Rebel

The high press 4-2-2-2 seems to works when we play a team set up in a 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 who play out from the back. If a team goes long and direct against us - like Burnley will - we seem to have no answer. We also seem unable to play long and direct ourselves when we are under pressure and get caught playing out from the back. We need a striker who is tall and good in the air who can drop deep and wide to receive the long balls and then make the play from there (just like Rickie Lambert used to to do) Against the 4-3-3 we seem to run out of steam in the second half and the 2 in the middle get outnumbered by the 3 and then our defence gets overloaded by constant attacking pressure and collapse. With the 4-2-3-1 the opposition drop one of the 3 back to overload the midfield and the same thing happens. If a team play 2 upfront against us our it seems are centre backs aren't good enough to cope with 2 strikers at the moment. If we are going to keep playing the 4-2-2-2 we need to play an attacking midfield and a winger in the No10 role - so that the AM can drop back in to midfield to help out the CMs when we are under pressure. When we play 2 wingers like Djneppo and Walcott this isn't going to happen. When a team plays 2 upfront against us we probably need to go 3-4-2-1 or 3-4-1-2 to cope in defence - but we still need an AM who is capable of dropping back to in to midfield to help out the CMs. Or a DM that can drop back to make it 3 at the back. Playing Stuart Armstrong as one of the No10s gives us the ability to do that. Livramento looks like he could do a similar job as well. Walcott, Djneppo, Redmond probably can't. (I was hoping we'd sell Djneppo and Redmond and buy a decent No10 - and I don't really know why we signed Walcott other than nostalgia. Same with Long and his 2 year contract extension). We need to sign 2 CBs, a LB, DM/CM, and another Forward before the end of the transfer window. Problem is we simply don't have the money. Maybe we need to sell a few like Obafemi, Valery, Djneppo and Redmond so we can bring some different players in.

we'll play 4-2-2-2 and the high press again - hopefully the squad are more suited to it this season. At least with KWP and Perraud we'll have 2 attacking full backs. And Vestergaard's lack of pace wont be exposed at the back. But I will be very P*ssed of if we don't have a plan B against the big teams for when 4-2-2-2 doesn't work and a plan C against the teams like Burnely that sit back and long ball it so there is nothing to press. Broja will give us some height up front if we have to go long and direct.

sign Josh Doig at left back for £4-5M, Matt Grimes for Central Midfield at £4-5M and get Ethan Ampadu in for CD/CDM on loan with an option to buy. its easy this transfer stuff isn't it On a more serious note I was hoping we would sell or send out on loan at least 2 of Redmond, Djneppo and Elyounoussi so we could bring in someone better for the No.10 role and play Tella on the left. But that would mean we need another striker/forward as well. I was also expecting us to sign a left footed No. 10 to play on the right.

I never understand why we don't buy before we sell - as soon as we sell a player like Ings or Vestergaard and need to replace them the price of the replacement goes up. It doesn't really help that we have no real strength in depth and thus a player who is ready to step up and replace them. Ideally you do that and then buy a younger cheaper player with potential to fill out the squad. I guess with Salisu we already have Vestergaard's replacement as the left centre back but I sometimes wonder why we didn't sign Kristoffer Ajer for example to replace Vestergaard in the squad before we are forced to sell him. Maybe money is the problem - needing money to come in before we spend it out - but I thought that was what the loan was for. Armstrong is overpriced with 1 year on his contract at 20-25M. Edouard at £20M is a risk at the Scottish Premiership is really equivalent to League 1 in standard and competition so you have to judge the player on European games, internationals and youthful potential. Nketiah at £20M is also overpriced with 1 year on his contract - but although we got a good fee for Ings it has set a high bar in terms of transfer fee and put prices up elsewhere. Maybe a buyback deal like we did for Livramento would lower the price. I not particularly enamoured by the Sorloth rumours given his failure at Palace - surely Hoppe from Schalke would be a cheaper and better long term bet. I thought Obafemi, Long, Valery, Elynoussi and Djneppo would all have been moved on by now - either permanently or on loan - none of them are good enough.

Where are the ITKs? Is the problem that club don't have any idea what they are going to do either!?! 😂 I'd be disappointed if we sign Sorloth after his complete failure at Palace. Surely Matthew Hoppe from Schalke for £5-10M and Nketiah from Arsenal for £10-15M are more worthy of a gamble.

