OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint

Genuinely think our powers-that-be believe they have already done the majority of the transfer business. Goalkeeper sorted, defence sorted, Matt O'Riley/Downes negotiations ongoing in their eyes sorts midfield...we just need that signature striker signing. I'm not expecting a lot else. ABK can leave and good riddance, Alcaraz can come back and hope he does. It's that striker...

I think sadoldgit is actually a member, and probably a founding member, of the CoT. It's a self-publicity stunt to build the aura of CoT. No-one can get so consistently wound up as 'saddo' without have a heart attack! Personally, I think there are some of the CoT itk and I like their clues...even if I can never work them out.

We've also shown our cards by buying Suguwara. Would like to think that there's already an agreement in principle to do a Downes/KWP swap and that the numbers have been agreed. Suspect we'll be paying them, especially if Ings gets back in the picture.

Conspiracy theorists - blimey MLT and Rickie Lambert are coming back in some capacity!

Must admit, I don't follow anything other than the men's first team but I do remember through rose-tinted spectacles seeing Walcott come on for the first time and thinking Bale was a product of our academy whereas now the pipeline has run dry. Dibling, SAA and Meghoma have been given opportunities (and SAA looked ok in pre-seasons last year) but ultimately, they couldn't make our championship side. They're nowhere near the standard of youth player hovered up by the likes of Man City and I can't see them getting much game time now we're back in the premiership. So what strategy should SR have for the academies? I got the impression Saints were closing the academy for the ultra young at my son's university in Bath, so they seem to be curtailing their reach for the youngsters. Maybe, like Brighton, we should target 15/16 year olds to nurture rather than hope for more JWPs.

Two years ago, we signed a load of youngsters and then brought in the 'experienced' players to balance the side. Problem is Aribo, Maitland-Niles & Caleta Car weren't the experience we needed. If Ralph had also been given a striker, this thread would be so different. What have we done so far? Signed a few youngsters and Lallana and Taylor for experience. Don't have an issue with Woods and Edwards coming in, but I'm hoping we can get in experienced players who are in their prime and not past it. Maybe one of them could be a striker!

I wouldn't. More overrated than Baz. I somehow think our recruitment has decided the goalkeeper situation is now sorted. AM will be our no 1 goalkeeper next season. Time to move on and find a striker.

Our guys need to watch Spain. They never seem to do these 'floaty' crosses that come to nothing. The ball is whipped in from corners and crosses and that's always going to cause problems.

This bugs me about Saints, it bugs me about England. There were lessons to be learned after every qualifying game and we don't seem to change. Ten minutes to go and you couldn't tell we were 1-0 down the way we were strolling around the pitch.

You're right and it also seems a bit odd that a 'sister' club benefits from a sale of one of our players without doing anything. So if Goztepe pay us some money, what's the player value? I get the impression transfer pricing is a big thing in business nowadays because it's so open to being fiddled, so with FFP, we need to be careful.

I can see this too which means we'll need another centre back which in turn means we have less spend for other positions... so we keep Sulemana because there aren't many idiots who will take him off our hands. Yes, you'd think a pacey front man would suit that system, but someone needs to teach him new tricks. How often have you seen Sule run pass someone and then do a meaningful pass/cross? When he gets the ball, he first stops and goes to walking pace. Sometimes, he'll do some godawful kick 20 yards ahead and chase after it and if he gets past his man and gets to the ball first, he then stops and tries it all again. No instinct, no football brain, no good.

His touch is shit, in front of goal he can't shoot, his attitude stinks. Sorry, MLG, I don't see any good attributes. Changing the subject, who's this left back Wellington from Sao Paulo?

Mane scored 10 goals from 32 appearances in his first season with us and 15 goals in his second. Comparing him to Sulemana who has scored just twice for us in 45 appearances reinforces how truly shit he really is. As to Stewart, I'm not ruling him out but the first few weeks of the season will let us know what kind of impact we can expect from him. Che, Mara, Stewart with AA, Sule, Edozie, Sam AA needs reinforcement. If Che goes off to S.Arabia (can see Sule doing the same), we will almost certainly bring in someone new but please, not Ings.

