SaintTex

has Lavia even played a minute yet?

yeah.. pantomime goalkeeping. .....or maybe he is this ghostly apparition in which earthly object can easily pass right through. whatever it is, it isn't goal stopping.

Might be an insurance policy if Stewart doesn't or is unable (injury) to step up. Come January if it is all going swimmingly w/ Stewart, we could sell Che to a desperate PL team & try recoup some money.

Agreed. we bought him in 2017 (6 years a go!) for £5 million with very little fanfare and low expectations. As the quality of our squad slowly decreased, he ascended (but in reality he just survived the attrition). Never in a million years did i think he was going to be basically a nailed-on starter 5 straight years (loan spell not withstanding) He'll do fine in the championship, but much like our club, he has been masquerading as a premier player for 5 years now.

found this site on Championship transfers interesting, as it lists a percentage of league starts lost and number of league goals lost due to player outs. https://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/23626243.championship-transfer-window-2023-24-every-far/ of the three relegated sides Southampton League starts lost: 158 (38%) League goals lost: 13 Leicester League starts lost: 108 (26%) League goals lost: 29 Leeds League starts lost: 205 (49%) League goals lost: 23

how about some levity?

Yep. We were in 20th place when he agreed to the transfer in the winter, we were in 20th place at the end of season. He had zero impact. and now he want to leave for greener pastures after he was unable to contribute at all in avoiding relegation? Gee, thanks.

I don't know what was offered, but i am not expecting the squad to be stronger than last year, but am expecting/hoping for a club that is strong enough to get promoted this year. Two very different things. Our ability to have a stronger club than last year is hindered greatly by two realities, 1) lack of PL revenue and 2) the quality of player one can expect to be playing in the 2nd tier (re: players with qualities of JWP, Lavia, Tino, Tella, Adams are going to attract/be attracted to top tier leagues)

When I see Paintsil mentioned, it just reminds me of house repairs that need to be done.

Pretty much this. Fairly dispensable at this point and it's becoming apparent when push comes to shove we will opt to jettison a player that was a part of the 22/23 season. The strategy is becoming pretty obvious at this point - 1. put together a team in RM's image 2. get rid of players that have the stink of last year on them 3. recoup money that was disastrously spent last year 4. get/retain just enough talent to get us promoted - loanees being a big part of that equation.

they'd go down well enough.

Well.. I guess when you get offered £20m for a forward that has only scored 1 PL goal, you take it. oh, and i come up with £159.2m total so far. romeo lavia £58 million james ward prowse £30 million mo salisu £17.2 million tino livramento £32 million mislav orsic £02 million nathan tella £20 million although, that Salisu number has been a tricky one to pin down.

Played DM some for Everton the past few years, so there is some versatility there, as well.

Well, we let Lavia go to Chelsea for £58mil when we had an offer from Liverpool for £60mil. Yes, Lavia did seem to indicate his club preference late, which obviously Southampton considered. By all accounts Lavia had remained a professional throughout the whole process, so i think the club felt screwing him over for £2mil more and sending him to a club he did not prefer wasn't good business. I have no idea if Piroe has a strong preference where he wants to play.

Bubbles.. get it?

all our targets are opting for the Saudi Pro League. Very frustrating.

JWP used to touch his eyebrows seemingly every 5 seconds during post-match interviews. Once I noticed it, I couldn't stop unnoticing it.

funny.. the only thing i will remember about his time here is that that he on the squad during the relegated season. if someone ten years now, say.. "hey, its the Romeo chap.", I will be like.. "yeah, he was on the team the year we went down." apologies if that is cynical of me.

i could see the pros to a Luton loan move for him. He plays regularly in the PL Even if Luton is relegated he doesnt go down with them. He won't be blamed for Luton's relegation. If Luton stays up he will get a lot of the credit. If he plays for Saints in Championship and Saints aren't promoted, his PL value will decrease.

chaps my hide a bit. He came here in February as a record signing, when we were in 20th place, and didn't do fuck all to get us out of 20th place. Now he wants to pout and leave because he doesnt want to play in the Championship. Thanks for nothing. who knows? an additional 5 or 6 goals from him last season could have kept us up (barely).

everyone is picking a guy who hasn't signed for us for a match played in less than a week?

Keepers are allowed to do that?!

SaintsPlay is shit, streaming is shit.. ESPN+ works. off to watch Leicester and Huddersfield

user name checks out.

mmhmm, there was a lot of bedwetting in here last season, too - and look, nothing bad happened.