EFL Saints

Cheers, have changed the formation at the bottom. Not sure how I made that error, must have been writing it late at night! I wouldn't be surprised to see both Smallbone and Alcaraz playing with somebody like Grimes or whoever joins in a midfield three. I agree central/defensive midfield is an area where at least two need to be brought in. Keeping hold of Adams will be key, a big decision to make on whether to sell now for a fee or risk losing him for free next year. I'd probably take the risk and hope he can be the man to lead the line this year. I take it Onuachu is probably going to move abroad? Will be interesting to see how he gets on in the Championship if not.

As poor as he was in the Premier League, I think playing in a Russell Martin team will suit him. Burnley last year had Arijanet Muric in goal who wasn't the best shot stopper but his role was to sweep up and recycle possession and in a team that kept the ball well against inferior opponents, his weaknesses were less exposed. Bazunu's definitely capable of doing the same thing, so I wouldn't discount him completely yet.

Amended, thanks!

Hello I'm an Ipswich Town fan who writes a blog about the EFL. Over the past month, I've been writing a 'squad surgery' series, looking at a club and examining which positions they need to strengthen ahead of the season and the latest one is Southampton As with most of the relegated teams, I imagine there will be a lot of turnover but I've focused on four positions and identified targets. I had this article written a week ago and was initially waiting for the Martin appointment to be confirmed before posting but now it seems the official announcement may not be for a while, I thought I'd publish it anyway. The blog is still a fairly new project so it would be great if any of you would be willing to subscribe. It's free and all the articles will arrive in your inbox when they're published. Of course, you'll all know more about your club than I do so feel free to offer any constructive criticism too. How are you feeling about being back in the Championship? I don't think there are any obvious promotion candidates at this stage, but any team with parachute payments should be up there. Hope you enjoy Jacob/EFL Saints Squad Surgery: Southampton - by Jacob Powley (substack.com)