Saint Troy

It makes perfect sense really - he has a looong contract and so is not guaranteed a move, he needs work on his fitness regardless of who he plays for, he is captain and may be a reasonably normal bloke who wants to go but knows if he stays (a la Morgan/Victor) he needs to work hard and secure his move next yr. Sigurddson has had suitors every single transfer window and has been happy to stay - this time things are different and so hes staying to sort his future out. VVD wants liverpool and if its agreed his agent can sort the rest. Im assuming refusing to go on tour would lose him any bonus in the same way a transfer request would because its tantamount to the same thing. Who knows whats going on but dont think his location proves much at the mo

I dont know if im in the few here but i see it slightly differently. I really dont want him to go, certainly not to Liverpool which is clearly a huge mistake career wise, but i was only ever hoping for one more season out of him so im not that fussed. Yes we are a selling club and i dont like it but im not naive enough to see it changing quickly (or at all). Les said we dont need to sell so wont sell and i do think the club look a little silly if he goes but whats he supposed to do - so much of football is done publicly nowadays that if he came out and said "Oh we still expect him to be sold somewhere" it hardly puts us in a great bargaining position and sends a terrible message to the rest of the club. I dont mind players going, i just dont like all our top players being sold off each year. If VVD goes then so what, amazing player no doubt and at our level i agree irreplaceable. However one player doesnt make a team / club and if i was the new manager i wouldnt want my reign to start with a pussy of a captain whos angling for a move - id want a ****ing legend as captain to take the club and team forward - VVDs gone, this yr or next so get it done and get the money well spent. We could being the same position as Everton with Lukaku if VVD is the only one who goes and we spend well. I dont want the typical 5 player meltdown but i also dont want a pussy as a captain with a wobbly lip from wanting to go to Liverpool of all places. Get it done and get a replacement that is as good as teh other CBs we've brought in recently and move forward with our new manager. Disclaimer - i dont know for a fact if all the paper reports are true of course and could be wrong but in my opinion theres enough smoke around his transfer that theres some fire threr from VVDs side - if i was his agent i know what id be saying right now and it wouldnt please many on here - so im basing the above on that

With one yr left on his contract if we see any future for him we had to get him to sign. I assumed the same but the only positive is they must've spoken about the coming season during contract talks so we know if he goes it's something he's happy with. 30 odd championships games next yr will be good for him compared to being behind at least Austin and gabbi. After another good yr he could be very ready for the prem. Oddly I find loans exciting cause I can almost support more teams than just saints! Always looking at Blackburn scores for his outputlast yr

Think he said no "top" players are leaving not "key" players. You arent a top player until youve been tested at champions league level and we dont have any of those so they can all go. i jest of course...

Stams football to date is more boring than Puels! Its his first year though so maybe just building a platform and the start of a style - theyve had good results so he gets the chance to improve it next year. If he had average results though their fans would be like us im sure, its so stodgy

Is this the case? As I read it he is currently entirely innocent and therefore the new rules wouldn't touch him? How would he be blocked underfthe new rules (I clearly don't know his full story)

If they're buying a player off us better than the last then that's an upward slope? Clearly back to square one when he goes I agree but abort ott in this case

i get people are annoyed about us being a bit of a selling club, about us selling lots to liverpool but with VVD people need to get a grip. He would improve any squad in world club football, is world class and would sort out a clubs defence for about 8 yrs and be class throughout - he was never staying here a long time, hes played hard and acted decently whilst we have been lucky enough to have him. Shouldve just enjoyed him while he was here knowing he was going. Other signings i get but this is about us having taken a chance on a footballer other wouldnt and him turning out to be simply world class, now the world is interested and he, at 25, should be plying his trade at the absolute top. Just need a suitably huge fee and really noone can moan

is it ott to link the rumours we are in pole position with that Semedo chap with this? Dont care where he goes as long as its huuuge money. Hes world class, got best part of ten years in him and worth 50+ i reckon. Anything lower and we've let him go too cheap.

I get all this - it makes sense generally - i guess my question is about guys like Gylfi Siggurdson, if saints had picked him up when Swansea did hed be gone - certainly this summer but i can see him staying - how do clubes achieve that - is it just down to players having been burned by a big club once and being happy - if so wheres Bertrand off to etc. I know we have to sell sometimes and i get people want to progress, im just not sure why some stay at other clubs and feel its a bit of a "selling club" persona we now have based on our model

To b fair from what I heard on the radio it sounded like allardyce didn't think it went far enough and videos during the game should be used.

Its the youngster that we just signed from them Tella, hes scored a couple and want to show them what theyve lost (obviously it isnt but if this was Champ Man hed be on for a brace against them tonight for sure)

Well if he is it makes his performance so far even more impressive!

