macca155

If Saints have squeezed £40 million out of Everton, then well done. His contract position made the job harder.

He remains a terrific prospect, but definitely work in progress. 

That money will probably do more for Saints at this point, than he would.

Fair bit of panic buying going on at the moment it seems. The loan market will start moving soon, I'm sure Saints will be all over that.

6 minutes ago, saintant said:

Well it's normal to start your preferred X1 in the final friendly but maybe Will does it differently.

Feels like he is keen to put players under pressure. That starting XI was always going to be under pressure. Maybe that tells Still more at this stage.

Good workout, certainly didn't disgrace themselves.

Headlines will be Robinson but Bazunu's continued confidence is an absolute bonus. Not one of us trusts him yet but nothing else can be asked of him.

That Pompey game will be a massive test for him.

Good to see Sesay and Charles playing well.

No howlers from Stephens either 😲

10 minutes ago, bugenhagen said:

While that part is true, the problem begins when he is being picked every game, not on merit, but because he is captain. Quarshie, THB, Wood and Edwards are all competing for the place next to Stephens.

Well that would be a travesty , but I'd credit Sill with a bit more common sense than that.

3 minutes ago, Colinjb said:

Call it myopic rage. 

There is a whole world of issues, but I cannot get past giving him that bloody contract.

You need to, keep your blood pressure down. He's a perfectly capable Championship defender. Better than most teams have in this league. He'll do a job until THB is fit again, or Edwards persuaded Still he is worth a shot.

It's an ok Championship team, but jeez that's pretty weak for our ambitions.

All the fake illnesses, and injuries annoy me . Just say 'not risking' as possible transfer in the air. We aren't stupid, we all know what's going on.

The only surprise is Downes. I wonder if he is looking for an exit.

Stephens to score a worldy 😃

51 minutes ago, Chez said:

Is Dibling much different to Lavia?....n terms of age, ability and potential, they could be seen as similar.  I know its a starting bid, but I hope the £27m offer has been made merely to reset expectations and n

As you observed Lavia was a more complete player, less risk I guess. The important factor there was that Chelsea were in the market. They are good payers. None of the rich clubs seem interested in Tyler at present.

Agree £27 is a starting point, and other clubs will be watching very carefully. It will be more than that eventually.

1 hour ago, Fitzhugh Fella said:

Southampton have done everything possible (and more) to hang on to Dibling but he has declined to sign a new contract and so the club have no choice but to sell before he runs it down.

Sounds spot on, and knowing your sources FF, probably is.

People bandy around figures like £40 million as if it was pocket change. Saints hold the record (Lavia) £58 million, three of £40 millions after that. All pretty established players. Tyler is all potential. He's off the mega rich clubs radar, so £40 million is probably the ceiling.

I love players like Tyler, gutting he will leave, but the club has to realise a profit from assets like by this. Plus the lad himself will have ambitions, being sythe down every week, by utilitarian defenders won't be part of them.

Someone like Fulham, Villa or Palace would be a good fit. Lets just get it over with.

If Saints wanted to keep Dibling, then they needed to avoid relegation. 

£35 is reasonable for a youngster with a short contract, no matter how talented.

I've loved watching Tyler, I think he has huge potential. I wish he'd stay, but talent like that simply doesn't stay in the Championship.

Fernades next and then at least we can see what we have.

We all knew it was going to happen. Just horrible when it does.

All we know is that Saints will now be buying (loaning) a goalkeeper, unless Moody becomes number 3. At best he will be no more than competition for Bazunu. Gav has the opportunity to grab the number one position but very much last chance saloon for him. I've a bit more time for Baz than some on here, but the thought of Baz in goal against Pompey makes me feel a tad queasy.

I remember that hideous game at Fratton Park when Niemi went on loan to Pompey for 20 minutes......

43 minutes ago, LordHester said:

It *is* just possible that claretandhugh.info is a load of old clickbait bolox, of course. 

Highly possible, you give me hope, but in all honesty we've been expecting this since the end of the season.

No surprise '10 clubs' are in for Fernades, he is Premier League ready. I just hope he gives us another year.

I thought Forest, Villa,  Spurs, or Utd would be in a bidding war. West Ham seem to be getting a bit desperate.

He has a contract to 2029 so he won't be cheap. That might just stop any deals.

Wishful thinking on my part sadly.

1 hour ago, trousers said:

 

I'm inclined to agree with Alex.... Dragan was pretty explicit in what he was saying, rather than giving some kind of vague non-committal "business vision"...

Fair enough and no doubt there is a lot of action going on behind the scenes. 

We wait with baited breath

37 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

Archer - Ok in the box but non existent outside of it.

Fraser - Can put in an occasional decent cross but other than that, pretty non existent.

Armstrong - Ok in the box but non existent outside of it.

BBD - Non existent all together.

