Dusan Tadic

I would have been "insanity" to sell a number of players we have in the last few years. But we have when we didn't need to

I'll humour you; Which players would you have forced to stay?

I'll humour you; Which players would you have forced to stay?

who ever I say, will be dismissed

but all of a sudden, Tadic going....that means something is wrong or something

Would be insanity to sell him, he's a terrific creative player and we're already short in that area. And why would that price be good? That many assists in the premier league? We don't need the money, we're short on players. I expected mane and wanyama, the others were starting regularly, but tadic would be a stupid sale.

You seem to have forgotten our policy. It just wouldn't be the Southampton way to reject offers for our players. Quite rude that would be actually, just not the kind of thing that would happen at our club. In the eyes of the board a Tadic sale would be very welcome and a great move.

who ever I say, will be dismissed

 

but all of a sudden, Tadic going....that means something is wrong or something

If he wants to go, we should raise up the drawbridge like we did with Morgan & Vic and keep him for 1 more season.

Losing Tadic / Pelle / Mané in one summer would be utter madness.

If he wants to go, we should raise up the drawbridge like we did with Morgan & Vic and keep him for 1 more season.

 

Losing Tadic / Pelle / Mané in one summer would be utter madness.

Agree. He is the only genuine creative player we have left without Mane.

Had a great end to last season and will be key this time.

We need to try and improve the squad - as it stands we are one of few PL teams that are currently weaker than when the season ended.

Would be stupid to sell this season....

I can't agree with the criticism of Koeman dropping players. I actually think it's a reason for why we finished so strongly.

Let's look at Pelle and Tadic - both came back more motivated and played exceptional for the remainder of the season.

You can look at it both ways.

If a player doesn't want to be here, then he will not be fully focused.

In any event Tadic will sign a new contract and stay with Southampton.

If a player doesn't want to be here, then he will not be fully focused.

 

In any event Tadic will sign a new contract and stay with Southampton.

I think we will soon know either way. As they are back in the UK until Friday IF Tadic is going to sign a new deal I would think this next week is the window for Les to get his pen out and the photographer at the ready !

Need someone as well as Tadic, but don't know enough of Kostic to comment whether he's suitable.

As long as it isn't Djuricic...

Agree. He is the only genuine creative player we have left without Mane.

 

Had a great end to last season and will be key this time.

 

We need to try and improve the squad - as it stands we are one of few PL teams that are currently weaker than when the season ended.

A month or so ago both Ronald & Les, in separate interviews, said that we wouldn't need to sign many players.

Les said this about our summer needs:

"Not massive requirements, this is a good squad, a good team - we've got depth in the squad."

So lets assume that we we wanted to sign 2 to 3 players before we lost anyone.

After our 3 sales (Vic, Mane, Pelle) & add a GK to the mix - We already need 4 players before we've even added any numbers to last years group.

Will certainly be interesting to see who we get linked too from here on out, and to keep an eye on who from the U21's catch Claude's eye.

I really hope we can keep Dusan, he's the most skillful player I've seen in a Saints shirt since Le Tiss. It would be a sad loss :-(

So lets assume that we we wanted to sign 2 to 3 players before we lost anyone.

 

After our 3 sales (Vic, Mane, Pelle) & add a GK to the mix - We already need 4 players before we've even added any numbers to last years group.

I think you've made a false assumption there, our squad last season was about the right size. Lets suppose a typical 18 from last season of:

Forster - Martina, Fonte, VVD, Bertrand - Wanyama, Clasie - Mané, Davis, Tadic - Long

Subs: Stek, Cedric, Yoshi, Romeu, JWP, Austin, Pelle

That still leaves J Rod, Gardos, Gazza, Reed and Targett not even making the bench, when all are fit. You could perhaps assume J Rod and Austin to be '1 player' based on their fitness but there isn't room there for another 3 senior, first team players. I think it's more a case of replacing the departures.

Stek - Was only here because of FF's injury, wont be replaced.

Davis - Still needs replacing

Mané - Redmond. Many wont like it but I think that's the plan.

Pelle - Suspect Austin was signed with this in mind.

Wanyama - Hojbjerg

Basically we need a 'keeper and I think we may look to find one more attacking/creative option. That's probably it unless someone else leaves.

I think you've made a false assumption there, our squad last season was about the right size. Lets suppose a typical 18 from last season of:

 

Forster - Martina, Fonte, VVD, Bertrand - Wanyama, Clasie - Mané, Davis, Tadic - Long

Subs: Stek, Cedric, Yoshi, Romeu, JWP, Austin, Pelle

 

That still leaves J Rod, Gardos, Gazza, Reed and Targett not even making the bench, when all are fit. You could perhaps assume J Rod and Austin to be '1 player' based on their fitness but there isn't room there for another 3 senior, first team players. I think it's more a case of replacing the departures.

 

Stek - Was only here because of FF's injury, wont be replaced.

