verlaine1979

Why does he have so few assists then (JWP has the same number of assists in less than 1/3 of the minutes and there aren't many on here claiming that he's an outstanding prospect at AM)? Don't get me wrong, he's capable of playing good attacking passes, but he's just too negative to do it most of the time and prefers to hand on responsibility elsewhere (usually either the CB or overlapping FB). In his ability to trot around and cautiously shepherd possession, he's unmatched in our squad. In his ability to do things that actually influence games rather than appease a rather undemanding section of our fanbase, he's always been lacking and even in that respect, his performances have dipped alarmingly over the last season and a half.

We looked so much better against St. Etienne when we went back to playing with just one up front. The lone striker has to be Gabbiadini if we want to play a pressing game. Save Austin for the latter stages of matches when everyone is to knackered to press already.

His goal today was a cleaner finish than we're used to seeing from him. Usually goes for the side-foot waft, but there was a bit more in-step behind this one.

Attacking midfield three should probably be JWP + any two of Tadic, Boufal & Redmond depending on form and fitness, with the likes of Sims waiting their turn on the bench. DM pair must be Romeu + either Clasie or Hojberg - the make do and mend approach of trying to fit Davis in there just because he's vice captain surely can't last another season.

Davis caught that volley on the edge of the box beautifully.

In Long's first season under Koeman he got 5 goals in 32 league appearances. Which Long under Koeman do you want to treat as a valid representation of his talent and potential - the statistical outlier, or the season that almost precisely mapped his career average of popping up with five or six a season?

Rooney scored goals at a much higher rate than Long last season (Long scored every 414 minutes, Rooney every 302 minutes). Long cannot finish, as amply demonstrated by the fact that his average return for the PL is a goal every 5.2 games. Long's purple patch of 10 goals in a PL season under Koeman isn't proof of untapped potential, it's proof that a player who averages six or seven goals a season over a number of years will sometimes get ten and sometimes get three.

ML never really had that level of wealth. He was estimated to have had around £1bn when he bought us, which coincidentally would have been around the share of the Liebherr group he'd have been entitled to if he hadn't handed back his shares to his siblings who remained in charge of the company. However, ML and one other brother (who is apparently a devoutly religious type) gave up their share of Liebherr group. In that context, Cortese's claim that Saints was a canny investment for ML makes even more sense, as the club has subsequently turned into the most valuable asset in his estate, assuming the £300m figure for KL's wealth is accurate.

Especially considering her 'wealth' presumably includes non-cash assets, of which Saints at £200m now make up the vast majority.

Only one of those should be starting every game.

Benteke was only 25 when he signed for Palace. Had he done well, they'd have been able to sell him on at 28/29 (i.e. in his prime) for what they'd hope would be a huge margin above what they paid. As you state, business models get tweaked, but moving from a return-based model to spending regardless of sell-on value isn't a tweak, it's a complete reversal. Moreover, you say £30/40m for GS when a bid at the top end of the scale you propose has already been rejected. I don't disagree with you that we should focus on adding 2 or 3 nailed-on first team signings rather than bulking out the squad. It's just that if they come, they're far more likely to be a) 25 or younger, b) from a foreign league and c) cost no more than about £20m apiece, max.

I can't see us almost trebling our record transfer for someone who'll be a few days off 28 by the start of the season. No resale value and no relation to our current business model.

JRod always been an inconsistent finisher, especially when placement rather than power is called for. Not as bad as Long, but then again, Long is about as bad a finisher as it's possible to be while still playing in the PL.

Moving to saints from PSG isn't rekindling your career, it's admitting you aren't good enough at the top level and dropping out of European competition altogether. Hardly anyone is going to do that willingly, especially not in the peak years of their career (Krychowiak is 27). I see Atletico Madrid are interested in him according to the latest speculation, and that seems a far more likely switch than dropping down to mid-table in the PL.

Since Davis offers almost none of this anymore, it seems pretty moot. Better to have decent (rather than slow, floated) delivery at set-pieces than pick someone based on the memory of them once having made a driving runs and penetrating passes from midfield...

Boufal strikes the ball well from distance. Hopefully see more of that this season.

No surprises, but if one of them has to play (because we don't invest in a conventional AM or box-to-box CM) then we should prioritise JWP above Davis. Neither of them have much in the way of pace or strength, and both are likely to carelessly give the ball away a couple of times per match. However, JWPs corners and freekicks & penalties are orders of magnitude better, and based on last season he's marginally more likely to make a run into the box. Back five picks itself, but beyond that, probably Romeu/Hoj, Boufal/JWP/Tadic, Gabbiadini. Redmond, Tadic & Boufal all strike me as streaky, so I'd just let them play themselves in and out of the starting line up as form & sub appearances dictate.

If one person has ten £1 coins and another has ten 1p coins, which one has more money?

Less Ajax following the Southampton model than Southampton following the Ajax model in reality.

Hmm so other clubs have good recruitment, statistical departments, youth programs and sports science. It sounds like the only thing separating us from the likes of Atletico, Sevilla, Ajax and others is that they win stuff from time to time, while we haven't won anything of significance for over forty years. We're pretty well run, but let's not kid ourselves - we're copycats with most of this stuff, not trailblazers.

Gabbiadini looks great - hope the rumours about homesickness aren't true. Long isn't a good enough finisher and never will be. If we want someone whose only attribute is being able to close down defenders at pace, get one of the quicker academy kids to do it and save the £80k a week. Get rid. Austin can finish, but almost certainly doesn't have the mobility or physical robustness to play a pressing game. Will probably stay, but I doubt he's MPs ideal kind of striker. Gallagher is completely untested at this level, but is worth a shot as 4th striker on the roster.

You mean apart from Mane, right? Whose goals in the latter half of that season were basically the entire difference between a bottom half finish and qualifying for Europe?

If there are no TV broadcasts, there'll be no streams. Most streams seem to come from US sources, so if streaming becomes an existential threat to the survival of the PL, they'll probably just stop selling exhaustive rights in the US, which are only worth about £100m per season.

It enhanced their CVs, but whether it actually made them better players is a separate question.

Well, both played successfully in the Premier League under us, which automatically increased their value when other PL clubs came looking (whether it's important or not, there's a definite premium for 'PL-proven' players). Toby in particular was immense from the moment he joined us, so no, I honestly don't believe we made him even the slightest bit better. Lovren is clearly a confidence player - Lyon undermined his confidence, we gave it back to him, and he started playing again like a guy who'd cost nearly 10m back in 2010.