Rebel

Get Andreas Christensen in part exchange for Van Dijk and spend some of the money on Wesley Hoedt - 2 centrebacks with first team experience in the Bundesliga and Serie A - right age at 23 and 24. And send Gardos and Bednarek out on loan. And spend the rest of the money on one of William Carhalho, Geoffrey Kondogbia or Gregorz Kryochiawk to partner Romeu in midfield. Easy peasy as you say!

Its going to be last summer isn't it!? Last summer the transfer window closed and we started the season with some major gaps in the squad. At the start of last season I think we all knew we were going to struggle to score goals and that we lacked any real strength or depth in midfield. Whereas this season - although we might have solved the goal scoring problem upfront with Austin and Gabbi - we still lack strength in depth in midfield but with Fonte gone and Virgil probably going it looks like we are going to have a big hole at the back. Even if Virgil stays and we don't lose anyone else I'd like to see us add a first choice centre back, a physical CDM and a ACM. If Virgil goes a first choice centre back to partner Yoshida or Stephens is a must - and so is a physical CDM to partner or cover Romeu and Hojberg and shield the defence - even more so if we are going to play 4-2-3-1.

I think we'll see some movement in and out of the squad before the transfer window closes - whether Van Dijjk, Cedric or Bertrand go or not. But I think it will be more a case of one in and one out rather than real additions - and maybe the odd trimming of the squad as well. I fully expect Gardos to go out on loan for his final season - either back to Roumania or the lower end of the Championship - and it looks to me like Bednarek was bought as his replacement. There are rumours that Reading want Long - and I wouldn't be too sad or surprised to see him go either (as long as he takes that bl**dy song with him) and I think we will look to replace him with someone like Karamoh or Roberts. I also wouldn't be surprised to see Tadic go to Inter to replace Perisic if he gets his move to Man Utd - and I have a feeling Boufal was bought as his replacement last summer. Clasie is another one I expect to move on - Lazio are supposedly interested. Maybe we will add the ACM we need having shown interest in Armstrong at Celtic - but I think he will just replace someone in the squad even if its not a direct replacement.

Out: Clasie Gardos Long Davis In: Geoffrey Kondogbia for the physicality and mobility we need in central defensive midfield Hakim Ziyech - for the ACM/no 10 role both in their early 20's with the probability they are going to get better and their value go up

For me its: Forster Cedric Stephens VVD Bertrand Romeu PEH JWP Redmond Gabbi Austin Austin has to lead the line for us - we need him in the box to score goals, convert the crosses, win the headers and hold the ball up. Gabbi is better as a wide or second striker than a centre forward according to all the reports I read on him when we signed him - and he'll use the space created by Austin to nip in and score. Redmond gives us that pace we need on the break and also seems to play better when wide out on the right. I just don't see any end product in Boufal or Tadic at the moment. JWP - for the set pieces - and he has more chance of delivering the killer pass than Davis. PEH - there's no one else - but he needs to step up and live up to the comparison with Busquets the club was so smug about! Stephens - better on the ball than Yoshida - and he's only going to get better the more we play him.