Our "current" attack basically offers bugger all in terms of anything other than half decent finishing when the ball is on the deck. No genuine pace, no creativity, no aerial threat. 

 

 

Have we sold Stewart?

2 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

not what was said by Dragon himself

I wouldn't take what was said at face value too much. He was setting out a vision really. Underneath all our football priorities lies a business that has to remain solvent.

3 hours ago, saintant said:

I thought Dragan promised us a defender, a forward and a midfielder without having to sell players - we have a defender and forward but not the midfielder he mentioned.

They've delivered on two of those. They can't commit to a midfielder yet, just two many on the books. As I said players have to leave first.

I suspect Aribo, Smallbone, Fernades (sadly) and Downes will move on. That will hopefully loosen things up a bit.

Nothing is happening until that exit door starts revolving, the finances simply won't allow it. Look at how many FBs and CBs there are on the books, it's just unsustainable. 

As Will said there's a few stinking the place out at the moment.

However, got to hold on to the positives. Quarshie, Downs, Charles, Robinson, Sesay, and maybe Wood have shown some promise. We may even keep Downes, Fernades, Dibling, and THB. Even big Baz seems to be taking it seriously.

There's a team there somewhere 😂

i've resigned myself to August being crap, hopefully pick up after that.

5 hours ago, Wade Garrett said:

Viz.

Roger's Profanisaurus the greatest gift to English literature

ABK was a classic 'good buy' that just didn't work out. I had high hopes, and initially he looked the business. injury and attitude put pay to that. Very different to panic buys like Carrilo.

However nobody but nobody is paying the wages he is on. There are plenty of decent CBs available, who are more robust and switched on.

Saints bought potential, but that has disappeared, as has his value.

They need to bite the bullet, sell him or loan him out. The whole soap opera around him is a distraction.

7 minutes ago, trousers said:

They must be pretty significant "knocks" to take them out for that long.... good job I'm not an old cynic as I might be inclined to read something else into that....

Oldest trick in the book, the club won't risk a £30 million asset. 

Pretty sure Dibling, THB, Bendarek, and Ransdale will go. Club needs the money. Just get it over with. If they can keep Fernades then billy bonus.

The major issue is shipping out players who won't give up on their wages. Clearly there isn't a queue of suitors, which is hardly surprising. 

It's annoying that if the club sells Dibling for £30 million, some of that money will be used to pay the wages of players we don't want or need.

Through its own mismanagement the club is in a bind.

Unfortunately there really is no other option than to make do with what we have, and use the loan market.

That's why players like Bazunu and Wood finding some form is so important. They will be needed.

10 minutes ago, Chez said:

You don't mention Charles. Any thoughts on him so far? There have been a lot of posters on here excited at his return. Personally, I am a little sceptical of him being able to galvanise our midfield, but obviously its an area of the pitch we need to improve, big style, so will take whatever positives are on offer...

Only because I think he has his place cemented. He doesn't need to prove himself, he did that last year.

In contrast Bazunu and Wood definitely need to do a persuasion job, newbies need to impress whatever their reputation .

10 minutes ago, Chez said:

Why did he do that? Are Bree or Sugawara injured?

Looks like Still is trying out various options. As others have said seems to be putting weaker units out. Maybe the idea is put pressure on someone like Smallbone. Shape up or ship out maybe.

We all know pre season is never a good guide. However there are positives. Bazunu, Quarshie, Wood, and Robinson all seem to be pushing for a place.

All starts for real in less than 3 weeks.

In fairness a rejuvenated Baz would be an absolute bonus for the club.  I refuse to make judgements on one game but anything like this is good for us.

1 hour ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Where are you playing Edwards?

Good grief I knew I had forgotten one. We've so many it's easy to do. I guess replace THB with him as he's likely to be off. 

Playing catch up here as been away but I thought the recent run out against Valenciennes was quite interesting. Still is certainly going for it fitness wise, good, reminds me of Strachan and Poch when they arrived. The big test for our new manager is coming up because some of the 'names' in the squad are probably about to have their noses put out of joint.

Forget lethargy and mistakes by the usual suspects, look at the positives where they are.

Wood played well and that's good to see. I'm convinced there's a decent player there, but he was poorly managed last year. Young players aren't machines they need to build confidence. He takes no shit and gives a 100%, the lad can tackle as well. Hopefully we'll see more of him.

I thought Quarshie looked excellent and oozed commitment, he really is quick isn't he. I know we shouldn't make snap judgements but he's already someone I am looking forward to seeing.

That means we have THB, Wood, and Quarshie as the 3 CBs. Sanda, and Stephens as backup. If Taylor stays he can be a decent backup as well. That isn't a bad line up.

It looks like Archer is committed and starting to put last season behind him. Armstrong remains a decent poacher so all is not lost there.

However as we all keep saying, all this good work will be derailed if the anticipated exodus happens late on.