Dusic

https://www.skysports.com/football/story-telling/11700/12663553/ralph-hasenhuttl-exclusive-interview-southampton-manager-on-clubs-fresh-start Good interview with Ralph in which he correctly identifies that our best spell last season was when Broja was on fire and he says we need to find a striker who makes a difference in the final third. Certainly sounds like whoever comes in will be a major signing. Broja still not moved anywhere...still maintain if its affordable he should be the #1 target. Will be very interesting to see if he features in Chelsea's first few games.

Annoying that it seems Brighton will get Colwill.

If (and its a big if) there is genuine interest from KWP in the top 8 or so then seems extremely unlikely he would chose to sign a new contract with us so the reality is he will probably leave in one of the next two windows, or his value would start to decrease, and as we have seen with various others once you get to a year left you end up just getting back what you paid. For our strategy to work we do need to start selling £30m+ players again. That said, with full back being our weakest position cover wise, I can't see Saints selling now unless we got a huge offer.

Think KWP'a agent is working overtime to get him and move or a bumper new contract. Either way, Saints in a very strong position and what a success story his signing has been. From fans not being sure he was worth even signing on loan to an England call up and likely to make a huge profit on him when he does go. About the ideal Saints signing template.

Could be Doyle pro deal. Think he is 17 sometime about now so able to sign a professional contract.

The Lyanco signing last summer was a big mistake, especially as a permanent. We already had Stephens who was a back-up player and now essentially have three CBs in Lyanco, Stephens and Valery that are never going to become regulars starters. In hindsight it would have been better to get someone on loan last year if they were only going to be bit part as now are stuck with him for another 3 years.

Surely we can't even consider Colwill until we get rid of two of Lyanco, Stephens, Bednarek and Valery?

I think we have done enough business numbers wise that we can afford now to wait and see what develops towards the end of the window which is always when the bulk of transfers happen. Full back cover is arguably less of an urgent priority now that we will almost certainly play with wing backs in the first few games which will probably see Djenepo start at least the first game (not sure Perraud is really a wing back in the Ralph mould either tbh). At centre back we already have one too many anyway so surely need to lose two before we bring another in? Also seems Colwill will be included in any deal for Fofana so hopefully that doesnt happen. Striker wise all teams are searching for good ones. Will be interesting to see what happens as its not certain that Adams and Armstrong will be here next season and clearly Mara will take time to have an impact. Seems likely Stu will be used off a striker to start with as Ralph doesn't like the Adams/Armstrong partnership. In this position we obviously have targets and quite possibly it will go to the last days of the window to get one of them. In an ideal world we would get a new #10 too but I don't think that will happen as we havent been linked to any this summer and aside from Aribo and Armstrong we still have on the books Djenepo, Elyounoussi, Tella and Walcott so surely would need to get shot of 2 or 3 of them before bringing in anyone else. Personally think Tella needs a loan move to the Championship. He has some good attributes but not sure he will ever have the first touch and composure to be a successful PL attacker. Also...assuming we sign a striker for at least £10m, surely we need to do some balancing of the books given what we have already spent? We have a lot of players who are never going to be regular starters and a few could leave (perm or loan) and it would barely make a difference: Lis, Lyanco, Stephens, Valery, Diallo, Redmond, Elyounoussi, Djenepo, Walcott, Tella

The fee is a nonsense, but no sign of a new contract and there is definitely something RH isnt sure about as he fell out of favour end of last season and hasnt figured in pre season very much alongside the seemingly preferred XI. Would be stupid to sell to a relegation rival, but wouldn't suprise me all that much if he did go somewhere. Surely we can't spend £60m+ without any major sales?

Agree to a point but with so many new players they don't really have any experience of the 4-2-2-2. Also think it would really suit all of them. As we have seen under Ralph, when its played well it is a formation that can attack really well. I think he has lost confidence in our ability to defend and wants the extra CB but in the PL we could defend brilliantly and still concede twice because most teams have quality attackers. We will always need to be a threat to get results and I think this formation takes too much of that away personally. Unless we sign a quality striker who transforms the attack...

