James

Great stuff, if this comes off then hats off to Les.

Sounds like a player we need and clearly has pedigree. Let's hope we get him.

There are clearly not 100 full backs in the PL, let alone "young ones". There are 20 clubs in the league, if every club had a first choice and a back up for each side that would still only be 80....

Not sure anyone said they were super talented, more that they were probably capable of scoring at least one goal in the final six home games or whatever it was. By the end of the Puel tenure they were not playing for him, that was relatively clear to a regular attendee at St Mary's. I expect Pellegrino to get more out of the squad than Puel but also acknowledge that it has limitations and that MP has arguably been hung out to dry by the club's lack of transfer activity. People said Puel was not supported by Reed in the market but at least he had some latitude to bring players in whereas MP hasn't had any.

The precedent point is a good one. I do think players come here expecting to be allowed to leave given what has happened before. I'm not clear on how actively we use this as a selling point for new recruits but the club has an image as being a stepping stone club which will be tough to shake (although Les appears to be doing his best this summer). Hard to argue that our pre season has been pretty bad so far. Not all the club's fault but only have ourselves to blame for not bringing in players bar a reserve CB that looks about as far from ready for a PL pitch as Pompey do.

Someone suggesting Targett is better than Shaw...I've seen it all now. The only two on that list that aren't comfortably better than Targett are Chilwell and Holgate and even Chilwell is picked ahead of him for the U21s. He's ok but I haven't seen anything to suggest he is capable of replacing Bertrand when the time comes.

Not anyone in the top half. He is, at the moment, a Championship starter quality left back so if you mean teams like Hudds, Brighton or Newcastle then yes I could see him starting for them along with the rest of the relegation candidates.

Thing is, he doesn't play PL very regularly does he? He doesn't get a sniff unless Bertrand is injured. It's one thing to be a cover player in the PL and quite another to be a consistent starter. So far, MT hasn't shown himself as anything other than cover. Despite what the "experts" say on here he is nowhere near a regular starter for us and if, god forbid, we sold Bertrand we would buy a replacement.

For all the flack Puel got last season (and rightly so in part) that Sheff Utd game remains the worst Saints performance, given the stakes, that I've seen since we were promoted back to the PL. For everything that was great about Poch and Koeman they didn't take the cups seriously enough and for everything negative about Puel he at least respected them.

Targett played best when RK used him as the left wing back in a 3-5-2. If we played that system again with Bertrand at CB then he'd be decent enough. He hasn't got the defensive solidity or the pace to play as a traditional left back in a flat back four or as a traditional left winger (as you say there's certainly no chance he'd be picked ahead of Redmond or Tadic). He's a solid back up defender at the moment and, without a sudden change in attributes (i.e. gaining an extra yard of pace), I personally can't see him being more than that at this level. Glad we've protected our investment but not quite sure why he's worth such a long deal on, presumably, significantly increased wages.

Definitely Semedo (although didn't he move to Villarreal pre MP's appointment?) also think we lost Defrel to Roma. Can't imagine we'd have lost out on Chabolah to Watford (nor that MP was referring to them when he mentioned important clubs). Could possibly have lost Murphy to Newcastle as imagine they are paying more than we are and can offer guaranteed game time whereas he'd have to compete with Redmond/Tadic/Boufal here.

Odd that Gabbi didn't switch to 9. Maybe he/the club didn't want to reimburse all those that had already bought shirts with his old number on.

I agree but I suspect that if the dippers weren't in the CL his stance of "Liverpool and no one else" might change to "actually I'd quite like Chelsea". Chelsea can offer him massive wages, guaranteed CL group stage and a realistic shot at the title and, let's face it, London is a far nicer place to live than Liverpool. I suspect if they make a credible bid that's where he will end up as the board will know they won't face as big a backlash if he goes there and we won't be allowing the dippers to prosper from what we believed to be an illegal approach.

If we get thrashed again with our so called starting XI the week before the start of the season then people would rightly be worried.

Some news is better than no news but I'd rather see our issues addressed than a massive contract being given to a squad/back up player. Don't see MT being anything more than a steady back up left back for our profile of club. He's about as good as Pied but gets a better rep from fans as he supports Saints and didn't follow an unpopular manager into the club.

I'd also love us to sign Kane. It's not going to happen.

If I were VVD I'd wait until the dippers actually make it to the group stage given their tricky qualifier v Hoffenheim. It would be absolute hilarious if they c*cked up and he then back pedalled on his desire only to move up there.

I'd give it to Ward-Prowse or, failing that, Romeu.

Absolutely but a shame we won't be able to play what might be our strongest side in a run of very winnable games. We'd also be banking on players adapting to our system and style very quickly at this stage.

Why is this such a ridiculous thing to say? As a spectator, yes I'd rather see more wins and more goals than we got last season. If this year the league is more competitive and we end up finishing a place or two lower but ultimately record more points than last year then so be it. It's not as if we actually use league position to our advantage anyway. We've had a sixth placed finish and that was followed by a big regression in both managerial appointment and quality of playing staff. We finished eighth last year and we've been a bit slow off the mark this year to put it mildly. It won't make much difference to the kind of player we sign whether we finish 8th or 12th. If we finish 8th we are still prone to being outbid by teams with more cash that finished below us (West Ham, Leicester etc). We will still be attractive to "stepping stone" players and they won't, IMO, care if we finished 8th or 10th the season before.

For what it's worth I tend to agree with you which is why I don't buy the explanation for our lack of activity being "it's been hard for him to assess what he might need as players have been coming back in dribs and drabs". Nonetheless, it must have been a bit of a shock at such a dire performance v Austberg. Les and Ross need to get MP the players he needs otherwise he will be hamstrung.

Wouldn't be surprised if MP was a bit p*ssed off at the moment. Failing to secure targets and no one else brought in otherwise bar Bednarek, an ongoing transfer saga surrounding his best player and captain, a humbling 4-0 defeat in a friendly and perhaps a realisation that he doesn't have a great squad to work with.

Was optimistic of top 10 but was totally shocked by what I saw last night. 13th-16th with a fair wind. How anyone can expect more when our squad is arguably worse than last year (assuming no VVD and with Gallagher being worse than JRod) I've no idea. Completely baffled by our transfer business this summer to be honest especially with clubs of similar size making some impressive signings (Bournemouth, West Ham, Everton, Leicester). Signing Bednarek seems completely pointless to me, way off the pace even in friendly games, at the moment I would rather play Gardos if we absolutely had to (by which I mean, if Stephens or Yosh were injured on Saturday...what a horrible thought).

This is accurate. The reality is that even the best manager can't turn a squad that is filled with average players into a decent side. MP has tried to open us up and make us more attacking but the problem is that a) our attacking players aren't good enough to create and take chances and b) playing a more expansive style our weak CB and DM (poor Romeu) areas are horribly exposed. This has got to be the worst/most complacent pre season I can remember. I thought last year was bad but at least we brought a few players. This summer our business has been dreadful and even if we address the problem areas now we've left it very late. My concern is that the club hierarchy genuinely believe we've got a quality squad when clearly it is desperately lacking in some areas.

God this is worrying. It's clear our squad isn't good enough. For those saying it's only pre season we are 10 days away and are at home to an average side in a worse league and we aren't only losing but are getting a good hiding. Could always see a struggle this season. Unless Les gets the cheque book out (which he won't IMO) our primary aim is survival this year. Blimey, I'm agreeing with Daley....