Charlie Wayman

Another hit-and-miss journeyman signing confirms that we are preparing for relegation. Bargain basement is good enough for Saints now. Not impossible that we could be sitting right at the bottom of the table this time.

----------------------------McCarthey ---------------------------- Cedric -------- Vestergaard -------- Yoshida --------- Bertrand ----------------------------- Romeu ------------------------------ -------------- Lemina -------------------- Armstrong ------------ ------ Redmond ----------- Gabbiadini ------------ Elyounouissi ----

Danny effing *()!!@** Ings! What can he possibly bring to us that helps in any way, more useless than Long & Austin. We have become really pathetic low life in the transfer windows these days. As the Sage once said "Cheer up, things could be a lot worse!" Nobody took him seriously but he was right. They just got a whole lot worse. We have enough dead wood already.

Ah! Obviously you don't go to many Saints matches or you don't pay much attention to what is happening on the pitch, otherwise you'd have seen his wonder goal at the end of last season almost worthy of Boufal's best.

Good to see him back, obviously he was late back from summer holidays as he was trying to grow facial hair which seems to be de rigeur at Staplewood these days. Only managed a 'tache so far but it given time. Strangely no comment from Boris Johnson about full facial hair and footballers all looking like Wurzel Gummidge. I can help him there, take Austin for example he wears full facial just to spare his blushes because of the many goal scoring chances his fluffs... I'll hand over to you chaps for commentary on our other bearded wonders.

Watford must have more money than sense if we are to believe The Sun. The lad has tried and failed so many times here, perhaps it will be better for him to move away from his comfort blanket to take his career any further. The problem is that probably he has already reached his full potential so there's little on offer here for him other than a decent salary and bit parts in future Saints matches. Unless future PL matches are decided by penalty shoot outs because they only want winners and losers maybe he will fit in but then again chicken have been waiting a very long time to grow teeth so they can have a decent meal.

Keep questions short and open do not lead answers even if you think you know what others might say. Remember the key question words are "Why?" "How?" "When" Not much wriggle room with these. The club's main failure has been in communication which may be illustrative of their attitude towards fans and this is one theme that on which they could challenged. These guys are politicians and will expect and be prepared for low level technical questions from fans so asking about stadium expansion or transfer targets will prove to be a waste of time as they will have their slick politicians answers ready. Questions need to address policy issues that will make them uncomfortable e.g. "Are you satisfied with the current level of communication with the fanbase?" "How would you rate our activity in the transfer windows of the last few seasons?" I might go but then again I might not, can I really be Rrsed to spend an evening listening to people who would never have attained remotely equivalent positions to the ones they hold in a Footsie 200 company.

Shurlock, this is extremely poor taste and badly judged on the very day his brother has died. You should retract and apologise. There's a time and place for smart-arse remarks which is obviously one of your hallmarks but on this occasion you are right out of line. This is not a personal attack by the way.

Sorry for the repeated sentence, no idea how to edit it out once posted.

We're all getting older together, sometimes we forget that our old heroes age at the same rate as everyone else. You don't expect them to because you remember them only from the time when they graced our stadium with their grit, determination and skill. RIP Cliff and thanks for all those wonderful memories. Cliff played at a time when we had one of our best forward lines of all time, Paine - O'Brien - Reeves - Mulgrew - Sydenham but he was never over-shadowed by their brilliance. He even scored a couple of goals for us that season which for him was a rare treat but then with the fire power we had he didn't need to and...... ... what a team that was in 59-60, I can still see them trotting out from the corner tunnel at The Dell with Cliff proudly leading them and with every expectation that we would wipe the floor with anybody who came there as opponents. That team was full of wonderful players and Cliff was very much a stalwart then, if memory recalls correctly he started every match in our promotion season. Very little got past him that's for sure. He played at a time when we had one of our best forward lines of all time, Paine - O'Brien - Reeves - Mulgrew - Sydenham but he was never over-shadowed by their brilliance. He even scored a couple of goals for us that season which for him was a rare treat but then with the fire power we had he didn't need to. Another sad day for fans and a reminder of our own mortality.

Who are YOU? A new poster and already slagging off long term fans who have supported the club for years. Try adding something rather than just criticising others, we have enough of those people already.

Don't be ridiculous or you're making a fool of yourself.

I woz there, maybe wish now I had not been! This was an appalling display of ineptitude by Saints in the face of a quite brilliant Borussia side who played us off the park with slick, fast one touch football that we simply could not cope with or match. We were right royally thrashed and deserved to be. Team selection was hopeless, we were tactically juvenile and we had nothing in the midfield to even challenge them let alone stop them. How lucky we were to get away with a 3-0 drubbing. Hughes cannot spin this shambolic display and if this is in any way indicative of where we are going to be this season, we are in big trouble. It looks like Hughe s& Co have no idea of our best starting XI eve after a full pre-season. It would be futile to single out individual players as every one of them made errors and lacked vision but Austin was particularly dire and didn't get a single first touch under control and not once held the ball up. A long season ahead indeed and on this showing we are nowhere near PL class.

My son's arrived this morning. This year's presentation gives a new meaning to cheapskates and what is that pin badge all about. Utter junk!

Based on what we saw on Wednesday Mccarthy Yoshida Vestgarden Hoedt Targett Bertrand Romeu Hoijberg Gabbiadini Armstrong Austin

I wouldn't worry too much about all the hot air emanating from posters who are ever happy to diss our players yet having never set foot inside St Mary's to see them play. Cedric is a class act and would be a huge loss if he does not return. I have voiced my concerns as to his whereabouts for several weeks now and the latest fake news of "tummy bugs" does Hughes or the club no credit whatsoever. Tell us the truth, we can handle it! The thought of having to line-up alongside Stephens and Ward Prowse after spending the summer in Russia with Ronaldo may have been the the last straw.

