Rebel

Well I'm going to assume it's got some truth to it - mostly because its more fun that way It's been rumoured for a while that we had 2 players signed and sealed already. If this is true it would make sense that they were young Spanish players - and that we were waiting for the Spanish season to end. Anyway I have a feeling they will be announced this week to co-incident with the end of the Spanish season and the start of the season ticket sales to give it a boost. Could one be Marc Muniesa on a free transfer from Barca? Or possibly we're getting 2 young players from Barcelona on loan - Marc Bartra and Martin Montoya perhaps. The great striker could be someone like Alvaro Negredo from financially troubled Seville who has said he wants to play in England. Or maybe it's Adrian Lopez. The special Portuguese player is I'm guessing someone who plays in Portugal rather than being Portuguese - in that case it could be the Spanish Brazilian Rodrigo from Benfica - or maybe one of Benfica's Argentinians - Gatan or Garay. Or possibly Eric Dier the young English defender at Sporting Lisbon. Lets enjoy the speculation whilst it lasts!

I fully agree with you on that one - someone like Nagginolan, Biglia or Rodwell would be perfect.

Everybody is going to be looking to Spain for the next Michu deal so they are all going to be a bit more expensive this time round. Yes the financial problems at Seville, Valencia, Malaga and Real Sociedad means these clubs will sell their star players - but it doesn't mean they will sell them cheaply. Maybe Mateo Mussachio in Spain's second tier would be good value - and out of contract Marc Muniesa at Barca We should still look at Championship players - and Les Reed and some others will know this market well. I'm not sure layers like Buckley and Bridcutt are good enough to take us where Cortese wants to go - but there are one good players with potential down there - young enough to improve - and good value. I'd take a look at Charlie Austin and a Kieran Trippier from Burnley. Henri Lansbury from Forest is another. There are also some bargains to be had in the big clubs unwanted youngsters - Sinclair and Guidetti at Citeh and McCreachan at Chelsea

I would agree with you on most of that. One problem though Davis is not a holding midfielder - he has only played well for us when he's had an attacking role. I'd switch Olsson for Figueroa at left back, ship out Hooiveld and replace Mayuka with Austin. But I think Cortese is more ambitious and more impatient than that. We are a very good centre forward, a good pacey right winger and two very good centre backs away from being a top 6 side with our starting 11 - but we are also a good second eleven away from it as well - to allow us to keep it going all season. At the moment a couple of injuries and we look like a struggling team. So I expect Cortese to spen enough money to significantly strengthen our first 11 and improve our 2nd 11

Look he's going to sign for Spurs - get over it

I think he might also have been shipped back to Japan partly because of his repeated driving offences - I dont think Saints will tolerate that kind of thing anymore - that and was adjusting to life in England. I'd ship Guly and Mayuka out for pretty much the same reason - much like Seabourne and Barnard - off the field issues, attitude problems or failure to adapt to English football

De Bruyne is off to Borussia Dortmund with Christian Eriksen if the rumours are true. Not a bad deal swapping Goetze for those two.

If we add the £15 million for selling Gastom Ramirez back to Italy (Fiorentina or Juventus), bring in young players with real potential rather than buy players at the top of the market and sign one or two players on free transfers such as Honda and Douglas - and maybe one or two on loan as well it could be enough. We could also sell Shaw for £15 million to Chelsea but if we do we should ask for him back on loan - along with McCrachan - as part of the deal. That would give us £60 million to spend - surely that would be enough!

Charlie Austin, Kieran Trippier, Martin Olsson, Liam Bridcutt - 4 young players under 24 who will move probably move to the premier league this summer. Is it worth taking a look at them? Yes it is! They would all add to the squad - improve on what we've got in reserve and add some strength in depth in key positions. Jack Rodwell, Scott Sinclair, Josh McCrachan, John Guidetti are another 4 younger players worth taking a look at for the same reason. All 4 of them need to move so they can get some game time - and they all have the talent to make it in he premier league. It's these kinds of players we need to sign along with one or two big surprises from abroad. Antoine Griezman, Hector Moreno, victor Ruiz, Adrian Lopez, Douglas Franco Teixeira, Jose Callejon, Keisuke Honda, Lucas Biglia - one or two of those would do.

Southampton's Biggest Summer Transfer Window Needs to Move Saints into Top 10 http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1644549-southamptons-biggest-summer-transfer-window-needs-to-move-saints-into-top-10?

I can see Guly, Fox and Hooiveld being amongst those who leave this summer to be replaced by better players.

