Rebel

If Clasie is Morgan's replacement we still need somone to replace Cork. We can't rely on Davis and Ward-Prowse to provide defensive cover - and with Reed and Clasie being so small we will need someone a bit more physical to provide cover for Victor Maybe we will go back in for Marco Benassi from Torino - he looked very good at the U21 tournament - and at 6ft could be what we need - Young though at just 20.

We have been made to look very naive yet again this summer when it comes to transfers. I am starting to wonder if Saints transfer committee believe their own hype a little bit too much sometimes. I certainly think we started to believe all the hype and propoganda about our black box and transfer strategy after the great start to last season. Maybe Paul Mitchell leaving for Spurs was a bigger blow than it looked. The questions I would ask Les Reed is do we have actually have a long term transfer strategy or are we just running around in a blind panic trying to fill short term holes. And do we actually have a transfer fund to spend. Losing Clyne this summer was inevitable - but losing him to Liverpool and not a Champions League club for just £12.5 million was just stupid. After they way he left Crystal Palace he was always going to do it to us. We should never have let it get to the stage of just having 1 year on his contract. But I guess we couldn't sell him last year after losing Chambers to Arsenal unexpectedly - who would have provided cover at right back, holding midfield and centre back supposedly - and who we also haven't replaced yet. Losing Alderweireld to Spurs is even more stupid - and makes us look incompetent and there for the taking again. We should have made it a permanent transfer in January or pushed a deal through right at the start of the summer - and given Spurs no room to push their way in. It looks like we have been on the back foot and caught right out when we should have been on the front foot. Lets hope we can sign Virgil Van Dijk or some similar to fill the hole and provide some competition for Gardos and Yoshida. This summer we should have been bringing in a long term successor for Fonte and a replacement for Chambers and to give some competition at right back - but now we are looking to fill a gaping hole in our defence. I was also hoping we'd sign an out and out striker to give Pelle some competition but I think we are hoping Rordriguez can do that. I think we are also hoping Targett can take a major step forwards this season to provide some real competition at left back. Cedric Soares look like a great replacement for Clyne but I hoped he was signed to provide some competition at right back - but now we are back where we were a year ago when Chambers and Lovren departed. The signing of Cuco Martins - a journeyman defender from a mid table Dutch team who looks like he's been bought it to provide cover at right back and centre back just makes it look worse - and looks a bit of a panic signing to me. Juanmi looks like a good signing - and he and Cedric are the kind of players we should be signing - young players between the ages of 21 and 24 for £3-5 million who have played at the top level, our internationals, great value for money, full of potential and with a great chance of getting better and doubling or trebling in value. It was also obvious Morgan was going to leave us this summer - and that was obvious a year ago - so why the hell did we let Cork leave the club in January. If Cork was still here with him and Victor Wanymana providing competition and cover replacing Morgan would be so important as it is going to be - or as difficult. Surely having let Cork go in January we should have had a replacement for Morgan already signed and sealed before we sell him. At £12 million Shane Long looked like a panic buy last summer - and I am not sure we can afford any more of those after the failed signings of Forren, Osvaldo, Mayuka, and Gaston Ramirez. Long hasn't been a disaster but at 28 and with only 7 goals he was never worth the fee we paid. I think we rode our luck quite a bit at the start of last season - and had a great start built on a very solid defence. This season we will start our first couple of games with only 2 players from the 7 who started at the back last last season - Fonte and Wanyama. And that does worry me a little bit. Our midfield also looks weaker - with just Wanyama, Davis, Reed and Ward-Prowse to choose from whereas last year we had Cork and Morgan as well. I would liked to see us bring in at least two players to replace Morgan - an attacking midfielder like Wijnaldum and defensive midfielder or playmaker so we can play 4-2-3-1 with a double pivot in front of the defence or 4-3-3 with two attacking box-to-box midfielders. And I'm not sure we have a Number 10 who can play in the hole unless Tadic can fill this role - Juanmi looks more of a wide striker to me and a replacement for Elia, Djuricic and hopefully and competition for Mane and Long. I think we are probably going to finish mid table this year - and probably behind a few clubs we thought we were better than such as Swansea, Newcastle, Crystal Palace and West Ham - and maybe we should be happy with that given where we've been and where we've come from. Maybe it is a case of we're simply not a big enough club to compete with the top six - or maybe we just don't have the money to spend in the short term us fans think we do. But we could still make the three or four great signings we need to stay at the level we reached last season - and compete in Europe - so lets not judge to soon - but I do think we need to take a bit more control of our transfers and show a bit more sign of having a long term strategy to grow and strengthen the team by buying and selling players - we can't always rely on our academy to turn out little gems.

