James

All good players for us and we were lucky they hit the ground running from signing on deadline day. However, it still would likely have been better had we signed those players earlier in the window. If you take VVD, the season he joined we finished three points from a CL place. Had he played for us in the games we missed then who knows whether we could have amassed the three points needed to bridge the gap? If we had it would likely have gained us more than the amount saved by way of transfer fee. Always better to have your business done and your best team out from the first day of the season IMO.

Exactly - see Boufal as a prime example. In late and injured means little to no impact last season. Whilst I agree we need to look for good value its always better to do your business early and get players settled in.

Absolutely agree. I don't understand why it has to be a case of two extremes (i.e. signing nobody/only very raw players like Bednarek or doing a Pompey/Leeds). If we are standing firm and keeping our squad together then I'm all for that and it is a distinct change in approach for us. However, we had obvious deficiencies last year and I'm not sure that, even with the uptick in performance that I'd expect MP to bring, we are going to remedy those without bringing in a couple of new faces. All we need IMO is an upgrade on Davis (someone like Armstrong) and a DM to partner Romeu. There's no reason that a PL team like us can't source those two players without breaking the bank.

It's enough in number but IMO we need someone of better quality to partner Virgil if he stays (Wimmer or Sakho). My worry about this window is that we are working on the basis that we won't sell anyone and therefore don't need to buy anyone. If we were forced into selling one or both of Virgil or Bertrand in the last week of the window because of a mega bid etc then we'd have left ourselves in a bit of a mess.

I think we will sign the utility Alaves guy we are linked with and possibly Armstrong from Celtic and that will be it. If we do that and ship out maybe Clasie I'd be happy enough. Obviously if we sold VVD or Bertrand I'd expect replacements for them.

If I were picking the team to play Swansea tomorrow I'd say: Forster Cedric Virgil Yoshida Bertrand Romeu Hojberg Tadic JWP Redmond Gabbiadini Subs: Boufal, Davis, Austin, Stephens, Long, Targett, McCarthy

Quite. But, so far as I can tell, that is the source of the so-called "rumour". Looks happy enough in the pre-season video.

Someone on here mentioned that they'd heard he hadn't settled in Southampton.

You're right on this I think. I'm confident that given a run in the team under the right manager we will have a serious gem on our hands. That said, at £5m it would almost be silly not to pursue Chabolah as well.

If it was a choice between retaining VVD and selling for £65m and reinvesting that in a quality replacement CB, DM, AM and Striker then I think I'd probably take the money to improve the quality of the team overall. I worry that a choice to retain VVD and Bertrand etc will mean limited outlay otherwise (just a gut feeling) and that we will be a bit short on quality compared to teams around us that are strengthening.

"As the whispers suggest" - your post is the first I (and I expect anyone) has heard of it. Are you ITK?

The only worry is, as others have said, there is a hangover from the previous regime which taints the new ideas that MP will implement. However, if the new manager is happy to keep Black as part of his coaching staff then so am I.

Some of the goals he scored were really excellent. I know it's only the Championship but looks to have something about him. Would much rather he got game time than a shot JRod and glad the club see it the same way.

I suppose the comparison was (perhaps unfairly) based on recent performance and I read a few reports of player discontent at Schalke last year. Pellegrino seems relatively well regarded by comparison for what he achieved last year. As you say though, time will tell.

In that post it is pretty clear I was keen on Pellegrino (and still am). I was concerned that the article suggested we might lose out on a good manager to a rival club as a result of our rigid structure and that we'd end up with a manager who wasn't as good. I'm relieved that yesterday's report proved to be a false alarm. Happy?

The more I read about Pellegrino the more I'm encouraged. I think we've got ourselves a young manager with huge potential. Thank god we didn't end up with Weinzeirl - had a read about him last night and he didn't sound good at all. Welcome Mauricio.

Agreed but, so we are told, he's the one making the footballing decisions. If we swap Puel for Weinzierel then that's a complete farce for me. I wanted Puel out because I've never been so bored by a season of Saints football but to replace him with a manager with an ostensibly worse record in an equivalent league is a bit silly. I genuinely thought we would only bin CP with a better option lined up and delivered. Hopefully that's Pellegrino.

Looks to me like Les has dropped a bollock here. Why wait so long to sack Puel without a replacement signed up? Just incompetent IMO. If we lose Pellegrino to Palace because of our "structure" it's embarrassing. To think we could go from finishing sixth and having a top manager like Pellegrini wanting to manage us to having some second rate Bundesliga manager at the start of next season...frightening. Oh well, in Les we trust as people on here would say.

Personally I thought the cartoon was brilliant.

Wouldn't be surprised at all. Equally wouldn't be surprised if that's who we wanted last summer only for him to go to Inter (not based on any inside info) just a sneaking suspicion.

Not really the point I was making though was it? People on here will look at a manager's odds coming in from 40/1 to 17/1 and think its significant when, in reality and as you've correctly pointed out, it isn't. Also, the last part of your final sentence doesn't make any sense.

I'm aware of how it works. It was poorly phrased but I meant more that it would be "silly" to take any notice of the market movements given that such a small stake can move the odds so drastically.

The Betfair markets are silly. Tuchel was 40/1 so I put £4 on it just in case and his odds immediately came in to 17/1 as a result.

Disappointing if true about Tuchel but I never really thought he'd come to us. Surely the club will have sounded out a new manager that is obtainable before sacking CP (given we took a month to do it)? I wouldn't expect the appointment to take long. When are the players back?

Either that or make better use of the translator. I felt I had a greater understanding of Poch through a translator than Puel (although credit where it's due for making the effort to try).