Davis - Still needs replacing

Mané - Redmond. Many wont like it but I think that's the plan.

Pelle - Suspect Austin was signed with this in mind.

Wanyama - Hojbjerg

 

Basically we need a 'keeper and I think we may look to find one more attacking/creative option. That's probably it unless someone else leaves.

Well as fans ideally we would all love 2 quality players at each position. I will assume we are playing a new 433 instead of a 4231 under Puel.

GKs: Forster, Gazzaniga, Harry Lewis

RBs: Cedric and Martina

CBs: VVD, Fonte, Yoshida and Gardos

LBs: Bertrand and Targett

CMs: Højbjerg, Steven Davis, Romeu, JWP, Clasie and (Reed)

RWs: Redmond

STs: Long and Austin

LWs: Tadic and J-Rod

Ideally from this, I'd like to see the club sign one more midfielder, possibly a bigger 6ft3 type to replace Wanyama's strength and height, and I have put brwckets with Reed because I have no idea if he is good enough for top 6 football due to his lack of game time. In the 2014/15 season I thought he looked great- and Les Reed labelled him the greatest out of the academy or something like that

Also another exciting winger, that could have been Musa, but wasn't. We need another RW surely?

J-Rod can also play uptop too but I am hoping if we do buy an attacker this is someone who can slot seamlessly in any of the front three roles.

Finally, we need better backup than Gazzaniga, with Lewis as our No. 3.

Hojbjerg is not a Wanyama replacement and Redmond is no Mane replacement.

Plus we've been lacking a goal scoring/No.10 midfielder for ages, essentially a replacement for what Ramirez should have been.

Thing is if you say Austin replaces Pelle, then Mane and Wanyama still need replacing + you need 1-2 on top of that to improve the squad. Those comments from Reed were when we had last years squad, last years Squad had Wanyama, Mane, Reed, Pelle, Juanmi and Stek.

That's 6 out and so fair we've had two in. That's a gap of 4 players on last year, you can say 3 if Austin is Pelle's replacement, so to get to the strength of last years squad we need another 3 players, maybe 4 to say the squad is improved.

Currently you could say we haven't replaced Wanyama, we haven't replaced Mane and really the only area we have potentially improved is Hojbjerg as he's the sort of complete, box to box centre mid we haven't had since Morgan left.

So I'd expect a wide attacking player, a No.10, a physical defensive mid and a back up keeper.

It also seems clear that one if not both of our right fullbacks are not rated by Puel, so that may be another addition. If they are really serious about improving, pushing on then to compensate for 5/6 out we should be getting 7/8 in.

Well as fans ideally we would all love 2 quality players at each position. I will assume we are playing a new 433 instead of a 4231 under Puel.

 

GKs: Forster, Gazzaniga, Harry Lewis

RBs: Cedric and Martina

CBs: VVD, Fonte, Yoshida and Gardos

LBs: Bertrand and Targett

 

CMs: Højbjerg, Steven Davis, Romeu, JWP, Clasie and (Reed)

 

RWs: Redmond

STs: Long and Austin

LWs: Tadic and J-Rod

 

Ideally from this, I'd like to see the club sign one more midfielder, possibly a bigger 6ft3 type to replace Wanyama's strength and height, and I have put brwckets with Reed because I have no idea if he is good enough for top 6 football due to his lack of game time. In the 2014/15 season I thought he looked great- and Les Reed labelled him the greatest out of the academy or something like that

Also another exciting winger, that could have been Musa, but wasn't. We need another RW surely?

J-Rod can also play uptop too but I am hoping if we do buy an attacker this is someone who can slot seamlessly in any of the front three roles.

Finally, we need better backup than Gazzaniga, with Lewis as our No. 3.

That attack looks way too light for me. Whilst I like Redmond I don't think he'll replace Mane's goals and Pelle's "replacement" Austin will quite likely not be on the pitch at least 50% of the time to convert the creativity and crosses Redmond will provide. Add to that the high likelihood that J Rod will never be the player he was - what if he has another season like last year when he was out for the majority of it and scored zero league goals? - and we are potentially far far too weak. We need another proven striker at least and probably another creative type, two if we lose Tadic which I sincerely hope we don't.

Hopefully and probably the club are still working on bringing another 1 or 2 in (Berahino would do nicely) and have reason to be confident that Austin and Rodriguez' previous injury problems are behind them, but to go into the season with that attacking line up would be a real worry.

Hojbjerg is not a Wanyama replacement and Redmond is no Mane replacement.

 

Plus we've been lacking a goal scoring/No.10 midfielder for ages, essentially a replacement for what Ramirez should have been.

 

Thing is if you say Austin replaces Pelle, then Mane and Wanyama still need replacing + you need 1-2 on top of that to improve the squad. Those comments from Reed were when we had last years squad, last years Squad had Wanyama, Mane, Reed, Pelle, Juanmi and Stek.