Puncheon's girlfriend has just had another baby - I expect that's got something to do with why he's not starting at the moment

If we stay on 39 points it means we are likely to be relegated. For a start it means Sunderland will leapfrog us as they will have beaten us. Norwich and Newcastle also have very winnable games this weekend which means they could easily leapfrog us as we'll. And Wigan look like they will beat Villa on the final day - who will be above us. So really we are counting on Wigan getting nothing more than a draw from Arsenal - and Norwich and Newcastle to get the same out of the last 2 games.

You need a excellent first 11 and a good second 11 if you are going to win anything. Our problem is we haven't really got ant strength in depth beyond the first 11. I think there are some bargains to be found in the Championship - young players who can step up like a number of ours have done this season. Also you don't really want to be signing players over the age of 26/27 as they normally demand big wages and their resale value starts to drop. I fully expect Ramirez will be heading back to Italy for £12 million and wouldn't be surprised if we get a bit of a shock in the summer when players like Puncheon are moved on. I'm also expecting us to play 4-3-3 Boruc / Fraser Forster Clyne / Kieran Trippier? Yoshida /Andreu Fontas? Forren / Davide Astori? Shaw / Martin Olsson? Morgan / Kerim Bayal? Cork / Lucas Biglia / Ward-Prowse Lallana / Keisuke Honda? / Davis Scott Sinclair / Jose Callejon Rickie Lambert / Charlie Austin Jay Rodriguez / Adrian Lopez And I think at some point in the last 2 years we've been linked with all of these players even if its just been on a rumours site in the last few weeks Left back and right back are tricky as we need players who will be happy to compete with Shaw and Clyne - so my guess is we'll end up with players who are more than happy to take the chance to step up from the Championship

Isgrove? Reeves? Sinclair?

Sell him to Fiorentina for £15 million and bring Keisuke Honda in on a free! Simples!

Quiet just like we were against West Brom

That's alright we've got Forren

Shame he'll be off to Man It'd when we go down!

Are we safe? No we're bl**dy not! Truth is the team that came out and failed to play against West Brom deserve to go down. And the failure by Cortese to bring in a left back and a couple of centre backs at the start of the season are coming home to roost. We have a good first 11 but if any first choice player is missing we are in trouble

Keisuke Honda - he's keeping Kagawa out of the Japanese national team, he's on a free transfer, can play on the left or right wing, in the hole behind the striker, as a false number 9 or even as a holding midfielder or playmaker. He'd also add to the ever growing band of Japanese Saints fans. For left back Martin Olsson - right age and probably happy to compete with Shaw for a starting slot in the premier league. Can also play left midfield. For similar reasons Kieran Trippier might be a good one to give us some competition at right back as well. I'd be more than happy with 2 or 3 from Jose Callejon, Davide Astori, Lucas Biglia and Adrian Lopez though. I also have a feeling we might see Charlie Austin in a Saints shirt next season. He's too good for the championship, always linked up well with Jay Rod at Burnley, he's the right age and his girlfriend wants a return to the South Coast.

Reading Pochettino's post match comments he took him off to stop him getting sent off for a second yellow

I think the problem is Fox brings out the worst in Hooiveld

That was embarrassing today - the players looked like they have already gone on holiday. Clyne, Lambert and Lallana all had bad games. Hooiveld was worse and Fox was truly awful. I hope that was the last we'll ever see of him at St Mary's. Cork was the only one having a great game and we took him off. Ramirez made a real difference but lost his head a bit. He has great ability but he just doesn't deliver enough for all that. I think that was probably the last we'll see of him at St Mary's for that reason. I think he's just better suited to Italian football - and if Fiorentina want him - and they've got champions league football he'll go. And I'd wish him well if he does - but I'd also be happy if he stayed and progressed next season. My worry is we're going to get nothing from the next 2 hard away games - and then we'll need to get something on the final day of the season against Stoke who could be in the same boat. Villa and Wigan are more than capable of closing the gap on the teams above them. The Baggies fans were great today - whereas our support was awful. All in all it was just embarrassing today.

Fox was f**king terrible as usual. He fully deserved the red card - hopefully that is the last we'll see of him at St Mary's. His positional sense is terrible and he nearly always laces his man. He also fails time after time to play the ball when under any pressure. Every time he has played this season the team have looked unbalanced - he ****eness puts pressure on Hooiveld who then crumbles as well. He was awful against West Ham by the way once they realised he was the weak link and attacked our left. He got away with it last season as we dominated possession so much - but when we did lose badly he normally the weak spot targeted by the opposition.