Lallana's Left Peg

I reckon Adebayor.

I'm sorry, exactly what is going on in that second picture

Very short in the big mans world of the middle of the park in the Premier League, especially if you do not have a strong build. Will be interesting to see how he copes off the ball.

We produce players who are courted by better / bigger clubs, it's harsh to even claim we don't promote the Academy an incredible amount. In an alternative world we'd have Lallana, Chambers, Shaw, JWP and Chamberlain in the first team right now.

So with Clasie signed and the ITK's saying we're shopping on the continent for further signings, doesn't this mean that not all our senior players can be registered for Europe this season?

The way he flights balls to land softly and give the runner a chance reminds me of the way Petit used to do it for Anelka at Arsenal.

The pace coupled with his injury-inviting methods of kicking the ball towards his opponent and then nipping in ahead of the tackle is mental

To be fair in Spain you can get a yellow card for looking at the Ref the wrong way. They have this crazy rule where ANY handball is a yellow card

The club has done very little wrong since Cortese left but there have been a few decisions that have been wrong (benefit of hindsight and all that) - allowing Cork to get away was one of them. He wanted to sign a new deal last summer and said words to that effect. And why not - he had just 12 months left. Not giving him a new deal because Koeman wanted to assess him is strange, because we didn't wait for Koeman's say when we negotiated a number of other contracts. Either way, it was disappointing to lose Cork - we made it an easy decision for him.

As far as I am aware we spent the first 6 months deliberating whether or not to offer him a new deal and then the new deal was offered in January when Koeman said he wanted to keep him and by then Cork said he didn't feel 'wanted' by Saints and said he wasn't signing it. My point is that Cork should have been offered a new deal well before he had jut 6 months left on his existing one. EDIT: Edited for spelling.

By offering him a new deal well before he has less than 6 months to run on his current one. Or in other words, giving ourselves a chance of keeping him.

Would imagine Wood and McCarthy would continue their partnership in the centre of the defence for the U21's, Turnbull will go on loan and Stephens in and around the first team set-up and dipping down for games as and when required for fitness.

Don't know what the answer is myself but I'll ask the question: How on earth do we break the cycle we're in? I don't see it as being possible.

5 year deal apparently:

Of course we are ripe for the picking. So is every other team that has less resources than the club looking to buy from them. We only get tagged with this moniker as our scouting and then subsequent coaching / development blows most other clubs out of the water. As frustrating as it is, I'd rather be a club that has the big teams chasing our players every summer than a club like Sunderland or Aston Villa who spend money on turd and then have turd seasons.

We need a central midfielder (defensive, rotation) and a centre-back (starter) and we're good to go.

Saints medicals are usually done in two parts, with the second part completed 24hrs after the first after they wait for test results to come back from the hospital. Or at least, they used to.

If the player is still in Holland as has been reported, then I would imagine it will be tomorrow.

Seen some more videos of him and he seems a tidy player. Like the way he brings the team forward up the pitch but do have some concerns about what he'll be like when we don't have the ball. Still feel like we need an understudy to Wanyama, and maybe even another 'destroyer' partner for him for some games. Wanyama himself likes a card as well, and with a new central defensive partner for Fonte required I do think we need another physical presence for the centre of the park, even if he isn't an automatic starter.

Are you sure? I have read in a lot of places he extended it last summer until 2018.

One of the contributory reasons the fee could appear so low is because we are paying a lot of it up front - in part to receiving a lot of the Schneiderlin fee up front too.

There is no way Schneiderlin needed any convincing to join Man Utd, and certainly not from an 18 year old.

Man City rumoured to have been tracking Jay. I know he can't mean Liverpool because they aren't Top 4.

FFS

I think this is the departure that means the team has to evolve slightly and change the way we play. He can't necessarily be replaced, but with astute planning and recruitment we can become a better team - but will have to play a different way to do so. If we attempt to simply replace him with a like-for-like we will suffer.