doddisalegend

I think a lot of people knew that was bollix from the start don't tell me you actually believed it...

quite I believe they are still waiting for one from the end of last season to re-enter orbit It is pretty mad though 800 crosses and Bertrand had 4 assists and Cedric 3 assists (and I don't know if all those even came from crosses)

I take it loans (at least among PL clubs) have to be sorted by the transfer deadline day?

Yes it would. Who are we going to get that can do that then? which teams outside the top six have strikers like that? Also creating for others means the attacking midfielders does it not? you expecting them to step it up if we get a more creative striker?

saints crossing stats since we got back to the PL 2017-2018 2nd in the league (800) (spurs where first this season with 825 crosses) 2016-2017 1st in the league (947) 2015-2016 2nd in the league (956) 2014-2015 2nd in the league (952) 2013-2014 5th in the league (877) 2012-2013 7th in the league (917) Crossing into the box has been a big part of our game since we got back to the PL (and arguably before that) so it looks like what ever innovations have come and gone in football and no matter what we formation or tactical changes we make we end up banging crosses into the box from out wide as our default mode of attacking.

So we are excepting we can't get a prolific striker? So we now want one who creates for others instead of scoring many himself? That being the case all we are doing is in effect passing on the responsibility to score onto our attacking midfielders than our striker. Are we confident that likes of Redmond, Mo, Armstrong, Davis and JWP and sims are going to step up then? If that is the case then why bother with a striker at all our current ones aren't consider good enough and we are unlikely to get a whole lot better given how the club spends money. Hughes might as well channel his inner Pep and play Mo as a false 9 with Armstrong, Redmond and Sims playing as a fluid three around him. Personally while all the other stuff is nice a striker, for me is rated on goals, that's their job to score goals if we had a striker in the squad who scored 20 goals in a season with 20 touches no one would be complaining about him. The issue is unless we get lucky like Leicester with Vardy we are likely to get a succession of not very prolific strikers that cost a fair bit but with any luck they might be good at flick ons or something.

My son's ST arrived today. His came with a crammed goodie bag with a whole load of stuff he would have probably got very excited about when he was 9 rather than turning 17 in a couple of weeks

Apparently we where prepared to 18 million for RB Malcuit... http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2018/08/06/do-report-southampton-were-willing-to-pay-18m-for-napoli-bound-k/

So you'll be their putting the in depth hard questions to the board then as the voice of the fans? Fair play I look forward to your report on here when it's over.

Interesting little piece here about Cedric and how his old club think they let him go to cheap. http://sportwitness.co.uk/southampton-fee-questioned-three-years-later-player-worth/ Another reason why our policy of trying to pick up unnoticed quality on the cheap and sell it on later for a profit starts to fail.

I think you just reinforced my point strikers aren't what they used to be. When did it get to the point where we are hoping for our main striker to be "chipping in with a few goals". That's what you want your attacking midfield to be doing the striker is supposed to be putting the ball in the back of the net on a regular basis.

Everytime anyone suggests playing a youngster on here its normally met with a barrage of posts saying they aren't good enough. Personally I'd like to see Gallagher and Sims get a chance but it doesn't look likely.

Outside the top six who has a prolific striker? The best striker outside the top six is Vardy a non league player Leicester signed in the championship who only really came good a couple of seasons ago. The next best striker last season was Glenn Murray with 12 goals a player noted for his pace and movement. Its a perennial problem for the sides outside the top six where to get a proven prolific striker. PL "proven" strikers like Ings, Origi, Welbeck, Mitrović and Richarlison are going to cost 20-30 million and have goal records little better than our current lot. So that leaves us searching foreign leagues or the lower leagues for a good striker who step up and lets face it their are plenty of those who haven't made the grade. I'd be very very happy if we signed a 15 goal a season striker but I've yet to see us be linked with a realistic target that could do that. Quaility affordable strikers are an issue for 13 teams in the PL this season.

And the saintsweb view in the Guardian though Steve seems a lot more optimistic than the majority of saintsweb... https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/aug/05/premier-league-2018-19-fans-previews-part-2-leicester-to-wolves Relatively optimistic after a fairly proactive summer. Some key holes have been filled with new recruits and business done in uncharacteristically quick fashion. I’m expecting an improvement on last season’s dreadful fare – let’s face it, that really shouldn’t be too difficult – but I don’t think there’s a quick fix to getting us back into the top half.

About as up beat an assessment as I can find The gap between themselves and the top half may have only been eight points, but Saints were very poor on occasion last season. Hughes may have steadied the ship, yet with those around them strengthening accordingly and able to call upon a degree of consistency in the dugout, it could be a transitional season for the south coast side rather than one of any real progression. Consolidating a top-flight spot should be easy enough, however, with Saints to finish in the bottom half is available at 1.62. Hardly odds to shout home about, but there isn’t much value in Hughes’ side coming into the campaign https://www.whoscored.com/Articles/OwzuGw2F60ylcLQIxsblUA/Show/Southampton-Season-Preview-Can-Saints-stave-off-relegation-again

Except its Alpine we could have a front two of Luis Suárez and Sergio Agüero backed up by Hazard and Kante in midfield with Alderweireld and Chiellini in front of De Gea and he would still complain about how ****e we are.... He says we are **** every year he might well be right this season in the same way a broken clock is occasionally right..

The only jobs he seems to hold down for any length of time are international ones I doubt he will make it to the end of the season.

I don't care as long as he scores goals in the end that's a strikers job.

He lives in Austria he doesn't really turn up to any games...

Exactly The owner was never going to spend any of his money. One of the reasons put forward for Goa wanting to buy saints was he liked that the club was basically being run to be self sustaining.

I took it as playing our wingbacks high up the pitch was the experiment they won't try again not playing five at the back.

ooohh hasty. I'm hoping my pin has a good season. Then I can flog it to a Liverpool fan for serious money before buying a less good replacement pin..

mmmm doesn't sound like they did much research...

My nipper went yesterday and took my ticket for a mate (lucky escape for me). Speaking to him about the game, this morning, he reckons our biggest issue was we pushed our wingbacks way up the pitch and left the there. He said BM just exploited the space between the to high wingbacks and the centre backs all game. Hopefully Hughes and his team spotted this and are working hard to sort it out.

People do realise the "Southampton Way" was just some marketing/branding bollix don't they even the club have given up on it now...