Lallana's Left Peg

Whenever I watch Alfie Jones it seems like the game comes very naturally to him and he has another few gears to get into but never needs to. It is usually the sign of a very good player.

I agree with you. Reacting every time something comes out in the media shows a willingness to get involved in games. At best we retort through trusted media sources by simply saying our stance has not changed and that is that. Whether or not it has changed privately it doesn't make sense to publicly state so either. For what it is worth I think losing Coutinho gives Liverpool the financial muscle to make us an offer for VVD that would test our resolve, but that is just pure speculation on my part. However, if the fact they get him is because they lost their best player it somewhat contradicts the reasons VVD wants to leave (well, the public ones - privately the reason is to triple his salary or whatever it is).

Don't know much about him but reading up on him and looking at the mandatory YouTube compilation he seems to have the attributes we are missing and the ones we desperately need. Who is leaving then? No way we keep all our midfielders if he comes in.

When they were put under pressure Augsburg looked very wobbly poor. But unfortunately they got their tails up as they realised they could run past us unchallenged and we didn't have a clue in the final third. That gave them the confidence to express themselves and the complex of the game changed. It's becoming clear to me that our best team will never consist of our 11 most talented players and that the balance of the team against the style we need to play is most important. I read Pellegrino is a pragmatist and I hope he soon starts showing it with Saints as I think that is our best chance of succeeding this season. The final third is the biggest issue for me. A bunch of players all with ability in certain areas but none have learnt to play well together. Too many (Tadic, Boufal, Redmond) want the ball to feet and to do their 'thing' when we have players like Long and Gabbiadini who thrive on quick passing to compliment their movement, or Austin who needs early balls in the box. That is a recruitment issue more than anything else.

They are the same ones as last season which exist because we have the same players: - no cohesion, balance or understanding in the final third - limited physical presence which allows teams to attack us directly with purpose and just stride past us These are limitations of our personnel and not our manager. Still, its just a pre-season friendly with half a team who won't start against Swansea I suppose.

If he stays out of the way of the first team its another month without proper training and without match practice. It'll take another four weeks to get him up to speed so if we keep him he would be able to contribute anything until October and I would assume keeping him this season means he is off next summer. Assuming he is on something like 80k a week that is 9 months he hasn't played and nearly £3m he has been paid whilst he has had the intention of never playing for this club again. Don't turn this into an emotional decision make it on the basis of business. If the fee we can get for him can make the first team stronger then sell. If the fee we can means we can't adequately replace him and the team gets weaker then keep - and I would take that approach regardless of his behaviour and regardless of it being Liverpool he wants to go to. As it stands it doesn't feel like we could get near to replacing him (any huge fee for VVD then distorts the amount we have to pay for his replacement so it is all relative) and taking £60m and £80k a week of the wage bill doesn't even equate to buying three £15m players on £60k a week and given some of the muck that has moved for £15m this week I say we stick this one out and keep VVD unless some very unlikely opportunities come our way in the transfer market.

.. Assuming the players are back in today, we'll find out more when reports of whether or not hes back with the first team.

Board will be made to look very very silly and only way to remedy it is to spend all the money on quality players. The way the Liverpool stuff has played out has been less than ideal.

I think the fact Liverpool haven't moved to sign another centre-half is proof enough they are waiting in the wings. Really tough one for the board to negotiate. Sell him and they come off very poorly out of this. Keep him and they risk their best paid player acting like a knob. Genuinely tough call to make. Would love to think they will stick with the principles they told us at the start of the summer but who knows in football.

Presuming he is going as a midfielder, I am genuinely surprised to see Will Wood in there ahead of Calum Slattery.

To be fair we'd be mad to turn our back on such a willing buyer. Liverpool have certainly indirectly contributed to our success the last few years. Their lack of imagination in the transfer market is to our benefit and long may it continue. All they have to show for it is a third place finish in the league the season they weren't even in Europe. If anything they should be questioning why they keep coming back to us for players - unless the extent of their ambition is such that this is their level now.

If he's that desperate to leave he needs to hand in a transfer request. And find a team willing to bid for him that isn't Liverpool. Then he can go.

I don't think many fans would disagree with you. I think the acid question - and one you've not answered - is whether or not our business model provides us with a realistic crack at qualifying for Europe every year and even getting close to threatening the top 4? Surely at some point we accumulate enough money to take the 'next step' (whatever that may be)? How can we make players stay?

I'm not surprised by the tabloids picking up on it as anything clickbait is right up their street but for the local rag in Liverpool to do so is a bit desperate of them.

Just like we did Fonte?

Thus far the indications are that Liverpool haven't moved on so the suggestion is that they still think a deal can be done. The board would look incredibly weak if they were to allow it to happen but if VVD throws a strop they are backed into a corner. It'll be interesting to see how this one pans out. Losing VVD does not feel like as big of an issue as it would to lose him and not have a prepared strategy of who to buy to replace him (or what to do with the money full stop).

Good. We don't need a striker who doesn't score goals, a player in the final third who has little physical presence and a player who is competing for a spot in the team in an area we already have good players. We desperately need a central midfielder who has the ability to carry the ball past a player (power and stride, not skill) to break the line of a bank of five opposition midfielders and open things up for us.

They can do what they want. FFP relates to losses based on football based activity and impacts wages / transfer spending. It's more of an accounting practice (of which there are many ways to get around) than something which prevents a club spending lots of money. I understand that if they sold Barkley and Lukaku this summer for a combined £120m then that shows as £120m income in the books for this year but any player they sign has their transfer fee amortized over the course of their contract i.e. if the player cost £25m and signs a 5 year deal then he 'costs' £5m a year in the books. So from an accounting practice they have lots of money to play with this summer.

The new Tello for us to be linked to for the next 5 years

I'd like to see a loan in the Championship for him. Thought he offered a directness and willingness to take risks last season that was sorely missing from others but also at times he found it hard to get involved in games.

Everton about to shoot themselves in the foot by signing Rooney. Do not understand this signing at all, especially considering the wages he will command. Bet Man Utd can't believe their luck.

Good player, would be far better clubs than Leicester in for him if Man City were not insisting on a buyback clause. It's essentially a glorified loan that allows Man City to receive a lot of income which gives them FFP room to buy more players. They've also done this with Unal.

Two years ago we were about to embark on a European campaign and he was needed for the squad. Then we got knocked out and there wasn't much time left in the transfer window - I presume by this stage any club we would have been happy for him to move to had already moved onto other targets as it was getting on late in the window. I am going to guess he stayed last season because we were in Europe as well (although rumours of a move to Derby persisted). This is just an educated guess.