The9

Pretty much my opinion word for word, that.

We've had 5 CBs in the squad for the past 3 years or so even when playing 4 at the back. Though Gardos has been mostly uninvolved.

I'm glad that someone has an opinion on one of our players from back then, I can't remember anything (apart from Alan Bennett and Chris Makin) that happened on the pitch in the second half of the 00s despite having an ST.

It would be nice to have someone with the skills to get themselves out of those positions rather than just fall over and claim to be fouled. As for passing, Hoedt reminds me more of Aaron Martin than anyone. He might get better though, Yoshida has.

We've lost Tadic (guessing Elyounoussi's the replacement), and Armstrong seems to be a Steven Davis replacement who is more a worker with a shot on him. I wouldn't say we've become any more creative, and we might yet let Boufal go too.

I've seen no evidence so far that anything is any different. Same kinds of signings, same sorts of prices, same age groups and profiles, same gamble on improving someone and selling them on for profit. And tbh I'm fine with all of that provided we're signing the right players and it leads to relative success on the pitch (which for us is top 8, challenging for Europe and a cup run). Last season the whole thing was hamstrung by a completely incompetent manager, which was illustrated by the rapid change in results when Hughes came in. We have stability there, so we'll see how it goes. The only way we'll know if Reed's off-pitch influence has waned is if some of the fundamental principles go away, and for me that's about the first team lining up in a different formation to the rest of the age groups, or a complete change to the first team philosophy without that running through the whole club. And the only key indicators of that are how we line up in competitive matches (or if Reed leaves).

It's hilarious given that all of our signings are Les signings.

Christ, I hope not or he's got psychosis.

You mean noted shortar5e Cannavaro and "only a centre back in Barcelona's system" defensive midfielder Mascherano? I'd say your use of those two would say he was on the shorter side. Doesn't bother me though, he could always step into midfield if heading's not his game.

We need a Gardos replacement, so we'll have the same number of CBs as we usually FWIW with all those Rivelino and Jairzinho stepovers this was the kind of centre back I was when I first got shoved in there from playing up front, to save the chairman on my goal bonus. Never managed to get a glorious heel chop in like the one at 2'18 though. He doesn't seem to be the quickest (Uruguay number 11 murdered him for pace then had a terrible touch to give the ball back), but he looks like a decent passer and strong enough to lean strikers off the ball. Why not?

Or checkered waistcoats.

Oh and for those after the tracksuits, neither the red with white stripe down the sleeve nor the yellow with blue stripe are available yet. In fact there's no yellow and blue ANYTHING on sale at the moment, and only a couple of shirts on display in the window (along with one yellow/blue zip through top which might or might not be a tracksuit top). The whole training range in store is exactly as online, red and black plain training t-shirts and polos, red and black 1/4 zip training tops (nice UNDER ARMOUR bit in black on the back of the collar), a really expensive jacket, some kids' stuff and that's about it. All hugely expensive. This is the first time in 10 years I've walked out of there with only one home shirt and no training kit, but even though it's miles better than last year, screwed if I'm paying £45 for a red or black t-shirt with just some shadow pattern on the back (and yes I'm aware that's basically all the replica shirt is). Christmas and shopping around the likes of Sports Direct beckons... The 1/4 zip through also has a relatively small and a tad nasty looking print-on Saints logo, which does not enhance the product. They've stuck the shirt printing up to £14 too, not that it would usually affect me.

It's still just a lucky guess that anyone could have done, and it's not as if you even created it!