 

That's 6 out and so fair we've had two in. That's a gap of 4 players on last year, you can say 3 if Austin is Pelle's replacement, so to get to the strength of last years squad we need another 3 players, maybe 4 to say the squad is improved.

 

Currently you could say we haven't replaced Wanyama, we haven't replaced Mane and really the only area we have potentially improved is Hojbjerg as he's the sort of complete, box to box centre mid we haven't had since Morgan left.

 

So I'd expect a wide attacking player, a No.10, a physical defensive mid and a back up keeper.

 

It also seems clear that one if not both of our right fullbacks are not rated by Puel, so that may be another addition. If they are really serious about improving, pushing on then to compensate for 5/6 out we should be getting 7/8 in.

Then you will be disappointed, we aren't signing another 6 players. At the moment we have a match day squad, something like:

Forster - Cedric, Fonte, VVD, Bertrand - Hojbjerg, Romeu, Davis - Tadic, Austin, Long

Subs: Gazza, Yoshi, Martina, Clasie, JWP, J Rod, Redmond

Plus, Gardos, Reed and Targett as extra options. As I said, I think we will see another 'keeper and attacking player and look towards the likes of Hesketh, Seager and Gallagher to try and make an impact. There isn't room for another 6 players.

My conspiracy theory is that his contract is all sorted but Saints leaked links to other clubs so that when he does sign we can say that he did so despite outside interest.

I'm not sure this is the right thread for this discussion, but there are some good points in the posts below which I would like to comment on. However, just so my post is on topic: I really hope Dusan not only stays but signs the new contract that we are said to be offering. I think he is a class player who will fit the new manager's preferred playing style very well.

I think you've made a false assumption there, our squad last season was about the right size. Lets suppose a typical 18 from last season of:

 

Forster - Martina, Fonte, VVD, Bertrand - Wanyama, Clasie - Mané, Davis, Tadic - Long

Subs: Stek, Cedric, Yoshi, Romeu, JWP, Austin, Pelle

 

That still leaves J Rod, Gardos, Gazza, Reed and Targett not even making the bench, when all are fit. You could perhaps assume J Rod and Austin to be '1 player' based on their fitness but there isn't room there for another 3 senior, first team players. I think it's more a case of replacing the departures.

 

Stek - Was only here because of FF's injury, wont be replaced.

Davis - Still needs replacing

Mané - Redmond. Many wont like it but I think that's the plan.

Pelle - Suspect Austin was signed with this in mind.

Wanyama - Hojbjerg

 

Basically we need a 'keeper and I think we may look to find one more attacking/creative option. That's probably it unless someone else leaves.

I think you are right in that we won't be bringing many more new players in. I also suspect you are right in that Redmond is to replace Mane and Hojberj is the Wanyama replacement. I also think this leaves us weaker than last season.

Most people agree that Austin was pre-bought as a Pelle replacement, so maybe you shouldn't have included both your random match-day squad?

And yes, we do we only one new 'keeper to replace the two who left (Stek end of loan; Kelvin retired).

We did also lose Juanmi (who, I admit rarely featured for us) and we lost Gaston's sizeable salary. I would imagine Juanmi was bought as a Gaston replacement, so this would be the one outfield position I am sure we will buy someone for.

Well as fans ideally we would all love 2 quality players at each position. I will assume we are playing a new 433 instead of a 4231 under Puel.

 

GKs: Forster, Gazzaniga, Harry Lewis

RBs: Cedric and Martina

CBs: VVD, Fonte, Yoshida and Gardos

LBs: Bertrand and Targett

 

CMs: Højbjerg, Steven Davis, Romeu, JWP, Clasie and (Reed)

 

RWs: Redmond

STs: Long and Austin

LWs: Tadic and J-Rod

 

Ideally from this, I'd like to see the club sign one more midfielder, possibly a bigger 6ft3 type to replace Wanyama's strength and height, and I have put brwckets with Reed because I have no idea if he is good enough for top 6 football due to his lack of game time. In the 2014/15 season I thought he looked great- and Les Reed labelled him the greatest out of the academy or something like that

Also another exciting winger, that could have been Musa, but wasn't. We need another RW surely?

J-Rod can also play uptop too but I am hoping if we do buy an attacker this is someone who can slot seamlessly in any of the front three roles.

Finally, we need better backup than Gazzaniga, with Lewis as our No. 3.

To go with my comments above......

Absolutely we need 2 good (or at the very least, decent) players for each position. Indeed, ideally, we should have 3; to allow for injuries, suspensions, etc. Obviously, the third choice for each position could be filled by a player more ideally suited to another position or, better still, one of the U21s/U23s. One position that definitely needs 3 recognised players for is, of course, goalkeeper.

