DuncanRG

I don't think the House of Lords needs any more sexists.

I don't think he ever called them targets, just that we were interested.

A 100% academic pass rate is incredibly impressive. Great stuff.

The alternative being that people who travelled far and wide, and invested time and money into their trips, will find it similarly difficult. Someone's got to lose out. Anyway, I hope I'll be able to get one. £15 student price is great.

Chambers hardly kicked a ball last season. Arsenal signed three last summer so it's unusual, sure, but not unique. Either way it seems fairly clear to me we're not relying on signings to improve the team - Pochettino and Cortese expect better performances from many who are already here, which is fair enough.

I'm thinking in terms of additions to the squad, signings or otherwise - we've got Isgrove and Chambers coming in making our grand total five. Having looked it up, Rosenberg played more games than I gave him credit for, so consider him a signing on Lovren's level. I would expect one or both of Isgrove and Chambers to match Popov's 10 appearances.

Yup. Three permanent signings including one loan deal extended to be permanent, then three loan signings. Look at Southampton this way: Foster = Boruc contract extension Yacob = Wanyama Lukaku = new striker, but ours will be permanent Isgrove and Chambers = Rosenberg and Popov, supplementing the squad El Ghanassy barely kicked a ball, while Lovren will start at centre half. In terms of impact on the squad I reckon three good signings, which pay off, will turn out about the same if not better.

I don't know. West Brom only made three permanent signings last summer (Yacob and Markus Rosenberg, plus turning Ben Foster's loan into a permanent deal) then three loan signings including Lukaku. I reckon if all goes to plan, the impact of Lovren, Wanyama and Joe Striker could have equal impact to the two major improvements they made, and their jump up the table is exactly what we're after. Besides, we have a younger and arguably more talented squad than West Brom did this time last year - they just had a stronger base of Premier League experience as a team. Think of Chambers and Isgrove as our alternative to making squad signings like Popov and Rosenberg.

The most pleasing thing about this is the fact that they're happy to start the season with the squad we have. A striker would of course be great, but it shows he has confidence in the players' ability to improve. He wouldn't be happy with the squad if he didn't think it was capable of achieving the goal of a top half finish.

Replace Shaw with Ward-Prowse and I agree whole-heartedly with this. I was hoping for Shaw to be given a chance far earlier than he was, having seen his talent, but we all raised an eyebrow when JWP was on the teamsheet at the Etihad. I haven't seen more than a few halves of Chambers but he does look good, and I trust the academy to judge when these players should be brought in. It's good to know that these lads are in their plans.

I expect our 'current crop' to improve. Rodriguez especially will be an important player but Lallana, Yoshida, Shaw, Ramirez, even Lambert are capable of performing better. And we'll sign someone as well, don't worry.

I must say it's quite important that we've got a football man at the helm. Too often clubs are run by businessmen with only a passing interest in the game or, mostly in the past now, blokes who lived and breathed the sport but couldn't run a company to save their lives.

Interesting quote: "Cortese has signed two of the club's three main transfer targets, midfielder Victor Wanyama from Celtic and Croatian defender Dejan Lovren from Lyon this summer." Should we assume the last main target is Damiao?

Let's bear this in mind, shall we

Throw in injuries and bereavement and I'd say he's had other drains on his life. Anyway, this is all down to fitness and day to day training, which the guys at Southampton know a lot more about than we do.

I have no idea, I think a lot of our fans are unaware of their quality but assume Norwich are doing good business cause they're signing in numbers. But Sunderland/PDC are infinitely less likeable and look more like a QPR-style rebuild, even though they've got some good players in themselves.

Okay then, Neymar.

It's a combination of them being a likeable club and the emphasis on quantity over quality. They're signing a lot of players, so we must be behind.

Lovren is big and strong, good in the air. I think you're being quite harsh on Sharp as well, considering how many important goals he scored in our promotion season!

Is that a reason not to work on set plays? One third of all goals is a hell of a lot. Don't know if a 'goal scoring CB' is the way to go though - they're rare. We've already added an aerial threat from set pieces in Wanyama, and we don't know how Lovren fares in that regard yet.

A month is nothing for a young player, and he will have had to keep to match fitness leading up to the Confeds. He's had far, far, far less rest than any of his team mates.

Very few Italians come to England. It may be that he only sees London as preferable to no move at all, if offers from elsewhere on the continent aren't forthcoming.

Tell me, if we'd have beaten Barcelona to the signing of Lionel Messi where would he have come from?

What a silly thread.

I'm not gonna ask what they want with Duvan Zapata.