Luc Castaignos from Twente or John Guidetti from Citeh/Celtic - both are ex-Feyenoord and have played under Koeman before.

We do desperately need a striker - with Gallagher and Rodriguez out as long term injuries, Mayuka and Mane in Africa and now Long probably out injured for more than a couple of weeks we only have Pelle in the first team squad. Of those Mayuka is just not good enough - and the same is probably true of Long if we are honest. And Pelle despite being good enough is very one dimensional in the way he plays . So we needed another striker anyway. Mane is also more of a left winger anyway - which brings me to another problem - in Tadic, Elia and Mane we have 3 left wingers - 4 if you add Isgrove - but no right wingers. We need one of those as well - and a right back to provide some cover for Clyne. I think the problem is until we get Mayuka and Osvaldo and Ramirez entirely off the wage bill and/or sell Rodriguez we can't afford to bring another one in.

Apparently Genoa are interested in signing either Osvaldo or Luc Castaignos from Twente. Perhaps we should go for Castaigns so they are forced to sign Osvaldo - plus Castaignos is the kind of striker we need and could be a good replacement for Jay Rodriguez if we end up selling him.

We need a another striker - ideally someone with pace - and another right back at the very least.

Antoine Griezmann left Real Sociedad in the summer for Atletico Madrid and a fee of £25 million - so he's already at a big club and out of our league. We should have bought him a couple of seasons ago but I don't think Sociedad were going to sell him unless it was for £20 million plus.

At the moment we don't have the strength in depth to keep our good form going for a whole premier league season - the Europa League or Champions League would be a stretch too far by quite a long way. We need at least two good players for each position - and players versatile enough to five us some tactical flexibility. Against Citeh our front three looked tired and out of form - but we really only had Shane Long on the bench as an option to change things around and freshen it up - also with a Cork out, Morgan getting injured, Davis not match fit and Big Vic booked early on in the game even in our strongest position - central midfield - we looked a bit short Right now we can't afford to rest players from our first 11 and compete with the big boys. But who is to say we won't strengthen in January and add the strength in depth we need to compete in Europe and at home. Sam Byram for right back, Nathan Redmond for right wing, Scott Sinclair on loan to play on either wing, Danny Ings or John Guidetti up front and Virgil Van Dijk in defence would give us a bit more competition for places and a bit more depth to the squad

The reality is Ward-Prowse is injured and Luke Shaw and Calum Chambers were sold in the summer - all 3 players would have been in the Matchday squad if fit or still at the club. Harrison Reed was in the squad - but the game as never at a point where we could or should have bought him on. Similarly it wasn't the game for Matt Target with Bertrand playing so well lately. I expect both to play against Sheffield Utd. We should never have sold Chambers but that's another story. Lloyd Isgrove and Sam McQueen are returning from injury - Sam Gallagher is still injured. All three our on the edge of the first team. Jack Stephens and Jordan Turnbull are on loan at Swindon gaining valuable game time - and will probably be in the first team squad next season as a result. Josh Sims, Jake Hesketh and Ryan Seagar are amongst the next crop coming through - OK it's not as good as it has been with 3 youth players regularly in the squad - but it's not bad either.

And possibly Schneiderlin and Rodriguez

I imagine Les Reeds middle name is 'Incompetent' - it's certainly looked that way this summer For all the talk of keeping our manager and not selling our best players that's exactly what we've done. Then we talked about selling our players for premium prices and bringing in better players and adding strength in depth. So far it seems all we've done is replace the players we've sold for lesser players - not added any strength in depth. Apart from Forster but it now looks like Boruc wants out. And what's the point in getting premium prices for our players if you're going to spend £12 million on Shane Long and possibly another £12 million or more on Andros Townsend. So far we've spent £21 million on a strike force that looks like it will struggle to get 15 goals between them. At 27 and 29 that's not money we are going to get back again. As it is we desperately a good striker and a goal scoring right winger to have a chance of competing this season. Unless something changes dramatically it's going to a long, hard and depressing season. Our only saving grace might be that Crystal Palace, QPR and Burnley are actually worse than we are.