With that in mind, and Puel's preference for 4-3-3/4-3-1-2 it gives us:

GK: Frazer/Gazza/Lewis

RB: Cedric/Martina (3rd choice Stephens/Maya/Valery - the letter really impressed me on Friday)

CB 4 for 2 pos: Jose/Virgil/Maya/Gardos (5th/6th choices - Stephens/Turnbull - feel the latter will go out on loan again)

LB: Ryan/Targett (3rd choice Martina?? McQueen played there against DC Utd, but not his usual position)

Midfield 6 for 3 pos: Romeu/Davis/JWP/Hojberj/Classie/Reed (back-up Hesketh/Gape?)

FWDs 5 for 3 pos: Austin; Long; JRod; Redmond; Tadic (back-up Gallagher/McQueen/Isgrove/Olomola)

Given all the above, I personally feel that we need:

Another goalkeeper. If Frazer was to get an injury I wouldn't be happy with Gazza and Lewis.

Defence looks just about okay.

Another midfielder. Whilst we are okay with quantity, just - if you include Harry Reed - I feel we are lacking a bit in quality and experience. It took Hojberj until 12 games from the end of last season to get any sort of starting run in Schalke's team; and I am not sure if that wasn't due to injuries/suspensions. I am really not sure he is ready to walk into a PL starting 11. That. effectively, leaves us with 4 (Romeu, Davis, JWP and Classie) for 3 positions. Not much wriggle room if we get an injury or two.

Definitely an AM. Realistically, Dusan is the only player in our squad with the necessary skill-set to play the 'No 10' role, and even then he somewhat lacks the shooting ability. This is our one 'must fill' position imo.

Fwds: Austin, Long and JRod can all play the central role of a 3; with Charlie being the only one of these who doesn't seem able toplay a wide position. Redmond and Tadic play wide, but not central. If we play with 2 'up-top' it seems to be 2 from the first three mentioned (Austin, Long, JRod). This is way to few, especially considering how little football JRod has played the past 2 seasons (andhow 'off the pace' he looked when he has) and concerns over Charlie's knee. Therefore, I also feel that we definitely need to bring in another striker who is capable of playing as one of a pair, or in a wide position of a 3. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I think Berahino would be perfect for us in this regard (or Theo, but that is far less likely).

So, to summarise, I would like us to sign a back-up 'keeper, a midfielder, an attacking midfielder and a striker. However, I expect all we will get is the back-up 'keeper and a player for the 'No 10' role who can also play out wide.

Hojbjerg is not a Wanyama replacement and Redmond is no Mane replacement.

 

Plus we've been lacking a goal scoring/No.10 midfielder for ages, essentially a replacement for what Ramirez should have been.

 

Thing is if you say Austin replaces Pelle, then Mane and Wanyama still need replacing + you need 1-2 on top of that to improve the squad. Those comments from Reed were when we had last years squad, last years Squad had Wanyama, Mane, Reed, Pelle, Juanmi and Stek.

 

That's 6 out and so fair we've had two in. That's a gap of 4 players on last year, you can say 3 if Austin is Pelle's replacement, so to get to the strength of last years squad we need another 3 players, maybe 4 to say the squad is improved.

 

Currently you could say we haven't replaced Wanyama, we haven't replaced Mane and really the only area we have potentially improved is Hojbjerg as he's the sort of complete, box to box centre mid we haven't had since Morgan left.

 

So I'd expect a wide attacking player, a No.10, a physical defensive mid and a back up keeper.

 

It also seems clear that one if not both of our right fullbacks are not rated by Puel, so that may be another addition. If they are really serious about improving, pushing on then to compensate for 5/6 out we should be getting 7/8 in.

Fully agree with.

That attack looks way too light for me. Whilst I like Redmond I don't think he'll replace Mane's goals and Pelle's "replacement" Austin will quite likely not be on the pitch at least 50% of the time to convert the creativity and crosses Redmond will provide. Add to that the high likelihood that J Rod will never be the player he was - what if he has another season like last year when he was out for the majority of it and scored zero league goals? - and we are potentially far far too weak. We need another proven striker at least and probably another creative type, two if we lose Tadic which I sincerely hope we don't.

 

Hopefully and probably the club are still working on bringing another 1 or 2 in (Berahino would do nicely) and have reason to be confident that Austin and Rodriguez' previous injury problems are behind them, but to go into the season with that attacking line up would be a real worry.

Fully agree with this too.

Then you will be disappointed, we aren't signing another 6 players. At the moment we have a match day squad, something like:

 

Forster - Cedric, Fonte, VVD, Bertrand - Hojbjerg, Romeu, Davis - Tadic, Austin, Long

Subs: Gazza, Yoshi, Martina, Clasie, JWP, J Rod, Redmond

 

Plus, Gardos, Reed and Targett as extra options. As I said, I think we will see another 'keeper and attacking player and look towards the likes of Hesketh, Seager and Gallagher to try and make an impact. There isn't room for another 6 players.

I think you are right in that we will only bring in a 'keeper and an AM, but I really hope we also bring in another striker and midfielder.

