Lallana's Left Peg

Gaston was told the same thing in the summer but no-one wanted him.

I agree that Saturday's disappointed was not just down to Davis, but I don't think anyone is saying we should have a third top quality keeper on the books but surely one who is better than Davis and Gazanigga is wise given our first choice is out until at least Christmas and maybe the rest of the season? We managed to spend £5m+ and wages on Juanmi who (based on team selections thus far this season) appears to be 7th choice for a role behind Pelle so talk of budgets for me is misplaced. We had money and we strengthened other parts of the team and we left ourselves exposed in the GK position.

Just because a supporter may think Davis isn't up to it to be a Premier League keeper doesn't mean he or she isn't massively grateful for his loyalty and role he played in our rise up the league and continues to play as a part of the club. Just because he was loyal it doesn't afford him a free pass to not be good enough to play in the Premier League. He is doing his best, no-one is questioning his effort, but he has never been good enough at this level and nothing that has happened in the past has changed that. ~£150m spent since we've been back in the Premier League and we've not signed a keeper who is better than Davis to be backup. That has and will cost us points. No blame apportioned at Davis, but more those managing the investment in the squad. If we're happy to spend £12m on a sub like Shane Long we should be happy to spend £3m on a decent backup keeper who doesn't dramatically change the mentality of the defence when he plays. Davis has been great for Saints and I don't begrudge him his contract but it shouldn't mean he plays - not when we aspire to be at the level we are at and other areas of the team receive the investment they do. Keepers are unfortunate in that there isn't anyone to bail them out when they make a mistake so every mistake they make is usually highlighted and often leads to a goal, but for me that only serves as the reason why you don't take risks in that spot.

My favourite bit was when he said how long he had supported Saints and put his arms in the air for acknowledgement and no-one gave a **** Then a few questions later that old boy said 74 years which smashed the chap from Leicester's time

I would imagine Chaplow would fancy the move given his new gaffer is Darren Ferguson. The two hate each other

I think they would accept a few seats unsold each game and consider that a sellout. How much would it cost to expand the stadium - lets hypothetically say it costs £20m to expand by 8k seats, and in the meantime capacity is reduced by 8k for a season while it is built. You've got a cost of £20m + (8k * 20 * £30) = £24.8m. Then to get that money back you've got to raise £25m from those extra 8k seats which will take 5 seasons at £30 a ticket (presuming they all sell and presuming 200k a season is raised in other income while those people are at the stadium). It's not a very attractive proposition especially when the team needs investment. It wold properly make more sense to build another stadium but that is an argument for another day.

I don't feel that sorry for him - 37 years old and enjoying a Premier League wage means my sympathy is lacking I think it was clear he needed replacing after last season but for whatever reason he wasn't - its an even bigger indictment on Gazanigga that he can't oust him in the pecking order so a half decent backup keeper was sorely needed and never acquired.

But that doesn't really address why we went into this season with Davis as our number 2

I thought it was a good exercise from the club and well hosted by Adam Blackmore. Some of the willy waving from the fans was stupid though and I tired of the chat from Ralph Krueger. Les Reed and Ronald Koeman were very good though.

I have a different perspective to you though: 1. I refuse to believe that FFP would prevent us spending £3m+ wages on a goalkeeper who is far better than Kelvin Davis and Paulo Gazzaniga. Remember in the summer we paid Osvaldo a lot of money just to go away. We spent £5m on Juanmi who is the definition of a fringe player. £1m on Martina for what appears to be just a few games. £5m+ on Romeu who now appears to be bench fodder and (in my opinion) no better than Harry Reed. So for me, there is money about. That we didn't spent it on a backup keeper is a big failure. 2. The idea that Kelvin is third choice is very silly - we would not have signed Stekelenburg had Forster not been injured. Depending on who you believe he is out for the season or out until Christmas. I personally believe he is done for the season but I cannot substantiate that but likewise no-one on here really knows either. But regardless, what could have stopped us signing another keeper and not registering Gazanigga? That way we have Stekelenburg first choice, the new signing as backup, and Kelvin as third choice (which allows him to continue to be in and around the first team squad and fulfil his role off the pitch)?

Maybe I have missed something but pragmatically speaking why do you think we're in the situation we're in with the goalkeepers?

You don't necessarily need to receive an answer to know what is going on. If a direct question gets a direct answer then you know that the club are thinking along the same lines and those present have been briefed on the situation if they aren't already involved themselves. If the answer a question gets is woolly it means one of the following: 1. They know the truth but don't want to publicly state it 2. If the club are thinking about it then it's not something deemed important enough for Ron, Ralph or Les to be involved in or be briefed about 3. They genuinely don't know And all three of those scenarios can be read into to get an indirect answer.

For a club that was prepared to spend £10m+ on a first choice keeper it isn't half peculiar that it isn't prepared to spend a few million on a decent prospect for a backup.

Yeah I would agree with that. And I'm glad we have Koeman as well.

I think Davis was 'free' but we paid Rangers £800k for him in the end as we didn't want to go through tribunals as I think they disputed that their players could leave for free when their club folded. We have signed plenty of decent players on a free but surely the best is Dean Richards?

None of us really know what impact he is having internally, but you have to assume the owner is happy with him and that is a marker that he is doing his job to her satisfaction. All we directly see of him as fans are his public / media bits and bobs and lets be honest if it was Brendon Rodgers saying the things he does then we'd all be ****ing ourselves laughing. He gets some slack obviously as football is a new sport to him but overall he does come across as a Canadian who appears to know how to run teams in business but has no idea about football. He doesn't need an idea about football to be good at his job of course, but when he talks publicly the way he does it is cringey.

Well it is a bit of a story as none of us knew he had talks with the club until that story broke!

That is what I think myself however someone on here mentioned that Clasie has also been playing in the Davis role in training which would mean any of Davis, Romeu or JWP could play next to Wanyama as well. Personally I like the sound of Wanyama, Clasie and Davis with JWP and Romeu on the bench but as we've seen this season Koeman likes to change the balance of the midfield based on the quality of the opposition and how much of the ball he expects to see so who knows. I expect us to be better on the ball than Leicester but they are very direct and very quick so how what direction he takes will be interesting to see.

Not to discredit Leicester this season who have clearly pushed on since last season but they haven't actually beaten anyone half decent this season. Lets hope we play to our capabilities in the game and I think we should be ok. Regarding Clasie, they say never change a winning team but when VvD signed he came straight into the team off the back of a 3-0 win against Norwich so assuming Koeman rates Clasie highly we'll see who he really rates of the Davis / JWP / Romeu trio as two of them will miss out if Clasie starts (assuming Wanyama is an automatic starter).

#blameKlopp

If I was to speculate I would point to the increased physical requirements of the Premier League every year (a couple of seasons ago the Man Utd fitness coach showed a graph where the number of high intensity sprints in a game increases every season) puts the body under more strain and makes major injury more likely.

He's been their best striker this season as well, though that's not saying much

"no possibility" From the man himself.

That bridge has been burned and whilst I think we missed him at times last season and he is better than Tadic we've moved on. He plays for a bigger team and earns more money and has attempted to prove himself at a higher level (failed thus far mind you).

Not sure when it became a 'thing' but people / media referencing WhoScored as some sort of measure of good and bad is annoying. It particularly reaches peak ****ness during the transfer window when potential signings are statistically compared to existing players at the club and / or other transfer targets.