NickG

You may have voices in your head screaming "no ambition" , fortunately that piece said "We aim to get to Europe " Hope that helps quietening your voices

Thank you for your praise. However, I will admit to some doubt when the Lambert rumours first surfaced - doubt about us moving forward, not believing gossip about fire sale, KL wanting out etc. Also, when Wotte took over and the young team played some good football, I did think we were going to be OK. I respect diverse opinions, but its strange that on saints forum (by definition meant to be biased) and whilst usually right I get mocked and told I'm deluded. Sure there is some interesting social interaction explanation. You are probably very good and enjoy the history, try to enjoy the present without looking for negatives which often don't exist

Guessing pretty much what you told them when you recently met them? How did they react?

Suppose can dream about a couple of 3 goal wins for us and arsenal to put us top for the day!

Some interesting fixtures next weekend which may provide some very early imdictations on who will contend the Europa league places. I've ignored Chelsea and Man City just to keep number of teams down, and they are still favourites to be in their own mini league. I hate predicting our results, but will look at how the table would look IF we win, as more fun! Saints 16 Swansea home to Newcastle, win, 13 Man U, home to Everton, win, 11 Arsenal, away to Chelsea, lose, 10 Aston villa, home to Man C, lose , 10 Everton, lose, 6 Liverpool, home WBA, draw, 8 So, Chelsea 19 Saints 16 Man C 14 Swansea 13 Man U 11 Arsenal 10 Villa 10 Liverpool 8 Spurs 8 Everton 6 Far too early for any conclusion but aside from the obvious emotions with this tie, and fact a win is always good, clearly a win on Sunday would be a big step towards improving on last season: 1) away victory against one of two clubs above us I saw as potentially catchable (with Everton) 2) keeps winning run going 3) could be 8+ points clear of Liverpool, Everton, Spurs. 4) heaps pressure on MP/spurs,

I can confirm that our owner, Led Reid, Koeman were all keen to sell schneiderlin. Hkoeman and our chairman were having quite a laugh opening lying about their intentions. However, Ronald was browsing here, saw Richmond and others who really understand football were getting upset, Ronald described it as " Gee, they are really wetting their beds!" They immediately changed their plans. We are in Richmond's debt. Thank you. No one could possibly have for seen we would be OK this season, I mean if you had been foolish enough to say there is chance we will be stronger you would have been a deluded fool. It was obvious club was for sale, and there was a firesale of players. It would have been silly to think the club still had ambition and KL was interested just based on her support so far, fact she was getting more involved, smiling at games and staff games, the board saying club not for sale, club still going places, only selling players for prices way over their value, recuitinv as top world famous manager. Well done bedwetters - you saved us!

My first game of the season, I appreciate it is early days for a judgement but I think you are likely to be wrong. My assessment at moment; Forster - big improvement Tadic - not sure, looks very good, but not sure if will better Lallana, possibly improvement Pelle - improvement on Lambert. (Where I think Lambert would be this season) gives team a good focal point and always available Bertrand - weaker than Shaw but decent Toby - hard to judge but looked so comfortable, could better Lovren Plus Cork and JWP look much proved. Plus additional players, long, gardos, Mane - look decent quality. No doubt better squad, quite decent shout better 11. Schneiderlin: said today: “We have bought quality players and we can argue that the team is better than last year, that is a good debate”

Agree with a fair bit of what you say. I was quite optimistic about our attacking ability with Pelle, Tadic, JWP and Morgan - but we also now have Long and Mane - with JayRod and Gallagher yet to be involved. We were comfortably 8th last year, hard to compare due to so many changes but all regular 1st team starters have been replaced ( Tadic, Pelle and Bertrand all seem to be doing well). I saw Gardos as Lovren's replacement. If, big if I know, they match their predecessors and Koeman matches MP, we should be around last season's level. But we dropped points due to weaknesses in CB and keeper and have also added TW and FF. It is hard to predict a position, if top 7 do well they will be very hard to break into but one may have off season, likewise teams below may improve. To finish 15th, five of Burnley, Palace, Sunderland, west from, QPR, Leicester, Hull, west ham, Villa, Man U would have to be better than us, personally can't see it.