Well with a video ref Costa would be on a yellow now the diving ****

Brad Smith and Kyle Walker are the quickest defenders - maybe he could be offside less against them cause they could keep up!

Interesting this - youre saying when saints play well JWP plays well and when saints are average JWP is average. If the correlation is that exact then what youre really saying is that when JWP plays well saints play well and when JWP doesnt perform saints dont perform. Sounds like he has a big influence on us already! Argee that if he is to drift in to teh middle though he needs to appear to dominate more and set more of a tempo - have to feel he has been more involvedwith the tempo recently - hes sped up, his passing has sped up and he has been a little more fwd thinking, he stlil doesnt lose the ball from misplaced passing lotsand these signs could be the start of someone who will really be the tempo of the team.

dont have to love Puel, dont have to like him but please see that he has his hands tied here this season. When he has had good players we have looked very good. He may have limitations in that he cant change us to be a bus parking, clogging, west brom but its opinion as to whether you think thats a limitation and to be fair may be a directive hes following too. We havent been consistent enough but all our players are of that nature, not top class week in week out players. He could be getting more possibly, you wonder if Poch wouyld get more from this lot but Poch is a different style of manager. Long and 1 legged JRod up front, thats a front line that gets you up from the championship not top 6. (i love them both for different reasons but its not as though we have Lukaku up front and we cant get much out of him. Last week is a great example... we haev injuries but we shouldve been 2-0 up at half time. Yes he could do more but i think he deserves a summer window, some decent transfer activity and a run of fit players without europa and see where we get to then

Hes regularly referred to as the best CB in the prem - not by all but by way more than just saints fans and so theres a few off your list already! Like any player he can improve but hes proving himself against internationals and players playing in the champions league the whole time - its clear hes in that top 10

I think too cynical in this case maybe. As i understand it it was Tadic who mouthed off and all saints have done is commented on it (like we would be shouting atthem to do if they hadnt). No fuss made by the club, just its been mentioned to him and expect better. All ok i think. Doesnt mean he wont leave of course!

Its an interesting one - at 19 you want to be playing mor ethan 2 games a year and at Arsenal its unlikely he will. Just have to look at how incredibly well Rashford burst on to the scene and how many games he gets at the moment. Probably should be off in championship on loan really but can see why at 19 he may feel hes better off elsewhere

nothing more exciting as a nipper than waiting for le tissiers name to be mentioned, being passed bits of ripped up paper so we could chuck them in the air as it happened. Could be the excitement of youth, could eb the excitement of the player, could be that youre right and there was more atmosphere waiting for the teams to come out. Love to have that replicated but people are in finishing beers/placing bets/ eating hotdogs and crisps and some of that atmosphere has gone. Maybe concourse shops should open earlier (be a lot nicer to encourage people in) and close 20 mins before kick off to ensure the stadium is as close to full as it can be. So much of football grounds detracts from the experience now. Maybe having standing and wanting to get a good spot made a difference in some places, maybe standing in general did as its so much less passive generally. Going to watch the cricket i love to be there early and take in the atmosphere, watch the players warm up etc, it adds to teh days excitement. Im not sure how they do it but recreating that atmosphere that makes me feel like a kid again before the first whistle would genuinely bring in fans i agree. I would ssay though that threats to pay to go to games for 40 yrs then stop are not that much of a threat!

From watching on MOTD it was frustrating - they kept showing the close up slow mo. If you watch the revers angle at full speed it really does look like he is trying to get up and chase where the balls going. No way that you can prove thats deliberate and no a ban in my opinion. Zlatan couldve blinded him with the deliberate elbow, if hes carded retrospectively because its deliberate 3 games is a lucky break.

There were a couple of sloppy periods yesterday in front of the defence which really exposed the two cbs. Even Romeu was guilty of giving it away and so out cbs had a fair bit to do. It was the sort of game where Morgan & wanyama snuff everything out and it's only 30yrdshots, a fair few times we really let them at us. Our midfield play that open against the likes of arsenal/Liverpool we'll concede more than 3! Stevens coped well in these situations I thought and recovered then a couple of times. I think it's hard with two smaller cbs playing as no one just dominates against the high ball and so as a pair I don't think these two will make it, individually alongside the likes of vvd they're up to the job. Is it naive champ man talk that thinks cause of his height Stevens may be best pushing in to dm? I've never seen him there and managers don't seem to want to

Imagine standing around for two minutes and gabbiadinis goal being reviewed!

Do we know if he consulted with the lino at all? If not then he is possibly also at fault