Dusic

That isn't the answer. We got worse when Austin came on.

Played well, were setup well by the Manager and were much more front foot than many times last season. But have to take chances. Positives: - Tadic looked back to being a very good player - Stephens was excellent - Crowd were fully behind the team Negatives: - Finishing - Defending of crosses - Yoshida, who was very shaky and gave the ball away horrendously a couple of times. He is a 3rd choice quality player.

Shame if true. Cedric is excellent and Pied is, errr, not.

Bit of a shame Pellegrino said VVD had a virus. Should just have said he hasn't been training and hasn't played any friendlies. He was never going to be playing tomorrow but the virus thing just sounds so lame.

I think we are one wide player down if we want to play 4-2-3-1 this season. Only really have Redmond, Tadic and Boufal. If one of those is unavailable then there isn't really a good bench option. Could use an option with real pace in that position I think.

Has looked woefully short of PL level in any of the games since his injury, including U23 games last season. Hopefully we will ship him out.

Clearly goalscoring was our biggest issue last season, and largely contributed to Puel being (rightly) fired. This summer has seen a new Manager but no new signings from an attacking perspective. Do you expect a different story goal wise or more of the same?

Shipping out Long to Burnley would be a great deal for us (and ok for them).

Do most people now agree it would be best for the club to sell him (ideally not to Liverpool) and use the money to strengthen the team with players who want to play for the club? There is no turning back IMO, his behaviour has made it impossible to reintegrate.

Think Reed has got the key things right this summer so far. - Right to sack Puel - Pellegrino looks a promising appointment - Big signing in our most needed area - Holding off bigger, richer clubs who are interested in our players. When VVD goes I think it will be the right call as his situation is untenable. Only issue for me would be the handling of the CB position from the point Fonte was allowed to leave. Plus not clearing deadwood like Gardos, Clasie and Long but thats not so easy.

Two thoughts: 1. The relationship between VVD and Saints is broken beyond repair. The benefit of keeping him now would be more the principle of not selling rather than what is best for the team. VVD won't play for us again so surely selling and using the big fee to improve our team for the season ahead is what is best for the club? 2. Lovren - Alderweireld - VVD -??? Big job to replace well. If we are ambitious enough to turn down all bids for him then I expect we can go and try and replace him with someone better than Ben Gibson or Kevin Wimmer who is a last resort selection for Spurs.

The likes of Wimmer and Gibson at those quoted prices would be poor buys IMO. But quite possibly having Bednarek starting on Saturday shows we haven't handled our CB situation well since the day we let Fonte leaving before securing a replacement.

Can anyone actually imagine him playing a game for Saints again after this?

Haha, no chance we were 600/1 to be relegated this time last year!

Agree with that as a likely lineup. Boufal the only other possible starter. Only concern is JWP just isn't a no10.

The original article that broke the news (ESPN) did say that Stoke were hoping to hijack the move. Imagine we will find out soon enough but hope we get him as looks exactly what we need.

From the friendlies it looks like the current preference order of Pellegrino will be: Gabbi, Austin, Long, Gallagher. I think this makes sense. Clearly Gabbi is the best and hopefully has a great season. Austin will score goals but not offer the allround play. What should we do with the other two? Long is a handy sub to have and you know will give 100% but equally he has been used out wide a few times in pre season and IMO is terrible there. Personally I would sell if we got a fair offer for him and I think he might get frustrated at another season of limited playing time. Gallagher hasn't really been given a chance in the friendlies and has been linked with Wolves on loan. He obviously won't want to go back to the sterile U23 football after the best season of his career so perhaps a loan makes sense? Equally he must have been told he will get some opportunities otherwise wouldn't have signed the new contract. We have been linked with a few forwards across the summer so wonder if we do expect some movement as no need to have five plus Redmond? Also worth noting there are no young strikers anywhere near the first in the U23s as Seager and Olomola are both out on loan. Barnes probably next in line but little else.

Agree. Only Boufal who might come into contention. The others just haven't showed enough. Poor attacking sub options to change a game at present.

Good that Cedric is back. None of this Pied nonsense in the PL.

Good lad, local lad, but hasn't earned this contract through performances on the pitch. Has some good attributes but also some huge weaknesses that he will need to sort if he ever wants to be a PL regular. Jury is out at PL level.

If we sell now, why not just sell in May or early June and avoid the whole start to the season being overshadowed, plus having sub standard CB partnerships in the winnable first few games? Would make little sense, hence having never sold a key player in August. Don't really see that the identify of the buyer changes that.

Wouldn't say Watford and Newcastle were "important clubs" but who knows? Only positive interpretation in that is hopefully the players we have been after are quality i.e would be nailed on starters here, and have just gone to better teams. Still maintain we only need one quality central midfielder with mobility and one quality centre back. However, make that two if VVD goes. Plus a pacy attacker would be a bonus. Between 2-4 signings depending on VVD. Not much to ask at the start of the season but unlikely at this stage. Also no movement on getting shot of the deadwood like Gardos, Clasie, Long although thats probably easier said than done. Perhaps the lack of good Academy players near the first team squad is also having an impact. Whereas the likes of JWP and Targett used to be classed as underage, I imagine they count in the 25 now so we have less wiggle room. Hard to see any teenage academy players getting PL minutes this season as there seems to be a gap and then some promising U18s who will take a bit of time to develop.

We have replaced nailed on starters like Fonte, Schneiderlin, Mane etc with players who aren't good enough to be auto picks, hence more games for the likes of Yoshida who was previously our 3rd CB and is currently our 1st. Too many squad fillers (partly like Caceres due to bad sucession planning) and not enough signings who immediately lift the first XI, like Gabbiadini did. A couple of years ago our best midfield 3 was Schneiderlin, Wanyama, Davis. That is miles ahead of what we have now. Partly because signings like Clasie and Hojbjerg haven't been good enough to replace those players in the team every week. Yoshida has always been a third choice centre back yet now is our first choice of those available. Why did we sign Bednarek who is clearly one for the future rather than someone earmarked to play every week?

Bednarek Hassen Caceres Gabbiadini Boufal Hojbjerg Redmond McCarthy Pied Taylor If that doesn't sum up where we are(and the direction we are going) then what does? Max of three of those make our best XI. Only one good, young British player. Too many obvious squad fillers. Out of interest, last 10 sales for a fee are: Jay Rod Mane Pelle Wanyama Fonte Juanmi Schneiderlin Clyne Cork (Then all the Meltdown summer exits)

Players we didn't properly replace: Fonte Schneiderlin Wanyama Mane Spine of a team and it shows.