£20 million for Pelle and Long - that is a real indictment of Les Reed that is. Both players at 29 and 27 should be at the top of their games - but the sad truth is neither look anywhere near good enough for the premier league. That's 3 games I've watched Pelle play now - and I'm worried - I see nothing from him to suggest he going to score goals for us. I want him to be good I really do as we really need someone to score goals. He seems to lack the aggression needed, not too mention the pace and movement. And he's certainly not a replacement for Lambert - he's not going to drop deep or go wide and pick up the ball and play someone else in. And Long gives you what I expected - running and work rate but that's about it. He not going to give you creativity or score goals. He's a championship striker really. And other than as a hard running wide forward I'm not sure where he fits in a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 - otherwise it's him or Pelle to lead the line and at £8 million and £12 million that's expensive substitutes. Right now Gallagher looks a better bet than either of them. I have a horrible feeling we'll end up sending them both out on loan to Italy and the Championship next season to get rid of them as we massively overpaid for them and we won't be able to sell them for anything like £20 million we paid for them. A bit like Osvaldo really - oh and Gaston. At 29 and 27 there value is only going to go down. It's a £20 million mistake we can't afford. We'd have been a lot better off buying young strikers like Ings, Guidetti and Castaignos foe a lot less money - with the chance they improve and go up in value. I don't think we really had a transfer strategy this summer - more that we were bullied in to selling, went for the cash and then panic bought.

PaddyPowers PR/publicity man on Talksport is a skate isn't he? I think that's where all this anti-saints stuff comes from.

PaddyPowers PR/publicity man on Talksport is a skate isn't he? I think that's where all this anti-saints stuff comes from.

Maybe I should have added Long to that equation - but we are going to need to score 40 goals plus this season - and our top scorers last season were Lallana, Rodriguez and Lambert and at the moment none of them are playing for Saints. Anyway 2 x 12 = 24 and 2 x 15= 30 so not out of thin air. And as I said I think Rodriguez will be off meaning we need another 15 goals from somewhere at the moment it looks like it has to be Tadic and Pelle. Long might get us 10 over the course of the season if we're lucky. But after the Bompey, Bayer Leverkusen and today's game at Liverpool I'm not convinced by Pelle. I know he needs time to find his feet but I didn't see anything from him to build on. I hope we sign another striker / forward / winger who can score goals as we are going to need one

Maybe I should have added Long to that equation - but we are going to need to score 40 goals plus this season - and our top scorers last season were Lallana, Rodriguez and Lambert and at the moment none of them are playing for Saints. Anyway 2 x 12 = 24 and 2 x 15= 30 so not out of thin air. And as I said I think Rodriguez will be off meaning we need another 15 goals from somewhere at the moment it looks like it has to be Tadic and Pelle. Long might get us 10 over the course of the season if we're lucky. But after the Bompey, Bayer Leverkusen and today's game at Liverpool I'm not convinced by Pelle. I know he needs time to find his feet but I didn't see anything from him to build on. I hope we sign another striker / forward / winger who can score goals as we are going to need one

We can only really judge the strength of the team at the end if the transfer window. At the moment the squad is no stronger than last season - and possibly weaker - we haven't really added any strength in depth despite saying we would. And we have replaced great players with players who are unproven in the premier league. We certainly don't have two good players for each position. And if Pelle and Tadic don't come good and score 30-40 goals between then we will be in real trouble. There is still a good chance Rodriguez and Schneiderlin will leave - and possibly Cork too. To me it looks as though Taider was bought in to replace Morgan and Long to replace JayRod. So by the end of the window I think we'll end up with a weaker and cheaper squad than last season. As it is right now we need another striker, a right winger, another right back and a centre back.

