Saint Troy

If they're buying a player off us better than the last then that's an upward slope? Clearly back to square one when he goes I agree but abort ott in this case

i get people are annoyed about us being a bit of a selling club, about us selling lots to liverpool but with VVD people need to get a grip. He would improve any squad in world club football, is world class and would sort out a clubs defence for about 8 yrs and be class throughout - he was never staying here a long time, hes played hard and acted decently whilst we have been lucky enough to have him. Shouldve just enjoyed him while he was here knowing he was going. Other signings i get but this is about us having taken a chance on a footballer other wouldnt and him turning out to be simply world class, now the world is interested and he, at 25, should be plying his trade at the absolute top. Just need a suitably huge fee and really noone can moan

is it ott to link the rumours we are in pole position with that Semedo chap with this? Dont care where he goes as long as its huuuge money. Hes world class, got best part of ten years in him and worth 50+ i reckon. Anything lower and we've let him go too cheap.

I get all this - it makes sense generally - i guess my question is about guys like Gylfi Siggurdson, if saints had picked him up when Swansea did hed be gone - certainly this summer but i can see him staying - how do clubes achieve that - is it just down to players having been burned by a big club once and being happy - if so wheres Bertrand off to etc. I know we have to sell sometimes and i get people want to progress, im just not sure why some stay at other clubs and feel its a bit of a "selling club" persona we now have based on our model

To b fair from what I heard on the radio it sounded like allardyce didn't think it went far enough and videos during the game should be used.

Its the youngster that we just signed from them Tella, hes scored a couple and want to show them what theyve lost (obviously it isnt but if this was Champ Man hed be on for a brace against them tonight for sure)

Well if he is it makes his performance so far even more impressive!

Well with a video ref Costa would be on a yellow now the diving ****

Brad Smith and Kyle Walker are the quickest defenders - maybe he could be offside less against them cause they could keep up!

Interesting this - youre saying when saints play well JWP plays well and when saints are average JWP is average. If the correlation is that exact then what youre really saying is that when JWP plays well saints play well and when JWP doesnt perform saints dont perform. Sounds like he has a big influence on us already! Argee that if he is to drift in to teh middle though he needs to appear to dominate more and set more of a tempo - have to feel he has been more involvedwith the tempo recently - hes sped up, his passing has sped up and he has been a little more fwd thinking, he stlil doesnt lose the ball from misplaced passing lotsand these signs could be the start of someone who will really be the tempo of the team.

dont have to love Puel, dont have to like him but please see that he has his hands tied here this season. When he has had good players we have looked very good. He may have limitations in that he cant change us to be a bus parking, clogging, west brom but its opinion as to whether you think thats a limitation and to be fair may be a directive hes following too. We havent been consistent enough but all our players are of that nature, not top class week in week out players. He could be getting more possibly, you wonder if Poch wouyld get more from this lot but Poch is a different style of manager. Long and 1 legged JRod up front, thats a front line that gets you up from the championship not top 6. (i love them both for different reasons but its not as though we have Lukaku up front and we cant get much out of him. Last week is a great example... we haev injuries but we shouldve been 2-0 up at half time. Yes he could do more but i think he deserves a summer window, some decent transfer activity and a run of fit players without europa and see where we get to then

Hes regularly referred to as the best CB in the prem - not by all but by way more than just saints fans and so theres a few off your list already! Like any player he can improve but hes proving himself against internationals and players playing in the champions league the whole time - its clear hes in that top 10

I think too cynical in this case maybe. As i understand it it was Tadic who mouthed off and all saints have done is commented on it (like we would be shouting atthem to do if they hadnt). No fuss made by the club, just its been mentioned to him and expect better. All ok i think. Doesnt mean he wont leave of course!

Its an interesting one - at 19 you want to be playing mor ethan 2 games a year and at Arsenal its unlikely he will. Just have to look at how incredibly well Rashford burst on to the scene and how many games he gets at the moment. Probably should be off in championship on loan really but can see why at 19 he may feel hes better off elsewhere

nothing more exciting as a nipper than waiting for le tissiers name to be mentioned, being passed bits of ripped up paper so we could chuck them in the air as it happened. Could be the excitement of youth, could eb the excitement of the player, could be that youre right and there was more atmosphere waiting for the teams to come out. Love to have that replicated but people are in finishing beers/placing bets/ eating hotdogs and crisps and some of that atmosphere has gone. Maybe concourse shops should open earlier (be a lot nicer to encourage people in) and close 20 mins before kick off to ensure the stadium is as close to full as it can be. So much of football grounds detracts from the experience now. Maybe having standing and wanting to get a good spot made a difference in some places, maybe standing in general did as its so much less passive generally. Going to watch the cricket i love to be there early and take in the atmosphere, watch the players warm up etc, it adds to teh days excitement. Im not sure how they do it but recreating that atmosphere that makes me feel like a kid again before the first whistle would genuinely bring in fans i agree. I would ssay though that threats to pay to go to games for 40 yrs then stop are not that much of a threat!