Can you honestly see/would you honestly be happy with that squad playing Thursday - Sunday - Wednesday - Saturday (repeat) for much of the season? It is a squad game nowadays. We need a competitive squad, not just a match-day squad. Given the 18 you mentioned above, let's say JRod and Austin get knocks, Romeu has a suspension, illness for one or two others - that would make us look extremely weak, and in no way able to be competitive twice per week.

However, I do understand that we can't have too big a squad, as that also has an adverse effect on playing time, morale, etc.

Therefore, I agree no room for 6 signings, but let's please have 4.

I think you are right in that we will only bring in a 'keeper and an AM, but I really hope we also bring in another striker and midfielder.

 

Can you honestly see/would you honestly be happy with that squad playing Thursday - Sunday - Wednesday - Saturday (repeat) for much of the season? It is a squad game nowadays. We need a competitive squad, not just a match-day squad. Given the 18 you mentioned above, let's say JRod and Austin get knocks, Romeu has a suspension, illness for one or two others - that would make us look extremely weak, and in no way able to be competitive twice per week.

 

However, I do understand that we can't have too big a squad, as that also has an adverse effect on playing time, morale, etc.

 

Therefore, I agree no room for 6 signings, but let's please have 4.

If we were to assume that team I posted was our first choice 11, in a 4-3-3 then we have a second choice 11 something like:

New GK - Martina, Yoshi, Gardos, Targett - Clasie, JWP, Reed - New attacker, J Rod, Redmond

Okay, if we were to put that team out in the Prem it would struggle but it does show that we have decent depth across the pitch, with youth players making up the additional numbers. We might get another midfield/attacking option on top to make it 3 more on top of what we've got but I really can't see any more than that.

Those of you thinking we will have 3 or 4 players on top of last years squad, we just wont. That squad was big enough for a Europa League campaign anyway.

who ever I say, will be dismissed

 

but all of a sudden, Tadic going....that means something is wrong or something

Is he going then??

RB: Cedric/Martina (3rd choice Stephens/Maya/Valery - the letter really impressed me on Friday)

I only saw a couple of minutes of highlights of the game but thought J-Rod was moving a lot more freely and speedily than he was at the end of last season. What impression did you get?

Then you will be disappointed, we aren't signing another 6 players. At the moment we have a match day squad, something like:

 

Forster - Cedric, Fonte, VVD, Bertrand - Hojbjerg, Romeu, Davis - Tadic, Austin, Long

Subs: Gazza, Yoshi, Martina, Clasie, JWP, J Rod, Redmond

 

Plus, Gardos, Reed and Targett as extra options. As I said, I think we will see another 'keeper and attacking player and look towards the likes of Hesketh, Seager and Gallagher to try and make an impact. There isn't room for another 6 players.

Then we are significantly weaker than last year, especially in attack.

We've downgraded our DM (Romeu for Wanyama or Hojberg for Wanyama), we've downgraded our wide player A LOT (Redmond for Wanyama), we have a big risk over our attack and lack a target man option losing Pelle AND we still lack that no.10.

You can't expect two lesser players to replace 6, including two of our clear best players, and do better, especially as everyone else will be strengthening and we have the burden of extra games.

Huge gamble, we should at the very least be trying to get back to the quality of squad we had last year and Redmond and Hojberg just don't do that.

If we were to assume that team I posted was our first choice 11, in a 4-3-3 then we have a second choice 11 something like:

 

New GK - Martina, Yoshi, Gardos, Targett - Clasie, JWP, Reed - New attacker, J Rod, Redmond

 

Okay, if we were to put that team out in the Prem it would struggle but it does show that we have decent depth across the pitch, with youth players making up the additional numbers. We might get another midfield/attacking option on top to make it 3 more on top of what we've got but I really can't see any more than that.

 

Those of you thinking we will have 3 or 4 players on top of last years squad, we just wont. That squad was big enough for a Europa League campaign anyway.

First of all, please show me where I said that I would like 3 or 4 players on top of last year's squad. I didn't. We have lost: Kelvin, Stek, Wanyama, Mane, Gaston, Juanmi and Pelle - 7 players, 6 of whom are/were full internationals. We have signed 2 - 1 full international whom I think will take time to adapt to them prem. I am not asking for 10 or 11 players to be signed; just the 6 to take us to close to where we were last season.

I only saw a couple of minutes of highlights of the game but thought J-Rod was moving a lot more freely and speedily than he was at the end of last season. What impression did you get?

He didn't look as he was running through treacle, as he did last season, but he looked far from his old self. I can't remember JRod taking on and beating a player - unlike Sam McQueen, who was playing LB, who seemed to breeze past them. JRod also missed a couple of opportunities that he would have previously buried with ease. Hopefully it was just rustiness and he will come good.

Then we are significantly weaker than last year, especially in attack.

 

We've downgraded our DM (Romeu for Wanyama or Hojberg for Wanyama), we've downgraded our wide player A LOT (Redmond for Wanyama), we have a big risk over our attack and lack a target man option losing Pelle AND we still lack that no.10.

