The Curse of St Mary's

Alcaraz got injured at open training session weds. Must be 4-4-2 with tell and Edozie wide players

Strong line up. No ABK, manager said they were trying to get him a U21 game so be interesting to know if this is transfer related or setback in recovery from injury.

My lad asked RM earlier if Sulemana was staying and his reply was "he hopes so" make of that what you will 😂

Looks like Alcaraz just left training field with a knock 😔

No ABK, Sulemana or McCarthy from what I can tell. Edozie here. No Smallbone obviously. Not sure of Perraud here. Tall Paul is unfortunately

Any more news on this?

The sell on clause percentage was renegotiated last week between saints and Chelsea which saw Chelsea get a smaller cut. Makes you wonder if this Lavia shenanigans has anything to do with that.

if true then Liverpool have been well and truly played 😂

I know some on here think this guy is a chancer but I personally think he has some inside info at saints somehow

I wonder if saints will try and push Downes deal through quickly so he's signed in time for Norwich game? Friday noon the deadline ?

It's been widely reported he wants Liverpool and agreed personal terms weeks ago.

I wonder what striker targets we moved onto after not pursuing interest with Stewart at Sunderland? I'd be surprised if no incomings before fans forum next week. Strange to arrange one during transfer window without being confident in some replacements getting done.

Be interesting to see if these targets on hold that RM alluded too will quickly get through the door once Lavia and JWP deals get done. Will selling club move the goalposts if they know we came into a lot of money which then risks dragging the negotiations out?

Hopefully JWP will play and get a well deserved send off from the fans after leading us to victory. It would be a real shame if his last game ended in a defeat. We aren't going to suddenly start defending set pieces properly so we must not give away needless corners and freekicks. I'd start with Adams even though he was ineffective last night. Rest of the team picks itself. SAA will be a useful impact player off the bench should we need him.

RM suggested they may look at replacing Tino and given Bree didn't make the bench on Friday suggests Bree not in the managers plans

Some of the negativity on here is ridiculously overboard. RM has already said we won't look like the finished product yet as it takes time to fully adjust to a whole new style of play. Let's not kid ourselves the identity RM has already implemented is miles ahead of both Jones and Selles. The moving triangles was refreshing to watch last night. Once the team is fully tuned I will certainly expect more big chances to be created. Hopefully the new set pieces coach will drill in some improvements but we are a small team so it will always be our potential weak spot but we just need to make sure we dont concede needless set pieces. All in all loads to be really positive about. I'm sure RM and Wilcox will have replacement players lined up who are able to play the way we want should we lose key players which is obviously probable.

No, they get more time and are up against defenders who won't be as good in the championship. A shot in the top corner in the championship is the same as shot hit into the top corner in the PL 😉

1-3 saints. Won't keep a clean sheet but I think we will have too much class for them. The only two issues I foresee are Bazuna and conceding set pieces. Our team is going to be small if the line up is as expected so we need to ensure we don't concede needless set pieces.

I must have missed that part🤷🏼‍♂️

Martin said mara and Sulemana the only ones injured so we have to assume the worst with this if the report is true.

Be interesting to see how fast incomings follow once we sell a couple of players soon (Salisu and Lavia seem most probable). Martin insinuated we have targets lined up and these players are patiently waiting for us to make concrete moves once we make space in the squad. Once other clubs know we have sold players for big fees this could in theory prolong negotiations.