How about Alassane Plea as a replacement for Ings? Monchengladbach will supposedly sell him for £15M. We were linked to him just before Claude Puel left - pretty sure Leandre Griffit thought it was a done deal by his tweets at the time - but they paid £25M for him which was more than we would pay I expect. He's 28 so a bit too old for our supposed recruitment strategy - but I think we need a bit of experience up front as well as some youthful potential.

Arsenal want £35-40M for Abrahams and he supposedly want £130,000 a week. If it was subsidised loan maybe - but Chelsea want to sell him. Its not going to happen - hew will probably end up at Arsenal. I think it will be Armstrong and then someone like Hoppe or Nketiah to replace Long/Obafemi. I can see up getting Ethan Amapdu to cover centre back and defensive midfield - as others have said he fits the bill as a player from one of the big six on loan or with a buy-back option - and there is no real pathway for him at Chelsea. I fully expect Vestergaard to go before the transfer window closes. Question is who do we replace him with. I wouldn't be surprised to see Josh Doig and Matt Grimes end up at Saints to provide some cover and competition either.

Supposedly Villa are paying Ings £120,000 a week - so he's partly gone for the money. I think he realised none of the big 4 clubs were going to sign him and Spurs weren't going to pay the fee Saints wanted or meet his wage demands. So when Villa came up with the money on both counts he jumped at it. I think he's also gone to club which he thinks are showing some ambition to push for the top 6 and Europe - and may have a chance at winning something. Rather than stay at Saints for another relegation battle - which is all too likely with or without Ings. He probably also thought he has more change of making the England squad for the world cup at Villa than Saints (as per Mings and Grealish). I was a bit unsure about us making him our highest paid player on £100,000 a week given his age and injury record. And we got a good fee for him given both those things as well. I am still a bit disappointed in Ings leaving us though - as supposedly he was a fan - but in his place I may have done the same thing. The real issue for me is how we replace him. Armstrong would be a start but we shouldn't overpay for him. But even if we sign Armstrong we need another striker as we can't rely on Long, Adams and Obafemi to score the rest of the goals we need to stay up.

Matt Grimes and Joey Veerman

I fully expect Vestergaard and Ings to go this summer - probably at the very end of the transfer window. Counting Bednarek, Stephens and Salisu we have 4 centre backs but if we are going to play 3 at the back we probably need 5 - so we probably need to bring in another centreback before we even replace Vestergaard. Some would argue you need 5 anyway to give you enough cover. Whether Ings goes or not we need another striker - and if he goes we will need to replace him as well and for probably pretty much the same fee as we sold him for. We also need cover for Romeu in the 6 role and cover at left and right back. I think the appeal of Williams is he covers both these fullback roles in one go. I expect we need to shift some more players off the wage bill and raise some more funds before we can sign anyone else this summer. Maybe we will see some more incomings once Lemina and co have been shifted.

Is it just me or can anyone else see Saints selling Ward-Prowse for £30M plus and replacing him with Grimes at £8M or thereabouts. I certainly think they are thinking about it or doing something similar. Maybe someone other than Grimes. I can see Ings going as well - but I don't know how we would replace his goals. Would Adam Armstrong be good enough if we can get him? I think Adams will get better and score more but we will need another goal scorer. And I can't help thinking we should have kept Targett (Villa's player's player of the season), Reed (Leeds interested by all accounts) and Sims (maybe even Hesketh too) and given them the time and the game time to develop in to premier league regulars. Replacing Reed with Diallo cost us money - £5-7M or something like that - and I am not sure the team was any better for it. Targett would be our first choice left back now - and it looks like we'll have to spend more than we sold him for to replace both him and Bertrand. And would having Sims and Hesketh be any worse on the left than Redmond, Djeneppo or Minamino?

I don't think we should bring Minamino back whether its on loan or as a permanent signing. Also think its time to sell Redmond - he needs a change and so do we. And Djenepo either needs to move on permanently or go out on loan to the Championship for a season to get more playing time and first team experience. I'd like to see us sign Danjuma from Bournemouth - maybe we could send Long and Djenepo there on loan as part of the deal to lower the price. I'd be happy with either Ryan Gauld or Ryan Christie as relatively low cost left footed additions in the AM role. Then you'd have Danjuma and Tella as right footed AM/Wingers, Ryan Christie/Gauld? as a left footed AM, and Walcott who can play on either side as well as Armstrong all providing competition and cover for the the AM/No.10 roles. I am surprised Lloyd Kelly hasn't been mentioned as a candidate for the left back role - he could also provide cover as a left footed centre back. Another left back to consider could be Aaron Hickey at Bologna - only 18 I think - but he would provide real cover and competition at left back with first team experience.