Unfortunately I think its true that our current midfielders aren't really good enough - or to some extent anyway as its probably the mix that's wrong more than anything. Davis is a jack of all and a master of none in midfield. He's not a holding midfielder and he's not an attacking midfielder. He's really the third midfielder in a midfield 3 - but he's not really a dynamic box-to-box midfielder either. And every time he's played as one of the double pivot we have been overrun. He's great against teams when we ae dominating the ball and keeping possession though. He's also past his best but that is another issue. JWP is pretty similar to Davis but I think potentially he is a lot better - and he could become the dynamic box-to-box midfielder we are missing or another deep lying playmaker. I think Claise and Hojberg were bought as deep lying play makers to sit alongside Romeu and replace Schneiderlin. But I think Clasie has proved he lacks some of the physicality needed in the premier league for that role - although he has the passing and the positional sense. Hojbgerg has the physicality and the passing range needed and I think will come good given games and time. He needs to improve his positioning and awareness though. And both need to work in their stamina. Maybe Hojberg could be a box-to-box midfielder in time. Clasie was bought by Koeman as his favourite - bit like Martina - never really understood why Reed and the black box let him do it. And I am guessing Hojberg was bought as Clasie wasn't living up to expectations - and we thought he would be a real money making prospect. What we lack is an out and out attacking midfielder/No. 10 and a second holding or defensive midfielder to play alongside Romeu or cover for him if he gets injured. You could argue we need a dynamic box-to-box midfielder as well. I don't really count Boufal as midfielder - more a winger - but maybe I'll be proved wrong. I see him more as a long term replacement for Tadic/Mane. Sometimes I daydream we bought Hakim Ziyech or even Ondrej Duda instead. I think Boufal was Puel's buy and an attempt to replicate the player he had at Nice with Ben Arfa. Again I don't know why Reed and the black box let him to it. It depends on what formation you play - 4 3 3 or 4 2 3 1 - but I'd argue we need to strengthen the midfield to give us the option of playing a proper double pivot/2 defensive midfielders or a 3 made up of one holding, one box-to-box and one attacking midfielder. Undoubtedly our best midfield at present is a midfield 3 of Romeu as the holding midfielder, Hojberg as a deep lying playmaker and JWP as box-to-box midfielder - so there is room for improvement and strengthening. Replacing Clasie with Chalobah would have given us a second holding midfielder and more options in midfield. I'd also replace Davis with a dynamic box-to-box midfielder and add a proper attacking midfielder. Anyway what do I know.

That positional map says it all really - we sat far too deep and had nothing up front. Once Spurs equalised we just sat back and invited them on to us - but had no out ball and nothing upfront to counter attack with. The big question though was that the players or the manager. Neither one is good but I have a feeling it was the managers tactics. A number of players had a bad game as well which really didn't help - Forster and Romeu in particular. Rodriguez gave us nothing but was isolated up front and Boufal is tricky in the ball but lacks anything resembling an end product. And Steven Davis had another one of those games again - Jack of all and master of none - he is just not dynamic enough. He's not physical or defensive enough and he's not attacking or creative enough. Playing him and JWP together means our midfield is just too lightweight. It was also obvious yesterday that we lacked physical presence in midfield - Romeu was off the pace which didn't help but Hojgberg should have started against Spurs physical midfield. But we desperately need another physical or defensive midfielder. I'd have Schneiderlin back in a shot if we could afford him.

Can't say I'm too sad to see him go - had a bad attitude for most of this season, missed a lot of games through suspension and at times his passing of the ball, positioning and reading of the game and work rate were terrible. When he could be arsed he was at times great though. But he will need replacing - Clasie, Reed, Davis and Ward-Prowse just don't have the physical presence needed for a defensive midfielder which leaves us with just Romeu. Romeu is a better passer of the ball and probably better at reading the game and being in the right position to intercept the ball. The biggest problem is when he goes forward he's not got the pace to get back in to position if they opposition break on us. Also he's not dominant in the air at all. We need at least one other big defensive midfielder to provide cover - or to let us play a double pivot / defensive duo. Personally I think Clasie is surplus to requirements in the midfield - he's just not physical enough or dynamic enough for the premier league and we have Davis, Reed and Ward-Prowse who are all as good if not better. Although I think Reed is probably too small as well. We should cash in on him if we can get our money back or better - plus he's Koeman's man - and add that to the money raised from selling Wanyama and go and buy a beast of a defensive midfielder

Any 2 from Praet, Ziyech and Silva to replace Tadic and Juanmi Sebastian Haller and/ or Vincent Janssen to replace Pelle Redmond and Townsend to replace Mane Wanyama will be the hardest to replace - Schneiderlin would be perfect, Cork even - but I expect t someone from Europe - Oscar Hiljdemark maybe - or Marco Benassi Simples!

