Donatello

We created as many chances as Arsenal or something

Good enough for a Champions League Tottenham, not good enough for Saints Not that we have anything more than 0% chance of signing him.

None of them do

I can imagine that he's certainly better back-up than Taylor is....but then Taylor supposedly has locker-room bantz, which I keep forgetting to factor in

Edited/Thanks Sims and Hesketh were already discounted.

Gazzaniga joined when he was 20. Only kidding, MLG In all seriousness, I did look at Gazzaniga and for the reason stated above couldn't see how he could count at club grown. Stephens I wasn't sure about, because he's been away on multiple loans and I couldn't be bothered to calculate it And it wasn't vital to the Premier League squad rules issue anyway Happy to be corrected, of course. Oh, and reference Taylor, agreed, but the Q relates to our (my/your/etc) opinion of the players, not the board's.

So following on from a post made by Egg on the Sam Gallagher thread, There isn't much room for additions *unless* changes are made. 25 players max, including 8 home-grown (HG) or club-grown (CG), and excluding players who are 21 years old (U21) on or after 01/01/1996. Assuming there aren't any outgoings, which players would you leave off the registration list entirely (and thus condemn their season) in order to make the bare minimum of one or two additions. The squad is as follows... Homegrown/Foreign [table="width: 1000] [tr] [td]Goalkeepers (4)[/td] [td]Central Defenders (5)[/td] [td]Fullbacks (5)[/td] [td]Central Midfielders (5)[/td] [td]Advanced Midfielders (4/5)[/td] [td]Forwards (4)[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Fraser Forster HG[/td] [td]Virgil van Dijk[/td] [td]Ryan Bertrand HG[/td] [td]Oriel Romeu[/td] [td]Dusan Tadic[/td] [td]Manolo Gabbiadini[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Alex McCarthy HG[/td] [td]Maya Yoshida[/td] [td]Matt Targett CG[/td] [td]James Ward Prowse CG[/td] [td]Sofiane Boufal[/td] [td]Charlie Austin HG[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Stuart Taylor HG[/td] [td]Jack Stephens HG[/td] [td]Sam McQueen CG[/td] [td]Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg[/td] [td]Nathan Redmond HG[/td] [td]Shane Long HG[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Paulo Gazzaniga[/td] [td]Jan Bednarek U21[/td] [td]Cedric Soares[/td] [td]Steven Davis HG[/td] [td]Josh Sims CG + U21[/td] [td]Sam Gallagher CG[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td][/td] [td]Florin Gardos[/td] [td]Jeremy Pied[/td] [td]Jordy Clasie[/td] [td]Jake Hesketh CG + U21[/td] [td][/td] [/tr] [/table] Total - 28 Total Requiring Registration - 25 Of which HG or CG - 13 My two? Stuart 'non-player' Taylor and Clasie. Third - Gardos. (even though I'd ditch Gardos before Clasie if numbers weren't an issue, an upgraded CM is of greater importance (imo).

Yeah, thought so. My brain isn't failing after all

Not that I necessarily agree with the idea quoted, but we do have permanent members of staff whose sole job it is to plan and execute transfer comings and goings. It might not be a doddle, but let's not pretend it's impossibly difficult either.

What's happened to McCarthy? Is he injured again? (curious, regardless of my opinion of Forster)

Quite certain he played at St Etienne. Wolves were mentioned recently though. Would be daft to loan him out with Long's mediocre record and an injury susceptible Austin though.

If he leaves, and the club don't force him in to hand in a transfer request prior to, it'll be the biggest p*ss takes in the history of p*ss takes. And I'd probably lose most, if not all, of the respect/admiration I hold for Les Reed (yes, yes, I'm sure he's trembling at the thought ) Edit: although I'm assuming he can't submit a transfer request unless there's a bid? and Liverpool won't bid for reasons mentioned previously

Couldn't disagree more. That's was one of his main qualities in said position in seasons past. Great pass-composure and link play for an AM. His issue, and perhaps his only issue, is his chronic inability in front of goal.

Whilst Austin has his qualities, Gabbi is by far the more rounded of the two. I'm not sure Austin have ever demonstrated (to my liking, anyway) that he's suitable to a single striker role. More than happy to be corrected, but I remember his decent season at QPR being distinctly Bobby Zamora influenced.

Far better balance in midfield with the extra CM (albeit in an advanced position)

Not until Redmond (or Tadic) is playing centre forward

Makes sense to play Taylor rather than Gazzaniga

Has it been confirmed that McCarthy is injured again?

Davis in central midfield? I hope not

I do wonder if the club (hierarchy) are aware of the animosity towards any VVD to Liverpool deal. How would they even gauge that though? I'd like to think that they don't spend their time sifting through twitter feeds

Pony!

I understand the emotive reasoning behind not wanting him near the club/etc, but the precedent you set by allowing him to get what he wants in a manner which isn't to our liking is far more damaging.

The club can't cave to it. Well, they can, but they'd only be making a rod for their own back. Short term 'gains' versus long term problems. Not to mention all the credibility issues they'd have with the fanbase.

Since when was that our (i.e. Southampton) concern?