WHEN the international squads are announced - as they all have been this week - we see that seven of the senior Saints players are going off on international duty, for the countries they come from.

England have two Saints players, Danny Ings and James Ward-Prowse.

But the difference at times is, while the club manager is pleased because it reflects how well the club he manages is doing, on the other hand, being a manager you know they are going off for two weeks.

They are training with other players who they normally just see playing against them on match days, listening to all the gossip.

But the main thing of course is, if they are all playing, please don’t come back with an injury. If it’s normally one international game, that’s not so bad.

But with so many in a short time, if one of your players plays in all three games, he may not come back injured but he may need a little break, rather than rushing straight back into a league game.

It was good to see that Ralph and the team got a win at Burnley. As I have said before, never an easy place to go to.

Obviously, we needed that and it takes a bit of the pressure off from our next game this weekend at home to West Brom, who again, in my opinion are in the Burnley category. Neither club expects to be in the relegation area or in the Champions League area at the top – but of course, are hard opposition.

The word ‘pressing’ has cropped up again. I think in the early games we’ve had, particularly the home game against Tottenham, we did not look as good as a team, when we have done really well before.

When the opposition have it in their back four and are passing it round, as nearly every team does nowadays, your forwards get tight on them – in other words, pressing.

At Burnley, Ralph got them back into that and hopefully they can keep it going because that sort of game eventually makes the opposition make a mistake or give the ball away.

Then, of course, we have got forwards who can cash in on it, particularly our own Danny Ings and Shane Long – two strikers who are full internationals.

The COVID-19 problem has obviously altered lots of dates and the way, in general, football is played without crowds and supporters being in attendance.

The transfer deadlines this season are a bit different. For instance, getting players in from abroad can only be done up until Monday – whereas domestic signings can carry on up until October 16.

Bearing in mind the majority of transfers these days seem to be players coming in from abroad, I suppose the agents are working round the clock at present.

I still find it hard to believe that when a player is brought in and a transfer fee is paid, the buying club has also got to pay a fee to the player’s agent.

Why the FA allow this to happen, I still can’t understand. In my day, when agents started to come around, the player had to pay his agent.

I also noticed that Ralph has said recently he would like to make three new signings. Fingers crossed, let’s wait and see if he gets what he’s after.

We, like a lot of Premier League clubs have allowed some players to leave. This would normally have happened at the end of a season but, with the number of players in squads now, it is probably best for both if they can get a club, usually in the lower leagues.

It will get them playing more regularly but also gets them off the wage sheet, out of the club they have possibly been with too long.