Think we definitely signed the wrong winger from Rennes!

That brought a wry smile....just working out what's worse being a skate or being a journeyman. I think we'll be lucky to get Downes for £15m. W. Ham know what an impact he had for us when he wasn't eating raw chicken! Wee Man will come our way. We've got the the basis of a solid team and equally important, united team. I'm still hopeful we can find this elusive striker that's going to knock in 15 goals for us. That's all we'll need to stay up and then everything else is extra.

Yeah, there's a lot of luck and fine margins at this level. RM stumbled across a back three with Wee Man as one of the wing backs who was arguably man of the match at Wembley. Baz's injury forced RM to bring in McCarthy. Without those two developments, we'd probably still be in the Championship and baying for RM's blood. And it's not just Forest that are pretty poor in the premiership. I've got my rose-tinted glasses on and can see us surprising a lot of teams next year.

Thanks for the balanced perspective, S-Clarke. I just remember him being a knob. You knew he was joining as soon as his face was seen at Wembley. Think it'll turn out to be another Walcott signing. Uninspired, ineffective and are the players that got the team promoted really going to be encouraged by some has-been returning to a club for easy money? I doubt it.

Yes. Or in Europe. Surely there must be players out there who want to prove themselves in the Premiership who are not teenagers or over-the-hill returnees. It's up to our scouts to find them and the club to persuade them to join.

Don't disagree with this if only because it stops AA playing centre forward, but couldn't someone else play Che's role? I'd like to see us bring in someone new but if we don't, is Tall Paul worth a second go? I really don't want to see Mara in a Saints shirt again.

Yes we did struggle but I still think there was a defining moment in the whole season early on at Wolves. Earlier we'd beaten Leicester, the game before we'd beaten Chelsea and then in this game Che did the miss of all misses. Standing on the half way line we could only assume Che had fouled someone but to see that miss later was just incredible. It cost us 3 points, and I genuinely think with a win there, it would have given us the momentum to stay up. Ironic that Che could be going to Wolves. I didn't add Everton to the list, but Fulham aren't all that great also. I'm quietly confident that with a solid replacement for Che (not that I have any ideas), we'll be very competitive next season.

And the West Ham boys are pretty good negotiators, so I can't see Flynn Downes going cheap. Think those that suggest we need a striker, a goalkeeper, another central defender, a left back, a central midfielder and another right winger are going to be sorely disappointed. The focus seems to be on finding a striker. Domina hasn't come off but the club seems to recognise that we need someone instead of the man made of glass and Mara doesn't cut it and Che is likely to go. The club also seems to be sticking with Baz, so McCarthy gets a new contract and we find a stop gap here. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if we started the season with a back five and Wee Man at the back, so all in all, I can't see a lot of change this window. The good news is there's a lot of crap in the premier league. Aside from Leicester getting a points deduction and Ipswich coming unstuck, there's Notts Forest, Wolves, Brighton, Brentford, C.Palace who are all very mediocre and I think our current starting 11 would beat them.

With 10 months under his belt, Russell Martin is up to 6th longest serving manager in the Championship. The merry-go-round in this league goes even faster than the premier league. You would have thought staying up in their first year represents an achievement for Plymouth and the manager could have been given more time to consolidate their position in the league.

Speak as you find, but overall I think the club has handled this ticketing process very well. Was wondering if it was worth having the Saintsplus membership this year given how many away games didn't get past season ticket holders, but on Monday it was easy to get tickets for this game and they came through the post yesterday. All quite painless given the scale of the operation.

Agree. This really is a game for us to lose. Their press is not like a full on Leicester, it's got pretentious Summerville & Gnonto. We can play through that. We just need the player(s) to grasp the nettle when we play the passes behind. Who's it going to be - AA, Edozie?

That's the thing. It comes across that he's made of glass and from a distance, his legs look like they'll snap at the mildest of challenges. I'm hopeful that destiny will work out and he'll score a 97th minute winner at Wembley, but concerned that we won't see him in the final.