Yeah, having been in today to pick mine up, and with every intention of getting the £100 version, I took a look at both and decided against. There are a few differences between the two styles: > Authentic has two pieces on the shoulder rather than one (there's a join in the middle of the back at the top). > Authentic has a larger armpit vent, with breathing holes, and the more triangular piece juts further into the front of the shirt - effectively cutting off the stripes to the sides of the shirt at the top. > Authentic doesn't have the silver hexagonal UA label near the hem > The sponsor seemed slightly smaller on the authentic - not sure about that one, but it's been the case in the past due to FA/UEFA regulations > Authentic is a MUCH tighter fit. As an example, the XXL in the Authentic fit similarly to the XL in the standard replica. I tried on standard replica L and XL and authentic XL and XXL and they were similar sorts of fit if you compared one size larger in the Authentic. What's NOT different? The badges (club and kit brand) is the same on both, there's no WE MARCH ON printed on either shirt - it's only on the tape inside, which is also the same on both types of shirt. Oh, and no "snowflake" design any more. I liked that bit on the earlier UA matchworns... Anyway, knowing all that, I decided if I was going to splash £100 on a player shirt I'd want it to actually be a PLAYER'S shirt (and I am resigned to the fact that none of them will fit me any more)... so I just bought a bog-standard replica.

I will hold my hands up to thinking Bertrand was going to play his entire career at the soul-destroyingly poor level he played at for Villa on loan, and it took him two years of being great before he got back there last year. Not having anyone challenging for his position probably didn't help, and I hope he's over whatever the issue was (hopefully it was just Pellegrino).

I'm saying that we're probably getting outbid on wages, rather than transfer fees, but we're competing for players with other Prem clubs who previously weren't looking where we were looking. We pretty much had a policy of buying our blooding mostly unproven (in the Premier League) under 25s that we expected to be able to sell at a profit. More to the point most of our recruitment was based on selling ourselves as a proving ground and a stepping stone, including the academy recruitment. For a while everyone else not part of the big 6 was buying seasoned top division pros and internationals from obscure countries rather than development players, now I'm pretty sure the others are all after the same players as us, and we choose not to get into wage wars to keep our model as sustainable as possible. Also factor in the uncertainty about our ownership and management last summer and a first season in three without European football and a lower league position than the season before for the first time in 8 or so years, and that can't have helped either. And then there's Maddison, who it appears just wanted to live near where he grew up. I don't mind us finding value, I just want us to make sure we're not missing opportunities "for want of a nail", as it were.

Yes, but they were looking for Premier League proven players consistently playing at a top 6 level, and accepted they'd be paying the premium we add to the player's value having proven his ability in the Premier League.

The Premier League has announced that the approximate date of the fixture rescheduling will be July 6th (for Aug/Sep) - approximate after they told us exact dates last year and then missed almost of all of the promised dates and annoyed lots of away fans. The other thing, Europa qualifiers don't have to be played on Thursdays, only the group games, so they may well play their qualifiers on the Wednesday and then us on the Saturday anyway. There were qualifier matches played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays last season.

Yeah, wait til all of our games against the top 6 get postponed or moved and we end up playing them all in 3 weeks again for the 3rd year in a row...

Tbf I want us to sign Tom Lawrence so I can't talk on that one.

What's happened to it is everyone having a pile more money than they had 4 years ago, Saints still being in the same recruitment space for the same kind of players but others waving more cash around.

Never seen him play*, but all the video tells me is he can score goals in 10 yards of space against bad defences. Still, cheap at current prices and lets hope that's due to his contract situation not his ability. Judgement reserved for now. *probably have actually seen the odd Celtic game but not that I noticed him...

Renewed yesterday, was always going to wait til the last minute, was always going to renew anyway though. Having seen everyone to the left of us disappear last year (about 6 of them, sorely missed), I'm expecting the four immediately to our right to disappear this year. It's not me, honestly. Hopefully the really tall kid in front of me will go to full price this year and bugger off somewhere else, but as I'm in the cheapest bit of the ground...

Their new kit has been released... it's teamwear gash. Nike's Challenge II template, used by every decent Nike team for their third kit last season. As ever, it's now available for parks teams: Comes with completely plain white shorts and completely plain red socks. I can't wait until Nike start sodding about with their colours because they only release one style of short and socks every two years... And here it is completely unaltered for any old parks team at £32 a shirt (or £24 a shirt if you buy 14)... http://www.prodirectsoccer.com/products/nike-challenge-ii-ss-jersey-royal-blue-white-mens-football-teamwear-893964463-176520.aspx

More of a hint that we're relying on players who definitely aren't leaving for kit marketing...