature in much of the clubs PR pieces

I imagine he’d have to come back in ? Unless they’re assuming that Baz and Macca are enough with Bycroft as back up ?

Not really no, press resistance is generally players with decent strength and dribbling, or effectively enough to avoid the press and get the ball away without losing it, so the likes of Pogba, Verratti, Lavia etc I loved Wanyama but he was effectively just a bully

Barcelona can’t afford him, Real don’t need him, Bayern is possibly a mix of the two, PSG are getting Ugarte.. that only really leaves Chelsea, Utd, Liverpool or Arsenal

Press resistance has been a tangible way to describe midfielders capable of emerging from tight spaces with the ball for ages What rock have you been under ?

McCarthy was equally as terrible As bad as Baz was I stand by the fact that everyone infront of him was so bad it exaggerated his ‘issues’ ten fold, I don’t think he is anywhere near as bad a keeper as is so often made out on here

Get used to it, with the new rules coming in over the next few years around youth loans then this will likely be the way forward

More of the 6/8 mould but more defensively minded, almost certainly would be an instead of JWP IMO unless they’re looking to ditch Soucek too

Ive always found ‘passion’ is a bastion of those unqualified in their position He’s not a very good defender, he may well be better in the champ but he is still currently our 4th best and has let us down more often then he’s done a job

Yeah thats how I see it, its a big risk that could go either way for you, if his knee blows out after a week then you’re blowing a huge part of your budget on a lame duck Certainly isn’t worth it for me Edit - Theres also no links that I can see

Im not sure about Ings, he’ll almost certainly be a good signing at this level but just hasn’t looked the same since.. possibly even the season before he left us, you could tell a decline had started If you could convince him to come on relatively low wages and a 2 year deal with an option then, ok, not too bad but at 31 and a reported 130k P/W ? Yeah im not convinced tbh

Because they’re fucking idiots

A bit concerned so many believe Stephens is a viable answer, Id have him firmly at around our 4th or 5th best defender, he just isn’t very good.. His propensity to wind up the opposition of occasion isn’t a leadership trait Id personally want I want somebody sufficiently talented, level headed but more importantly able to lift the rest of the team.. outside of JWP and even including him I just don’t think we have that

Who would elect these ‘think tanks’ ? We’ve all seem how any democratically elected parties end up, its pretty evident both here and across the pond that the majority are simply unable to make rational and reasonable decisions If these parties really are looking to help to drive global initiatives then personally I would want them selected by people that know who and what is needed As for the viability of these think tanks then I do think they are necessary, we live in a global society, part of the reason behind how damaging Covid was is in part due to the individualistic nature of most world governments, you only have to look at the damage done by brexit to see that isolationist thinking doesn’t work

Bree is an odd one really, he was a very good player for Luton in the Championship, so realistically worst case we already have an able RB if KWP or Tino leave and maybe even if both leave

Im not convinced although a 3 man midfield will help him immeasurably