Giordano

Thank you Draino, that could be interesting information. Sorry to be a bore, but i guess somebody has to ask, who or what is your source and how credible are they?

Long and Anelka are not better than Jrod and SRL on goals scored last season. If Odemwingie leaves as expected WBA may struggle to supply them two in any case. Mulumbu and Yacob are an excellent non-top four MF pair but i would rather have Cork + Schneiderlin myself : maybe thats rose tinted glasses :-) plus we have added Big Vic - for me that is a stronger defensive MF than them, especially with us the away team with the onus on their (now inferior imo) attacking players to hurt us. Defence- our Fb's are better ( or maybe i should say in time will be better as i think both Clyne and Shaw are potential future England fb's) but WBA are decently strong in defence right now - Dawson, Ridgewell, Olsson, Reid all good or very good players.. home advantage too. Still reckon a draw. Perhaps its just i remember playing these way back in Div 2 and Div 1 and they never frightened us much. Did'nt we beat them 4-0 once ? :-) This WBA is a different proposition though!

West Brom have got Shane Long and Anelka as key strikers. Long is NOT better than Jrod and Anelka at 34 may have better technique and history of playing top level footie but surely he is not better than SRL nowadays? And we Have Mayuka in reserve - they have - ?? OUR on the pitch strikers are better than their strikers, imo. Their midfield is not as good as ours and neither is their defence, imo.. Steve Clarke is a smart cookie though and has outfoxed us twice with tactics plus they had Lukaku. Surely we must have learned by now how to play against West Brom, and that without Lukaku they are not as potent? If we match them up on formation our players are better than their players and we should not lose. I hope we go out to beat this team out of site because I think we can, but its more likely we will go out to get at least a point from our first match and avoid last years terrible start. A 0-0 draw for me is most likely result.

Oh - on the side issue of Seedorf. At 37 he still has more class, won more honours and has more worldwide respect from footballers and supporters than any current EPl player you can name. Only players like Scholes can get remotely close to him in the EPl - and i mean only remotely close to him as Seedorf has won championships in Holland, Spain and Italy, 4 Champions leagues, numerous cups, played for the best teams in the world when they were the best teams in the world and never gives less than a 7 performance. And Scholes has retired. If we were EVER so lucky as to have a player of that stature anywhere near SMS....He might be 37 but he would still teach a lot.

That web link from yesterday 30/7 AM paraphrases as follows: ...And then there is the strange case of Leandro Damiao, currently very close indeed to joining Southampton who have put down an offer of 26m euros, Saints having had to accept that Osvaldo is not going to join them them. Napoli stopped bidding at 20M for Damiao but the player in any case wants a team where he is certain to play in order to not lose his chances at the 2014 World Cup, his time at Internacional in Brazil seems pretty much up. As a consequence the arrival of Higuain at Napoli is a real concern for Damiao (My interpretation: because Higuain is the Napoli likely key striker - Damiao would not be the key striker at Napoli but would be much more likely to be at a club like Southampton - after he proved himself of course). Ma anche di retroscena si vive in quel di Napoli. Tra questi lo strano caso di Leandro Damiao, ora vicino davvero al Southampton che mette sul piatto 26 milioni di euro pur di arrivare al centravanti brasiliano dopo aver incassato il no di Osvaldo. Gli azzurri si sono fermati a 20 e il giocatore vuole comunque una piazza dove esser certo di giocare (il suo tempo in Brasile a Porto Alegre pare terminato) per non perdere l'appuntamento con il mondiale carioca 2014. Higuain in questo senso fa parecchia paura.

I was just trying to sort out if we had a lot of money left to spend on salaries or not. If the guys in the development squad all get moved on as well then there seems to be a big amount of wages available for.....a free / nominal fee transfer on an experienced striker/ or AM player? The likes of Honda at CSKA for example would be a nominal fee but very high wages. It would mean a big change in policy for NC but if we do not pick up the extra player/s we need through plan A then perhaps he might relent and bring in such types? I doubt it myself but i think he will not rule it out if the maths adds up ok.

Were the combined wages of Richardson, Seabourne, Chaplow, Dickson, Forren and Harding more than what we are paying Lovren and Wanyama? My guess is on basic salary the two in are on total £70k /week. The wages out in total were probably a total £90/week. So I think we may be in the black so far on transfer wages. Is this faitly close?