I think Toby Alderweireld is a very impressive signing; 25 years old, 37 caps, coming from top side with good experience etc. You wouldn't have been surprised to see him sign for top 4 side. He also sounds decent character from the initial interview. He mentions leaving Athletico Madrid for more starts - so think he is now our first choice. Fonte has played very well over the last year, and is currently captain - does Koeman see him as the other first choice? Gardos, is again a 25 year old international, experienced, quite large fee (was it £6m?) You would have previously thought that any CB signing like him would be for starting 11. Yoshida is a decent CB, again good age & international. Surely 4th choice. After being a weaker area we are probably the strongest we have been. The Chambers departure makes more sense now. He is too good to be sitting on the bench for a team at our current level. Clyne is, imho, clearly a better RB. I did wonder if we would use him as a CB, however, with these signings he would probably been only cover at CB as well so guess better to take £16m and let him be a squad member at Arsenal. Who do you think will be the most used CBs this season? My guess is TA will be straight in but Gardos will have to wait, maybe making himself first choice over coming months. Do you think Koeman will play 3? After surprisingly opting for a more attacking midfield on Saturday, I wonder if Koeman is looking for tighter CBs and not using VW/MS just in front?

Charlie wayman - me or you away with the fairies? Professor, chapel end Charlie - am I deluded or did I judge it well? And the whinging old woman Fitzfeller Hugh, full of hot air, disappears when I agree to back up my view in OP with £50 charity bet ! Club clearly not, and was always pretty clear, asset stripping or aiming for relegation. Not sure exactly what the club will be saying internally, but appointing Koeman, adding Alderweireld (25 years old, playing 1/3 of games for team which win La Liga, & in champions league final) or Forster etc - suggests to me an aim of at least top 8.

The annual post! After a summer of panic and moaning Alps realises his views were groundless and berates those pointing it out! I wonder if we will have another summer of moans, insults, slating football posts without being able to rationally dispute them? Nope he won't learn! Only yesterday new signings were poor!

Hard to tell these days but I guess this is meant to be sarcastic?? Out of depth in signings this summer??? Forster? - papers now saying challenging for England No1. Bertrand? From nowhere, playing well, talked about as returning to England squad. Tadic? - Danny Murphy's nomination as best performing new signing in early games. Koeman x 2? Sammy Lee / Dave Watson? Reckon Pelle / long will be decent signings. If any board could have kept Lallana / lovren here and performing happily then yes they are at fault, although think got excellent money for them. I would rather Shaw had stayed but not too upset with Bertrand / Targett plus £20m!