From watching on MOTD it was frustrating - they kept showing the close up slow mo. If you watch the revers angle at full speed it really does look like he is trying to get up and chase where the balls going. No way that you can prove thats deliberate and no a ban in my opinion. Zlatan couldve blinded him with the deliberate elbow, if hes carded retrospectively because its deliberate 3 games is a lucky break.

There were a couple of sloppy periods yesterday in front of the defence which really exposed the two cbs. Even Romeu was guilty of giving it away and so out cbs had a fair bit to do. It was the sort of game where Morgan & wanyama snuff everything out and it's only 30yrdshots, a fair few times we really let them at us. Our midfield play that open against the likes of arsenal/Liverpool we'll concede more than 3! Stevens coped well in these situations I thought and recovered then a couple of times. I think it's hard with two smaller cbs playing as no one just dominates against the high ball and so as a pair I don't think these two will make it, individually alongside the likes of vvd they're up to the job. Is it naive champ man talk that thinks cause of his height Stevens may be best pushing in to dm? I've never seen him there and managers don't seem to want to

Imagine standing around for two minutes and gabbiadinis goal being reviewed!

Do we know if he consulted with the lino at all? If not then he is possibly also at fault

Just shows how all of it is a matter of opinion. IMO rugby isnt made more stop start - just the stops are a little longer - yes this has an impact but its typically that the right decision is made. It makes great sporting events actually come to the right conclusion most of the time. Cup Finals being decided by a poor decision that has no grey area in it is stupid in this day and age. Its brilliant in cricket - yes technology is improving but so what - its better than there umpires can manage 99% of the time. It promotes a better attitude to officials doing a good job as well and highlights clearly when an official isnt doing a good job. It would make football more stop tart - no two ways about it but you can only fall in to two categories in my opinion - those that really have nothing negative to say about the fact we lost the cup final to a terrible decision and those that are pro technology - everthing else is is a bit hypocritical or naive to me. Its hard to know how to get it right i do admit that - the nature of football is different to the other sports mentioned i do agree with this. Why not wait till the ball goes dead and by that time you should have an answer - by the time the offside free kick was ready to be taken we wouldve been jogging back to the half way line 1-0 up! Appeals is an option too and IMO has other possible huge benefits - why not bring in 2 decision appeals and also bring in stronger protection for how players treat the referee - if ibrahimovic is happy to run 50 yrds to get Stephens sent off then lets see one of your appeals used, otherwise let the ref get on with his job or be booked. Someone dives and you know it but refs not sure - appeal and get them rightly booked / sent off - possibly a great vehicle for cleaning up parts of our game that are frankly embarrassing to a normal adult. "Purists" may not like it but life moves on and football needs to.

certainly correct - Rodgers has a better record than Klopp now apparently after leicester game and he is hugely liked i think, certainly compared to Rodgers.

I do agree generally with this but go back one yr and i think Lallana, Lovren and Shaw are more like the situation we find ourselves in this year (was chambers that yr too?). Not sure what i mean by it but maybe its not always as simple as length of contract as sure they had a few years left between them? Fingers crossed though - we've seen so much talent go and if we keep hold of VVD and (cant believe im saying this after 3 games haha) Gabbiadini then theres a chance of building around them. 50m will see VVD off though and i wont hugely blame him!

Thanks loads, balls up for me that is!

can simeone please tell me if tickets can be bought over the phone? I'm thinking not but am away with work tmrw and hoping not to miss out if the opportunity arises - thanks in advance

The chat was that he had a tendancy to be a little lazy / switch off and so big prem teams werent sure, he liked a wander too. That said its also not that easy to judge a player playing CB for celtic in the spl if we're honest. Champions league performances are arguably like 3rd round cup ties for lower league players. We took what people considered a risk at that money and VVD has stepped up to the prem rather than the prem find out that there are actual flaws in his game to really worry about. In my opinion anyone can see that he is simply top class on the field, appears to have a likeable and positive character about him and would be an excellent signing for possibly any world club - sounds OTT but i think he improves any world clubs squad at least