Fabrice Fernandes no.1 fan

How are we actually lined up then, anyone know?

Seems almost unfair playing Barker in the one-day cup, he's just working his way through the Essex batters so far this morning

Quite a deep philosophical question there, when is a referee not making a decision, in fact them making a decision to not do anything

I think its best you don't tell people about this sort of depravity.

On behalf of the junior members of the forum, what did they get away with?

I do remember hearing Stephens was JWP's right-hand man a couple of seasons ago and dealt with player fines etc so seems a natural successor

French TV money isn't great so it tends to be the European teams who can afford to pay a bit more, which isn't Monaco next year, so can't see him being on huge wages

There is a talented centre back in there but too raw and we certainly haven't had the coaching quality to address that. Over-riding memory will be his seeming addiction to sliding into tackles when an attacker was going towards the by-line and giving away a penalty

I'm planning on starting a circle of lust where we discuss rumours with absolutely no substance but the players involved (both for the men's and women's team) are certified hotties. First up, we're planning to sign Scott Twine from Burnley, and make Armstrong's hair captain

Not quite the same, but similar to Zaha. He signed a long contract, Palace never sold him so he had to honour that contract and now the window on him getting a big move has closed and he's had to settle.

Timing is right, he's taken us as far as he can, and we have a lot to thank him for. Very key to get the choice of replacement right, from a cricketing perspective. Rod has given us the infrastructure to be a title contender in each format every year really.

Are you sure about this? I'm fairly sure the Test and Itchen are water, and Southampton water must be pretty poorly named too then. The city exists because historically it was a very important port town commercially, pretty good going for no water... For me the year prior is the better kit, that shirt always felt a bit like a Stoke kit for me, too much white.

And 7:45 kick off isn't doing much to help families attend. First week of the summer holidays, they could have really pushed it as a family fun day with an earlier kick off etc.

An interesting side from the u21s. Bycroft, Finnigan, Simeu and Olaigbe all played having been on loan last season, interesting that they've slotted back in at that level Abu played 76 minutes, Doyle, Dibling and Meghoma all got minutes too. Feels like a strong squad overall

You're right, it happened already and they didn't! The women's team played Forest over the weekend. Forest wore red, so we wore our away kit, but the keeper wore the home keeper kit. I guess we couldn't wear the third keeper kit with the away because the shorts and socks are basically the same too. We appear to have three colours palettes this season (red/pink, teal, and black/yellow) so we'll get all sorts of varieties of keeper and outfield kits, and possibly odd socks with kits to make them work. We'll be able to wear the home against teams playing in white, but probably not the white socks so we'll need a change for those games.

These two are somewhat forced because we've given away their previous numbers. Edozie has taken Tella's 23 and Sulemana has taken Smallbone's 20

I find it really interesting the difference in nations that make the women’s World Cup compared to the men’s. Unlikely to see Vietnam, Philippines or Haiti at the men’s World Cup any time soon

Some good signings this window, clearly an intention to step up. Looks like we've signed two new strikers (Dean and Kraft) and two midfielders (Peplow and Pike). International experience (at senior and junior levels) and WSL experience too. According to the website we have a friendly on Sunday away at Forest, will be interesting to see how we line up (if we get any updates). And to maybe peak some more fans' interest, Pike is most certainly easy on the eyes

Absolutely this. The leauge may be forking out massive amounts of money to the players, but that doesn't build a league anyone is going to care about. I can't imagine there are many people who will back a specific team (or even be able to name them) and follow the league. For me it sits alongside the smaller cricket franchise leagues. If it is being shown on a channel I already pay for, I might watch to see if there is a familiar face, but I won't watch for more than a minute or two, and I certainly won't care about it. As for Diallo, I think there is a tidy midfielder in there, but not suited to the English game or the level required.

Will Carl Martin take over? He's been doing more with the first team the last couple of years, but I wonder if managing would be the preference.

And Chelsea wanted rid of Pulisic (and needed rid too with FFP and their squad size) whereas we want to keep JWP. Supply and demand

Is there a list anywhere for which games are which category, and what the prices then are?

They're still hanging on in there at the moment!

I was also thinking about if we kept both, if we could play them both. Neither looks like a natural third centre back if we play the system Swansea did, so the only option then is to push one forward. I wonder if Tino might work as an outside centre back because he is bigger than KWP and will presumably still bulk up as he continues to mature, but I'm not sure yet

Thought the away kit looked really good against Benfica, seems to look really bright and distinct, and very clearly teal shorts and socks. Only negative seemed to be the numbers on the back being black, I guess they don't make them in the colour of the shorts