Lighthouse

We were 1 goal away from having the best defence in the League and only finished 7th. I think the criticism of our attacking players was legitimate. If you take out the Villa and Sunderland games our GF tally would have been solidly in the bottom half.

I didn't realise Long and Elia constituted 'so many players'. To answer your question, we could have made the top 4 with just a little more firepower in the second half of the season.

No, we still need Anatoli Todorov, Tonton Moukoko and that 'keeper from Belarus.

1. No I don't think Long has been a success. I think he has been average a best, scoring very few goals at home to poor opposition. 2. My point was more regarding Koeman and his apparently magical ability to improve everyone who plays for us. Has he really turned Long into something special, putting in performances Hull and WBA fans could only dream of under the stewardship of Bruce and Clarke? I mean, if we paid £20m and Koeman got the best out of him, surely we should be fighting off bids of £15m-20m.

He's made very little impact here or at Hull in 3 years at England. I don't buy the 'Koeman will get the best out of him' line either. His belief didn't really do much for Long, Djuricic or Mayuka last year.

Neither Gaston nor Elia is good enough for a team serious about the League, or qualifying for it again next year. I'd be disappointed if we did sign him as to me phrases like 'squad player' are just clichés for not being good enough to be in the team. There are much better players out there and if we can't afford any of them something really doesn't make sense.

No, you just said a load of Daily Mail, fear mongering nonsense about 'ooh we're not allowed to offend the Muslims'.

I'd go with exactly the same in the League except with Saints 8th. Also slightly less optimistic on the Cups.

A few of the younger players will probably get lower numbers. 13, 14, 17, 18 and 22 are up for grabs as well as the new guys you've mentioned. Could be something like Reed 14, Targett 13, Gallagher 17, McQueen 18, Stephens 22

There is an element of truth to it though. We all know Morgan is a far better player than Gaston but a friendly against Club America wont be the toughest game of his life. It's certainly too early to be calling him a bargain, after all we did get £25m for him. Some people talk as if it's loose change but players like Nasri, Fellaini, Bony, David Silva, Adebayor, Oscar and Lukaku have gone for a similar figures recently.

So sad. RIP Jules

Biarritz to Lille but that would also involve a couple of hours driving on each end.

Ryanair fly from Girona to Eindhoven and Weeze if that's any good.

Home to Vitesse first then.

Charleroi is a sh*t hole. Just putting it out there.

Maybe leave Tadic at home for that one.

He was never ours and he wanted to stay. Infact as I recall he was openly in the Dutch media shouting come and get me in 2009 but we didn't. Shame, with players like Neal Trotman and Chris Perry in the team, it's not as if we moved on to better things. Would have been nice to hang on to him. Surman and Skacel too, although the latter was long since disillusioned with life at Saints. A midfield with those two, Morgan and Lallana might well have taken us into the playoffs. Back to the OP. I'd say things will probably work out for Shaw and Lallana eventually. The other 3 from last summer I'm not so sure about. Chambers I can see ending up as a journeyman, he caught the first wave to hit the shore and broke to early, instead of waiting for the bigger waves behind it. Beattie was having a poor season anyway, it's doubtful he'd have done any better for us than he did at Everton. When the goals of Camera, Crouch and Phillips couldn't paper over the cracks (read gaping chasms) in our defence, I think we'd still have gone down with him.

Can't say it bothers me in the slightest but I guess it's down to personal taste.

Good to see he can fill the naff tats void left by Danny Fox.

Just seen this yacht sailing up the Solent. Something must be happening.

My spirit animal tells me he has passed his medical.

How do we keep a player who isn't ours to keep.

Or 117 Ricardo Fullers.