He's got a year left on his contract - and I don't think he will sign another one so we should sell him whilst his stock is relatively high and he has some resale value. He is good at bringing the ball out from the back- but sometimes gets carried away with this and plays us in to trouble - but he's not so great defending when people run at him. He had his good and bad moments but I think it time for him and us to move on. It's probably also time for Stephens to move on - and maybe down a level to get regular first team football. We need younger players who are going to improve and step up a level. I think I'd sell both Vestergaard and Stephens and try and bring in another right footed as well another left footed defender. Sven Botman and Kristoffer Ajer could be perfect - Botman's probably out of our range but I don't think Ajer would be. Can't help thinking its a shame we released Ben White at 16!

It's probably time to sell Djenepo - he has 2 years left on his contract so he still has some value. At the end of next season - unless he drastically improves his value will drop considerably. I think he will improve - but he needs to play regularly at a lower level if he's going to - we can't afford to give him the game time in the Premier League - and I am not sure he will ever be consistent or disciplined enough. He does work hard though. I'd sell both him and Redmond this summer - trade them in for someone who is good enough to play that AM / No10 / Inside Forward role on the left - Milot Rashica or Arnaut Danjuma maybe.

I think the reality was we were desperate for cash - and spent the money or most of it on Djneppo. But yes I think its bad squad planning - having just 1 right back and 1 left back doesn't look like good planning (not unless you are hoping for no injuries, suspensions or loss of form). And yes on the 1st July I think they will wake up and think shit we haven't got a left back in the first team squad - we really need to buy 2 now.

Unfortunately I don't see us doing any better next season than this season with a squad like that. Plus I think Vestergaard will be moving on to pastures new. Meaning we will need a new CB as well. We need to replace the players that will be leaving - as well as add some more quality and depth to the squad. A first choice left back is going to cost us more than £10M I would guess which means we are probably going to blow our budget on 2 or 3 players to replace players we have lost - unless we sell a few more. Rico Henry would be good if Brentford don't get promoted - or maybe Lloyd Kelly from Bournemouth as they will need to sell if they don't get promoted (and he would provide cover as a left footed centreback as well). Maybe Ajer from Celtic at centreback. I think Tella will end up playing on the left and I see Walcott as our 4th choice striker. So as well as another striker I think we need an upgrade on the left over Djneppo and Redmond and real competition for Armstrong on the right - not too mention cover at left back and right back so I'd happily sell both Djneppo and Redmond and replace them with someone like Danjuma . Or maybe Lookman. OIise from Reading would be a great option as cover and competition for Armstrong on the right. Hopefully Slattery, Smallbone and Janketwitz can give us some depth in midfield - but I think we will still need a DM - Joey Veerman or someone like him maybe. Lets hope we can raise some money from selling Lemina, Elyounoussi and Gunn so we can add some depth to the squad.

The only problem with selling Targett was with McQueen's injury and Vokins as the next in line from the academy (and not good enough or anywhere near ready enough) it left us with only one Left Back in Ryan Bertrand and no cover - and this summer without a first team left back at all. The money from selling Targett needed to be spent on replacing him the summer we sold him - or at least some of it. Now we are desperate for a left back and any club selling us a left back this summer will be adding a couple of million to the price knowing we are desperate. We should have kept Targett and played him more - giving him the time to develop - and by now he would probably would have bene first choice left back for us or as good as. And then know we would be letting Bertrand go and replacing him with a young prospect at £5M or so to give competition and cover for Targett - instead we are probably going to have to pay £12-15M or more for a first choice left back. It was a decision that proves we have no idea about squad planning or succession planning - and how desperate we were/are for a decent Director of Football to take a strategic view - or that we were very desperate for cash at the time.

