Saint Pete

Yep, used to annoy the hell out of me when people used to argue that Tadic should be dropped whenever he had a not so good game. Another quality player with superb vision and ability to produce moments to create goals and win games, like Azaz does at the level we play at now. These are the players that make me want to go to games, but some fans just don't seem to see it! (or don't accept that what they do won't come off 100% of the time).

Yes, absolutely. Wasn't saying we shouldn't have signed him, we did need more depth in that position and he looks a quality addition so far. The point I was trying to make about Azaz/Dobbin was that they are both high value signings and when both are fully fit, it will be interesting to see if both will be accommodated in the starting 11 and if so how. There is much more potential that both could play than the other 2 examples you give above due to their flexibility and I think Tonda and the club will be keen to use them both as much as possible given the outlay and that they are both quality players who can hurt the opposition.

The Dobbin signing was interesting, Azaz/Dobbin as the 2 options for the attacking midfielder is great, but seems a little bit of a luxury of if one of those 2 will be sat on the bench, so will be interesting to see how they are employed by Tonda when both are fully fit.

It's a little different between the way the 2 have left though? Stewart left at the end of his contract so his message of thanks and good luck etc was at that point rather than when he subsequently signed for Swansea. I don't think there is bad feeling, in fact Tonda said he was still in touch with him after what happened with the extension.

All the best Shea, some amazing moments to remember from him last season, he scored even better goals but that winner at Leicester was so crucial to our season. I think he will be a success with Fulham, just a shame as I'm sure he would have remained with us in the Prem if not for what happened at the end of last season. Good luck.

I agree Archer showed enough towards the end of last season that ideally it would be good to keep him if we can to be our third "provides something different" striker option. I don't see him as a lone striker but he is good option if we want to go 2 up front alongside one of the bigger strikers, which may be useful when chasing a goal late in games. He's also shown he can be an option in the wide areas.

I disagree. What we had in 2nd half of last season was 2 more or less equal level strikers in Larin and Stewart and that worked incredibly well. Both provided physicality and a focal point for the team and were strong players at this level, which meant we could interchange them, keeping them fresh and fit and helping us maintain our intensity up front through the entire 90+ minutes of matches. I don't think either could be considered our "no.1 regular starter" and that was fine and actually an advantage for the team. Larin is 31 years old and the lone striker role is tough physically over a long hard season so I think we still need someone on the same kind of level that can interchange and keep that intensity up for us like Stewart did, not just a backup for Larin. If we don't achieve that, the danger is we will move backwards from our form in 2nd half of last season. I don't know enough about this Man City lad to know if he can provide that for us, let's hope he can progress from his Stoke form last season.

Yeah, would say he is a decent player to have up your sleeve on the bench and to fill in for a few games if there is an injury. But wouldn't be happy at all if for example Scienza was sold and we said he was then going to be 1st choice! So, I guess it depends if he is OK with remaining in that backup role and also of course whether there is any interest from elsewhere from someone who can match his wages.

Would be an ideal replacement but will be hot competition for him as Wolves and West Ham both interested apparently.

It most definitely won't be enough if our aim is as we say it is to get promoted this season, preferably in the top 2, starting from -4 points. We can shrug our shoulders and say "maybe BBD can do a job as a backup to Larin" and perhaps Tonda can eventually get a tune out of him to perform at mid-table Championship standard. But that is not what we need, we don't need an understudy to Larin, we need someone at least on the same level as him that we can interchange with him in the same way as Stewart did. And it also needs to be someone who can provide that strength and focal point up front so that we can maintain that through 90 minutes, which worked so well in 2nd half of last season. Larin is 31 years old and playing as a lone striker is hard work, so he won't be able to start every game in a long hard Championship season, even if he stays fit. I think we have seen enough from BBD in his previous spell and so far in pre season to know he isn't the man to do the above job at the level we need to achieve promotion, so I hope we are not going to waste our time coming to that conclusion in the same way we have in previous seasons regarding decisions over strikers, as it will cost us if we do.

Interesting Charles still there on the bench. And good to see that Azaz must be close. Not sure about this giving BBD another spin, hopefully itt is just putting him in the shop window as I don't think he has what it takes to alternate with Larin in the same way as Stewart did. Well, not if our aim is to contend for autos from starting on -4.

I suspect you are right that there wasn't really an option for him to stay when we went down. He was our biggest signing when got to Premier League and would have been on big wages, so suspect we were keen to offload those wages once we were a Championship club again. I certainly don't remember any noises about him demanding a move or that Saints were reluctant to let him leave.

Not really worried about them while they keep the same manager.

I reckon he will go once the FA charges are resolved. Maybe Dragan doesn't want to be seen firing the CEO while that situation is still ongoing.

I guess there are 2 sides to every story and we have not heard both. I imagine Stewart might see it that Saints weren't 100% committed to him when they chose not to trigger the extension at any earlier point before we were expelled from the play offs? Whatever, time to move on now. It's not the end of the world that Stewart hasn't stayed - he wasn't our most important player and would always have been a risk with his injury record - just as long as he is replaced with a striker of equal or better abilities to help the team. Over to you Johannes!