SNSUN

You've suggested something similar... Personally I'd be watching Saints vs Barcelona in the Champions League Final in 2065 (I'll be 84, a fair age IMO), ironically held at the now 90,000 capacity St Mary's which was chosen due to it's new drone-delivered alcohol system, of which I've partaken of a few too many, and of it's new invisible wee-tubes which negates the need to go to the toilet mid-game. My wife, daughter, any other kids I may one day have and any grandchildren I may one day have are sat around me, all roaring Saints on (including my Norwich supporting wife who has long since succumbed to the glory of supporting Saints over lower-league Norwich). It is the 93rd minute, injury time, and Saints have just scored the 5th and final goal, a hattrick goal for my grandson, Mikey SNSUN, who came through the famed Southampton academy. While jumping up and down in celebration, I lose my balance and fall face first into the ample cleavage of the woman in front of me, which suffocates me to death. Too far fetched? Sod it... balls deep in Alicia Silverstone from the mid-90s after perfecting my time-travel pogo stick.

With defence, I'd argue it's a question of experience. Valery/Cedric is stronger than Valery/Ramsay, so long as Cedric is content playing second fiddle and puts the performances in when required of him. No disrespect to Ramsay of course who may go on to become a good player, but Cedric has the experience. Whether Bertrand/Vokins is stronger than Bertrand/Targett remains to be seen, although Targett did have a fairly decent season last year when covering for Bertrand, hence the transfer fee received. That said, with Cedric back (and eventually McQueen if he gets fit and ends up taking a squad place) we do seem to have more cover for left back than we had last season if Vokins does fail to make the step up successfully. (Although we all hope he's the next Luke Shaw/Wayne Bridge!) Playing a back 3 as we were/currently are, then Yoshida, Vestergaard, Stephens and Bednarek was/are not a good enough amount of centre backs. Hoedt adds depth and experience, but like Stephens is prone to mistakes and lapses in concentration, and in a perfect world both would be shipped off and we'd bring in a complete, quality centre back and switch to Ralph's preferred back 4... but this is far from a perfect world. As it stands, if we continue with 3 at the back, then arguably we ARE stronger than last season because of the addition of the more experienced Hoedt over, say, Alfie Jones who was effectively our 5th choice CB last season, or Klarer this season. Still, we do have more quantity than quality in defensive areas, and time is running out to sort it out. Fingers crossed for the next 5 days.

How will it look? There’s still time for it to change, but I’d say it’s initially looking like... GK: Gunn, McCarthy, Lewis* RB: Cedric. LB: Bertrand. CB: Yoshida, Vestergaard, Bednarek, Stephens, Hoedt. CM: Romeu, Hojbjerg, JWP, Armstrong, Reed. AM: Redmond, Djenepo*, Elyounoussi, Boufal, Sims. Str: Adams, Ings, Long. That’s 23 as it stands (assuming we are keeping the re-integrated Boufal, Cedric And Hoedt), But not including Forster, Carillo, Lemina, McQueen, Austin, Hesketh, Barnes, or Youth players like Valery, Vokins, Klarer, Slattery, Obafemi and all the others. Who else makes the cut/do you think will be missing? *Are Djenepo and Lewis classed as under-age players?

It just goes to show that there is good talent in the lower leagues if you’re willing to take a chance on it. Leicester and Liverpool both raided Hull for Maguire and Robertson, whom they had picked up the players from lesser leagues themselves, and they’re now regarded as two of the best players in the world. It’s why I think signing Bowen from Hull now would be a no brainer, 22, left footed right winger, looked impressive on the odd occasion I’ve seen him, has a decent goal scoring record and even for £20 million, if he’s successful (and the analysis in the link below says he’s Premier League quality) you’ll get far more money back if he’s sold. It’s just a shame it appears we can’t afford him/have too many players right now. https://totalfootballanalysis.com/player-analysis/jarrod-bowen-player-analysis-hull-city-statistics