I have a feeling Shane Long was bought in to replace Jay Rodriguez as the wide forward with pace - but also because they realised Mayuka is never going yo make the grade. I'm not sure Long is that much better though - and never worth the £12.5 million we paid for him. If we were willing to pay that much money I just don't understand why we didn't go for Ings - at 22 a much better prospect with a much better scoring record in the Championship (all be it one season). Or maybe even Jeremain Lens who is desperate to leave Kiev. Although Saphir Taider was only bought in as part of the Osvaldo deal as it was the only way we could get rid of Pablo for the season we also saw it as a chance to get in a replacement for Morgan Schneiderlin. If we'd really wanted him I think we would have bought him outright. I fully expect Jay and Morgan will leave Saints at the end of the window - probably the last day - Morgan for Arsenal and Jay fir Spurs. And I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up getting Kyle Nauhgton in part exchange from Spurs as we still need another right back. It also sounds like Cork could be off as well. This summer should have been about getting rid of the fringe players like Osvaldo, Ramirez, Yoshida, Hooiveld, Mayuka, a Guly and Sharp and replacing them with better quality players but instead we got rid of some of our better players and replaced them with lesser players. We were also supposed to add some depth to the squad - which we haven't done as yet. And we need to. So yes we will do more business but I think we'll be disappointed with it. Saying all that Tadic could well be an upgrade on Lallana and a Florin Gardos sounds like he could step up to replace Lovren. And in the interviews both Long and Gardos seem to genuinely want to be here which makes a nice change and I truly do hope they both come good for us.

The problem is that out of all of our central midfielders Cork and Morgan are easily the best of them - and for whatever reason they both seem to be leaving us this summer. Ward-Prowse, Reed and Davis are all too lightweight and more box-to-box midfielders. That leaves Taider and we've no idea what he's really like - and he was really just a make weight in the Osvaldo deal. That leaves us with only one defensive midfielder in Wanyama - who is no great passer of the ball that's for sure. So what happens if we need to play 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 with two defensive midfielders. Without Cork or Morgan there is no one to drop deep bad pick up the ball from the keeper - and supposedly distribution of the ball is not Forsters strong point. On Saturday we were pretty awful with our starting 11 - we only started to pass the ball well once Cork came on - along with Ramirez and Taider. The two key elements of the way we played - the building from the back and the pressing of the opposition seem to have disappeared from our game. So at the moment are squad for Saturday - taking in to account the supposed transfers of Cork, Gardos and Long as well as Boruc and Morgans unhappiness and Rodriguez injury - looks like this: Gazzinaga Davis Forster McCarthy Stephens Hooiveld Targett Clyne Fonte Yoshida Bertrand Gardos Wanyama Ward-Prowse Reed Davis Taider Isgrove McQueen Long Tadic Ramirez Gallagher Pelle So no proven premier league goallscorer and very little depth. And Reed, Ward-Prowse, Targett, Isgrove, McQueen, McCarthy and Gallagher are all probably a little too young to rely on week in week out. And to be honest I'm not really sure where Long and Ramirez fit in to a 4-3-3. And only 3 maybe 4 starters fom our first 11 last season in Fonte Clyne, Wanyama and Davis - and you could argue that Chambers and Cork were preferred over Clyne and Wanyama at times. Lovren, Lallana, Morgan, Cork, Rodriguez and Lambert were key to the way we played last season so things are going to have to change. In effect we've lost the spine of our team. On top of that Selling Cork and Chambers makes no sense to me when we desperately need their versitality. I thought we were supposed to be selling these want away players to bring in some more depth to the squad - so far we haven't actually added anyone in terms of depth and the reality is the squad looks a lot weaker. Koeman and Les Reed need to earn our trust - and faith - by actions - they shouldn't just be given it. And right now they've got an awful lot to do to earn it. Actions speak louder than words. Against Bounemouth and Bayer Leverkusen we looked pretty awful - very one dimensional and vert static. There was no interchanging of position, no building from the back, no pressing of the ball - just a very basic tactic of get it wide and cross the ball to Pelle or play it long to him. And get it forwards as quickly as possible. Pelle looked very static - lacking pace and movement. I was expecting him to work the back 4 and make space for others to attack but he just didn't. And I've seen no real evidence of Les' fantastic scouting network apart from perhaps Taider and Gardos. But if Long for £12.5 million is the best they can come up with we're better off without them. Pelle and Tadic were definitely Koemans signings but I doubt he's ever seen Long play. I am hoping for the best - that things will click on the big day cone Sunday - but fearing the worst.