Bit of a shame considering the new additions to go through all of pre season without trying the 4-2-2-2. Obvious we will play 3CBs for the first few games. Personally still not keen on it as we are a better team when we play with two genuine strikers and in a 3CB system usually one of them at least has to have some composure on the ball. Still lacking up top and at CB to be genuinely optimistic about our chances this season IMO. We are likely to be in the bottom 6 come the end of the season, and almost certain to be after the first 5 or 6 games.

Fofana signed a new contract fairly recently and is extremely highly rated. I think Leicester would want mega money (£70m+)to sell him, even with Colwill in exchange. Can't see it myself this late on, but maybe Leicester would see itbas a way to spend without investing anything perhaps - think they are the only PL side not to have signed anyone so far. Re Colwill, surely we have to sell a defender or even two to create a space for him (probably Bednarek, Lyanco or Stephens) as already have six senior CBs given the emergence of Valery as a CB in a 3 and there are currently no strong links at all.

https://bit.ly/3zDoqHw #saintsy

If we are going with 3 CBs then I would say Valery is seen as the backup RCB, and is ahead of Stephens and Lyanco in that position.

Agree that if anything were close he wouldn't be posting that. Doesn't mean we won't go for or get him, but we currently have too many CBs as it is. Secret Scout also playing it down as a family thing.

Reported, not by anyone overly reliable. The tweet at the start of this thread says "preparing a bid" - hardly comcrete. Hard to obviously know the exact timings of these things but interesting that we accelerated on Mara at the same time it came out that City have no intention of selling Delap permanently. Both are tall central strikers, good technically and in the air. Sure we will get another striker but not sure our intention is or ever has been to get Mara and Delap. We will see of course, although if they really don't want to sell then not much we can do.

In Mara quite possibly we already have. They seem similar in profile and RH mentioned that we moved quickly as the opportunity came up, presumably after it became clear Delap is unobtainable.

True but he hasn't joined them so perhaps he has doubts. He played and scored twice for City's U23s recently. If he have learned anything about Shields, he certainly has an influence on these lads and I believe brought him to City from Millwall a couple of years ago.

Agree- would rather spend big on an attacking midfielder than a striker personally.

IMO the strikers we currently have absolutely must play in a front two. They aren't a threat by themselves and the attacking midfielders who suport them don't get good enough numbers to compensate. Adams flanked by Zaha and Trossard? Fine Adams flanked by Armstrong and Aribo/Elyounoussi? Won't score enough

With the obvious caveat that its only pre season, there has to be something in the fact that we have played with three CBs in all three games so far. Whilst some other sides have used this well in the PL - Chelsea, Wolves, Tottenham etc - personally I don't think we have the players for it and hope Ralph doesn't become fixated with it. It may provide a little more solidarity but the weakness of our best three centre backs (Salisu, Bednarek, ABK) is the same, none of them are composed or creative in their passing. Thats a massive issue in a back three. All of the above teams have at least one who can carry the ball out of defence and start an attack. Also, we don't have the attackers to play a front three as none of our strikers suit playing centrally on their own and none of the supporting attackers or wide forwards have a goal threat. Clear that creativity has been a huge issue in pre season so far and I think a lot of that is the system. As far as I am aware none of our new signings played in a team that played primarily with a back 3 last season, so its an additional adjustment for them too. Also, all of our best spells under Ralph have come with a front two working well in combination (Ings & Long, Ings & Adams, Adams & Broja) and when we have pressed aggressively. All of our best wins under him have come in the 4-2-2-2. I think for Spurs we will stick with the 3 CBs, and Djenepo will play LWB as we have no fit full backs aside from KWP but hope in the long run its just used as an option occassionally rather than being a regular setup as we just aren't good at it and never have been under Ralph.

I think we got Mara as we know City won't sell Delap permanently. Why would they when they know after a good loan his value will shoot up.

Everton too, and supposedly bid for him when West Ham did.

I think our best chance of getting Broja is right near the end of the window on another loan. Seems Chelsea arent that keen to let him go permanently and I can't see Saints offering £30m given we have spent £50m already with little prospect of recouping anything. Ive said all along that Chelsea would be mad to sell him without giving him any kind of chance. He could definitely do a good job for them off the bench considering they don't have many strikers and will have a lot of games.

Leandre Griffit at one stage averaged a PL goal every 8mins. If Mara is anywhere near as successful he will be a great signing.