 

You can't expect two lesser players to replace 6, including two of our clear best players, and do better, especially as everyone else will be strengthening and we have the burden of extra games.

 

Huge gamble, we should at the very least be trying to get back to the quality of squad we had last year and Redmond and Hojberg just don't do that.

Once more, I fully agree with you.

Then we are significantly weaker than last year, especially in attack.

 

We've downgraded our DM (Romeu for Wanyama or Hojberg for Wanyama), we've downgraded our wide player A LOT (Redmond for Wanyama), we have a big risk over our attack and lack a target man option losing Pelle AND we still lack that no.10.

 

You can't expect two lesser players to replace 6, including two of our clear best players, and do better, especially as everyone else will be strengthening and we have the burden of extra games.

 

Huge gamble, we should at the very least be trying to get back to the quality of squad we had last year and Redmond and Hojberg just don't do that.

Actually, I have to disagree. I'd say Redmond is a far better wide player than Wanyama.

Like I said, I think we're after one more attacking player. Saying PEH is a downgrade on VW is a bit presumptuous as we haven't seen him play yet and Victor was hardly perfect last season. Pierre not getting sent off 3 times would be a good start.

Wanyama, Pelle and Mané out, PEH, Redmond and one more in. Seems pretty straight forward to me.

Glad I started what's turned into a pretty decent debate on the squad

Actually, I have to disagree. I'd say Redmond is a far better wide player than Wanyama.

 

Like I said, I think we're after one more attacking player. Saying PEH is a downgrade on VW is a bit presumptuous as we haven't seen him play yet and Victor was hardly perfect last season. Pierre not getting sent off 3 times would be a good start.

 

Wanyama, Pelle and Mané out, PEH, Redmond and one more in. Seems pretty straight forward to me.

if forster misses a game as it stands, we are fooked.

Like to see a better keeper than gazzaniga come in

First of all, please show me where I said that I would like 3 or 4 players on top of last year's squad. I didn't. We have lost: Kelvin, Stek, Wanyama, Mane, Gaston, Juanmi and Pelle - 7 players, 6 of whom are/were full internationals. We have signed 2 - 1 full international whom I think will take time to adapt to them prem. I am not asking for 10 or 11 players to be signed; just the 6 to take us to close to where we were last season.

That was in response to SuperSaint (I think) and backed up by a couple of others.

As for the players you've just mentioned, you've doubled up on some of them. For example, I think Juanmi was brought in as an extra option as Gaston wasn't working. Then we brought in Austin, who could be seen as a replacement for Pelle or Juanmi/Gaston. We can't replace all three of them, look at how big our squad would be.

Long, Tadic, Austin, J Rod, Redmond and replacements for Pelle, Gaston and Juanmi. That's 8 players fighting over 3 places (in a 4-3-3), it's not going to happen. It will be those 5, plus one IMO.

Stek was only ever a short term plug whilst Forster was injured. We don't need 2 more 'keepers, that's for sure.

if forster misses a game as it stands, we are fooked.

Like to see a better keeper than gazzaniga come in

We were talking about attacking players. Someone to replace Kelvin is pretty much a given (not Shay) I'd have thought.

I think a really good quality #10 and a back up goal keeper are all that should be in the cards. Done right that is still a lot of money spent, upwards of £20mil to £25mil.

I think a like-for-like replacement for Wanyama is unnecessary - Romeu seems certainly capable, PEH possible. Doesn't Puel's preferred formation only leave room for one DM and not a pairing?

I think the focus on extending contracts to quality players who want to be here has eaten a bit into what we would expect of a typical transfer kitty after selling upwards of £55mil worth of players.

I only saw a couple of minutes of highlights of the game but thought J-Rod was moving a lot more freely and speedily than he was at the end of last season. What impression did you get?

I had never seen our french left back Valerie(sp?) before and i must say i was pleasantly surprised, and impressed. He had composure on the ball and a little bit of the Paul Pogba swagger about him if i dare say! Made Targett look technically clumsy by contrast even though he made himself very busy on the left wing at times (but over enthusiastically mistimed a challenge too at one point which let in the forward). We seem to know how to make a left back alright! Fingers crossed he could be an absolute star!

I thought that Redmond looked busy and better than average skilled with ball at feet and seemed to have been told to run with the ball a little bit - and he did, and his pace, though not super-speedy, was certainly making average balls passed into him into good balls. Reminded me of when we had danny wallace and a big boot out of defence wide was invariably a great ball to Danny as he would always get there first!

I remember being impressed by how well griezeman ran the ball out of midfield and attacked the back 3/4 defenders in the turnover phase of play some matches at the euros and Redmond seemed to be attempting similar so that augurs well if he is given license to do that as MF and defenders hate guys running at them especially if we play a super stubborn defence but with fast paced breakout options away from home at some of the bigger clubs.