None of those are a surprise. Juanmi almost gone already - it's a shame it didn't work out Wanyama's not exactly a surprise - we all know he's wants to leave for a big champions league club - he's not exactly given his all this season Mane - again no surprise - pretty much the same as Big Vic - he can be great but he's so inconsistent - we've probably seen the best of him already Pelle - he's no longer first choice, he's got a year left on his contract and he's over 30 - plus he wants to one last chance at a big club in Italy - and we look better going forward when he's not leading the line Tadic - maybe a surprise to some but he had a run in with Koeman earlier in the season which suggested he'd leave this summer - given his contract and age maybe it's a good time to sell him - I expect he'll follow Pelle to Italy for one last big payday I think we will see a few others go as well - maybe Yoshida for first team football somewhere - and maybe Jay Rodriguez back to Burnley As long as we replace them and add some more depth for the Europa League we wil 'March On'

Barcelona? Messi, Iniesta, Pedro, Xavi, Busquets, Puyol, Tello, Pique all came through the Barca academy - and then you have Bojan, Bartra, Muniesa, Romeu, Etc

It was a great day out - and will live long in the memory. It was my birthday too just like today :-)! I got to see Saints play at Wembley and actually win something which apart from 76 when I was too young to really know what it meant was something I never thought I'd see in my lifetime. It was also the day the club returned from the brink - where 40,000 to 50,000 Saints fans celebrated the fact we had survived it all and were on our way back.

We should have given up on Ramírez a long time ago - he doesn't have the right attitude or temperament for English Football. He's been given so many chances and failed to take any of them. He's the only player I've seen walk of the pitch before being subbed - and he's done that 2 or 3 times now. Hopefully we will get him off the wage bill this month. We've also proved we are better with two upfront - so I'd start with Long and Juanmi upfront and a diamond in midifield with Romeu as the defenisve midfielder, Clasie on the left and Ward-Prowse on the right as the Central midfielders and Davis in the hole at the tip of the diamond. I'd play the current defence of Bertrand, Van Dijk, Fonte and Martina with Gazzinaga in goal. And I'd have the kids on the bench - Stephens, Seagar, Targett and Reed - to see if they can make a difference if we need it - or get some game time depending how the game goes.

We should have replaced Clyne with someone like Kieran Trippier, Carl Jenkinson or Sam Byram. Supposedly we were interested in Byram but weren't willing to pay the £6M fee Leeds wanted. Jenkinson was supposed to be our first choice and rumour has it we had agreed a fee with with Arsenal for £10 million but he chose to go back to West Ham on loan instead. But more importantly we should have replaced Calum Chambers a year earlier - or refused to sell him - as when he left it was obvious Clyne was going to leave. We didn't which meant in the end we had to panic buy this summer. We sold Chambers for £17M and Clyne for £15M so we should at least have spent £15M on two replacements. Not just £5M on Cedric and Martina. We'd be laughing now if we had Jenkinson and Byram at right back. Similarly I don't understand why we let Cork leave last Jsnuary knowing Schneiderlin was going to leave in the summer. We simply shouldn't have let it get to the stage where he felt unwanted and chose to leave. It's not all about the money - but I think Les Reed and Co have convinced themselves they are clever than they are - that they can identify and sign an unknown player from abroad, improve the player, sell him on at a profit and repeat the process. Cedric was this type of signing I guess - but I am not sure he is up to it in the premier league - same with Juanmi. Both are too small for one thing. If we signed one of Trippier, Byram or Jenkinson and Cedric again I think we'd be fairly happy. Martina was just a last minute panic buy - and one I don't really understand. One of the problems I think we've got is our wage bill - if it's at 60% of our turnover isn't it maxed out? If so its means we can't afford to pay anymore thanks to FFP. So maybe it is partly about the money. This is where the lack of commercial revenue and disastrous signings like Osvaldo and Ramírez have bitten us. But we have made some bad signings since those two and I think both Les Reed and his team and the Koemsn brothers share the blame for that. Players like Pellè, Martina, Stekelenburg and Clasie were undoubtedly Koeman brothers signings. Tadic was identified by Reeds team but approved by Koeman according to Ron's comment at the time. Van Dijk was probably the same. And Alderweireld similar. Whereas Juanmi, Cedric, Mané, Gardos and Caulker look like Les Reed signings to me. And not forgetting Long - for the £12 million fee the worst of the lot. We have also lost our English core and a not of our team spirit along with it or so it seems as well. So Reed and Koeman should share the blame for player recruitment - which has taken us a step backwards. But Koeman has to take the blame for our tactics - we no longer press the ball, build from the back or look as fit. We look very one dimensional playing the long ball to Pellè most of the time. Will Koeman walk? Yes I think he will in the summer to protect his reputation - because unless something changes we are going backwards - and probably looking at a relegation battle next season if not this one.

