CityRanger

I hope I'm wrong, would love to see VVD at St Mary's next season. Wallace appears to be a pet writer of the clubs though so I take his stuff as being from the horses mouth. Next step would be to say we wanted to keep him but the manager doesn't want an unhappy player etc.. Call me a cynic if you like!

San Wallace in Tekegraph reporting this afternoon what looks like a massive climb down by the club over VVD sale. "There has been no stalling of Southampton’s player recruitment strategy while the managerial appointment process has continued and the club will push ahead with target that have been pre-identified, in consultation with their new manager. Pellegrino will be part of the discussion on whether the club agree to sell their highly sought-after Dutch defender Virgil Van Dijk who is now fit again after a considerable injury lay-off. Thus far, owner Katharina Liebherr and chairman Ralph Krueger have said that Van Dijk is not for sale, especially to Liverpool after they were forced formally to end their interest in the player this month. That might change over the course of the summer but will also depend on whether the club feel they have an adequate replacement to allow them to continue with stability in the new season." Passing the buck onto new manager whilst he has honeymoon period with fans.

The general consensus on here seems to be that VVD is a £70m player. However there are loads of posts dismissing other clubs valuations of their players as ridiculously overpriced? If VVD is 70 then people need to accept that it's going to drag a lot of bang average CB's into the 20/30 million bracket and we'll have to pay that for our (possibly but hopefully not) bang average replacement.

Yep. Needs to break the richest top 7 in world football, make a major final, play free flowing attacking football and give entertaining interviews. Good luck with that.

He got on my tits massively when Liverpool manager but Brendan Rodgers ticks a lot of boxes as a potential replacement. Prem experience/good football/managed big clubs x 2 now. We're the perfect springboard back to the big time for him I reckon!

The new owners will likely want their own man so any debate over his performance this season could prove pointless.

Chelsea, Liquidator.

So an agreement was signed on Nov 11? Fit and Proper persons test passed? Premier League rubber stamp still required? Negotiations still ongoing though. Sounds like quite a lot in place . If I've interpreted the translation correctly?!

Absolutely. The ref bottles it when Ibra threw Mings to the floor. If he'd booked him then the whole ugly episode might have been nipped in bud. The OP has made an excellent point and one that LeTissier has been making on Twitter lately re big club bias.

Caceres touch/distrubution/positioning predictably on an extremely high level. You can see he's played and trained with some of the worlds best players for most of his career. Boufal playing the stroppy primadonna was disappointing, he's obviously frustrated at failing to nail down a position in the first team.

Brad Collins, the Chelsea keeper tonight, went to Bitterne Park.

I agree the jury is out on Stephens. However he's got his chance next to Yoshida, not VVD, so those goals conceded stats are a bit harsh on him in my opinion not all his fault.

spon·ta·ne·ous (spŏn-tā′nē-əs) adj. 1. Happening or arising without apparent external cause; self-generated: a microorganism capable of spontaneous movement. 2. Arising from a natural inclination or impulse and not from forethought or prompting: spontaneous laughter; a spontaneous protest. 3. Unconstrained and unstudied in manner or behavior: a spontaneous personality. 4. Growing without cultivation or human labor: spontaneous vegetation. yes pal, spontaneous. Not instantaneous x

Me too. I agreed with Cortese, the stripes are synonymous with "struggling Saints". Shame the red kit he brought in was awful though! Sash or xerox quality kits.

Cracking idea. A massive business opportunity for someone who could combine foam hands with flashing lights? For the record I thought it was some sort of spontaneous goal cele by our fans, loads around me wouldn't put their phones down all game anyway.

Cup Finals are a recipe for disaster. I was surrounded by the classic jester hats/foam hands/ruddy faced mustard cords and Barbour jacketed types from Alresford and a couple of "get it forward Saints" types right next to me. You then chuck a few blokes who 'like a drink' and bit of a foul mouthed rant into the middle of this lot and it's quite amusing to watch(I was on a sober one yesterday). At least at St Mary's we generally all know what we want and where we want to sit. (Sometimes get day-tripper posh couples at back of Block 2 at St Mary's for big games, they often don't come back for 2nd half!).

What's the official line on VVD's injury? Not heard a lot about it lately and today he put a little teaser on his Insta news story of him smashing Pogba with the caption "6 nights until Wembley'. Dare we dream?

He's staying at the Hilton Ageas in West End. Keep your eyes peeled at the West End Brewery, likes a drink apparently.

Yes, worth the risk in my opinion. We have 14 league games left. He has top class pedigree but awful track record for injuries. If we can keep him fit for 8/9 leagues and win 4 of them we'll be safe. So do it and wrap him in cotton wool the minute he arrives.

Looked like a 4231 at times. Hallelujah!

The reasons Chinese businesses with no previous football experience may be buying into football explained in this article I read recently: http://www.policyforum.net/the-guanxi-of-football/

Absolute heroes one and all. Brilliant tactics by Puel, out thought European golden boy Klopp. Still in this against a hugely more expensive side. Have to say though the comments above are deplorable, yous lot not fans at all.

Gabbiadini has scored for Napoli in Cup game tonight. Two in two, he came on and scored v Sampdoria at weekend. Hitting form with the scouts in the stand.

What do you know, eh?