Why? We are only replacing players who you described this time last year as playing rubbish (Lambert). We don't know how squad compares, could well be better or worse. As you and alpine are sure it is worse, and are two of the most unrealistic posters, it gives me some confidence! Love it! The negativity is primarily here and a handful of over active posters. Quick google and these are Liverpool fans thoughts on us.. "With all the sales at Southampton everyone seems to have overlooked the fact that they've made two really smart transfers in Pelle and Tadic who were two of the best players in Holland last season. Seems like they may already have replaced Lallana and Lambert actually, and if they don't sell anyone else they'll actually have a pretty decent starting 11 They'll surely bring in a LB and CB to replace Shaw and Lovren, and will also have Rodriguez to come back. Seen some people saying that they could get relegated but I think that's wide of the mark. I think they should still be a decent side, probably good enough for a solid mid-table finish around 12th - obviously assuming they keep to their word and hold onto their remaining players and spend some of the £92m on a couple of defenders" "I think Tadic and Pelle are good signings" "shane long wont be a bad buy works hard and will be a physical presence. reasonably quick too." " Long is a quality IMO, good signing" "They have a great goalie" They have bought a lot of players, refused to let their best player leave (and he's obviously disgruntled about it) and whilst they seem to have bought some players who seem direct replacements (Lallana>Tadic, Lovren>Gardos, Lambert> Pelle) there's also some signings that seem to have been made more on the basis of who's available rather than who actually fits for them (Long, Taider). The main issue is, whilst we've bought 8, only two maybe three will start this weekend, and the others have the chance to be eased in." f they can keep hold of Scneiderlain and Wanyama their midfield will do well. They played class against us" "they were amazing...Clyne what a player, and also their midfileders" "Tadic was fantastic today. Clyne was very good as well. If Shane Long can pitch in and score 10+ then they'll finish at least 8th again. " "Deserved a draw at least to be honest, were fantastic when they grew into the game. Tadic and Clyne very impressive." "Bertrand was eye-catchingly good, I thought, and those posters who were constantly slating him when he was mooted to be of interest to us might be having second thoughts." "Bertrand was good, Villa probably didn't suit him" " think Manchester united hired the wrong dutchman. To think what Southampton have gone through this summer, Koeman's approach and behaviour has been impeccable and they look as effective as last season." "Bertrand is a decent, solid player, regardless of what some said. Wouldn't surprise me if he got an England recall." Anyways, I didn't for a second believe the bull**** about them struggling this season. They made quality signings in Pelle, Long, Tadic, Forster, Bertrand, etc, and have another batch of top youngsters coming through in Targett, JWP, Clyne, Davis, and Isgrove among others, which is hardly a weak team on paper after you disregard that they sold 5 lads. Holding on to Schneiderlin has also been essential. I think I even went so far as to say in the Everton thread last week that they could finish about the bitters in 7th" "Thought they'd drop in the table but if they play like that every game I can see them coming in EL spots. None of Pelle's runs were picked up by his own players and that will get assessed at some point, he'll start banging them in." "Tadic will probably move for 25 million to some club next summer. Already looks like their best player." "Look a really strong team still. Of course, we won't know for sure until a few months pass, but really promising signs. Their midfield is still as strong as ever; Schneiderlin and Wanyama are as strong a partnership as you'll find outside of European football, and Ward-Prowse is still looking like a player that I'd really like to take off their hands" " they will be on the heels of top six again, imo." Looks like you are wrong Charlie, so maybe just voice your opinion and not be arrogant saying anyone who doesn't agree is deluded? Bizarre you compare us to QPR so readily. We were 8th, 9 points clear of 9th, 23 points clear of relegation. QPR were 22 points behind Leicester. Maybe you rate their manager? We have lost a core of a team who had been doing well together but they have been replaced. Transfers are always gambles, I won't judge ours until well into the season, however... Additional, expensive upgrade keeper Although Shaw is very good, and with bags of potential, are we much worse off than 12months ago? Shaw was still improving, we didn't have Targett ready as cover. Lovren is a good player, but he has been replaced with a player I know as much about as I did about Lovren. Chambers (I thought may try him here at CB) a clear 2nd choice to Clyne. I reckon Koeman is happy Pelle and Tadic are upgrades on Lambert and Lallana. He may well be right. I reckon Long will contribute more than Osvaldo did! I would rather we had kept players but this shambles / fire sale etc talk is getting beyond a joke! Our success, IMHO, was largely based on Schneiderlin and Wanyama - who are still here. Clyne was our best fullback at the end of the season. JayRod our top scorer. We didn't have isgrove, reed and Gallagher in the squad. Koeman would have to be pretty **** for us to be relegated!

Forgot Taider. Deliberately missed out Osvaldo due to lack of involvement last season

Agree about Ramirez, although i suppose we didn't really play with traditional 10 last season. Could Tadic play that role? Need? Interested in what we need those players for? Not being petty but 'need' requires quantifying. Even if Ramirez, JayRod and Schneiderlin left we still , IMHO, would be far from relegation certainties, and taking to other extreme we would need loads to challenge for title. It's hard to compare with other teams as some players, managers and teams will always under/over achieve. I think easiest comparison at this stage is if Koeman matches MP, with players at similar levels of performance / fitness, can we match last season? Our transfers this window:- Lambert / Lallana - my guess is that RK would have preferred Pelle even if Lambert had stayed, and when he had opportunity to replace Lallana with Tadic (a player he may well prefer) plus cash was happy. Shaw leaving is obviously a blow, both for level of performance and potential. However, we replaced him with a young LB who has played at high level and appears to have started well. We have better cover with Targett than last season. Chambers was a departure I could see from the end of the season - not as good as Clyne but one of best young RBs in England, too good to sit on bench all season if Clyne stayed fit ( although I did suggest him as CB before Wenger). We are down a cover RB. Lovren was excellent last season and will be missed. He has been replaced but I have no idea how well. Think we will be lucky if new signing does as well. We have, IMHO, significantly upgraded our keeper. We have also added an additional forward in Long, plus this years crop of youngsters - I can see isgrove, Gallagher and Reid being more involved this season and Reid in particular looks good. So if there are no further departures we may not 'need' more signings to match last season, more for Koeman and players to perform to their potential. I would like more signings, maybe top CB, fast attacking player, a top playmaker. Better players, if course, likely to improve us, but we shouldn't 'need' more for steady mid table.