Jrod attempted a few kick the ball past the defender and go through type moves which did'nt come off but it does show he has the confidence in his standing start pace, even if there was not any real sight of it on show so i was pleased he tried anyhow. At least he was occasionally trying to take his man on rather than safely pass the ball backwards every time. Austin just needs service in the right area was what i saw in his half.

JWP ran around like an excited puppy chasing every ball and i love him but he does need to use a little bit of judgement as he will get booked loads this year otherwise by clumsy challenges. He is a terrier though and a saints lad so for me he is pardoned everything and i like him on the pitch as he always gives 100% value, but not as advanced as he plays for us- rather like he plays for Eng under 21's captain as the deeper lying ball re-circulator/playmaker, a position which eh will need battle with JC over i suspect this year..

Romeu was very good imo- rather bullying in CM and with excellent anticipation and timing (and better range of passing !) in fact, and some cynicism too at other times (like jwp has got tbf) exactly as you want in Bigvics absence.

Our new lad PEh was happy to play a support role in a cdm-type position and looked technically skilled, composed and played his way into the game well enough with a couple of clever passes.

Virgil was a bit off color ( he looked bored actually) but he is clearly a class player as he showed with a few touches, when he could be bothered. Martina showed why he is a decent hard working and reliable if relatively predictable squad player who is bigger physically but not as good attacking as Cedric.

Gazza did not drop the ball, colelcetd some crosses used a few kicks well and the young lad from Shrewsbury in the 2nd half goals showed competency too.

sorry meant to say right back for valerie!

Romeu replaces Wanyama

Hoj replaces Morgan

Redmond replaces Juanmi

 

Wait on the rest but its obvious and still early days.

"Like"!!

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Romeu replaces Wanyama

Hoj replaces Morgan

Redmond replaces Juanmi

 

Wait on the rest but its obvious and still early days.

Just dropped in here for a mid-summer update. I don't think Saintsweb do early days, they want it all and they want it now.

Romeu replaces Wanyama

Hoj replaces Morgan

Redmond replaces Juanmi

 

Wait on the rest but its obvious and still early days.

Can I play?!

Boufal or Ziyech for Ramirez

Chamberlain for Mane

Is Le Goddard a new ITK?

Think I've seen a few posts from him that people clearly appreciate.

Romeu replaces Wanyama

Hoj replaces Morgan

Redmond replaces Juanmi

 

Wait on the rest but its obvious and still early days.

OK - I get the Redmond/Juanmi one.

But the others. I thought Romeu replaced Morgan principally because both he and Wanyama were here at the same time. However, I can see the hard man enforced role is similar. But Hoj replacing Morgan - wasn't Clasie supposed to do that? Is Clasie going to be a 1st team regular or squad player?

OK - I get the Redmond/Juanmi one.

 

But the others. I thought Romeu replaced Morgan principally because both he and Wanyama were here at the same time. However, I can see the hard man enforced role is similar. But Hoj replacing Morgan - wasn't Clasie supposed to do that? Is Clasie going to be a 1st team regular or squad player?

Going strictly by L-G's game, you could say Clasie > Cork

Romeu replaces Wanyama

Hoj replaces Morgan

Redmond replaces Juanmi

 

Wait on the rest but its obvious and still early days.

Would you say Redmond replaces Juanmi and Ramirez or are we actually looking for that goalscoring number 10 that we have been desperately needing since our return to the premier league?

I'd say 3 signings are needed if there are no outs in priority of

1. GK to challenge and cover Forster.

2. Mane replacement who has pace and can play anywhere in the front 3. (Berahino would be a good shout IMO)

3. Goal scoring Number 10 who can also play out wide if needed.

Does 'goal scoring #10' really fit a 4-3-3, if that is indeed CP's preferred formation? I'd have thought the main striker would be supported by the traditional numbers 8, 7 and 11 as we wouldn't really play with one 'in the hole'.

Actually, I have to disagree. I'd say Redmond is a far better wide player than Wanyama.

 

Like I said, I think we're after one more attacking player. Saying PEH is a downgrade on VW is a bit presumptuous as we haven't seen him play yet and Victor was hardly perfect last season. Pierre not getting sent off 3 times would be a good start.

 

Wanyama, Pelle and Mané out, PEH, Redmond and one more in. Seems pretty straight forward to me.

When I say he's a downgrade, I mean he's a downgrade as the out and out physical DM, he seems more technical, a more complete box to box player, so really the only other sitting physical DM we have who can do the role Wanyama did is Romeu and he's decent but not Wanyama quality, hence downgrade.

If anything Hojberg is a Morgan replacement and would be vying with Clasie/JWP/Davis for a spot I think. If we are playing a 3 then one is holding defensive mid (only have Romeu), one is a box to box (Clasie/Hojberg/JWP/Davis), one is a No.10 to play off the striker which currently we have no one, but at a stretch or away to tough teams we might play a Davis or JWP in this role.

Redmond gives a wide right option, but we lack anyone else to play there and ideally you'd want two players for each position (Long doesn't work out wide and Jay Rod wouldn't work out wide right) plus this was where Mane played a lot, so a replacement there would make sense and you'd hope that he'd be better than Redmond so closer to replacing Mane.