Plan A doesn't seem to be working - so we definately need a Plan B - if not a new Plan A. The biggest problem we have is the squad is not deep enough - and what do we have is very unbalanced. Plan B could be as simple as going from a 4-2-2-2 to 4-3-2-1/4-3-1-2 to hold a lead or be less open against one of the top teams or even in the second half of a game and playing on the break a bit more - but at the moment we don't have really have a third CM to do that (Janketwitz aside) with Romeu and Smallbone being injured (and Slattery out on loan/injured). As it is we don't really have enough fit players to play the Plan A 4-2-2-2 properly as we don't have cover for Romeu in the defensive midfield role for one thing - or either of the attacking fullbacks if they get injured. I see JWP and Diallo as more of the box-to-box role and too similar to play together in the middle when we are under pressure. We probably also need another AM/No.10 like Armstrong as well - which is why we brought in Minamino to provide that on the left so I don't know why we don't play him. Now that Salisu is matchfit I'd like to see us try 3-4-1-2 or 3-4-2-1 with Armstrong and/or Minamino in the AM roles. More so if KWP or Bertrand are out injured.

That's only if Bertrand, Ings and Vestergaard don't leave surely. We need 2 LBs - one to replace Bertrand and another to provide cover and competition for the position. (It does suggest they don't think Vokins is good enough so why did they give him a long term contract?) And if they think we need another right back it must mean Valery is on his way out and Kayne Ramsey is not judged to be good enough (so why did they give him a new contract unless they see him as a centre back on plan to send him out on loan to get more experience). Whether or not Ings stays or goes we need another striker to provide cover and competition (suggests they don't think Obafemi or N'Lundulu are going to be good enough - and that Long will go on loan again - why did we give him a 2 year contract last summer!?) Redmond, Djneppo and Tella (as well as Elyounoussi and Minamino) are all right footers who primarily play on the left as inverted wingers/No. 10s so it means Armstrong is really are only right winger/attacking midfielder. So we need another one who can play on the right - ideally a left footer. Personally I'd sell Redmond and Djeneppo and Elyounoussi and by 2 new AMs/Wingers/No. 10s. I think we will need to replace all 3 of Bertrand, Ings and Vestergaard this summer on top of needing a RB, LB and CF.

So are current squad looks like this - I see Theo as more of a striker or wide forward than a winger or No. 10 and I get the feeling we signed him more because we could than anything else: McCarthy / Forster / Gunn / (Lewis) KWP / Valery / (Ramsay) Bednarek / Stephens Vestergaard / Salisu Bertrand / Vokins / (McQueen) JWP / Smallbone Romeu / Diallo / (Slattery) Armstrong / Tella / (Sims) / (Hesketh) Redmond / Djneppo Adams / Walcott / Obafemi Ings / Long It still looks like a thin squad to me lacking any real depth. Ideally we needed another centreback and another central midfielder and probably better cover at full back. I was hoping for Marco Grujic on loan and a No 10/attacking midfielder on deadline day - not Walcott if I am honest. I get that we don't have any money and Semmens and Co did an OK job given that - but that's about it. One or two injuries or suspensions in the first 11 and we will be in trouble. To me it's been more of a sticking plaster transfer window that hopefully will keep us in the game until next summer. When hopefully we can can get some money in for Lemina, Hoedt and Elyounoussi and maybe shift some the other players like Forster and Vestergaard - and actually start to move the squad forwards. Romeu and Bertrand are out of contract next year - unless they sign new contracts - and we have done anything that suggests we really have a short to mid term succession plan for left back so that could become a problem. We could also be forced to sell Bednarek and Ings as they will only have a year left on their contracts as well. I have a feeling we might see some movement in and out with the Championship and the Football League before the 15 October - probably Obafemi, Gunn, Sims, Hesketh going out. Unfortunately due to the money burnt on Carillo, Boufal, Hoedt and Elyounoussi we need an owner that's going to put £30-40 million in to allow us to strengthen the squad. Apart from Ings I don't really see any player(s) we can sell to generate serious transfer funds - and we can't afford to lose his goals. We are still on shaky foundations - and it could all go horribly wrong - but we could also finish mid table - and get the injection of much needed funds from new owners ahead of next summer - or maybe even january.

