SWLondon Saint

Yep, that's the smart money bet, West Ham in particular, which will piss their fans off no end. He almost certainly wants better than Burnley and feels he's too good for the champ so there's zero chance he's signing for us. Honestly don't know why people think this is some kind of easy, no brainer signing.

Can't see Fraser at LB, he can play as a wing back but as a full back it's a definite no unless we're chasing the game. He can't really defend crosses from the opposite flank properly.

Official now: https://www.southamptonfc.com/en/news/article/sugawara-joins-werder-bremen-on-loan

I've said this is the obvious outcome for ages as he can't simultaneously be the worst full back half the forum claims to have ever seen and also be easily sellable and replaceable with a better player. Loan makes the most sense as if he plays and does well he'll regain some value. If he doesn't we're stuck with him till his contract ends. Dunno why people seem to be hoping he barely plays as that's actually bad for us...

That's fair enough, though I also think it's far too early to be writing off Quarshie and Downs. The championship isn't an easy league for young players from overseas to come into + half our players are still indoctrinated by Russball. If we're going for champ experience I think Azaz has a chance of making the step up at least. Don't forget Brum spent £15m on Stansfield last year from Fulham, + Kyogo rumoured to be £8m rising to £10m...

The real problem with the list is it'd cost an absolute shit ton and likely have no chance whatsoever in the PL if you got promoted. Kyogo I'll give you for sure, bargain signing for Brum. Is Brownhill still unsigned? Isn't he a CM though and we're quite stocked in that dept. But the other 3 would all be £15m+ signings and there are good reasons why no prem club has had a go. Why didn't Sunderland go for any of those when they were splashing the cash this summer? Hamer is probably the best bet of them as I think he had some impact in the PL, BUT from another perspective, that would also mean we'd recreated Sheffield United's PL attack in him, BBD and Archer... Not sure that's what everyone really wants? Championship players are generally just too expensive and poor value for money for other Champ teams unless you can take advantage of someone needing to sell for financial reasons or a player has run down their contract.

After 9 games last year, Leeds were 8th or so on 16 points having lost to Burnley and drawn quite a few including to Pompey at home, so it would seem a little early to be wetting the bed....

*If* (and it's a pretty big if) we keep Fernandes I think he has to play as part of the midfield 2 in front of the defence. He's just not really an out and out attacking midfielder, he's much more of a 8, it should be 2 from him, Charles and Downes, with someone ahead of them. Think that makes things much clearer.

Just watched the highlights, and to be fair to Still, he said we gave them both goals and we absolutely have. That ball into Downes is a complete hospital pass, and he should never be trying to turn there anyway. The other one we should have had numbers back or at least fouled the man breaking with the ball for a yellow. But we were also really unlucky with those 2 shots of the post and also Downes completely missing that header. Overall looks like we had the better chances and could easily have won, stats back that up too, but them's the breaks.

I honestly think Martin did more damage than people give him credit for. Juric clearly couldn't believe how unfit and under prepared the players were, and Martin might actually have ruined several players careers, in particular BBD and Archer, but also Sugawara and to a lesser extent Smallbone and Downes. The first 3 you can see tried to 'fit in' with his demands to always play short and safe against their instincts, and you can see they're still second-guessing themselves now which is why they don't look 'right' on the pitch. Smallbone and Downes because they play wall passes ALL the time, even when there's no-one behind them and they should turn, or when the wall pass puts the receiver in more trouble than they are. It's like they all need to be broken out of a cult, and that's what Still means when he talks about psychological trauma I reckon, along with the clear 'acceptability' of catastrophic defensive ricks that Martin allows. Everyone makes mistakes, but you cover each others' backs, that's how proper accountability works.

Pretty sure there is no 100m shortfall this time, unlike previously everyone will now be on much reduced wages, and with the sale of Dibling we'll be up to around 80m in sales already. Fernandes may well go anyway, but it won't be because we're desperate for cash. Sporting Lisbon usually put massive sell-on clauses in anyway so it would help a lot less.

Hoping we've got our incomings lined up before they let him go out the door 🤞🏼 Fair deal all round, the thing I'd worry about overall is his final ball / decision making is still a work in process and they probably won't be that patient having shelled out a fee like that...

I feel weirdly confident that Still will get the best out of the team. Everything is still settling, you can see the players aren't up to full fitness yet and are getting used to the new, tougher regime - which means they'll get better. The spirit and fitness of the team seem miles better than before and at times in the first half against Ipswich you could see what he wants - possession, but dynamic possession with a clear plan to get forward and attack the danger zones. Just in case anyone is getting worried, Leeds opened last season very ropey with a draw at home against newly promoted P*mpey and were only in the playoff positions after about 2 months.

Nah, it clearly isn't, there are lots of Japan players in the Eredivisie and plenty in the championship from last year - Leeds, Blackburn etc. It'll be Fernandes. Sugawara hasn't even made the Japan squad recently, they have plenty of options. We'll either take a significant loss, he'll be loaned, or we'll be stuck with him.

Honestly, this is what I don't get - multiple people have said he's the worst full back they've ever seen, why do you think any team on earth is going to pay £6 let alone £6m for him?! I wouldn't be surprised if he gets loaned out with us paying the wages because anyone who can afford £6m is going to either have someone better already or have better alternatives.

KWP would have been on the left, like he was for a good chunk of the season anyway...

This is the thing I don't get, everyone thinks Suga is terrible but somehow he's gonna be easy to sell??

Honestly, what is wrong with people - he would probably have started for us last season and definitely better than Bree and Suga, who the hell do people think we're going to sign?

Not a hint then a really solid signing, boom 👍🏼 He's played a lot of games in the Prem for a very decent Brentford side, what's not to like? *Edit* I would assume that means one of Bree or Suga is off, presumably Suga, but who on earth is gonna buy him?

It certainly felt like it the way we played, particularly against pressing sides like Brentford...

Anyone else wondering what the actual was going on last season?!? 😑

I did a job with a guy who'd studied and worked in Russia back in the 80's, and he said the key to understanding them is that nobody ever means anything they say, and they'll just deny it all anyway. Like being at the airport shop and asking for a bar of chocolate he could see and being told they don't sell chocolate, but when he just pointed and said 'That thing' they'd sell it to him. Basically they're probably looking for some kind of sneaky backhander and it'll either get sorted and there will no problem and they'll all be sweetness and light, or it won't and they'll say there was no offer, it was all just fake news. Or something like that.

Well that's the thing, they're literally just wasting everyone's time if they're just saying 'he's not as good as you think he is so here's what we think he's worth', so why bother?

Well exactly, and that was without him playing a minute in the Prem. £50m completely reasonable expectation, so spuds probably offered £25m as usual.

The West Ham fans I know just think this is typical of their owners who they can't stand - lowball pissing around wasting everyone's time basically. I mean 2 years ago with Moyes you could see why JWP would want to go - stable, he has a clear role in a Moyes team, got a ton of assists from his set pieces. Now? If they came up with the cash and let him have a relegation release clause, I guess Fernandes would probably go, but given he said it was a very difficult season last year when interviewed after euro U21, I do wonder if he'd really want to walk into another relegation battle with manager instability.