Sour Mash

But if we do sign a new, "big name" striker, will Mayuka even get in our first choice match day squad of 18 regardless of how well he does in pre season?

Don't think he was selected for the tour or had to withdraw.

Possibly. I'm not sure what the commercial relationship with Adidas would be and their views on very poor sales. Also when trying to negotiate for a new sponsor, as a sponsor I would ask to see last year's kit sales as one of the things that will reflect the level of coverage my brand would get - wouldn't be very impressive if the figure was well below the market average.

Well on that basis half our squad might be better than the Barcelona team, as we haven't seen enough to judge them? It's a pretty fair assumption to make, that based on the information we have at our disposal, Sinclair is currently a better footballer than Isgrove.

Don't think anyone is losing sleep over it. I can't believe there are grown men out there that rant and rage on a forum about other men they've never met complaining about a football shirt, all typed out in a lovely orange font. Strange old world aint it.

I think it's cr@p, ugly, cheap looking and not Saints. Luckily most Saints fans are actually boycotting it, so at least some will hopefully make a difference.

Not sure how much more advanced in their preparations they are, as their season starts the same time as ours? Anyone know if their team was at full strength? They looked poor.

Agreed. Hopefully he'll be able to get a run out in the early rounds of the league cup to get some competitive minutes under his belt.

It's ridiculous campaigning against something, when you're not doing the one thing that would actually make a difference for your "campaign".

For what it's worth I thought Schneiderlin was a bit below par and anonymous. Know is doesn't matter yet, but if we're looking at individual players we livened up and had more energy when he went off. Still none the wiser how we line up come the 17th in lots of positions.

Not really, no.

Yeah, why I hate foreign support/ultras etc, same repetitive, monotonous droning sound regardless if they're 4-0 up or 4 down.

Would imagine Besiktas wouldn't have been too happy with their own performance either based on the standard their supposed to be at. Thought we were worth the win over the full 90.

Not too sure what changed towards the end of the game. Our possession of the ball for much of the game tiring them out towards the end? Think we made more changes overall, so would have had fresher legs? Mayuka and Lambert were a more threatening combination than Lallana and Rodriguez who tried hard, but lack any cutting edge of killer instinct around goal.

Yeah can't work out what we're trying to do at all. JWP wide right? Thought we've been the better team though. Guly been good. Ref blown for every time the Besiktas players go to ground, typical european football really. Bit of a scrappy game. Don't think Schneiderlin has been involved much?

Great save. This drumming is doing my head in.

Because he's not going to have had much game time in pre season. He'll have two games to get whatever match prep he needs to. He may be helped by the fact that he came back after playing in the Confeds Cup, so his fitness levels might be reasonable, but then on that basis why isn't he in the playing squad today? How much of an opportunity will he have to build a partnership with Lovren?

How likely is it that Yoshida will be ready for a start against WBA at this rate? Probably unlikely?

We get a £90m bonus each season we finish in the top 10?

It is, no harm chucking a couple of quid on that at all. The 25/1 for us to be top at the start of October really isn't good value.

Does look a bit overweight. Be interesting to see if he plays tomorrow.

First run out most have had in months, not played together etc, nothing to do with money.

That's too f****g good, top work.

Think your theory is wrong as didn't Boruc play in Spain?

They probably realised this was better than nothing.