Lallana's Left Peg

Is this the same John Hartson who left Celtic for that European titan West Brom, a club so big they signed him after they finished 19th in the Premier League and got relegated?

Check the date...

I am not sure what the process of applying for a work permit is but I am pretty sure it'll take more than 24hrs as Kenya are ranked 124th in the world. The alternative is of course that a work permit has been applied for weeks ago (and granted) and we just need to update it the day he signs. I think we did this for Ramirez last summer.

I said it back in May when he was first linked but I'm not really keen on Sinclair. The reasons being for the wages he'd command from Man City and whether or not he would definitely improve us. I don't think he would (maybe I don't rate him as much as others do). But with Puncheon, Lallana, and Jay-Rod already competing for the two available 'outside right / left' positions in a 4-2-3-1 I think if we were to bring anyone in who play there they'd have to be better and I am not sure Sinclair is. Another reason is that I genuinely think we've got some great players coming through in those positions as well so even if this season is too soon for them I think in time they can contribute so I don't think it would be worth signing Sinclair on that basis.

Didn't Kelvin do that to him a few years ago!?!

At £8m I'm assuming we didn't sign Lovren to watch Premier League football from the bench. It is probably fair to say that all things being equal he will start for us. But who do you think will partner him? Yoshida - probably our best centre-back over the course of the season but fell out of favour towards the end of the season (perhaps he got tired?). Reads the game well, competes well, but not the biggest and distribution not great. Hooiveld - bad start, fell out of the team, but came back very strongly under Pochettino towards the end of the season where it seemed like it would be a choice of who would partner him rather than whether he would even play. Distribution not great and prone to getting a bit nervous at times. Fonte - bad start, but appeared to play much better when Yoshida came in. Suffered a bad injury in January but came back into the team well when asked and put in some assuring performances towards the back end of the season. But a theme developing here - bad distribution as well. Forren - who knows how good he is but was signed with a report card that suggested he was a 'modern' centre half who can pass the ball very well and start attacks. Appears to be incredibly slow as well. Oh, and to further complicate matters Lovren is right footed but in the stuff I've seen of him he appeared to play as the left-sided centre-half for Lyon. So for those of you who like balance in the back four that is another conundrum. I've no idea who I would make favourite to partner Lovren, but assuming Lovren is good enough in the air and can also pass it well, for some reason I think Yoshida may well start as his partner. What does the forum think?

First team football is the biggest driver and likely only reason assuming all other things would be equal.

I think you can only claim it is a waste of time if the process of chasing top level targets means we miss out on more attainable targets (note: target means someone we want, not someone supporters think would do a job for us). The transfer window is like plate spinning. You try to get the absolute best player you can whilst at the same time ensuring your backup targets are still there once you know one way or another with your primary targets. With six weeks left of the transfer window, I would be more concerned if we had moved to backup targets (unless of course the primary targets have already become unattainable or moved to someone else). This summer is a little different to last. Last summer there was some apprehension around the squad and we dropped a bollock in our pursuit of a central defender and winger. The fact we ended up with Yoshida at centre-half who came out of nowhere means he was never first choice, and our failure to get a winger meant we ended up buying Mayuka on the basis he could play there but it was really only the form that Puncheon showed which meant that decision wasn't punished on the pitch. This summer we've already strengthened the area we need to most, and the team has shown it is more than able in other areas so this is about really improving us, not reinforcements or depth. You don't buy for depth, you buy to improve your team and use any player displaced as the depth.

That formation simply doesn't work given the requirement to press high up the pitch. You can't press with just three offensive minded players as then massive gaps will start to appear. We may mess with three at the back in pre-season in a bid to solve how to break teams down who defend deep against us (allowing the wing-backs to push up and midfield move forward knowing there is plenty of cover behind them) but we definitely won't be trying 4-3-1-2 - if we did it would require 25+ years of Pochettino coaching and managing to be dropped in favour of a new way of playing.

Yes, but can you remember the official site ever referencing transfer targets by name before when discussed in a press conference during Adkins or Pochettino's reign? And they've both been asked lots of times. This is definitely a different approach.

