Rebel

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

what about Jason Puncheon?

Benassi? Supposedly we made an offer for him just after U21 Euros and the buyout of the 50% share Inter had in him by his current club Torino. I thought he was right sided CM - capable of playing box-to-box or as a CDM though. Him and Domenico Berardi are best mates though so we might as well sign him as well :-) Two for one deal!?

I would just like to say I suggested we could or should sign Romeu on loan in the HCDAJFU thread back on the 25 July - see above. At least someone listens to my advice - and if he turns out to be a brilliant signing I am taking all the credit. Not ITK - but maybe visionary :-) I always thought he would be s good signing as he has a good pedigree from Barcelona and Chelsea - and in the last two years at Valencia and Stuttgart has proved he is over the injuries that put a bit of a stop to his career at Chelsea. He's also the right age - at 23 old enough to play regularly with enough experience to add something to the team - but also young enough to still learn and get better - and with a lot of potential to become great. He's also a proper holding midfielder who will sit in front of the defence and hold the line - he is also a good solid passer of the ball. And he has also got some of the height and physical presence we have been missing in CDM. Of course if he sh*te I will come back and delete this post! And I don't think he will block Reed's route to the first - I see our Harrison as more of a hard working box-to-box CM than a holding midfielder or a Paul Scholes playmaker. If it is anyone with Ginger hair he's like its Alan Bsll - but he has a long way to go to live up to him. He's more of a successor to Steven Davis than anyone else in the current team. A midfield 3 of Clasie, Romeu and Wanyama would look like a very solid base to build on and get a result against the top sides in the Premier league and hopefully the Europa League

I would just like to say I suggested the club sign Romeu on loan back on the 25 July - see above. At least someone listens to my advice - and if he turns out to be a brilliant signing I am taking all the credit. I always thought he would be s good signing as he has a good pedigree from Barcelona and Chelsea - and in the last two years at Valencia and Stuttgart has proved he is over the injuries that put a bit of a stop to his career at Chelsea. He's also the right age - at 23 old enough to play regularly with enough experience to add something to the team - but also young enough to still learn and get better - and with a lot of potential to become great. He's also a proper holding midfielder who will sit in front of the defence and hold the line - he is also a good solid passer of the ball. And he has also got some of the height and physical presence we have been missing in CDM. Of course if he sh*te I will come back and delete this post! And I don't think he will block Reed's route to the first - I see our Harrison as more of a hard working box-to-box CM than a holding midfielder or a Paul Scholes playmaker. If it is anyone with Ginger hair he's like its Alan Bsll - but he has a long way to go to live up to him. He's more of a successor to Steven Fabis than anyone else in the current team. A midfield 3 of Clasie, Romeu and Wanyama would look like a very solid base to build on and get a result against the top sides in the Premier league and hopefully the Europa League.

Does anyone know any pubs n Winchester that will be showing the game? I am hoping most of the pubs that have Sky will just add the BT Sport channels. Is there any other way to watch it or am I going to have to switch to BT broadband and get BT Sport for free or just subscribe to BT TV?

We definitely need to sign another defensive midfielder and another central defender if not two If 'Big Vic' is out injured or suspended are midfield with Clasie, Reed, Davis and Ward-Prowse are just too lightweight. And what are the chances that 'Big Vic' with only a year left on his contract next summer will want to move on to a bigger club with Champion League football - so it's as much about succession management as strength in depth. We should take a look at taking Oriol Romeu on loan from Chelsea for the season with an option to buy next summer. At centreback it's pretty much the same situation - maybe a bit worse even - with only two fit first choice players in Fonte and Yoshida and maybe three young players who might be able to step up at some point in the future. So as well as replacing Toby we now need to find cover for Gardos. We should also have one eye on finding a successor to Fonte given his age - and I can see him heading back to Portugal next season to Sporting Lisbon or Benfica for one last big move and Champions League football. So Van Dijk would be a start but we really need to bring in two

Maybe we should have got him on loan for last season as part of the Calum Chambers deal. I thought tactically he was a tactically a step up from Clyne or Chsmbers when West Ham ground out a result at St Marys after going a man down last season. Great signing for West Ham even on loan. Sounds like we went for Cedric Soares as a cheaper alternative as they are the same age. I also read somewhere that Arsenal are paying him £45K a week - if that's true how can we compete with that - £45K a week for a 4th choice right back (after Debuchy, Bellerin and Chambers)!!! Maybe we will go back in for Sam Byram at Leeds now although he will overpriced as an Englishman. Supposedly we offered £4.5 million in Jsnuary which wasn't enough. That's if we haven't signed Cuco Martins as the second choice right back - I hope not though. We still need to replace Cork and Chambers in my opinion and add some strength in depth to the squad though. I'm not really sure why we signed Cuco - a bit like Long last summer - at least he didn't cost us £12 million though. Maybe we will go back in with another bid for Marco Benassi at Torino once we've signed Clasie - at 6ft he would give us some height we're missing in the middle - and is a defensive midfielder who can also score goals. Supposedly we made a bid for him earlier in the summer.

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.