James

We sold Mane, Wanyama and Pelle - don't see us spending that kind of cash.

Don't understand how Palace are able to spend £27 million on Benteke but we aren't willing to shell out on anyone. Shame, he'd be excellent for us.

Hi all I'm booked on the coach to Man U on Friday which departs Winchester at midday. I can't actually work out where exactly the coach collects people from in Winchester. Anyone know?

Puel is so difficult to listen to!

See my previous post. Seems to me the club are desperate to tell us how good Redmond is. Doesn't bode well for any attacking reinforcement.

In Mane's first game he won a penalty for us in a win away at the Emirates so it was hardly a bad debut. He certainly didn't play as badly as Redmond did in the first half on Saturday!

Yet another article about Redmond on the OS - this time a statistical insight into his debut - seems coincidental given Guan's update on the potential incoming attacker (or lack thereof). Can't help but think that the amount of stuff we are pumping out about how good Redmond is and how he's going to be the next Henry is designed to soften the blow that there's no one else coming in. May be that I'm reading too much into it.

One wonders how he is affordable for Palace but not for us? Not advocating us blowing the bank to get him, more a query as to how the hell a club like Palace are funding it.

Hope we weren't putting all our eggs in one basket and can get someone else in before the window shuts. Doesn't really matter when as it won't be done pre Man U and hopefully we have enough about us to get something out of Sunderland at home without reinforcements.

Laugh all you want, in today's market £9 million doesn't buy you much (see Ross McCormack moving clubs in the Championship for £12 million). My point is that, in today's market, Mane is worth much more than Bolasie and IMO we haven't received a price that reflects that difference in quality.

The Bolasie deal shows just how weak we are in negotiations. £25m for Bolasie who is older, plays for a less successful club and is a much more limited player yet we get just £9m more for Mane who is younger, played for a more successful club and is quite frankly a much better player. Ridiculous really. As others have said it seems that as soon as one of the big boys show an interest in one of our guys they are sold within days yet we take years to get our own business done.

One of the best posts on here in weeks. Bravo.

Did you forget to read my post? I clearly said I didn't wish for us to spend beyond our means. If the new Staplewood costs mean we can't make a net transfer spend for four years straight despite the influx of new TV money then so be it, that's the situation. However, I would find that incredibly hard to believe.

This is a sensible and well thought out post. It pretty much sums up exactly what I feel at the moment. For the first time in a long time my enthusiasm and belief in what Saints are doing and where they are trying to go is wavering. I don't mind the upheaval, I've never really been one to idolise players (I did when I was younger but recently I've become immune to changes in personnel). I think this summer has just been a summer too many for me where we have carved up a very successful formula yet again and now we wait and see whether the replacements can replicate let alone surpass what went before. It's just so frustrating that for these last three seasons its felt like we've been on the cusp of something incredibly special only for it to be dismantled in a matter of months. It may be that we continue to improve (although fifth would be some going with the current squad) but one can't help but wonder what might have happened if we'd have held on to a couple of the top players for a season or two more and made a few sensible additions. I, perhaps naively, thought that once we achieved our goal of qualifying for Europe through the league we might be a bit more robust/aggressive in the transfer market but it doesn't look as though that will be the case. Its no wonder that the fans are restless, every year for these last three summers we wait with baited breath to see whether our replacements are failures or duds. I acknowledge that we have consistently improved but surely common sense dictates that, in any line of business, change is, to a certain extent, a gamble. We make this gamble every year and so far its paid off but there really is no guarantee it will continue to do so. Last year we at least brought in players to replace those who left and added numbers to the squad (as we needed to given our European commitments). This year we've, at best, replaced the numbers we've lost even though we have a greater number of guaranteed games. It all just feels a little risky and complacent, I get the sense that we've started to believe our own hype and that everything we touch in the transfer market will turn to gold. All these gratuitous articles about how Puel is going to convert Redmond into the next Henry are, IMO, evidence of this. I can't imagine that any other aspiring top six club would be pinning their goalscoring hopes on a winger they've signed from a relegated side that they hope to turn into a centre forward. Again, just my opinion. I hope I'm wrong but the lack of incomings, the performances in the early friendlies and the first half of the Watford game and the rhetoric coming out of the club is causing me concern. I hope that the club prove me wrong as they have in the past but I worry this is the season the changes catch up with us. I just wonder what the club's management actually see as the goal in the long term. I know they say Champions League but, even if by some miracle we made it (and I don't think that we can realistically), surely it isn't possible to sustain a club of our size in the top 4 of the Premier League whilst selling your best players every season? I'd be interested to know what KL and LR would actually consider long term success.

6 of the 11 players in that team didn't start on Saturday....that's over half...

Precisely. Nobody is asking for us to spend beyond our means but we've been accumulating huge sums over the last few years. In the last two summers we brought players in to replace and supplement what we had lost, this year we haven't done so. It's a bit of a weird time for us to be taking this kind of risk with the added pressure of the Europa. You'd have thought we'd need a bigger squad but, on a pure numbers basis, we are down on where we were at the end of last year and have sold two players who made a massive contribution to the number of goals we scored last year.

Wouldn't exactly call JWP a regular starter from last season either. He rarely made the team (with good reason). Worth remembering that Long only came into the team at the turn of the year and that Cedric had lost his place to Cuco. Point is, the team is much changed from last year and quite a way down quality wise (most obviously in an attacking sense).

This is bad news as we won't bring anyone in. Has to stay as he's the best hope we've got for scoring any goals.

I feel the same to be honest. Sold our best players (again), haven't really brought anyone in to get the fans excited (bar Holberg) and at the moment there are more rumours about us losing more players than there are about us bringing anyone in. I'm going up to Manchester on Friday and normally I'd be enthusiastic and hopeful of something but having sat through Saturday I'm going up there with a sense of dread and a hope that we can keep the score down.

Agree with the OP, was absolutely dreadful in the first half. Just kept giving the ball away. Much better second half and good instinct to get the goal but I do fear he's too small and lightweight to make a big impact through the centre. However, I trust Puel will get it right.

I thought we were absolutely shocking in the first half, worst I can remember for a long time. Nobody seemed to know what their role was. We were getting completely overrun in midfield and Long and Redmond were just doing nothing. Redmond in particular had a very poor half. Tadic the only one to come out of the first half with any credit really. Second half we woke up and played a lot better. Hojberg was quality, unbelievable that he didn't start. If he had we'd have won relatively comfortably IMO. Not as convinced by Redmond's second half display as others on here seem to be. It's the front two that worry me to be honest, Long was ineffectual and I think Redmond is a bit lightweight through the middle. I think the defence will right itself once we have Bertrand and Fonte back (assuming we don't flog him to United), the midfield will be ok once Hojberg is given a run but we don't have enough quality up top I don't think and I don't see where the goals will come from. Would have liked to have seen Austin given longer as I think we will end up relying on him. Still hoping we can pull something out of the bag in the transfer market but there doesn't seem to be much happening. On balance of current news you'd say we were more likely to lose another player than bring anyone in. Man U will be interesting, just hope Puel picks the right team!

Just don't understand how he didn't start. Got to wonder what JWP is like in training as I just don't see it on match days.

All over the place at the moment. Nothing going forward.

Precisely, weird how this forum interprets anything other than "everything Saints do is wonderful" as a lack of support...

Got to be the blandest midfield we've put out in recent years. Bizarre that one of our major signings and best players in pre season is overlooked in favour of JWP (who weirdly seems to start the opening game of every season and then get dropped). Massive shame Fonte isn't deemed fit enough.