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Sadly my jury has come in and is willing to go down in digital history. But before passing judgement would like to ask a few questions before passing judgement. 1. Does tall Paul have the innate physical ability to last a whole game at premier league pace? 2. Why has tall Paul not previously been snapped up at earlier points in his career by goal hungry teams? 3. Why did tall Paul accept the challenge that other strikers declined? Yes I agree he could turn out to be height for goals the best striker Southampton ever brought and in that case will end up the first Southampton billion dollar sale, early signs are however not positive.

Sure scouting, academy u14, u16, 17, u21 & B-team all cost nothing. If we divide the cost of all that by the number of players produced you get the "Brentford solution" do not bother and buy the right players at the point you need them for the first team. Exaggerated by loads of % I know but that's the principle.

Apparently he will play with a pain killing injection for Poland. Chance he plays for Poland, makes the rib injury worse and cannot play for the rest of the season? Would that be in the category of blessing in disguise or not?

Yes agreed, none of us know how that conversation went, and I guess if I were him I would have wanted to take the chance also, a professional career can be short and/or over in a instant. Just a shame it hasn't really worked out well for either party. Germany were poor and I am not sure if ABK got any actual game time? Easy with hindsight but he could have skipped a few weeks in the desert and been an important part of the great escape! Instead the wheels came off against Spurs or he got caught in the barbed wire if you like!

Well one positive we all largely seem to agree on the best team and that says something right there! For me the biggest surprise is seeing Walcott in everybody's line up, who could have called that at the beginning of March! No doubt someone will have a post predicting a Theo resurgence but I for one certainly didn't see that one coming!

If all are fit yes, think Bednarek (broken ribs) and ABK (dislocated shoulder) will be pretty unlikely starters. Bednarek's injury couldn't have been predicted, but probably should have been punished unless it was purely accidental, they didn't show the replay. ABK however was the opposite if it is the same shoulder as before, the club could have withdrawn him from the Germany world cup squad and he should have had the surgery. Could have been a win, win he was unlikely to get game time and it him allowed plenty of recovery time, the chosen option was a loose, loose for ABK and Saints. So options are Salisu, Caleta Carr and the brazil nut as CB's, my preference retain two of those three and Perruad at full back. Salisu at left back really hasn't worked that well, he looks uncomfortable, gaps appear and attacking output is limited on the left. Midfield and upfront I agree except I do not know if Mara is better used as an impact sub after Che has tired out the opposition, guess that probably is a better option as Mara could probably do a job replacing any of those behind the front striker if needed and I am not sure Che could.

Not sure that Tall Paul is a fit for the Premier League let alone Saints, looks like he may have attempted a step up too far, from his brief appearances so far he has not impressed like Graziano Pellè did in his initial games. Unless he starts poaching some goals during his cameos I am not sure we will see very much of him at all.

NBC Also owns USA network, so to drive up viewing numbers they show some games live on that channel then hold the release on Peacock, pain in the ass, but means streams should be plentiful.

If so Selles has the lost the plot or never had it in the first place. Think what he is trying to do is prompt Lavia to play further up the field to help the attack. Which is a good idea if we had any kind of defense behind him, I am more afraid Lavia follows the prompt plays further up the field and a fucking gigantic whole opens up in front of the defense. Think we all know what happens next, the player we just missed out on signing gets a hat trick, so Saintsy.

McCarthy's kicking well up to par...

Yeah but Che, is injured, so who you gonna call? Got to be Ghostbuster Walcott fresh from the 2005 season, when he made his debut and became Saints youngest ever scorer (16 & 143 days) against who? Oh yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss LEEDS UNITED, lets hope he can be our youngest and oldest scorer against the same team! (Not sure about oldest ever, but youngest and oldest against same team has to be a record, go go go Theo)

Not even in the slightest bit funny in the circumstances.

"Cometh the hour, cometh the man' Well played Jan. Do not care if he dribbles the ball across the line every game for the rest of the season, today when he saw a fellow players life in danger he stepped up BIG TIME and did the right thing immediately HERO no doubt. Thank you Jan.

Nope merely a co-incidence, he has formed a new SFC book of the week club, to improve team morale. The next book on the list is called "How to go from World Cup semi to SFC B-Team in three easy steps" subtitled " I am going to kill the agent who sold me on this idea!"

Particularly with an upcoming EFL away leg against a team from the "north". Has to be worth the cost of a loan from Reading, for Shane to at least warm up for the last 10! Apparently he came on for Reading yesterday and bookies were offering 10-1 for a shot on target, those odds are completely unrealistic I saw all his Saints games, could have been 1000-1 and still been safe.

If history is any guide and Shane Long scores the winner against Liverpool, then we have a Che Adams hat trick incoming, anyone got the available odds on that?

Now lets reorder them in terms of competence starting best top left and worst bottom right, and I have to say, even with my rose tinted glasses some of the most recent have to be in the bottom row headed towards the right hand side.

Agreed, but will RL make it through a whole game? Cannot be match fit based upon the few minutes he has been given recently?

Dušan Tadić and should have been Sadio Mané, could either of those SDAJFU?

Yes came here to say the same, but I think he might earn more $ and have less stress as a pundit!

Shape was very fluid in the first half, this seemed to confuse Leicester a little. Was Lavia man marking Maddison? Moi and Armstrong seemed to interchange and cover in front of Dejenpo, all very interesting but I think a sharper team than Leicester would have exploited the spaces more effectively. Agree in general that first half I was worried about the rest of the season, felt like if the confidence crumbled it could be a hard season. Definitely held it together and even came back stronger after Leicester scored, which is an excellent sign. Agree on ABK and Lavia both look like very good signings, as does Aribo and pretty good signs from Mara also. Onwards and upwards!

In all the minutes I have watched him, never dreamed I would be contributing to a thread praising him, but he was a revelation today! Definitely gives us another option at LB, was tracking back well, putting the tackles in when needed and for some reason Leicester felt they would get more joy out of ABK, so sorry Leicester (not). Guess it gives Ralph an option to do what he did last year, when he used KWP at LB when he wanted a more attacking option and Perraud when he wanted a more defensive one, without having to switch KWP around.

From what I saw at the end of his time at THFC, legs had gone, sadly, but at CB that is not quite such an impediment as it is at say CF. Witness career trajectory of Jose Fonte and Charlie Austin since leaving Saints and unknown to me Austin is 5 years younger!

Well at some point I think JWP and the club, may decide it is in their mutual best interest, if the right offer comes along. This may well be influenced one way or the other by JWP being selected for England's WC squad and the teams performance at the WC. Am following JWP's career decisions closely because if\when JWP leaves the club then I will retire from working or I reach retirement age whichever happens first.

"some sources" surely playing with house money if they believe that is an under valuation?