The sad fact is two seasons ago our squad was miles better than that of Palace or Stoke whereas this season our squad is probably worse than both. In Puncheon, Zaha and Bolasie Palace have a great attacking 3 and a playmaker of real quality in Cabaye. Supporting them they have a solid squad of players and in a couple of other positions are probably better of than us as well - right back foe example with Ward. Stoke have a great front three of Bojan, Shaqiri and Arnautovic - again supported by a solid squad of hard working players - and again with players like Eric Pieters at left back some real quality in there as well. West Ham have also strengthened their squad with real quality in Zarate, Lanzini and Payet and also have a solid squad whilst Carl Jenkinson is a much better right back than anything we have. All three have better squads - with more quality and strength in depth than us now. And when you add last seasons top 6 (Arsenal, Cheslea, Man Utd, Liverpool, Man City, Spurs) and Everton without the distraction of the Europa League who all have better squad than us - and Leicester who are having one of those seasons -we will be lucky to finish 12th.

We were close to bringing someone in on loan before the deadline in the summer supposedly so maybe that will be resurrected. No idea who it was though - although I have a sneaking suspicion it was Filip Djuricic again. I can actually see us signing Djuricic as he's not wanted by Benfica and is supposedly available for a knockdown price. He can actually play the No. 10 role and was just starting to adapt to the premier league at the end of last season. Damarai Gray and Solly March have both been linked in the press - Young English wingers - and we do need some pace up front. We have also been linked to Charlie Austin and with 6 months on his contract he will be available - an aggressive and mobile physical striker which we desperately need. Another player with 6 months on his contract is Tonny Vilhena at Feyenord who we have been linked with in the past. I can see Koeman making a bid for one of his protégés who can play the attacking or defensive midfield role and is left footed. And let's not forget Rodriguez, Forster and Gardos should all make a return in January. We should also bring back Gallagher, Stephens and Turnbull to add some strength in depth and some heart to the team. Maybe we should consider a sneaky 6 month loan for Pato - he wants to play in England and needs a shop window and we need a striker.

If we play the same old 4-2-3-1 with the usual suspects we will lose again. We need to bench Wanyama, Pelle and Taduc and stop long balling it. We need to change things and play 4-3-3 for me with pace and movement up front - and a solid midfield that find the front 3 with the through pass - and cover for the full backs when they go forwRd and add some width. A front three of Juanmi on the left, Long down the middle, and Mane on the right. A midfield of Romeu as the holding midfielder, sitting deep to protect the back 4, Davis on the left and Clasie on the right to press the opposition and support the front the three. A back 4 of Bertrand, Fonte, Van Dijk and Cedric - with the full backs provide width on the overlap when attacking and Fonte and van Dijk taking it in turns to bring the ball out from the back to start attacks. If this doesn't work we should switch to 4-3-1-2 and bring on Tadic for Juanmi to play in the hole behind two strikers - Mane and Long, maybe switching one for Pelle if all else fails.