I was firmly in the camp that thought Forren was signed for this season etc. however in his Saints Player interview today Pochettino was very non-committal on Forren. Clearly he has a future of some sort as he is training with the first team (you only have to see the others out in the cold who aren't) however when asked by Adam Blackmore if there was space in the Saints team for Forren Pochettino said something along the lines of 'we have to see how he trains over the next few days'. It might be that he just sees him as backup or I may just be reading too much into it, but it didn't seem like a very positive answer for a player. Maybe I am just too used to the 'has to train well and fight for his place' stock answer. I definitely don't think we need five senior centre-halves, regardless.

Interesting point actually. Unless injured, I can only assume the following players were asked not to come (or they trained with the Development Squad): Dean Hammond Jonathan Forte Billy Sharp Steve De Ridder Richard Chaplow Tadanari Lee Not sure on Lee's status, I know he wasn't called up to the Japanese squad but he was still playing football in June (I think) so maybe he has extended time off. But the others...

CB is the hardest position to break through as a youth player. Very hard to ease players into the first team in that position. There are lots of players the club has high hopes for, but first team football in the Premier League is a little far away right now for most of them. I think the plan this season is to make the U21 team even younger with the U18 standouts moving up as we've taken in 11 new scholars this season for the U18's. In the future I would expect Matt Targett, Jack Stephens, Jordan Turnball, Omar Rowe, Dominic Gape, Harrison Reed, and Ryan Seager to have made professional first team appearances for us (or more than they already have in the case of Stephens). Maybe Jason McCarthy as well but I can't work him out at the moment (outstanding leadership and competitiveness, but not sure about him with the ball). That is just my opinion on watching the kids over the last few years though.

Gerrard once said Joe Cole was as good as Messi. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/aug/10/joe-cole-messi-gerrard-liverpool So if you don't mind I'll ignore what that plank has to say on football matters.

I am not so sure about that. Agents are important in football, I absolutely agree with that. If a club contacts them to find them a player and they do the legwork and get the ball rolling then they are fulfilled a great role. Likewise, if a club contacts the agent of one of their own players and asks him to find his client a new club they have again provided a service. But if Saints are identifying players independent of agents, and contact their club directly, what is the players agent doing for Saints that would necessitate a massive payment? The agent has provided a service to his client in wage negotiations so any payment should come from him. An agent should be able to tangibly prove what they have done for any payment and if they can then they should be able to charge a fee. To demand payment for doing nothing and be so powerful over your client that you influence whether they sign or not because you want money is ludicrous and I am pretty sure it doesn't happen in any other sport. I've no doubt we've missed out on players because of it and whilst it may seem strange at times to be so willing to pay large transfer fees and wages but not pay agents much I am not so sure Cortese will back down. We invest massive amounts of money in our scouting and network and a benefit of that is being able to manoeuvre around the market without the need to engage agents. I can understand why Cortese may refuse to pay agents money for doing nothing. They'll be a shift in where money goes in football soon. The FFP rules were generated as much to stop all the money in the game ending up in players and agents pockets as it was to safeguard the future of clubs. There will of course be those clubs who pay agents a lot (you only have to look at the published tables each year to see who they are) but there are so many players about that we aren't massively restricting our options in the market. It just means we may miss out on some players - but it happens all the time and for reasons other than agents fees as well.

Nowhere near close enough to the transfer deadline to give up on primary targets. I am genuinely not fussed other than being eager to understand who our actual targets are. I am assuming we are going after players who are better than what we have, I don't think those sort of signings happen out of the blue. I'd imagine many players wait to see if something better comes along as well which is fair enough. Unless this Nixon chap provides some insight as to what this 'inexperience' consists of I am not too bothered about what he says either, whether it is true or not. Journalists who act cryptic are annoying.

EPPP is designed to get the best talent to the best clubs as soon as possible. It hides behind a banner which claims getting the best talent to the best clubs is for the benefit of the national team, but in reality that is absolute ********. The big boys benefit and no-one else. That said, Saints also benefit by having Cat 1 and that pathway to the first team so it makes it easier for us to bring talent here but I haven't seen us raid clubs for talent too much, maybe Plymouth for Jack Stephens and Sam Gallacher in the last few years and Blackburn for Niall Mason this season gone.

