James

Why have we done that? Ridiculous move IMO.

How Hodgson kept his job after that travesty in Brazil I will never know. He will just revert to type now and pick big 4 players. Bit sad really.

This. I have a small thread of faith in Saints but if this happened we would almost certainly go down.

Exactly. As much as I respect RL, his comments just aren't credible in this context. There is no way on earth he was turning down Liverpool once they came calling and (despite what he might say in hindsight) would have been furious had we stood in his way.

Whilst that is technically accurate - the Liverpool away game was a one in a thousand win (on another day we would have been beaten comfortably, I was at the game). I see it more as 2 points down on where we would realistically expect to be which is a shame but we are only 2 games in so am still hopeful for now.

Surely you can't be serious.... He hasn't played a match yet! Koeman signed him for goodness sake.

Would also like to see Long start, the missed header aside I thought he looked pretty decent when he came on.

Would also like to see Long start, the missed header aside I thought he looked pretty decent when he came on.

Exactly. We will hardly be in real trouble if they don't score that many....typical stat that's just been plucked out of thin air by someone trying to be negative.

This should be pinned up in the dressing room - all the motivation we need to go out and smash these arrogant p*icks.

I didn't realise Harrison Reed spent so much time in Melbourne....

Probably my all time favourite Saint (I missed the best of Le Tiss).

Given the general tenor of this thread, I'd hardly say it was an overreaction..

I can't believe that we are about to sell one of our best remaining players for 3m and spend 12.5m on Shane Long - have Koeman and the board lost their minds? This season is going to be naff.

Nail on the head.

It's not exactly saying that though is it? Forster is not going to be first choice purely because he was bought by Koeman, it's because Koeman views Forster as better (which is obvious seeing as he decided to spend big money). Clubs strengthen all the time, it's up to the existing players to up their game. RK said Forster will be no.1 on arrival, it's now up to Boruc to convince him he is wrong.

I'm sorry but Forster is better than Boruc. I do agree with the sentiment on here though that Koeman shouldn't have said FF was No.1 and should have made him earn it. However, if FF is going to be No.1 then we might as well start him from the off as the only way the defence will get used to each other is through game time...

A lot of people seem to forget that we will hopefully have JRod back for half the season. He should be good for 5 or so...

I know, but they don't have to join us. I thought that Burnley had first option on Cork but then he signed for us...(I could have mis-remembered that).

That would be true if it was guaranteed that they would join if we wanted them...but its not. Truth is, if Bertrand, Schelotto or Taider play a blinder with us they will arouse interest from bigger fish and then go there.

I do think we still have a decent team on paper even without any new signings but if we sustained any injuries (especially to Pelle and Fonte) we would be in serious trouble. I am a little concerned that our last three signings have all been on loan (especially Schelotto who doesn't sound brilliant). I think the consolation for most fans about selling players was that we received serious cash to re-invest but as it stands we simply haven't done it. I do think we are biding our time to get players in at the right price, but the board have to understand that the fans need to see some kind of statement of intent by spending some money and that simply hasn't materialized. Loans are fine for the medium term but next summer we will have to do a major rebuild again. I still think we will end up getting a couple more decent permanent signings in but the way the board have gone about things this summer is as bad as even the most optimistic fan could have imagined. The failure to secure top targets in a timely manner could cost us and make it a particularly painful season. I think we will scrape survival but it won't be easy and it certainly won't be enjoyable.

Came on here looking for news of a signing but we've sold two players.... What is going on? Wonder if Koeman regrets what he has walked into..

Hope we give Rogers hell on the opening day. One of the most arrogant men in football. Signing four players from a team that finished 8th to try and win the title? Yeah good one Brendan. You utter prat.

If our players were being courted by Everton or Spurs I'd agree with you but they aren't they are being courted by genuine title contenders. Liverpool finished 30 points ahead of us and almost won the league. If reports are to be believed then they want to strengthen their squad by spending the majority of their transfer budget signing three players from a team that finished in no man's land. I agree that Fox, Hooiveld and Gaz aren't Prem quality but even if we hadn't had to call on them we would never have been in the running for CL qualification. We are now being told that Premier League title challengers want to sign our players to try and win the league. If the spine of our team is as good as other managers seem to think then I genuinely believe that Poch underachieved with the team we had - back up players aside. We should have done better than 8th. Also, if it was so patently obvious that we had a lack of squad depth why did we spend most of our transfer budget on an Italian flop that headbutted one of our most popular players? I know hindsight is a wonderful thing but even at the time I thought it was bad management on Poch's part as it was clear the money could have been spent better elsewhere.

Very excited by koeman. Biggest name manager in my lifetime. COYR.