sydneysaint17

And I agree, surprised at how little coverage the WC call ups has got on the site - would expect interviews with players etc. Could well be working on something else

If MP signs up I think we can all relax a bit. It doesn't guarantee Shaw and Lallana's future but it does indicate that he is happy with a plan to push on up the league. We may still see those two go, but if they do AND MP stays I would expect some quality replacements/signings that would improve the squad.

Call me pessimistic, but are the players that Saints are looking to sign going to be playing in the World Cup? Probably not. It could all look fantastic at the end of Brazil - some decent replacements, Shaw and Lallana playing for England etc. Might not stay that way for long after it though

I find it hard to believe that Saints have just accepted this 27m bid for Shaw. If they were telling the truth and before yesteday we had received no bids, why on earth would we roll over, on the day of his world cup selection, to the first bid that comes in....Shaw has no idea who the new manager is there and also currently has no idea who else might be in for him.

I thought Will Hughes was a winger?

Not impressed that Krueger seems to have changed his tune over the past couple of weeks. Until recently we were hearing "no-one goes unless Poch wants them gone" and Les Reed going out of his way to assure us that we wouldnt lose players. Now they seem to be gearing us up to lose at least 2 key players plus possibly the manager. Obviously situations change, but given that theyve also apparently "not had any bids" I can't see much that would have altered things. Make your mind up Ralph!!!!

My view is that we'd do better saying Coutinho + cash non negotiable. 1) Bournemouth see far less money 2) Ready made replacement with proven PL experience 3) Poch finally gets his man 4) Value will be peaking by the end of his contract Only foreseeable issue is that Coutinho's been pretty decent this year and Liverpool would almost certainly not let him go! Worth a go though

Hang on - I thought Poch said all contract negotiations would be handled AFTER tomorrows game.

Pitch invasion would be very embarrassing - we've had a good season. Good - not spectacular. It would undermine the celebrations for previous and future successes if we carnivalize the last game of every single season. On top of that, the players certainly wouldn't like it - sure they would much rather do a lap with their family's.

Can't see us maintaining. They'll either go for it or they won't. If they go half hearted we'll lose players, if we don't we get quality additions and our better players stay. Simple as that for me.

My personal favourite foreign wonderkid was Frederico Arias. Rapid but sadly, lacked the ability to play football.

Liverpool have done remarkably well this season given that, from their summer signings, only Sakho and Mignolet have seen any sort of regular first team action.

Think that the "buying English" plan sounds very plausible. Will keep fans happy, players will have a greater resale value and we'd able to feed our policy via the academy anyway. I assume that that will be the "brand" that we go for - an England U24s side. Who, at the moment, could we sign to fit that policy? Off the top of my head; Caulker, Cresswell,Wisdom, Sinclair, Welbeck, Redmond, Ings, Hughes, Tom Carroll. Any others?

Very true. If we could move on Osvaldo and Ramirez whilst getting Forte, Sharp, Gazzaniga, Isgrove, Guly, Hooiveld etc. off the wage bill either on a free or loan, we would have a decent amount to spend without selling any star players.

Swear Krueger mentioned consolidating our position and then pushing up the league in one interview (forgive me if I'm wrong). That won't be good enough for some players and we would almost certainly slide down the table if that was our tactic. The club will hopefully realise that and appreciate that if they're after "increased commercial opportunity" and to climb the table, there will be an initial outlay to build the brand/reputation of the club further. If you think about it, since we've been in the PL who have we signed? Clyne - 1m Davis - 800k Gaston - 12m Yoshida - 4m Gazzaniga - undisclosed but circa 2m Lovren - 8m Wanyama - 12m Osvaldo - 15m Rodriguez - 7m Boruc - free From those players, who would have been a big loss to the starting XI if they'd been injured this season. I'd say, Wanyama, Rodriguez, Boruc, Lovren, Clyne, Davis. That means that they we've usefully spent around £28.8m in the past two seasons out of total spend of £61.8m. £15m per season of actual improvements isn't a lot for a side that finished 8th. We've actually spent relatively little on developing our actual first team so far as a lot of money has been wasted. Although idealistic, imagine spending £40m this summer on striker, a CB, a winger and a back up GK and all of the signings working out well. If you consider how much that £28.8m's worth of players has improved our side, imagine what we could achieve...