It's been said before but why did we let Cork leave last January knowing Morgan was going to leave in the Summer. He may not have been quite as good as Morgan but he was a lot better than Wanyama. It should never have got to the stage where he didn't sign a late contract offe, felt unwanted and left for just a couple of million. Personally I think Romeu looked really good earlier this season - I think we just need to stick with him over a Wanyama now. Big Vics head seems to have gone.

We haven't played well for weeks - we just looked good for one half against Bournemouth as they were overawed in their big derby and froze. And we just got thrashed by Liverpools B team. Caulker was terrible - he can't defend at all it seems. Cedric was nearly as bad. Shane Long may be a athlete but he is not a footballer. Wanyama has been awful for most of the season so far - all I can think is Morgan and Cork made him look a lot better than he actually is last season And other than the flick on or lay off to no one Pelle offers nothing up front for most of the games he plays - he doesn't defend from the front, he doesn't bring the ball down and play someone in, he doesn't beat a man, he doesn't run with the ball and create space for someone else. Clasie and Cedric are physically out of their depth in the Premier League. And the Koeman brothers just don't seem to care at the moment. And we don't play intricate passing football or posession football - we play long ball football to Pelle - and 9 times out of 10 it just comes straight back at us. Last season the team was a lot worse than the season before - under Pochettino we pressed and passed and moved and were great going forward. Last season we stopped pressing and starting playing direct football - we were just saved by having a great defence. This season we are a lot worse than last season. We are not good going forward and we don't have a good defence. We don't press and we don't play pass and move football. If the trend continues we are in serious danger of getting relegated next season. We need to spend some serious money in January and again in the summer if we are going to move forwards. You can't replace £32M of right back in Chambers £17M and Clyne £15M with less than £5M in Cedric and Martina and call it progress.

Cedric was at fault for the goal against Stoke - he backed off instead of closing Pieters down who then put a great cross in for Bojan to score. And he struggled all game with the class of Bojan and the physicality of Arnautovic and Pieters. Cedric is a good attacking full back but not a great defensive one. But he has got better and hopefully will continue to do so. However I think he's basically to small to play fullback in English football - players need to be 6ft or so to play at the back and if they're not they get targeted as a week link with long balls in the air - which has happened to Cedric a number of times so far this season. I get the feeling Carl Jenkinson was our first choice for the right back role in the summer and Cedric was bought as a cheap back up. Cuco Martina was bought in a panic to cover across the back when we failed to sign anyone else and seems to have been a waste of money. Yoshida is a good centreback when he plays regularly - but he can't play left back or right back. We were also interested in Byram last season so let's hope we sign him in January as we really need to strengthen this position.

We were bad today - from 30 minutes to 80 mins we were terrible - the players had no fight in them. Man Utd weren't great but they were better than us. At times we completely failed to close them down and our work rate was terrible for most of the game. I don't really understand why we played Yoshida and not Cedric at right back - Man Utd were there to be attacked so why not play an attacking full back. Yoshida wasn't great at right back but Fonte had a bad game as well - and he did give Yoshida the shout to pass the ball back to Stekelenburg so let's not crucify Yoshida for that. Van Dijk didn't look great - he was OK but that was about it. I had convinced myself that although our First 11 was worse than last season - or the season before - we had more strength in depth - well today removed me of that delusion. What was the point in brining on Shane Long or Cuco Martina - they are just not good enough - and if they are preferred to Juanmi and Cedric what does that say about the squad. Swansea are a better team than Man Utd so I am worried about next Saturday. At this rate we are looking at a bottom half finish - 2 wins in the last 12 league games and we could even beat Newcastle