So in reality we still need another wide right attacking player, we still need another physical DM and we need that No.10 creative type (

Plus we need a back up keeper and apparently another right back.

That's still 5 for me, if they are really serious about progressing and improving the team

Dream world - someone Gonalons or William Carvalho for the physical DM, Ziyech for the No.10, AOC or Bouffal for the wide player.

Would you say Redmond replaces Juanmi and Ramirez or are we actually looking for that goalscoring number 10 that we have been desperately needing since our return to the premier league?

 

I'd say 3 signings are needed if there are no outs in priority of

 

1. GK to challenge and cover Forster.

2. Mane replacement who has pace and can play anywhere in the front 3. (Berahino would be a good shout IMO)

3. Goal scoring Number 10 who can also play out wide if needed.

That would do us very nicely.

You'll be pleased by the end of the transfer window

Don't be silly. The board don't know what they are doing!

When I say he's a downgrade, I mean he's a downgrade as the out and out physical DM, he seems more technical, a more complete box to box player, so really the only other sitting physical DM we have who can do the role Wanyama did is Romeu and he's decent but not Wanyama quality, hence downgrade.

 

If anything Hojberg is a Morgan replacement and would be vying with Clasie/JWP/Davis for a spot I think. If we are playing a 3 then one is holding defensive mid (only have Romeu), one is a box to box (Clasie/Hojberg/JWP/Davis), one is a No.10 to play off the striker which currently we have no one, but at a stretch or away to tough teams we might play a Davis or JWP in this role.

 

Redmond gives a wide right option, but we lack anyone else to play there and ideally you'd want two players for each position (Long doesn't work out wide and Jay Rod wouldn't work out wide right) plus this was where Mane played a lot, so a replacement there would make sense and you'd hope that he'd be better than Redmond so closer to replacing Mane.

 

So in reality we still need another wide right attacking player, we still need another physical DM and we need that No.10 creative type (

 

Plus we need a back up keeper and apparently another right back.

 

That's still 5 for me, if they are really serious about progressing and improving the team

 

Dream world - someone Gonalons or William Carvalho for the physical DM, Ziyech for the No.10, AOC or Bouffal for the wide player.

 

If we were that bothered about improving, we would stop selling our best players to our direct rivals....

Would you say Redmond replaces Juanmi and Ramirez or are we actually looking for that goalscoring number 10 that we have been desperately needing since our return to the premier league?

 

I'd say 3 signings are needed if there are no outs in priority of

 

1. GK to challenge and cover Forster.

2. Mane replacement who has pace and can play anywhere in the front 3. (Berahino would be a good shout IMO)

3. Goal scoring Number 10 who can also play out wide if needed.

You'll be pleased by the end of the transfer window

I desperately would like this to be true.

So would I. If the intention of the club is to bring those 3 positions in, then I'm happy with that.

When I say he's a downgrade, I mean he's a downgrade as the out and out physical DM, he seems more technical, a more complete box to box player, so really the only other sitting physical DM we have who can do the role Wanyama did is Romeu and he's decent but not Wanyama quality, hence downgrade.

 

If anything Hojberg is a Morgan replacement and would be vying with Clasie/JWP/Davis for a spot I think. If we are playing a 3 then one is holding defensive mid (only have Romeu), one is a box to box (Clasie/Hojberg/JWP/Davis), one is a No.10 to play off the striker which currently we have no one, but at a stretch or away to tough teams we might play a Davis or JWP in this role.

 

Redmond gives a wide right option, but we lack anyone else to play there and ideally you'd want two players for each position (Long doesn't work out wide and Jay Rod wouldn't work out wide right) plus this was where Mane played a lot, so a replacement there would make sense and you'd hope that he'd be better than Redmond so closer to replacing Mane.

 

So in reality we still need another wide right attacking player, we still need another physical DM and we need that No.10 creative type (

 

Plus we need a back up keeper and apparently another right back.

 

That's still 5 for me, if they are really serious about progressing and improving the team

 

Dream world - someone Gonalons or William Carvalho for the physical DM, Ziyech for the No.10, AOC or Bouffal for the wide player.

 

Whilst it would be nice to get 3 of those in, can you really see us spending another £55-60m on the team? Not how we operate - I'd be surprised if we spent more than £30m on a backup Gk, attacker and RB

If we were that bothered about improving, we would stop selling our best players to our direct rivals....

And just let them leave on free transfers and have nothing to buy new players with?

Whilst it would be nice to get 3 of those in, can you really see us spending another £55-60m on the team? Not how we operate - I'd be surprised if we spent more than £30m on a backup Gk, attacker and RB

Well if we spend *roughly* what we've made in sales, then we have around £35m to spend, so your lower estimate is about right.

Anybody remember the film 'Moneyball'.

Don't replace the player, replace and improve the sum contribution.