Was pelle as bad as JayRod and Lambert were in first home game of last season?

Judgement day is the end of the season, how the team perform not whether you personally with your outsiders knowledge of football transfers think we received good value. The weeks of "asset strip" threads has finished as posters find it hard to make up more stories to fit. As it sounds like spurs and Morgan have a desire for the transfer , if he had been told it was happening I think it would have, and he wouldn't be in our first 11.

No, not excited enough! .....and you have been too slow to drop your negative conspiracies Still as long as you are enjoying the present and good for the £50 to charity when we stay up, unless you were right, I was just hot air and we are going down?

No, not excited enough! .....and you have been too slow to drop your negative conspiracies Still as long as you are enjoying the present and good for the £50 to charity when we stay up, unless you were right, I was just hot air and we are going down?

My analagy is simple, sorry beyond you, make it easier for you... A manager will pick the side he thinks has the best chance. As he thinks Forster is a better keeper he picks him.

So we sign the best CB in the world and you would want Fonte to start? Nonsense, manager has paid £10m for an experienced keeper who he feels is an improvement on Boruc so hardly surprising wants to select him. Also, I expect being declared No1 helped convince Forster to come.

Why are you so weak and panicky? Boruc hasn't gone and has been replaced by £10m younger England keeper - an upgrade. Chambers played 10 mins in the game you quote and a player I would have liked to see develop (and I suggested CB before Wenger!) But clearly and rightly was 2nd choice as RB. Personally think it was clear Cork wasn't viewed as a first choice player, last season Morgan, Wanyama, JWP and Davis were all at times preferred to him, with signings and JWP, Wanyama and Reed developing I doubt he would get a lot of game time. My view is Koeman would have preferred Tadic and Pelle over Lambert and Lallana - I will wait to see if he is right. What are you basing your view on Jay Rod on? Morgan would be missed IF he goes. Lovren is my biggest concern at the moment. You must now see, surely, what most could see - we had unusual situation where top sides wanted our players, no fire sale, no club sale, no cashing in etc. No first choice 11 player left to side we see as at our level or below. Cork only wanted by Palace, if good enough for our level and so cheap, why haven't Newcastle or Everton bought him?

Difficulty we have, as always, is the limited information available. IF Schneiderlin and Wanyama stay then Cork is not a first 11 player when they are fit and in form. He is decent player but not as good, and we perform best with them playing. IF Reid and JWP are going to be as good as many think then 1) they will soon push Cork further down the pecking order, and 2) we shouldn't block their progression unless with excellent players (Cork isn't). IF Taider is as good as Koeman says, and reports on here after friendly, then Cork will be pushed further down. IF he is stalling on a contract then we should cash in now. He cannot perform further forward as Davis, JWP or Ramirez can. He seems to be back up for Wanyama, Schneiderlin, Taider - a role that maybe Harrison Reid is ready to perform better? I think he is a very good player, but his reading of the game and positioning is below Wanyama and Morgan and often is reason why he needs to make his tackles. I have always thought he was over-rated here, as much as steve Davis is under rated. Good back up/ squad player but unless players depart or unlucky with injuries don't think him leaving would effect our season.

Trouble with continually making irrational posts for the sake of it, trying to always find a moan, you end up confusing yourself! Think, if this goes through, the fire sale posters will realise (as was obvious to most) was unusual transition with players going to top four clubs when they can, as they invariably do.

Will try to make it very simple for you, sorry didn't think even posters on here would struggle. The initial question I raise does talk about last season. ( finding it hard to dumb it down for you sorry...) Err..posters say we are now tight, lacking ambition, finished 8th after GK injuries, none have left. If we are going backwards why are we spending millions on a keeper we don't need? (as in need if going to be lower level side). The bit you find too demanding to follow, was a general response to those predicting relegation. We have a recent benchmark of the squad needed to finish 14th, therefore stay up. Luke Shaw was a inexperienced 17 year old, he hadn't played in an European final. I really don't think you should need the Lallana question answered, just read what was written... "I also suspect that RK viewed AL and RL as squad players, preferring his two new signings. ". I have not yet seen Tadic play, but judging by RK's comments and Tadic's reviews I suspect (note not know) that RK would have signed and played him even if Lallana was still here.