Rate the Summer Signings so far

Stekelenburg - 8

Good, solid keeper, has done really well and calms the defence

Cedric - 6.5

Has done well when he has played, especially in attack although has looked iffy at times one vs one (although bossed Hazard). However, he just doesn't complete 90mins enough for my liking, whether for fitness reasons or because his defensive ability isn't trusted. This has caused big problems.

Martina - 2

Twente fans were shocked when we signed him and you can see why. He just isn't a PL quality player and has effectively been overtaken by an average CB playing out of position at RB. What happened to our usual policy of not signing anyone unless they add to what you have?

Caulker - 6

Solid 4th CB, solid loan. Hasnt played a lot but you wouldn't want him to as means others are unavailable.

Van Dijk - 9

Outstanding young player and great signing. Good defender, good on the ball and a goal threat. In the same class as Alderweireld which was what we needed. Top signing.

Romeu - 5

Ok, but not great. Gets booked too much and seems a little slow. Koeman looks to have lost faith in him. Hooked at HT away to Chelsea and then again in his next league start at City

Clasie - 6

Looks a tidy player but a little lightweight for the PL. Virtually in December and he cannot play 90mins yet, although obviously had a couple of unlucky injuries.

Juanmi - 4

Even with injuries and suspensions he never gets a look in and despite appearing to have quality he just looks physically underprepared for PL football and has played less than 50 PL mins by virtually December.

Summary - bar VVD & Stekeleburg very mixed, although expect Clasie and Cedric to be 7s by end of season.

Cedric is a 7 or 8 for me. Many times we have barely missed Clyne which is a great achievement. He can't be blamed for not being picked by koeman.

Cedric is a 7 or 8 for me. Many times we have barely missed Clyne which is a great achievement. He can't be blamed for not being picked by koeman.

I agree he has been good at times but if he isn't trusted to play, or isn't fit enough to play 3 games a week then that doesn't justify a 7 or 8 IMO.

But you can see he is a good player.

I agree he has been good at times but if he isn't trusted to play, or isn't fit enough to play 3 games a week then that doesn't justify a 7 or 8 IMO.

 

But you can see he is a good player.

I prefer to base a rating on the performance of player. Bit unfair to mark him down if koeman decides not to play him, particularly because we don't know the reasons why.

I wish we hadn't signed any players at all and just blooded all our brilliant youngsters like we did in the good old days when Pochettino was manager.

I wish we hadn't signed any players at all and just blooded all our brilliant youngsters like we did in the good old days when Pochettino was manager.

Presume you are being sarcastic? Other than Chambers did Poch even play anyone else regularly?

Presume you are being sarcastic? Other than Chambers did Poch even play anyone else regularly?

Jeez, please don't!

I prefer to base a rating on the performance of player. Bit unfair to mark him down if koeman decides not to play him, particularly because we don't know the reasons why.

Today we don't but he has said in previous games its because Yoshida is a better defender. I don't recall him dropping Clyne apart from when his head was messes up with the contract/offers. He trusted him to defend.

I think Martina was signed for the Europa League games, which obviously worked out brilliantly for us.

IMO and hypothetically speaking if we signed Clyne right now, he would be our starting RB above Cedric.

On a positive note I think Cedric will learn a lot this season and may well get there by the end of this season.

I think Martina was signed for the Europa League games, which obviously worked out brilliantly for us.

seems daft, the games were never going to get easier than the ones we played

seems daft, the games were never going to get easier than the ones we played

Not even the reason, he's just another cheap, dutch wannabee of the type we seem to like to sign for no apparent reason from time to time. We must have a minimum dutch quota or something of that ilk.

Stephens would be more than capable of doing what Martina has.

In fact he would probably be a better RB than Yoshida as has played there a lot.

But equally Romeu and Juanmi are very much jury out also, whilst Cedric has probably completed 90mins in less than half our games.

I agree he has been good at times but if he isn't trusted to play, or isn't fit enough to play 3 games a week then that doesn't justify a 7 or 8 IMO.