I don't see those two things being opposing forces. Progression can be achieved without the degradation of tradition and history, but likewise over the course of a football clubs life things are always going to change and sometimes that touches tradition. People are biologically adverse to change and when you add that to tribalism and sense of belonging that football brings, I suppose I can see why there is so much outrage when people perceive the history and tradition of the club to be disrespected. I highly doubt the powers that be have intentionally done anything in spite nor anything that they know would damage the club. It just wouldn't do them any good. For me progression always means change - sometimes that involves history and tradition and other times not. When you take the case of Manchester United, a group of fans felt so unengaged with the club they went off and formed their own, only to face the same issues other clubs did despite a manifesto which claimed otherwise (moving their FA Cup game with Rochdale for TV was hilarious). I think it is quite clear from the soundbites we've had from Cortese over the last 4 years that he is determined for the club to be perceived differently than it had before. He seems hell bent that we will be perceived as something far more than the perennial strugglers from the South coast. Whilst the majority of that can be done with the foundation of a good team and everything that goes into that, I can only assume a part of this work is reshaping how the club is represented aesthetically in some cases - be it slogans, badges, kits, etc. But for me, they are just aesthetic things. They are the face of the club to others. For me as a supporter I care more about the other things - things like our attitude to the Academy and youth development, and our style of play. They matter more to me as a supporter and define our club more. And I am very happy with those things no matter how they are presented to me in the shapes of kits etc. The only time I'll be at a cut off point is when the club make football unaffordable for me.

First part of pre-season training will be a shock to the body in order to start conditioning it to quick recovery. However, most pre-season training these days is also less intensive than you would assume since the players will be expected to maintain fitness (if not improve) over the course of the season. If you overwork them in the summer then at the start of the season there is some early benefit but it rapidly tails off post-Christmas as the body can't take it along with the inevitable knocks that are carried by the players. So it is more about being sharp for the start of the season and fit enough to perform at a good level over the course of a season, rather than being pushed too much in the summer and then being unable to sustain a level of fitness over 9 months.

It would be easier for me to answer that if I had any idea why you are so upset about the change in kit layout. It is because stripes is all you've known for the majority of your sporting life? Or is it something else? Because if it is something else and you are using the kit as a vehicle to rant about 'modern football' then you've completely missed the point and you should have boycotted the club or some nonsense like that the moment we got promoted to the Premier League. Personally I have a preference for stripes as I am familiar with them and that are what I associate with Saints. But it is just a preference and it does not impact how I support the club or my view of it. The welfare of the club is the most important thing. Aesthetics like the kit don't really matter and the fact we've got such an emotive response to the new kit suggests to me that there is nothing else to moan about right now which is absolutely brilliant as far as I am concerned.

I don't remember this fuss over the anniversary kit a few years ago. I think that was because it was a nice kit that no-one else had.

Will still buy it anyway but looks like the sort of shirt a Sunday League team would consider. I like the gold though and if the away shirt is black and gold I think that will be good.

And his agents want £1m+ that should read!

I don't think this is dead by any means, but I think it will have a way to run. It is pretty clear Wanyama wants to leave and in order to do so Celtic must receive a bid of £12m with payment terms they accept and Wanyama's wage requirements must be met AND his agents will want £12m+. Interestingly, since the Saints stuff came out it is only Cardiff who have subsequently been linked and reports suggest they can't even agree a fee with Celtic. No-one else has reportedly swooped in so Wanyama is a little stuck at the moment and may be ask exactly what his agents are doing for him if he has to turn up to pre-season training in Glasgow in a few weeks...

Well how about this for tenuous. If you look at these twitter accounts: https://twitter.com/oustudentvicky https://twitter.com/romseysquib It appears to either be two people on a windup (maybe) or two people conversing about picking up a player (or agent?) from London after a flight to Glasgow and dropping them off at a hotel in the New Forest. One of the tweets suggests surprise that he is English and not Scottish so at a guess I may think it is Gary Hooper. They reference a flight number that is this flight: http://info.flightmapper.net/flight/Flybe_BE_895 Something to get stuck into I suppose