Lighthouse

TBF Belgium - Brasil will be a much better QF.

Juanmi struggled to make any kind of impact, most notably against MK Dons in the LC. He was cheap and worth a punt but never looked at home in English football.

I'd bite their arm off.

The VAR equivalent of saying, "we think Putin might have lost this election, do you want to come and have a look?"

What, he'd immediately sub off Bertrand, Lemina and Redmond?

When he was 19. Gallagher turns 23 in a couple of months and has just scored 6 goals in the Championship. Kane got the Premier League golden boot for his 23rd birthday. Personally I'm not fussed for most of the strikers on the last couple of pages. Long and Gallagher are Championship players, Austin and Ings can go and be injured somewhere else and there's nothing I can find at any point in Carrillo's career which gives the slightest indication that he is a Premier League player. I'd take Gabbi, Alcacer plus one more, given choice.

I've seen goals which were just as good from Martina, Saeijs, Thomas, Baird, Vignal and Yoshida.

I get that he runs, he chases, he puts pressure on defenders but... Two goals a season! Two! There are players out there who can run and score 5 times that amount. A hard working striker who scores 8-10 goals a season really isn’t asking an awful lot. I don’t see how anyone can watch a team almost get relegated, whilst struggling to score goals and not see this as a problem.

We won't get Sisto, Promes AND Alcacer. Haven't really seen enough of any of them to form a judgement but from what I've read, if we could sign Sisto, Alcacer, Vestergaard and Gunn, whilst shipping out Boufal, Long, Davis, Stephens and Forster (Whilst keeping Gabbi) I'd be delighted. I can but hope.

Koller, Janker AND Bierhoff?

Agree, I'd say we've maintained par whilst lowering the age of a couple of players by 6 or 7 years. A good start but I'd say we're still a CB, a forward and a creative player away from where I'd like to see the squad.

I have no doubt Boufal will absolutely rip it up this season. In Ligue 1.

Private jet just landed at Eastleigh from Slovenia. Begin wild and meaningless speculation based on f**k all.

With you now. I thought you were suggesting we hadn't lost a knockout game since Italia 90, when we played Brasil in '02.

Am I misunderstanding your post, we lost to Germany and Argentina in '96 and '98?

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/apr/26/sofiane-boufal-southampton-mark-hughes-bust-up Depends how much you believe what you read and if these quotes are accurate. Of course the club aren't going to say anything, much like they didn't with the whole Osvaldo incident.

Never really settled here, must have been pining for the fjords.

No but he did get 5 goals once, a feat Boufal has never gotten close to.

Some people are saying sell Boufal and don't replace him. With Tadic gone, who else does that leave.

Yes but our only creative option off the bench? Really?! Redmond and Sims our only creative players if Mo El picks up a knock?

Apparently Delgado scored on 8th June against Mexico and Anders scored against the Argies on the 12th. I was thinking maybe a Rasiak, Stern John or Kenwyne more recently but apparently not.

We will have to agree to disagree on that. I remember people saying similar things about McGoldrick, Griffit, Joseph Mills, Lloyd James, Gillett and a few others. I think he has potential and I’d like to see him involved in the squad but we need some vast improvement up front, not selling off the limited talent we have got and hoping 1 player from the Swiss League is the answer. Suppose we’re 1-0 down to Wolves or Huddersfield and not creating anything, Mo and Redmond are on the pitch and Austin isn’t getting a sniff up front, what would you do to change it? Send on Sims and hope that’s going to turn it around?

Boufal is hardly Pied or Gardos, he really should be a first team regular. He isn’t backup, he plays in a position where you need quality options. The fact that he isn’t one is a significant prt of why we have struggled. Put it another way - think of how poor we’ve been in the final third for the last 2 years. Now take away every contribution from Tadic and Boufal. THAT will be our attacking force should Mo fail to make an impact or pick up an injury.

Some of you sound like these idiot girls who date bad boy love rats because they think they're the ones who can change him. Boufal is not about to suddenly turn into a productive team player because Hughes is here, if anything I think he will react worse. Puel and MoPe were a bit of a soft touch IMO and I don't think Sophie-Anne is the type to respond well to the hairdryer treatment. I think if he goaded Hughes like he did MoPe after the West Brom goal, Hughes would have put him in hospital.

I was being sarcastic, personally. There are some big names on the left but I'd take winning and confidence over an easy draw on paper any day.