Assuming Van Dijk is signed and sealed for £10 million or so how would I spend the remaining £30 - and this fantasy? For a start I'd meet the asking price for Charlie Austin at £15 Million - at that price a fantastic signing for us and great value considering we paid £12 million or so for Osvaldo and £12 million for Long. We desperately need a goal scorer and someone to lead the line with a bit of aggression. I'd spend the rest of the £30 million on Tonny Vilhena to give us the left footed midfielder we need to strengthen midfield - and a long term replacement for Davis - and Sam Byram from Leeds to give Cedric some proper competition at left back and some cover for right midfield. If Sadio Mane really wants to go to Man Utd I'd sell him for £20 million plus and try get Adnan Januzaj and Javier Hernandez in exchange as part of the deal - using what's left of the £30 million to seal the deal. If we got Austin or Hernandez I'd Sell Graziano Pelle to Bologna if they are really interested on the condition they take Gaston Ramirez back as well - £8 million for the pair - and hope it means we don't have to pay any add ons or the full £12 million fee for Ramirez. I'd also Sell Shane Long back to Hull for £6 million which is what he's actually worth - and again hope it means we don't end up actually having to pay the full £12 million fee for him. If they don't want him I'd see if WBA or Sunderland would take him for the same price. And if Wanyama really wants to go I'd sell him for £20 million plus. I'd happily take Lamela on loan but we would need to replace Wanyama. Sergi Samper on loan from Barcelona might just do it.

We need to play a solid 4-3-3 today. Norwich will look to sit deep and hit us on the break with the pace of Redmond. If we play 4-2-3-1 we will lose. 5-3-2 would keep us solid and get the draw. I don't think Mane or Wanyama will play today for a number of reasons. Anyway we have a much better shape when Tadic plays on the left and we played our best football last season when Tadic was played in that position. I'd also drop Pelle to stop us playing hoofball - and he's just far too much of a one dimensional player for me. So a radical 4-3-3 for me: Stem Cedric - Fonte - Yoshida - Target Ward-Prowse Romeu Reed Juanmi Rodriguez Tadic I expect Pelle to start though and Saints to play a 5-3-2 for the draw.

I am sure I read somewhere we made an £8 million offer for Carl Jenkinson but he chose to sign a new contract with Arsenal and go back on loan to West Ham - and we were supposedly interested in Byram at Leeds in January and made an offer of £4.5 million but they wanted a lot more - £6.5 million or something like that. I am guessing Cedric @ £5 million was a cheaper alternative to Byram - but the same age as Jenkinson. So on paper it made sense. And Cuco at 1.5 million was just a cheap option for cover. The problem is in Chambers and Clyne we sold £28.5 million of right back and have replaced them with £6.5 million whereas if we were actually a progressive club we would have spent at least half the money on replacing them - adding some strength and depth to the squad - and with players who could potentially be better than those we sold. We should have replaced Chambers last summer for a start - Jenkinson on loan then would have been great - particularly as it was obvious to everyone Clyne was going to leave this summer. Jenkinson and Byram as right back options would have been great - unfortunately I don't think we could do anything about Jenkinson but I hope we realise our mistake and go back in for Byram. Cedric and Byram as right back options looks much better on paper that what we've currently got.

In Clyne for £12.5 million and Chambers for £16 million we have sold £28.5 million worth of right back and replaced them with Cedric Soares at £5 million and Cuco Martina at £1.5 million - that's the problem we've spent just £6.5 million on replacing them If we truly were a progressive club we'd have spent at least half the money we made from selling them on replacing them For arguments sake if we'd spent £6.5 million on Sam Byram last summer and £8 million on Carl Jenkinson this summer - roughly half the money we'd made and put the rest back into the academy would we be in a better position right now - I think we would Cedric might turn out to be a good buy - the early signs are not good though - but on paper he was the right kind of signing - still young and with potential. We could get 2 or 3 good years out of him before repeating the process. The problem is we just needed to make two signings like that - and more than likely one of them would have come good. I do worry he's just too small to be a full back in the premier league - and it doesn't look like he can defend The Cuco signing I don't get at all - it's like we just given up - mediocrity is OK - a journeyman squad filler