VectisSaint

This thing about Drew having no pace. I confess that I have not seen him this season yet, is it still the case? Under Burley he was clearly unfit and was awfully slow, was just wondering from anyone who has seen him this season whether he looks fitter and faster.

Clearly not confirmed, but if so we are buying him so he is close to his Mum. FFS. Is he another in the same mould as Clinton Morrison, a real mummy's boy.

Well he clearly knows 10/11 which is damn close to knowing your best team. If this had been Burley we would have seen 5 or 6 changes. He is clearly just trying to get 1 place sorted out. I am warming to the guy and very impressed that he clearly has in his mind what is his best team, but has several options for the 11th spot and is experimenting to find the optimum. At least he has realised that BWP is not an option at present...

The squad on the OS cannot be correct, surely. Why would we only have 16 players in the squad, including 3 keepers. Matchday squads are usually 18 or 19 players, unless we are saving money by hiring a 16 seater coach

Who is JVP? Otherwise I agree. Burley was so negative, thank God Scotland made the mistake of taking him off our hands...

Damn, I was hoping he could, then it would be like playing against 10 men. We could have fielded a stunned slug and it could have marked him with ease.

Yes they are, but whats that got to do with Pulis

As I said on another thread he is the direct replacement for Jermaine Wright, Paul Telfer and Rory Delap. We need a blame figure, since Jasmine left we have no-one to blame for our defeats, whether the blame is valid or not. Pulis will soon be the most talked about player on this board.

I think he is being brought in as replacement for Jermaine Wright. Nothing to do with his playing position, just that we desparately need a player than no-one rates and who we can blame for every bad result.

I don't hope his career goes down the toilet, but I really don't think he's the great guy that so many on here think. He clearly does not give a **** about Saints, and is only interested in the money. He talks a load of bull about going to a top club, Stoke, who is he kidding. Wonder how loyal he will be to Stoke when they are back in the CCC next season, as they will definitely be. Fact is he was brought in by Burley, who is no longer here, he has picked up a nice wage while playing 20+ games, and has had top class treatment here and now ****s off at the first opportunity. He is no better than SKP (and in fact has done much less for us). He is like nearly all players these days simply a mercenary. Nothing wrong with that, but all this bull on the OS, and all the fawning on here really makes me feel a little bit nauseous. Bye bye Davies. Not totally convinced how good you are, enjoy your season in the Prem losing most weeks but picking up a bigger wage. See you next season (assuming we survive).

Aston Villa and Everton are ever present in the Prem as well as Spurs. Newcastle are not, they missed the first season.

Great minds think alike, it was my first thought as well.

Could there be a recall clause in the loan deal? I know there are certain rules for season long loan deals in England, but there are different rules for international loans

whoops, hopefully JP wouldn't make the same mistake

Perhaps we could have Ifill back in p/ex, we could so with a RB. I see he has been put on the transfer list by Palace...

Bloody hell Alpine, they must have learned it from you, Mr One Trick Pony himself. Do you ever have anything good (or even neutral) to say? Stick some Leonard Cohen on and really enjoy yourself

transfer (singular), we loaned out a player who hardly played for us last season, big deal.

Don't think the loan situation is sorted yet. Now that Rasiak has been shipped out we may have some funds available. I know some Clubs have put players out on loan, but really the Prem teams in generak haven't sorted their squads, there is still 2 weeks to go, and there will be plenty of players looking to play rather than be squad members. I would think we are still looking at the possibility of 1 or 2 loans, most likely at FB, so that we have cover for Surman, or more likely can release him back into MF. That said, all prem teams have to find an extra 2 players for every matchday squad this season (7 subs) so maybe there will be a slightly diminished loan market. It still surprises me a little that JP and Wotte have not brought someone over from Holland.

You don't have to have a contract to be paid. Very much doubt he played for nothing, suspect he has been on some sort of retainer since the start of pre-season. Anyway, what if he was an amateur, it never did CB Fry any harm.

Wondered how long before someone started having a go at Lawrie. He has hardly deserted a sinking ship. He was pushed out by Lowe and Wilde. We all know that Lowe and Lawrie do not get on. Many people, not including me, are very glad of this. Personally as you suggest Lowe (or more particularly JP) could do with some good advice.

Thats what I said wasn't it? The original post was that there was a rule to prevent loanees playing against their own club. Well there isn't, thats a popular misconception because it applies only in the Prem. What clubs put in loan contracts is a different matter, though it would be highly unlikely that Saints would seek to add a clause of this type. Seiously if I was Saints I would put a clause in that says he has to play against us, gives us more chance, if our defenders can't keep Rasiak in their pocket then they shouldn't be playing pro football. Wurzel Gummidge should be able to effectively mark him

No, Prem League only rule. Remember Lucketti could have played against Sheff Utd last season, he chose not to, but there was no rule to prevent it... Still, should be a good thing having Ras playing against us, just need to tie the legs together of one of our defenders and they should be able to outrun him

Thank goodness for mugs Saved us about £1m last season, nice piece of business by Mr Crouch as it turned out...

Perhaps, just perhaps Lowe would have already checked with his head coach and said something like, so now that I have got rid of the lazy **** Rasiak for a decent loan fee and saved about 1 mill GBP in wages as well I guess that means I should keep the other not quite so lazy **** Stern John. Agreed? And JP would say, yes that would be a good idea, John is part of the squad and looks up for the fight. Even Lowe is not so stupid (?) as to sell both main strikers (at least I hope he isn't). Have you considered also that maybe, just maybe getting rid of Saga and Ras may free up enough funds so that we could bring someone already identified as a loan target to fill one of the FB gaps, which would be a good idea. Last season you harped on about no CBs, quite rightly, but for some reason you are missing the important point this season, no FBs. Everything is not quite so black and white as you make out Alps. You make some valid points with your remarks many of which I agree with, but other times your remarks are just inane. I dislike Lowe intensely but I do give him some credit, albeit begrudgingly most of the time.

Whilst your statement is true, it is not the same thing as EVERYONE WILL BE SOLD. The plan was to get some of the high earners off of the books, once some have gone that can be reassessed. With Rasiak gone (good) John is almost certain to stay, thats why he's in the squad and playing, while Ras wasn't. Actually I'm really happy about this because SJ is better than GR and we did not need both. Just a shame Greg is going to a rival.