 

But you can see he is a good player.

How many times has Yoshida been selected ahead of Cedric exactly? (league, obv)

Juanmi looks unimpressive in the limited time we have had to look at him.

Stek 8 - looks very good

Martina 0 - what was the actual point. utterly waste of signing for a club who champions its own academy

Cedric 6 - should be more but has missed a fair bit of game time. I suspect that number will improve

Clasie 6 - looks pretty good but has hardly played. Will only get better

Juanmi 4 - not much to go on. But has at least set up a goal

VvD 9 - awesome

Romeu 5 - Meh

Caulker 6 - done alright

How many times has Yoshida been selected ahead of Cedric exactly? (league, obv)

United at home, Sunderland away, City away.

He has also come on as a sub quite a few times at RB.

Cedric has only played 90mins in 7/14 league games. So in half our league games either Yoshida or Martina have been playing some minutes.

He didnt play in the cup versus Villa and didnt play more than half the Europa minutes either.

United at home, Sunderland away, City away.

 

He has also come on as a sub quite a few times at RB.

 

Cedric has only played 90mins in 7/14 league games. So in half our league games either Yoshida or Martina have been playing some minutes.

 

He didnt play in the cup versus Villa and didnt play more than half the Europa minutes either.

I was going to say we can't count City away because Cedric wasn't available for selection, but as it has transpired he was dropped :S

At any rate, I don't think his being substituted is evident that Koeman doesn't trust him. That's just tactics/injury/etc. And I'm not going to take cup games into consideration, because most managers rotate where possible.

League game wise, it's 11 starts vs 3 starts. If you extrapolate that over the season, Yoshida makes 7/8 starts. I think it's pretty clear Koeman prefers Cedric, he just values Yoshida's physicality(?) presumably. Oh, and he doesn't trust Mane to defend at when on flank (horse's mouth).

P.S I personally think Cedric was benched for Sunderland away because Wanyama wasn't available (only height from Pelle, Fonte, and VVD without Yoshida).

VvD superb and Stek a very good loan signing. Caulker also a decent loan as won't get many better 4th CB options. Other signings all look a little unconvincing, particularly Martina which was a wasted transfer. Hopefully Clasie and Juanmi come good, although not convinced the latter will in the Prem. Cedric has done quite well so far with Romeu looking OK. Overall, 7/10 for me with the VvD signing dragging that mark up to a 7!

I'm disappointed we haven't seen more of Romeu. I'm not saying he should be playing, but the fact he isn't is a sign he isn't showing the level we were hoping - he has played less as the season has gone on, whereas I thought he might play more.

Even though he was booked too often and occasionally gave away silly fouls, to start off with he seemed pretty decent, maybe thought he could do Wanyama's job effectively. But instead of being firmly part of a rotation, he is now very much a back up, and doesn't necessarily play even when Wanyama is out.

Who is actually the Schneiderlin replacement? We knew for ages he wouldn't be here this season but neither Clasie nor Romeu seem to have the attributes Morgan had, even combined.

Wonder if we would have been better spending the money it cost to buy both on one player and giving Reed more bench time (otherwise he will look to leave soon).

Clasie looks good but Schneiderlin's main attribute was the kind of agility, work rate, stamina and control of a game that neither Clasie nor Romeu have.

The fact the guy you look to as the dictator of the pace and flow of the game is unable to play 90mins each game by December is a concern IMO.

Stekelenburg 8 - good keeper - Forster hasn't been missed

Martina 0 - utter crap. McCarthy or Stephens would have done a better job.

Cedric 7 - improving all the time

Clasie 6.5 - very good player. can see why we bought him.

Juanmi 2 - have seen nothing to suggest he's got anything

VvD 9 - player of the season shoo-in

Romeu 6 - Good signing but can only play instead of Vic, not with him.

