Can you have a word with Siggurdssen (?) and see if he would like to move South, should the Swans go down?
Indeed. Sunderland and Boro appear to have given up, whilst neither Hull nor Swansea can take the bull by the horns. The safety line is crying out for one of them to reach out to, if they would just get into gear. But then that is why they're down there.
I'd say we broadly got away with this weekend, if Liverpool beat WBA. If was always going to be tough for us, but Burnley, West Ham, Leicester, Bmouth and Palace all not winning was good to see. Yes Watford and Stoke both did, but both were at home to relegation strugglers - and asking for everyone to slip up was always going to be a big ask. If we can broadly get away with it again over the next round of matches, then top eight will be still be on, and top half we will still (in my view) be favourites.
At the moment, Swans fans want him away anyway as seemingly he's doing nothing. Then again, so is everyone else...
It's incredible really that we lose two key players to Spurs in two seasons, and thanks to VvD and Romeu, we don't really miss either of em.
But we do miss VVD* and Romeu *That's a bit unfair on Stephens...he's grabbed his chance with both hands and this opportunity will have done him the world of good.** **PS Les. Doesn't mean we can sell Virgil.
Yeah, we miss both of them. Yesterday would have been a different story with that pair breaking things up and bringing the ball forward. But when they're playing, we miss neither Toby nor that Kenyan bloke, er, whatsisname?
Although I'd rather we had all four of them, myself. Add quality to quality, rather than replace quality with quality.
Although that brings up the question of had we signed Alderweireld and kept Morgan would we have signed VVD and Romeu? As much as it would have obviously been brilliant if we had kept all the players we have sold I just think we wouldn't have ended up with half of them if we hadn't had that first exodus of Lallana, Lovren etc
Of course we wouldn't, that isn't how the club is set up to operate at the moment. Maybe with fresh investment that will change though...
I am not sure how much I buy into the whole "this is how the club operates" and more "this is how football operates". Every player we have sold who we would've wanted to keep has moved on to a far bigger club who can offer them more than we can in terms of money, chances of silverware and global fame. With fresh investment we may be able to offer them the money but in the short term at least we won't be able to offer them anything else.
Not true. In almost every case, after a year or two with us, players are improved enough to then move to a club who can offer them higher salaries and Champions League football, etc., which they wouldn't have got if they hadn't come to us. That is one of the reasons we can attract good young players like Victor, Sadio, and, yes, Virgil. Every club does this, but I would contend that we are better at it than anyone else. The next step in our journey is regular European football, so the players stay around a bit longer.
I wouldn't have him in the team ahead of Oriol, genuinely. And I don't think they ever really worked as a pair. The two players we've really missed since getting back to the PL imo are Clyne and Mane. And Pelle I suppose, but a fit Gabbiadini and Austin would probably keep him out as well. Maybe not actually. But for my money the Romeu of this season, and Virgil, are both improvements on Vic and Alderwatsit
Given the correct four men in front of them, I think Romeu and Wanyama would flourish as a pair. Certainly a lot more than so than Davis with Romeu. (Although I would rather Romeu and Morgan, further still). And no, we don't miss Clyne these days in my view. Cedric is absolutely fine. As with Shaw, I rate Clyne highly but I don't see any need for him. Whereas Toby, Morgan/Wanyama, Mane and Lallana I think would all would back into our team (and with open arms, from me).
We'll have to disagree then. While Cedric has improved a lot this term, RB has imo been our weakest position since Clyne left.
Yes, WBA lose. Four wins and one draw from our final seven, and we get 7th place. I'm calling it now. That puts us onto 53 points. When you include our superior GD, WBA would need 10 points from their last 5 games. They play Leicester (h), Burnley (a), Chelsea (h), Man City (a), Swansea (a). I don't see 10 points there, especially if Swansea have to win on the last day. (Hopefully we'll need less than four wins and one draw though. Because given our remaining fixture list, that is a far from simple ask)
There was a question posted on here before the season started asking where we thought Saints would finish this season. I'm pretty sure that I said 13th so anything above that is a bonus and top 10 a major bonus!