If nothing has happened 2 weeks after the United game then we have a right to start wondering whats going to happen. Until then, I suggest we trust the club to sort it out.

This nonsense about Osvaldo and Ramirez's wages. At the time, all the players would have been very pleased with those acquisitions, as were we, as it showed a real ambition to climb the table. They will have recognized that to buy could players, money needs to be spent. Obviously it didn't work out in both cases, but I think theyre on enough themselves not to worry too much about blaming the club/getting jealous.

Cleverly...

http://www.whoscored.com/Regions/252/Tournaments/2/Seasons/3853/Stages/7794/PlayerStatistics/England-Premier-League-2013-2014 http://www.theguardian.com/football/who-scored-blog/2014/apr/29/pfa-team-year-premier-league-liga-bundesliga-best-11s Both whoscored sourced and statistics only tell half the story, but clearly he must be doing something right. I've seen him play quite a few times this season (certainly not mentioned because it was MOTD mentioned...) and have always been impressed with his workrate and contribution to the team. Goes under the radar but very valuable to Palace IMO.

Mutch, Medel and Marshall might have a case

See other post on players from teams below us!

This isn't a "who do we want to sign" thread. More an objective "team of the season"/"best XI" from 8th and down. Not looking for players to fit in the with the playing style/attitude of the squad! All anti pompey bias aside Ward has been very very good this year. As OP said, Clyne the better player, but only a Saints fan would claim he's had the better season. Davies V Fonte, in the context, would be certainly be Davies. I personally like Lovren/Fonte, but Davies has excelled for Hull this season, whereas I would describe Fonte as having a solid campaign. Jedinak is definitely not "shocking"!! As I said Cork would edge it for me, but in terms of the statistics websites (whoscored etc.) Jedinak is waaay above Cork (and Morgan I believe) in terms of average rating. Clearly those sites have to be taken with a pinch of salt, but any notion that he's a terrible player is extremely biased and ruins the point of the thread. Loved by Palace fans and has been a key reason why they've stayed up. Remy - does well in a very average team. Could certainly make an argument for S Davis. Other possible candidates would be Puncheon on recent form, maybe Arnautvatic at Stoke and possibly De Guzman/Dyer at Swansea. Bony - 100% for me. Anyone else have any other non saints candidates?

Can you pick a team, made up of players from teams that finished below us this season, that would be better than our current best side? Which Saints players would retain their place? Use our formation. ...................................Krul...................... ....Clyne/Joel Ward.........Lovren......Curtis Davies........Shaw .....................Schneiderlin........Cork (Jedinak)................. ............Remy.................Lallana....................Rodriguez ......................................Bony.................................. Krul - Kept Newcastle form a few embarrassing scorelines. Artur not far behind. Joel Ward - obviously wont be a popular suggestion given his history, but has been undeniably fantastic this year + Clyne has been in and out of our side. I'd say Ward's had the better season, but overall Clyne the better player with more potential. Davies - obvious choice. Fonte has done nothing wrong/been a very good player for us but Davies has been excellent for Hull. Jedinak - Very tough between him and Cork. Think Cork would just edge it - close though. Remy - slightly out of position but can play as a wide forward and would certainly improve our team Bony - no brainer. Benteke another that would be add quality. I think that this really shows the gulf that is now between Saints and the clubs below us. We make up the vast majority of that team, and even the positions where our players don't feature, we have very strong candidates (Boruc, Fonte, Clyne, Chambers, Davis, Lambert). All of that said, try slotting our players into a team made up players from the teams above us in the league....Were in a league of our own!!! Thoughts?

Palace was a good one. Great atmosphere and Jay-Rods sitting down goal just before half time got everyone pretty up for it!