Lallana's Left Peg

I think it's a marvellous achievement considering both Swansea and Norwich beat us easily in the transfer market last summer

If it happens, it's because the club isn't matching his ambition. I don't think it'll happen because he wants it to regardless. It's quite clear that the players and management team have been alluding to pushing on and building what we've got. It's obviously what the fans want too. For the Board they need to balance the books. The players and Pochettino are challenging the Board. It may be a bit unfair of them to do so publicly but right now the ball is in the Board's court. Up to them which way we go unless the financial situation dictates we have to sell a couple but based on last years financial results and this years TV revenue then I think we're in pretty good shape. If we shifted Osvaldo then there is immediately money for another player who can hopefully make an immediate impact. January's squad purging will also contribute towards freeing up wages as well. Maybe Ramirez leaves too?

What do you think was dodgy about our transfer policy? Went after the best we could get and players who are better than we've got? Not sure I see anything wrong with that myself.

JR is already due a new contract apparently (he has made 45 starts for us). Hooiveld and Davis also out of contract in 2015.

9/10 Best shape we've been in all my supporting life.

Good news

Twitter only this morning apparently. Can't say I blame them

He said not negative. Unless you want Pochettino to leave

Here we go...

I have no issue with them tempering summer transfer expectations if they are going to keep all our best players. But sell a few of them and fans will quite rightly expect a decent level of it reinvested back into the team.

Players develop at different rates and Gallagher is playing in a position where it is hard to grow into a game and take it easy. I absolutely trust Pochettino's judgement so if he sees something in him that is good enough for me. That said we are chronically lacking pace in the final third and I would dearly love an Academy player with some pace to at least be on the bench this weekend. Even if they only came on for the last 15mins it would get the crowd going if the player had a good go at the defence and even if he struggles he will at least create space for other players and keep the Everton defence honest. As it stands, they can push right up the pitch with absolutely no fear about a ball over the top.

Not sure you're aware of Liverpool's history of signing players at World Cup time

We might need to shoot first!

Because that is so much money to spend on a full-back for a team of our size it is disproportionate to everything we've done ever. If we have £8-12m to spend on a player I'd much rather it be a striker or centre-half. I don't see how it is assumed that if we got £30m for Shaw that we'd spend £10m on his replacement. I genuinely think it is crazy. EDIT: Here is an example. When we sold Chamberlain for £12m and signed De Ridder for whatever it was. That'll happen again.

I agree with all that. But do we even have the money to spend £8 - 12m on a full back? We're Southampton. We have an annual turnover of around £100m and we think we'd spend about 10% of that on a full-back? We've only ever spent money on the spine of the team, and I don't really see that changing. If we did get £30m for Shaw I could see us spending £20m of it on 3-4 players at most. The biggest issue being selling a player for £30m that may have been earning £20-30k a year and then having to sign 3-4 players for £6m each and dealing with wages of £30-40k each. So when I think about what wages a £8-12m full back wants I just don't think it is realistic at all.

So three clubs that are comfortably bigger than us and have far bigger budgets? I don't deny we want to get up in around them but I just don't see us spending the £8-12m you suggested we would on a full back. I would imagine £5m absolutely tops and even then I would be very surprised.

Man Utd, Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea. Though you can probably chuck in any big club to be fair - so add Liverpool into that. Outside those five, how many other Premier League teams sign full-backs for more than £5m? That is the spirit of my question.

There is no way we'll spend £8m on a left back in my opinion. In fact in history how many full-backs have been signed for more than £5m outside the Top 4?

The poor sod who joins will be on an absolute hiding to nothing

I get the feeling the two are somewhat linked to each other. If one goes, the other will.

£30m is a helluva lot of money. It could perhaps allow us to strengthen the squad to a degree we could cover his loss to us in the team. And maybe it is inevitable he leaves one day. But...if he is happy to stay then I think it would be an absolutely huge statement of intent from the club to keep him. Maybe it means we don't bring too many in this summer. But for what it would mean - even to keep him just one more year - could have an impact that improves our standing in the game and perception from young players that they don't need to leave Saints to play for their country etc. It would be the missing piece in the Academy jigsaw - the time we produce and keep our players for longer than before. I think it would mean a lot. I could understand the pragmatic reasons for him leaving though. I just think that in a time when many clubs don't have an identity, we can forge one when it comes to keeping players that have been with us since the age of 8.

This report seems fairly insistent - £30m to Man Utd: http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/apr/23/manchester-united-beat-chelsea-luke-shaw-transfer-david-moyes

We absolutely have a chance based on a set of circumstances that are not as far fetched as you think. They are unlikely, but not remote. We need our young players to have an affinity with our club. They need to value playing over money and status. It's not impossible if they take a long-term view over their career. We need astute signings in the market and even more nous commercially to increase revenues. We need stability at the club and a good Manager in it for the long-term. We've done a lot of the hard bits in my opinion, it's just now is the time that it gets tested. It also helps to see big clubs hoard players and ruin careers of many young players. Youngsters are starting to make some wiser choices and we need to capitalise on this. Clearly if a big club has a first team spot open it's near on impossible to keep a player, but we long as we continue to develop kids then we're on the right path and doing the hardest bit first. We're in a period of marginal gains and we need to be patient. If we do anything to impede our progress then that isn't acceptable. If things are taken out of our hands (like players wanting to leave) then we can't dwell and we just have to get on with it. A few seasons at 8th-10th would be good for me - then we push on.

You can pass a medical while injured as long as the injury is healing in a manner consistent with expected recovery. I think Stewart Downing signed for Aston Villa when he had a broken leg. Not sure Jay Rod could pass a medical for a long time after his injury though.

ESPN advertising this as 'seductive football'. Fear we may see exactly the same sort of game that Everton vs. Man Utd was. We'll have more possession and a lack of a cutting edge and Everton's pace and power on the break will kill us.