For me 'yes' Chris, of course he is not perfect but is a damn sight better than any of our other DMF options.

Totally agrees unless Elyounoussi can also defend and challenge Cedric. These days we seem to defend three at the back, two in front (in the old days it was two at the back three in front) but still five defenders. Consequently our so-called wing-backs are in reality modern wingers and part of the attack (as in the old five man forward line) so in effect we need two inside players playing as No 8 & 10 in old money. Probably Armstrong is the perfect No 10 and Gabbiadini the No 8. Austin, Long & Gallagher will have to fight it out for the No 9 role. Who sits alongside Romeu as the other holding defender remains to be seen. At the moment my money is on Hojberg even 'though his current form is very patchy.

Nice turn out last night but nowhere near capacity which surprised me. Decent evening's entertainment overall for those of us who did bother to go. Just to clarify a point picked up by one or two screen only viewers, yes the pitch was marked out much smaller than usual presumably by agreement with the visitors and the new red astro turfing edging looked diabolical, clashing violently with the very green grass that has been laid. You can look at the game in two ways. A great work-out session for both sides where the result was irrelevant and it was all about getting mileage into legs OR there are only 10 days until the season starts in earnest and our general levels of skill, team co-ordination, refinement and match fitness are woeful. On this showing, if Burnley are up to speed it could be a very long season indeed. Early on we tried fast running one touch football, cover flicks and tricks and if it come off would have pleased the eye but our lads just didn't have enough vision or practice to pull it off. We soon resorted to our old slow build up play that ends up going nowhere. Starting Steven Davis a willing but physically limited runner was a mystery explained only by the subsequent ineffective displays of Hojberg, Elyounoussi and the continuing unexplained absence of Lemina. Both goals against were individual errors involving Bednarek. Goal one he allowed their player to turn inside and hit it with his right foot from an easy position, goal two where he left Long uncovered in a one on one situation on the edge of the 18 yard box. Long is not a defender and his grotesque cock-up should not excuse the poor defensive organisation that left him in that situation. He is young and will learn but Yoshida should get the nod over him to start. Armstrong was creative and energetic for parts of the game but disappeared in others but took a fine goal. Gabbiadini was all over the place for nearly the whole match, lots of energy some good runs and a few clever bits of individual play but still no goals. Romeu was generally OK and sound despite what some moaners on here have said, the usual couple of rash tackles but generally reading the game well and rescued us more than once. Hoedt needs time but looks fairly solid and shouldl become a decent player Bertie was more committed than we have seen him for a long time but he was tiring after HT. McQueen (nor Targett on the right) are the answer to any question that I can think of; if Cedric gets injured we have a serious problem on our hands at RB Austin took his goal well but seemed to struggle physically for the 45mins he was on, looked slow and ponderous in his running Hojberg seems to over-try and at times resembled a headless chicken JWP desperately put himself about trying to link play meaningfully and impress Hughes who had seen fit to give him only a few minutes at the end. Great shot unlucky to hit the post but at least we got the second ball tap-in. Second half changes improved the team everywhere but we had to bear in mind that Celta Vega also made wholesale changes and tired after 50 mins due to the early pace and their lack of pre-season preparation. At least fans who had been quite despondent at HT felt a bit better about it at the end but Burnley is going to be a struggle as we are no nearer to knowing our starting XI today than we were yesterday. The only ones guaranteed a start on last night's showing are Bertrand, Armstrong and probably Gabbiadini.

So why have the Club dilly, dallied all summer over this one especially if money really is tight and they need £15m for Targett before that can go out and buy a striker? Leaving it all a bit late unless they had worried that Bertie might be off to Man C. Guess we'll never know. As for Sessignon coming the the other way. Too fanciful as he's bigger than us now.

Thanks for that. Maybe he was in the gym for his initial assessment work and not on the training field.

Time for experiments is running out now, Hughes needs to choose his starting XI for Burnley and give them 60mins together tomorrow night and again on Saturday to get them on the way to full match fitness and allow time for partnerships to gain confidence. There'll be loads of subs after that to give the next cut a chance to impress at the last minute and maybe force their way into the opening match set-up. Yoshida is back and we may see him for part of the time tomorrow but no sign of Cedric in training so still concerned he may be off. Great weather forecast so hope we get a big turn-out to welcome the lads back.

Let's face it there is so much fake news around these days that it is nigh on impossible to give any credence to anything you read on here as 'snippets'. Presumably anybody who works in around SFC at a senior or intermediate level of management risks immediate dismissal if they let slip any confidential information they have been given or have come across inadvertently as part of their jobs and very few people in junior or temp jobs will have any access to what is going on inside the club. Loose talk cost jobs. Any so-called leaks will likely be deliberate feeds by the PR team at SFC.

Fake news. No allegiance to Arsenal whatsoever. Is trying to stimulate debate now known as 'trolling'? Why all the rudeness from the usual culprits just because they don't agree with me. Offer an alternative viewpoint not personal insults.

---------------------McCarthy------------------ -----------Yoshida--Vestergaard--Hoedt---- McQueen------Romeu-----Hojberg------Bertrand ----------Long-------------Armstrong----- ----------------Gabbiadini-----------------------