Caulker 6 - played alright when called upon - good loan to cover Gardos injury

Who is actually the Schneiderlin replacement? We knew for ages he wouldn't be here this season but neither Clasie nor Romeu seem to have the attributes Morgan had, even combined.

 

Wonder if we would have been better spending the money it cost to buy both on one player and giving Reed more bench time (otherwise he will look to leave soon).

 

Clasie looks good but Schneiderlin's main attribute was the kind of agility, work rate, stamina and control of a game that neither Clasie nor Romeu have.

 

The fact the guy you look to as the dictator of the pace and flow of the game is unable to play 90mins each game by December is a concern IMO.

There is a scouse equivalent of you bemoaning the fact that they should have bought a replacement that was as good as Suarez.

Stupid point about Clasie, Do you understand why Forster hasn't played this season?

There is a scouse equivalent of you bemoaning the fact that they should have bought a replacement that was as good as Suarez.

 

Stupid point about Clasie, Do you understand why Forster hasn't played this season?

Nothing like Suarez. You know you cannot replace the quality, but you would try to target players with the same attributes I would imagine. The weaknesses of both Romeu and Clasie were the strengths of Schneiderlin. All of a sudden we are very easy to counter attack because our midfield is pretty immobile and lacking in agilty.

Not overly sure what the point of Romeu is, and Koeman has subbed him at HT in his last two starts.

Clasie obviously coming back from injury, but its not like he was out for a year. He just looks like for all his technique he will struggle with the physical demands of the PL.

Nothing like Suarez. You know you cannot replace the quality, but you would try to target players with the same attributes I would imagine. The weaknesses of both Romeu and Clasie were the strengths of Schneiderlin. All of a sudden we are very easy to counter attack because our midfield is pretty immobile and lacking in agilty.

 

Not overly sure what the point of Romeu is, and Koeman has subbed him at HT in his last two starts.

 

Clasie obviously coming back from injury, but its not like he was out for a year. He just looks like for all his technique he will struggle with the physical demands of the PL.

Clasie did miss pre-season though. 6 is probably a fair mark for his contribution thus far but I fully expect this mark to have risen significantly by the end of the season. A fit Clasie was playing against Brazil in the World Cup when VVD didn't even make the squad. Very unfair to judge him on his injury-hampered start to his Saints career to date.

Stek: 7.5 Decent cover loan replacement for Forster given the situation

Soares: 7 Was tempted to give him a lower stat given how bad he was early in the season. His recent performances have been a marked improvement and after seeing the rabbit in headlights that was Yoshida yesterday he deserves his 7.

Martina:??? Why buy such a player? Why refuse to play him above Yoshida?

Caulker: 5 Another strange one. If you are going to rehabilate such a player surely you have to buy him not loan him. If he's simply cover why not use the academy players such as Stephens who has been sent out on loan to sit on Middlesborough's bench and play the odd league cup game.

Romeu: 5 When people were raving about him early on i was scratching my head and thinking he looks an average player who looks like he's about to get sent off any minute. Koeman must really hate reed to parachute him in ahead of him.

Clasie: 6.5, low mark because of his injury but there are flashes of the quality that'll hopefully mean a much higher mark by the end of the season.

VVD: 9.5, Class (Shows what happens when you spend real money)

Juanmi: 2, Reminds me of Mayuka at the moment. Hopefully he'll develop and it won't be another case of us being robbed as he ends up goeing back to malaga on loan and we lose the fee we paid for him.

Stek - Decent enough. Much better than Davis and Gazza. 7/10

Cedric - Done well of late after a poor start. Wish Koeman would put more trust in him. 7/10

Martina - Meh. Why did we sign him and loan out Stephens? 0/10

Caulker - Not really seen much of him but he's decent enough cover for CBs.

Romeu - Tough one, good enough cover for Wanyama I suppose. 4/10

Van Dijk - Looks a good addition, wins mostly everything in the air and good with the ball at his feet. He won't be here for very long if he keeps up this form. 8/10

Clasie - Held back by his injury, started to show some qualities in the last few weeks. 6/10

Juanmi - Pointless signing as things stand. 1/10.