I still think we’re stronger in attack last season with Adams, not to mention an unpredictable Djenepo that seems to have all the right assets. I think this is key to breaking down the weaker teams in the league that often pack their midfields, this is where our extra points will come from this season. I do think if Boufal leaves we have room for another attacking player, especially as Moi can’t be trusted to deliver after last season, but I think what we have will have to suffice even if Boufal leaves. There’s always January. Defensively we’re still a worry, but with Hoedt and Cedric brought back on board, maybe the club feels that is that, especially financially and perhaps with a lack of decent affordable players in the market. Definitely quantity over quality at centre back. Then, if we start with Gunn and McCarthy in goal, we look pretty strong there IMO, and suddenly not being able to sell McCarthy becomes a decent thing for us. As for the deadwood? Who knows. Austin, Carillo, Forster and Lemina. We can only hope someone panics and signs them.

1) Where will we finish in the league? 12th/13th. Possibly higher if we can sign a CB and DM. (2) Which round we will reach in the Mickey Mouse Cup? Semis. Potent attacking will get us there in high scoring games. (3) Which round in the FA cup? 4th. Knocked out against Premier League opposition. (4) Leading Goalscorer? Got to be Adams. (5) Our player of the season? Adams (6) Which player will surprise you most? Ings, staying injury free for the most part with a decent goal return. (7) How do you think our great neighbors will get on down the M27? Don’t care, upper mid-table perhaps. As long as they stay down. Ultimately I think we will be involved in a few high scoring games. Adams, Ings, Long and Obafemi looks a good attack, with Redmond, Djenepo, JWP, Sims and maybe even Boufal supporting them (ahem and er Moi), we shouldn’t have any worry about scoring goals.

In: A CB, Jarrod Bowen. (2) Outs: Carillo, Austin, Hesketh, Lemina. (4) I think Cedric, Hoedt, Boufal, Reed and both back keepers will all stay and be a part of the squad, although if we do bring in a centre back I think Hoedt may be loaned out again. Both keepers we will be unable to offload so they’ll still be here. I think Cedric, Reed and Boufal would make good back up choices for their first team counterparts. What we don’t want to be doing is weakening the squad after our window is closed by selling or loaning players to Europe.

I thought of a song a while back to the tune of Ride on Time by Black Box but it’s not for a new player... Cos it’s Redmond time, Redmond time R-R-Redmond time etc He just Walks it in, w-w-walks it in etc Full lyrics to be disclosed during rehearsals, 8-10pm Tuesdays and Thursdays through the season in The Admiral Sir Lucius Curtis.

Newcastle now favourites to sign Jarrod Bowen from Hull, whatever that means. Ashley splashing the cash to appease the fans? I still think he’d be a decent signing for us based on stats, potential price and age. It’s more important to strengthen other areas of the team first though.

The reasons are there, Hasenhuttl, regular first team football, but it would be a huge signing. A guaranteed money earner in a year or two too.

He has the physique of a 17 year old virgin on his first foreign holiday to Magaluf. He was never built for this league. GOOd luck though.

He’d only have to fart and he’s earned himself £2. A tenner for a really long fart. It’s crazy money and Bale would be crazy not to accept it. We’re more likely to see McGoldrick come home than miraculously signing Bale! Sadly. Nice dream though.

It depends whether they can keep their better players, same as everybody. As long as the window is open, there’s always the threat of losing your better players, in Palace’s case I guess that’s Zaha, Townsend, Sakho. (Zaha alone would be a massive blow for them.) Fortunately for us, nobody seems to be interested in our better players - even JWP whom I thought would have his admirers this summer. As for Newcastle, no Perez, no Rondon and now Bruce. Long season for them. Even before Brighton decided to sell Dunk I thought they’d be relegation fodder, and now I think they definitely will be. Norwich too, and most likely Sheffield United, so the likes of Palace, Newcastle, Burnley and heck even us on a bad day, would have to go some to end up in the relegation zone. I’d add Villa too but they’re an unknown, and Bournemouth have so far done well to hang on to their players but, as I said in the first paragraph, that can change. You’d think Fraser and Ake at least would be heavily poached as the transfer window nears an end.

