Baird of the land

If vestergaard isn’t going to stay & sign a new contract it will be handy if Leicester are interested and we can snare a good deal out of their desperation. i’m hoping The club can sort out ings replacement by midweek. They have had plenty of time to analyze targets (knowing ings was likely to leave). If it drags on longer that would be very poor.

I get that we may not want to spend the full 25m on a one striker. The current reported offers are much lower though, which makes it odd we'd back off at that point. First and foremost we need to buy a frontline striker that can deliver immediately & be careful we don't spread the money too thinly across too many purchases.

At that sort of price if he truly was our no1 target it makes zero sense to be backing off.

I see much more pressing needs a striker, left back and dm. Another 15m on another cb would be an odd call to me.

I don’t really see the sense in it. There seems to be much more pressing areas.

Is that what everton were trying by losing 4-0 to utd today.

Also showing up just how short we are in CM. Having to play our only 2 fit options for 90 minutes every friendly.

Not surprised by the rotation where he is able to, given we played on Wednesday. Doesn't want to risk injuries. Expect Walcott to come on for Perraud in 2nd half too.

Is Vestergaard not back in training yet? Wondering about Ward Prowse's knee injury, if it's alot worse than they are letting on.

Gotta admit i’m somewhat biased against sorloth because he couldn’t make an impression on a palace team that have such huge striking issues.

It'll be interesting to see which way Ralph turns in terms of goalie. Fullbacks pick themselves. CB is the interesting area as i feel there's not much between them all. Vestergaard/Stephens offer the outlet on the ball. Bednarek more solid positionally & Salisu has pace. Think it is important to get Salisu's pace in the team. Unpopular with some i might pair him with Stephens but given Bednarek is seemingly ralph's auto pick it'll possibly be him and salisu. If JWP doesn't make it back for friendlies i don't see how he can start. Expect it to be Redmond and Armstrong on the wings. Adams and i fancy Tella to cause them issues on the break. Hopefully we have a new striker by then to act as an impact sub if needed.

Whatever happened to that striker 'Augustin' everyone was talking about before his bizarre Leeds move, has he completely flushed his career after his bright start with Ralph at Leipzig.

No way would i put Ings anywhere near those greats.

Curious if he hates ralph’s Fitness training approach as it seems to be core part of what got him the extra performance level here and into England squad the year before. The no sentiment for saints definitely feels true. The home town boy stuff just media assumption. Play higher the polite way of saying will pay more.

Yeah Ralph wanted him to sign, ings just wanted out. That’s going to cause rub. Listening to danny’s Interview for villa he clearly had no sentimental attachment to saints or to Ralph probably.

I'm not really sure that the goalposts moved, more the veneer of the its not you its me breakup wore off. Danny wanted more than Saints would pay and he finally had to be upfront about that and drop the polite dressing of how much feeling he had for saints and how he just wanted to test himself at champions league level.

JWP has 4 years on his contract which is completely different club strength of situation versus that of a player in their final year.

'No reason to sell', 'we'd love him to be here' doesn't really equate to not for sale at any price in my eyes. The main thrust of the article from Ralph is sending a message of how unideal the situation is, so would he please sign a deal.

When did the club commit definitively to let him run down his contract and leave on a free?

He could but then he couldn't use the money elsewhere where it is more needed.

I don' think for a second that is the case. If there was genuine chance of him getting a move to a big club by sitting put he would have and saints wouldn't have been able to do anything about it.

I highly doubt big clubs were interested in Ings. If they were he could have held out for them rather than going to a mid table team.

Not really convinced by Eduoard. If we’re bidding in Scotland the only striker i’d Want is Morelos.

You are probably right about bednarek being nailed on to start but I don’t think he should be guaranteed. Thought Stephens and salisu had a decent balance to them.

Think he’s just aware his job is to build a team. If the alternative is a halfhearted player and Ralph not getting any money to replace him with if he walked for free, his relief at getting this done before the season is understandable.