Italy have as good as qualified and will be seeded. But IMO Balotelli if fit will be number 9 and play every match unless injured (or suspended...). Osvaldo may not play in first 11 but is more likely to be bench for me given Italy's current best formation has one lone striker - which will be Balotelli not Osvaldo - again in my opinion. So if he is a Saint he will probably only be seen in fits and starts especially if Italy are losing. I think it reasonable to assume Italy are good for at least the quarter finals. After that its a lottery depending on heat, travelling, fatigue, geography and so on as much as team quality.. For me, Osvaldo is the back up player for Balotelli in the possible Italian WC squad. A good WC and hes worth £30M imo. Brazil are hosts and will be seeded. I cannot see Brazil NOT getting to the latter stages of the tournament and i cannot see them not getting a favourable logistically simpler route to the final. Its reasonable to make them favorites to win let alone get to final semifinal quarterfinal etc. Brazil have several forwards to call on other than Damiao : Hulk, Fred, Love, Pato, Fabiano, Wellinton all vying to play with the must-start Neymar. It is not a given Damiao will even make the WC squad if he has a duff year and enough of the others play well, but currently I think it is safe to say he would have been in the confed cup squad if he had not been injured and he is still highly regarded after being leading goalscorer at the 2012 olympics.I personally don't rate Hulk or Love or Fred as much as him. Pato/Kaka were a different class but are too fragile and old respectively now. A good WC and he's worth £40m imo. For me, the best financial deal would be damiao, the most likely to acclimatise to the epl quickly is osvaldo..the most skilful damiao, the most like SRL is Osvaldo...you pays your money...

Tancredi been tweeting about this again....Fulham not laughed out of court and Osvaldo is open to consider the move. Me- no he's not.:-)

Really? Whereabouts. Might put £100 on it just to totally curse it...ok seen i on skybet..

I hate that I've got involved in all this nonsense.Journos posting whimsy stuff and nonsense.... Anyway, Di Marzio's comment posted at 07.24 today gives us some cause for mild optimism. But like Olallana I don't get where the 10million euros/£8.6m has come from. I previously read Valencia had offered 12m euros...whats more Saints and Zenit had offered the apparently - 20million euros, so i'm confused.com. I think they just pick numbers out of the air. But with slightly more confidence in its likelihood of being close to the mark because i worked it out myself there does seem a chance that the deal needs to be done by Saturday night. I had earlier on this thread inferred a timescale and a rationale for it ~ and the media seem to have picked up on it as they agree that it does not make sense for Pablo to be on the flight to the USA on Sunday with the rest of his roma team chums if he really is about to be sold. The flight rome-washington is "only" 9 hours but its still a bummer for an athlete attending a medical etc...yes i know that's a tenuous kind of logic and does not mean that he will join Saints at all and its more than likely he will be on that plane but if you want the latest potential deadline/timescale for this guy "maybe" joining Saints hang yer hats on that one..........:-)...sorry.

He currently lives in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Coming to London after living in Rome is a downgrade for an Italo-Argentinian. As would going to Southampton, a small city by comparison. The only thing I might say to him is that he could be for Southampton what Maradona was to Napoli. Rome-Napoli is about 114 miles, Southampton-london about 80. There's already 6 london teams - Chelsea, arsenal, fulham, spurs, west ham and palace but only one proper EPL team in the South of England- that's us!