Stephens would be more than capable of doing what Martina has.

 

In fact he would probably be a better RB than Yoshida as has played there a lot.

 

But equally Romeu and Juanmi are very much jury out also, whilst Cedric has probably completed 90mins in less than half our games.

I would like to agree with you re Stephens but the fact that he has rarely played for Middlesbrough in the Championship suggests he wouldn't be up to Prem standard atm

Stekelenburg 8 - good keeper - Forster hasn't been missed

 

Martina 0 - utter crap. McCarthy or Stephens would have done a better job.

 

Cedric 7 - improving all the time

 

Clasie 6.5 - very good player. can see why we bought him.

 

Juanmi 2 - have seen nothing to suggest he's got anything

 

VvD 9 - player of the season shoo-in

 

Romeu 6 - Good signing but can only play instead of Vic, not with him.

 

Caulker 6 - played alright when called upon - good loan to cover Gardos injury

Agree with pretty much all of this, bar the Juanmi comment. He was relatively cheap and obviously has something, but we've been told he's still being 'built up' for the Prem, so am not expecting much until next season. If he hasnt played a few games by the end of the season then we'll be worrying, but still think there's something there and just 'bedding' him in slowly.

I would like to agree with you re Stephens but the fact that he has rarely played for Middlesbrough in the Championship suggests he wouldn't be up to Prem standard atm

But Martina isnt up to PL standard either and has only played a few minutes.

Would rather give those few minutes to someone like Stephens.

Stek: 7.5 Decent cover loan replacement for Forster given the situation

Soares: 7 Was tempted to give him a lower stat given how bad he was early in the season. His recent performances have been a marked improvement and after seeing the rabbit in headlights that was Yoshida yesterday he deserves his 7.

Martina:??? Why buy such a player? Why refuse to play him above Yoshida?

Caulker: 5 Another strange one. If you are going to rehabilate such a player surely you have to buy him not loan him. If he's simply cover why not use the academy players such as Stephens who has been sent out on loan to sit on Middlesborough's bench and play the odd league cup game.

Romeu: 5 When people were raving about him early on i was scratching my head and thinking he looks an average player who looks like he's about to get sent off any minute. Koeman must really hate reed to parachute him in ahead of him.

Clasie: 6.5, low mark because of his injury but there are flashes of the quality that'll hopefully mean a much higher mark by the end of the season.

VVD: 9.5, Class (Shows what happens when you spend real money)

Juanmi: 2, Reminds me of Mayuka at the moment. Hopefully he'll develop and it won't be another case of us being robbed as he ends up goeing back to malaga on loan and we lose the fee we paid for him.

I'd agree with those bar Juanmi, looked useful in the Vitesse game when he came on but hasn't been given opportunities. Seems a strange signing, as many of them were last summer. Stek and VVD are the clear successes, can see Clasie joining that bracket come May and then kicking on some more. Caulkker is OK for cover but would have preferred some succession planning for Fonte but perhaps that will be Jack Stephens? Romeu I'd give a 6 to, reasonable player and I've seen much worse but could have been better given his pedigree which is first class. Soares has recovered very well from a poor start and will never understand Saturday's decision to prefer Yoshida unless Soares's can't play 2 games in a week at the moment?

Martina though - why, just why? I'm not even sure Cook would pick him at the skates down in the grim basement of the league, and that's saying something. Positioning and distribution are terrible, yes he's quick but so was the full back we got on a free from Norwich in League 1 and he was as bad a footballer as well.

Juanmi will be a very good player for us as will Clasie and Soares.

Stekelenburg - 9 - superb and reliable with very few mistakes, as good a loan as we could hope for.

Cedric - 8 - doing well and obvious talent but loses a mark for the infrequency of his appearances and frequency of injuries.

Martina - 5 - started awfully pre-season, seemed ok in the Europa League, fine in win over Norwich, hasn't played since a half against Man U when he was very average.

