Lallana's Left Peg

Is it wrong that I know they make horrendous kits but that they also pay stupid amounts of money to the clubs they work with so I'm happy for the income if it means we have a better chance of hanging onto our good players (even for just one more season)

Just reading an opinion piece on Man Utd's flops this season - Luke Shaw appears on it but the article notes that he is being paid £120k a week! http://www.football365.com/f365-features/9752930/F365-Feature

Oh I wasn't blaming you directly for bringing it to our attention - it would have been discovered eventually one way or another! But either way I've taken a look and given his other pictures he clearly has the opportunity to enjoy some of the nicer things in life so it wouldn't surprise me if he was a family member.

Because whilst you and I may have no desire whatsoever to send messages to a Liebherr family member there are lots and lots of stupid Saints fans (not unique to us, football in general is a sport for morons on the whole) who will take the opportunity to hassle this chap by sending him messages on his Instagram feed.

Now we're going to get a Liebherr family member being hassled by loads of braindead Saints fans

Nope! I'd have laughed if anyone said we'd be above mid-table this season too. And I still play Euromillions. However we've had an amazing season, far too many bigger teams have had so-so seasons, and yet we're still below them all! I can't see a situation where we improve to be better than we are this season and the teams above us have such average seasons again.

We've performed brilliantly and if anything we're now showing the signs of being tired from our efforts and the limitations of the squad. Those issues increase considerably with the prospect of Europa League football next season. Despite Liverpool being awful at the start of the season, Man Utd being bad as well, Arsenal stumbling and Pochettino also having a slow start...we're still below them all in the table despite an amazing season. I guarantee we won't finish above any of them next season either.

It's likely we'll have a season like Everton if we do qualify for the Europa League, but it will be absolutely worth it.

We're so good in midfield now I actually think we could get away with a poacher type striker in the team for several games, even if the Hernandez link is very far fetched.

As long as the final is contested between two clubs that from Liverpool, Arsenal, and Manchester United then I'm happy. Obviously if they get lots of injuries / suspensions on the way that will be helpful for the league.

We're still involved but we need to show more in the final third to be taken seriously. Find some form and momentum and we're right in it. But right now it feels like we'll just about scramble together enough points for 6th or 7th, which will still be an amazing achievement.

I remember his debut at Oldham. His signing was very hush-hush, I think Pardew even referenced to keeping him training with them quiet as so not to alert other clubs. When he came on there were a lot of 'who is this?' or 'when did we sign him?' chatter. He had a classy finish to make it 3-1 to us and never really looked back. He had quite a good football IQ in addition to his finishing ability which meant he combined very well with Lallana and Lambert.

Raheem Sterling still hasn't signed his new deal either. This is where Liverpool's bad signings will really handicap what they can pay players who actually perform for them. Plus their owners operate a 'Moneyball' type approach to football so if they are adamant they won't pay too much for anyone then they will sell.

Yeah absolutely, and its been good fun for that period but it was never going to last forever.

They were always going to win the war. Not one of the five players who left us made a bad move. You could argue that perhaps Chambers left a year too early but in the long-run he'll be fine.

Dates not announced yet. I'll be going to the game at Ewood too.

I can't really think of a precedent where more than £30m was paid to a club of our size for a midfielder of his age though. Appreciate things outside a players ability impact the fee but I just can't see us getting more than £30m for him, and even that would be stretching it.

Jose Fonte. In addition to his brilliant performances, he is a senior player and leader.

Quality wise they could definitely compete, but physically wise I think they would struggle big time. They already get somewhat physically bullied in a lot of games against physically stronger teams in the U21 league, and we all know League 1 is a bit of a hard slog.

Yeah of course - I was more referencing many on here in the January transfer window.

Double his money and give him a £30m release clause to Champions League clubs.

I definitely think its a case of better the Devil you know but as you say when these matters are taken out of your hands then you just have to try and recruit as best you can.

I think he has shown glimpses of quality but that our squad would be better balanced and better placed for the next 10 games had we signed a striker rather than another player to compete with six others for three roles.

If he isn't good enough, yes. Also we've got two players who fit that exact criteria out on loan. And I wouldn't have signed Djuricic either, which means Long would have no problem getting on the bench.

Where is the insistence coming from that identifying an issue with depth means you must also name a player who will join? And who on earth on here has any idea whether or not they are good enough for us? In January we signed a player who couldn't get into the Mainz team and another with perceived attitude problems who couldn't get in Werder Bremen's team. They are 12th and 9th respectively in the Bundesliga. I'd say there are plenty of strikers out there that we could have taken a punt on in a loan deal.