Update from gazzetto dello sport today: Summary / paraphrased. Osvaldo unlikely to go Arsenal as they want Suarez but he might choose Fulham because its in London, but Valencia also fancy him. Roma want to unload him quick by Saturday so they don't have to take him to the USA on Sunday as part of their pre-season tour. My interpretation (and fwiw): Its rubbish. He won't go to Fulham because it is in London. He might go to Fulham if they pay him a gazillion pounds but i bet you he does not even know the manager. He might go to Saints if they pay him a gazillion pounds too because of MP. He might go to Arsenal for three quarters of a gazillion pounds because they are CL but I doubt he wants to return to Spain to play Europa League for Valencia as they probably could only pay him half a gazillion pounds, plus Spain is no good if you not Barca or RM. The EPl is where it's at. IF he picks Saints in this beauty contest, then, seeing as he does not want to appear a mercenary and who wants to give the impression of being a man of principles, honor,dignity etc (all standard latin temperament features basically) he needs to have something to believe in that is honorable. And he must have visibility (that's code for he must start) to ensure he gets a chance to play WC. The MP factor is crucial to that end because its a bone fide good reason to link up with your old coach plus trainers once more, as is Nicola Cortese - an Italian speaker of course, and the Southampton project. If he can believe in those plus the gazillion pounds is there, then we might have our man. ciao osvaldoInsomma, l’arrivo del 26enne ivoriano è il modo migliore (più di Adili, Stocker e Salah: tutti del Basilea) per placare la malinconia di Garcia per l’imminente addio dello stimato Osvaldo. L’italo-argentino gradirebbe essere inserito nella trattativa per approdare proprio all’Arsenal, ma si sa che i Gunners puntano forte su Suarez e quindi Sabatini ha incontrato anche i dirigenti del Fulham, squadra che Osvaldo accetterebbe solo perché di stanza a Londra. Il tutto da concludere, se possibile, entro sabato, perché domenica i giallorossi partono per gli Usa e vorrebbero evitare di portare in tournée la punta, che piace anche al Valencia.

Punch has played v well.

and now srl misses open goal...

1-0 shalke, huntelaar after what looks like indecision between goalie and fonte....

0-0 at ht...we had more of it than them...

conceding free kicks but punch still most attacking player..42 mins corner saints

we look agressive and alright actually...punch had a good shot and big vic IS big...

Sabatini is in London to try to pick up Gervinho according to Gazzetta.http://www.gazzetta.it/Calciomercato/23-07-2013/mercato-roma-sabatini-londra-gervinho-bueno-osvaldo-20831879626.shtml Walter, mate, when you've done having a word with Peter Hill-wood at Arsenal get on the 19.35 from Waterloo, gets into Soton central at 20.49, get a cab outside to wherever Nicola suggests you meet up for a friendly little chat and sort out this Osvaldo business. Kill two birds with one stone. :-)

Back on form mate! Surprised you not in Austria checking them out!

Slightly misleading Alpine - Southampton under NC let ALL rumours drift around un-scotched. Pretty much always have done whether the rumours make us look good or make us look bad. It may or may not be genuine that we are interested in this player - fair enough - but that its tolerated misinformation that makes Saints look ambitious without any validity whatsoever to it...really.....as conspiracy theories go id give that only a 3/10. The only caveat to that was the slip MP made at the last press conference at SMS in which for the first time he admitted interest in named players - VW and Dam I think it was, maybe also Osvaldo. He probably got a telling off from NC for that because otherwise they never say anything about anyone. Besides, Southampton do not need rumours to show we are an ambitious. We use facts. Like spending millions buying Jrod, GR, VC and DL in recent windows. Like renewing Luke Shaw, Spiderman, AL and others recently..... :-)

Dont disagree that he isnt a good player, but at 30 years old he needs to be a lot cheaper than 12million euros as he will have NO resale value when he is 32/33. And that is a part of nicolas financial appraisal system. Total cost of Quaglierella assuming 3m pa wages over 3 years is 12m fee +9m wages =21million. Compare that to the cost of someone like Damiao over 3 years = 20m fee + 15m wages = 35millio then minus possible resale value of 25-35mm minus endorsements, sponsorship benefits shirt sales etc = between zero or even a profit and minus 10million if hes only been average.

Fair cop- yup you are spot on, My mistake.

You would have thought so but they would probably want to line up a replacement first so as not to leave themselves short. The only name I've heard is Gilardino (who is 31) but can do an excellent job for them immediately if required. He would be perfect with two young strikers already at Roma. Looking at who they have brought in (Bueno - wide attacker, on loan), and who is injured (Destro- promising young italian international striker) they really only have Totti as a false number 9 and the young but highly rated Lamela to replace Osvaldo. They could get by if they sold Osvaldo alright but none of those are an identikit Osvaldo. Perhaps removing Osvaldo is a route to a new style of play- after all they did NOT have a good season last year..