I would be very surprised if Schneiderlin and Rodriguez are still at Saints by the end of the transfer window. So discounting Morgan who is our back-up defensive midfielder after Victor? Sapher Taider? Is he a defensive midfielder though - I'm not really sure where he plays? box-to-Box? As a number 10? And I have feeling he was only brought in as part of the Osvaldo deal as it was the only way we were going to get rid of him for the season. Is he any good - we don't really know yet. Harrison Reed? Too young and unproven probably and maybe too small. But again I thought he was more of a box-to-box midfielder.

If we start with the same team as we did against Bayer Leverkusen - and play the same way - we are going to get torn apart by Liverpool on Sunday. Mayuka, Isgrove and Yoshida looked out of their depth - and Pelle was just very disappointing. He didn't seem to have any pace or movement. Davis and Ward-Prowse just looked very flat. We played a very one dimensional 4-3-3 - get the ball wide and cross it to Pelle or long ball it from the back to Pelle. We looked very static - Pelle hardly moved. There was no fluidity, no interchanging of positions. We didn't press the ball and we didn't build from the back. We seemed to have lost the two things that defined the way we played last season - the pressing of the ball and the passing it out from the back without adding anything we were missing - pace or a goal scorer. Tadic showed flashes of potential. And things improved when Taider, Ramirez and Cork came on. But Lovren, Lallana, Lambert, Shaw, Rodriguez and Schneiderlin were key to the way we played and at the moment we are missing all 6 of them. At the moment we don't have the players to play a 4-3-3 or 4-4-2. Our best hope is 4-2-3-1 with Cork and Wanyama sitting in front of the back 4, Tadic in the hole with Taider and Ramirez either side of him and Pelle up front. I think I might have to watch the game from behind the sofa on Sunday

I'd be more than a bit underwhelmed by Shane Long if we signed him to be honest - and a bit horrified if we paid anywhere near £10 million for him. He may have pace and be a workhorse but that's about it. Anyway why would he leave Hull - an upwardly mobile club playing Europa League football and a club that have actually won something for us - a club with no real ambition and a team very much on the down and set for a relegation battle. Whatever the truth may be that is how it looks to the rest of the football world right now. How about Fabio Borini, Danny Ings, Luc Castaignos, John Guidettii or Jeremain Lens instead? Any two of those would do me right now. I hope our board have learnt the lesson - don't sell before you buy - but I would guess they have as they are trying to buy before they sell Rodriguez and Schneiderlin at the end of the transfer window. I think they also might have learnt there is no point in chasing players like Hernandez or Rojo when you've already sold players like Shaw, Lambert, Lallana, Lovren and Chambers - it doesn't show any ambition and players like that want big clubs and/or champions league football - or Europa at least. I have to ask what has happened to our scouting network Les Reed was so proud off - and our much vaunted Director of Football / Technical Director set up? Surely we should have had a whole list of great young players we were going to bring in to replace those who have departed. It looks a little bit like we are in panic mode and without much idea of what we are doing. It should really have mattered who the manager was - we should have had our transfer targets sorted - and our succession plans in place.

He's certainly no worse than Ben Davies. I think it's a good signing - he's still relatively young, he's English, has played 50 games in the Premier League and won the champions league - plus he sounds like he wants to be here - which makes him a Saint in my books. And if he shows half the commitment of Benali he will be great for us. He can play at left fullback and left wingback so we still might bring in Rojo to play left fullback and or left centreback. I am sure Koeman wants the option of being able to play 3 at the back with wing backs. And maybe we've realised our youth players aren't all ready to be thrown in at the deep end

I don't wish Liverpool FC or Brendan Rodgers any luck whatsoever - or the plastic Liverpool fans that live down here - you know the ones that have never been to Anfield let alone a football match - who have been laughing at us since Lambert signed for his hometown club. The plastic Man Utd fans are pretty much the same. You know the ones - who watch Sky, read the Sun, subscribe to the club TV channel and buy the Club magazine. For some reason the Cheslski and Citeh fans have been sympathetic - but maybe they just don't have so many plastics. Maybe the proper Liverpool fans are different - like the OP

The only problem with that is outside of the top 4 - other than asset stripping like we are doing now - you can't make any money in football - your cost of sales run at about 90% just to stand still - and to stand still is to go backwards - and to go backwards is to go down The US buyers have realised this and that's why Lerner at Villa wants to get out The only reason someone would buy a Football Club now is for vanity - and the FFP rules have made that a pointless thing to do as if you're not successful already you can't buy success now That's unless you're actually a fan - then it's a didn't ball game