mrfahaji

Wow. I thought it was a decent move if the permanent signing was based on certain conditions, but if it is inevitable regardless then that it is quite an incredible gamble, and one I'm pretty sure the club wouldn't have made a few years ago. If he picks up another injury and spends most of the season sidelined, we still have to buy?

This was a lot of unnecessary effort just for one triumphant line: On the last day of the window, Les Reed signed for Saints, Twelve days in China Eleven out on loan Ten deals with Midas Nine more years for Fraser Eight interviews cancelled Seven trips to Anfield Six figure pay rise ONE DANNY INGS Four pairs of glasses Three new ties Two chats with Ralph and a Black Box Anti Virus Software

Welcome home, don't be mad Because we rejected you when you were a lad The Kingsland stand, will not sing Until we get a goal from our Danny Ings (not a serious suggestion...)

After his first season in the Premier League, I would say he offered similar to Shane Long, in that he hassles defenders and has pace, but also decent control and an eye for goal. But I'm not sure what the injuries have taken out of him, we saw with Rodriguez how it's not just pace that you can lose but just a general sharpness or acceleration. I think we'll see a player who isn't better at any one thing than our current crop of strikers, but might have more of an all-round game. Here's hoping anyway. Oh, and I agree with your last line - another striker is better than nothing, but the biggest weakness was surely a creative player.

I am a bit jealous of that one, unfortunately. Obviously they've paid a big fee for him, but hoped that if he did move to the PL it wouldn't be to Everton.

Right ok, makes sense, thanks (and Batman). Hopefully we have negotiated a reasonable price (not the £20m they wanted...) and don't do anything stupid like accidentally playing him in a game which obligates us to sign him if he's not looking up to it. Anything is possible with Saints nowadays...!

What does this 'obligation to buy' mean, as oppose to 'option to buy'? Surely Liverpool can't force us to buy him if he doesn't do very well?!

Yeah yeah, the standard line trotted out by anyone who doesn't bother to consider the context. It's such a common soundbite. Who has he managed in the Premier League? With the exception of Crystal Palace after Pulis (which admittedly did not go well), I think I'm right in saying he has only ever managed a team that he got promoted with in the first place. Notts County, Sheffield United, QPR and now Cardiff. Those clubs would all have been favourites to go down, Sheffield United were only relegated because of the Tevez farce, and he was sacked at QPR with them in 17th (after taking them from relegation battlers to winning the Championship in the previous 2 seasons) - Mark Hughes didn't exactly turn it around there, did he? No doubt if Cardiff get relegated or he gets sacked people will say the same thing - "Warnock once again can't do it in the Premier League", forgetting the fact that when he took over at Cardiff nobody expected them to even be in contention for the playoffs, never mind automatic promotion, so to expect him to set the Premier League alight is pretty ambitious.

Amazing how quick everyone is to write off Cardiff. Warnock is a canny manager whose sides regularly cause surprises. It will of course be difficult for them, but the idea that they are obviously finishing bottom with a record low points total will prove to be wide of the mark, in my opinion.

Interesting... because there's no reason to visit London otherwise.

Good point, though I think "worse player on the pitch" should automatically mean "worst player apart from Carrillo".

Against Wigan? He was pretty bl00dy shocking that day until the goal. And yes I was there, watching with my own eyes as he miscontrolled, gave the ball away, failed to get forward, constantly passed inside and backwards, regularly allowed the winger to cross or beat him. I don't think he is a bad player, certainly don't think we are in a position to be offloading him, but there were a few occasions last season (admittedly, mostly under Pellegrino) where he was dreadful, in particular that Wigan game, where for me he was the worst player on the pitch despite his goal.

McCarthy Cedric Vestergaard Yoshida Bertrand Lemina Romeu Sims Armstrong Elyounoussi Austin Would consider trying Gabbiadini in place of Sims, Elyounoussi or Austin though.

Don't think it's accurate to say "we just couldn't put the ball in the net". There was some pretty dire football at times. But, I do agree that now and again we played decent stuff and there were definitely some positives (as well as negatives) during Puel's reign. Unlike last season which was horrific almost from the moment it started until Hughes arrived.

Yep, he was pretty dreadful by all accounts until Pulis went there and started working with him. Blinding pace but no end product, never got his head up. By the end of the season teams were rotational fouling him, ending up with several players in the book because it was the only way they could stop him. Not sure whether that half a season of good coaching is enough of a platform, or whether Santo will continue to develop him, but will be interesting. He finally started to live up to his potential and immediately jumps ship. I know it is to a better team/league but it's not always the right decision for your long term career.

Wasn't that Barrios?

Really hope he turns out to be a flop. Spending all that money and still not solving their GK issue would be brilliant.

Anyone know what happened with Promes? Was it all a load of rubbish, or did we burn our bridges to do the deal in the summer? Or did his club just want too much money in the end?

Yeah that was my first thought as well...

Pretty amusingly accurate. I think the signings have been the right profile, whether they end up being good enough only time will tell, but ultimately that is down to the scouting department. I also think we need one more attacking player, most probably a wide attacker so we can play 4-2-3-1 and don't have to rely on Redmond (though I would be more ok with not signing one if Sims was going to get more gametime). Of course if we stick with 5-3-2 then we don't need any more wide players, but I'm not convinced that's the best approach for this squad.

I'm worried the new guy won't have the Impact we're hoping for, and our defending will continue to be pretty Comic Sans.

Watching the highlights of the second goal, MGB have half the pitch to themselves as soon as the throw is taken. Hojbjerg is almost immediately taken out the game, Lemina doesn't bust a gut to get back, and Armstrong is still hanging around with the strikers. Then, despite having 3 central defenders, they all back off and let Zakaria carry the ball the entire way without a single challenge. We can't have situations where the other team are in our half (not a counter attack) and we only have 2 midfielders, we'll be torn to shreds every game. How advanced does Armstrong tend to play? Perhaps this goal was a one off, but am slightly concerned that he plays more as a 'number 10', and don't think we can afford that if we're already playing 2 up front.

I'm not saying your opinion won't end up proving correct in the long run, but hasn't Lemina missed a lot (all?) of the pre-season games, either due to illness, parenthood or flights to Manchester? On one hand we have people lamenting the fact he hasn't had much time to get fit, and on the other hand when he does play and perhaps unsurprisingly isn't up to speed, people write him off as not being good enough!

I looked back at my betting history to see whether I am in the black or the red overall, as you tend to remember the wins but ignore the losses! I don't bet a huge amount though - most of the time just on tournaments - so a lot of my bets have been what I always termed "emotional hedges". Made over £700 when Pochettino joined Spurs that way, but have invariably lost the others (e.g. Saints relegation, Liverpool to win something). 7/1 feels about right, compared to last season when fans could see the odds were way too long considering how we were playing. Don't really like odds where I have to put quite a decent chunk of money on in order to get a suitably 'cushioning' win.