I don't get the Walcott signing - he's nether a No 10 or winger/wideman that we need to provide cover for Armstrong. He's more of a wide striker/forward that never really fulfilled his potential and is probably past his best. And at $50K per week he's not cheap either. I see him more as cover for the forward role which suggests to me Obafemi is going to go somewhere on loan. Maybe we are finally going to give Sims the chance to cover for Armstrong on the right. It's a nice story though I guess - Theo coming home. I was hoping for Marco Grujic on loan today to provide some real competition and cover in central midfield. Leaving Smallbone and Sims to provide cover for Armstrong. Overall the transfer window - after what felt like a good start with Salisu and KWP - now feels more like a 'sticking plaster' trying to cover over some of the holes in our squad - and putting off resolving problems until next summer. We haven't really added the depth we needed - one or two injuries and we will be in trouble. But I just don't think we have the money to do anything else - but I am not sure it will be any different next summer apart from the need to replace Bertrand and Romeu (and probably Bednarek) unless they sign new contracts.

If we sign an attacking midfielder /winger to play on the right would that free up Armstrong to play in Central Midfield - which by all accounts is his preferred position. Even if we do what I don't understand is why we don't use Josh Sims as cover for the right attacking midfielder role Redmond and Djenepo provide cover for the left attacking midfielder role. Olivier Ntcham is supposed to be more of an attacking midfielder so maybe his is being looked at as competition for that right attacking midfielder position and cover for CM as well. Ruben Loftus-Cheek would fit this role as well. I still feel we need a box-to-box / defensive midfielder that can win the call and progress play up the pitch - Ibrahim Sangare at relegated Toulouse might be worth a look at for this role. Some of the big clubs were looking at him and I think Toulouse need to sell someone.

We haven't got any money - or very little anyway. We had to sell Hojberg to fund KWP. The extra from this and the new sponsor paid for Salisu. And I expect any money we got for the loans of Cedric and Yoshida - which wasn't used to pay them off - was spent on KWP and Salisu. And if we sell Boufal for £3-4 million most of this will go on paying him off as well. So we have the Reed money and maybe a little bit extra to buy a much needed CM and a RW/AM. But I think we are selling Boufal to get him off the wage bill more than anything else. Romeu, Josh Sims, Hesketh, McQueen and Bertrand all have a year left on their contracts so there is no real money to be made in selling them - just like with Boufal. And the ones we want to sell we can't - by the time Hoedt, Vestergaard, Forster have a year left on their contracts next summer we will be able to sell them - but most of the money raised from doing so will probably have to go towards paying the last year of their contracts off. Our only hope is next summer Fulham stay up and have to buy Lemina and Elyounoussi has such a great season at Celtic and with 2 years left on his contract we can sell him for a decent amount. But we'll have to sell Bednarek who will only have a year left on his contract for less than he is worth like Hojberg this summer.

I always thought it would be a case of Saints having no money to spend this summer. We have had to sell to buy - and since we wasted the £75M we got for Van Dijk we have been in trouble as it means we've got no money in the bank to spend on new players. The players we have bought since we sold Van Dijk we have over paid for and then over paid them - which means we can't sell them on to generate new transfer funds or even get our money back. And as we gave them all big salaries as well we have no room on our the wage bill either. It will be one or two out and one in if we are lucky.

We looked OK for the first 10 minutes or so but we are always vulnerable to the counter attack or ball over the top when teams sit back and have pace up front with the way we play the high line. Romeu's lack of pace as the defensive midfielder - and our centre back's lack of pace only makes this worse. But once Palace scored it was more or less game over as they sat back even deeper and just hit us on the break with the pace of Zaha, Ayew and Townsend. And we didn't have the creativity to break down a 10 man defence. Maybe Armstrong would have made a difference to this - but we didn't really have a plan B. I would have brought Long on and gone a bit more direct to get behind the Palace defence. Djneppo is a left winger who likes to cut in - and should be the competition for Redmond. We don't really have an alternative to Armstrong on the right. Maybe Sims would be worth a go as cover. Boufal seems to be on his way - as although he has a bit of magic his end product is poor and he doesn't really have the discipline for Ralph's system. Plus he only has a year left on his contract and he probably earns too much for us to extend it - and the club have said anyone who only has a year left on their contract will be sold. He also seems to be better on the left as well. Romeu only has a year left as well - and due to his lack of pace I don't think he'll be offered another contract either. I wouldn't be completely surprised if he leaves if we can bring in another central midfielder. I have the feeling we need to shift 2 or 3 players out before we can bring anyone in - due to lack of transfer funds and space on a heavy wage bill. The failure to move on players like Hoedt, Carillo, Forster and Boufal (and get fees for players like Lemina and Elyounoussi) is causing us a real problem. We really need to bring in a box-to-box midfielder, an attacking midfielder to play on the right and a target man to give us a plan B up front.