West Ham beat them 3-2 on Thursday. Strong line up today for a first pre-season friendly.

lol@westham

Good Luck Sam. I think we've done well to get the mooted £5 million off them, especially if there's a sell-on. I wanted him to break through, like a homemade Peter Crouch, but it never really happened for him. I think we're doing the right thing selling off the older 'youth' players that will almost definitely get no gametime. Make a bit of money and free up wages and space in the squad. Let's hope we get a few more sales under our belts sooner rather than later.

If I read it right, the signing of Saliba doesn’t affect their summer transfer budget of £45 million, presumably because it’s made up of future payments. Which makes it a sensible deal. What is baffling is they’ve been linked with attacking players like Zaha (who they’ll never afford unless Palace accept players as part exchange) and Fraser but barely a sniff of a centre back. Granted they’ve been linked with Tierney at left back but they already have Kolasinac and Monreal. They’re a mess and £45 million isn’t enough to sort it out IMO.

Villa are using the scattergun approach of Fulham I see. Although Konsa is a decent signing. McCarthy next? Additionally, lol at Newcastle if they appoint Steve Bruce. Ashley would have truly lost it, well, re-lost it after giving Pardew an 8 year contract! Poor fans if so.

Sorry, I didn't realise you had seen the future. Where does Hoedt end up?

Who says he won’t be replaced? I’d rather a consistent, fit, pretty good defensive midfielder that wants to be here than an excellent enigma that performs once in a blue moon, is injured a lot and doesn’t want to be here. Let him go if the price is right. It seems crazy that we could make a profit on a player that’s not exactly excelled in his time here, but, similar to Mings transfer, that’s the current market for you. With Lemina leaving and Austin, Gallagher, Boufal, Clasie and the keepers incoming transfer fees, we’d have quite the transfer kitty and a huge saving on wages. Not to mention what we’d do with Hoedt, Carillo, Cedric, Reed etc. It will be an exciting end to the transfer window.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/mario-lemina-tells-southampton-manager-17489630 Says he'd like to start afresh at another club if an offer comes in. Nothing much new in that article.

We're still the favourites. I still think we have room for one more attack minded player (especially if Boufal leaves) and with Bowen's age and stats from last season, if the price is right, I don't see why not. But I'd say we'd need to get it done quick before someone else pounces or the price rises. I've been looking at the free transfer lists overnight. (When I should have been working...) https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/spieler/vertragslosespieler/statistik/1/plus//galerie/0?ausrichtung=alle&spielerposition_id=alle&land_id=alle&altersklasse=&wettbewerb_id=alle&seit=alle&yt0=Show You could put together a pretty decent team of: Ochoa Dani Alves Cahill Vermaelen Alberto Merno Honda Marchisio Ben Arfa Brahimi Sturridge Ballotelli I mean obviously if they were in their prime, not injury prone or have behavioural issues! Is there anyone on that list that you lot think CDAJFU? (Puncheon or Caceres anyone? )

Found this thread: https://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?57973-One-goal-wonders Tadanari Lee's goal was also a goodun.

I can't believe no-one has said it yet! David Hughes scissor kick against QPR around Christmas time in the mid-90s. I remember thinking we'd produced a decent player, but injuries killed his career.

We didn’t have a lot of players that came out of last season with much credit really, JWP and Redmond are the obvious ones (and we’d be asking ludicrous money for either), but you get the feeling, with Hasenhuttl building a team in his image, any approaches for our better players would be firmly rebuked anyway. Im excited for the new season. On paper we could start a team, even before any other new signings: Gunn Valery Bednarek Vestergaard Bertrand JWP Hojbjerg Djenepo Redmond Adams Ings On paper that’s stronger than most of the bottom 14 IMO. (Although at the same time highlights why Centre back and Central Midfield should be the next areas of attention.)