Caulker - 6 - Man City sub appearance was the first time he didn't look like a beleaguered hoof merchant, not going to start.

Van Dijk - 9 - a couple of early glitches especially against Man U but adds not only defensive strength but an attacking threat

Romeu - 6 - looked very solid when playing regularly but seems to have dropped off since he became second choice to Clasie.

Clasie - 7 - hasn't played enough to get a higher score but starting to show signs of being stronger and quicker on the ball, more composed

Juanmi - 5 - hardly played, did well enough in League Cup games to suggest he might have something, another who needs to strengthen and get games.

I would like to agree with you re Stephens but the fact that he has rarely played for Middlesbrough in the Championship suggests he wouldn't be up to Prem standard atm

Played the full game when Middlesborough beat Man Utd in the cup though, so seems more a case of them using him as cover and not feeling much of an inclination to develop him as he's not their player.

Played the full game when Middlesborough beat Man Utd in the cup though, so seems more a case of them using him as cover and not feeling much of an inclination to develop him as he's not their player.

Says to me that he's backup and is only better off there than here because we're actually trying to win the League Cup and probably wouldn't have given him a game in the tournament this season.

I think Martina was signed for the Europa League games, which obviously worked out brilliantly for us.

my thoughts, too...

Played the full game when Middlesborough beat Man Utd in the cup though, so seems more a case of them using him as cover and not feeling much of an inclination to develop him as he's not their player.

I think Stephens has been unlucky because the Boro' manager seem to get it right from Day 1 and hasn't needed alternatives.....except for injuries or suspensions.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/dec/17/premier-league-transfers-summer-signings-club-by-club?CMP=share_btn_tw

Guardian view of all summer signings across the PL.

Saints have a low average of 5.4/10

15th of the 20 PL sides.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/dec/17/premier-league-transfers-summer-signings-club-by-club?CMP=share_btn_tw

 

Guardian view of all summer signings across the PL.

 

Saints have a low average of 5.4/10

 

15th of the 20 PL sides.

The Stek rating is a joke.

The Stek rating is a joke.

Seems pretty reasonable assessment of all to be honest.

The Stek rating is a joke.

Agree with this but think the Martina grade is generous so probably evens itself out!!

Stek average couldnt catch the bus let alone the ball. Caulker, send him back 4th choice for a reason is dog s##t. Coco Martina? Who? Abysmal signing. soares / Van dicks ok so far rest are gash or havent turnt up.

Lets face it lads we have sold quality and have got cheap dross to replace. We need to stop being tight asses and spend some dosh on quality!

Stek average couldnt catch the bus let alone the ball. Caulker, send him back 4th choice for a reason is dog s##t. Coco Martina? Who? Abysmal signing. soares / Van dicks ok so far rest are gash or havent turnt up.

****ing hell, schools broken up I see.

Summer business the biggest problem for us I think.

Tried to be too clever and it hasn't worked.

Summer business the biggest problem for us I think.

 

Tried to be too clever and it hasn't worked.

Spot on and also no youth players coming through at all!

Spot on and also no youth players coming through at all!

Where is Harrison Reed. How can he not at least make the bench! Surely there are some other youngsters in attacking roles who could make the bench. Attacking wise we need some alternatives.

Summer business the biggest problem for us I think.

 

Tried to be too clever and it hasn't worked.

We spread the cash available far too thinly, only spending a sum roughly equivalent to player sales. Trouble is we sold 2 players and needed to buy 5 or 6. That's what fortuned club owners are for, spending their money for our benefit. If they're not going to do that they should sell up.

Cedric is a 7 or 8 for me. Many times we have barely missed Clyne which is a great achievement. He can't be blamed for not being picked by koeman.

i really have to disagree with this

at best a 5 or a 6. not close to an 8 really. poor defensively

Watford making Liverpool look very ordinary. With some of these less fashionable teams upsetting the apple cart, we could learn something by asking why ?

Is it tempo, desire ?