Saint Matty 76

Real shame, but I find it tough to blame him.

I think it's more likely that we'd bring Armstrong in for a year as rotation with the two, in the lead up to Ings leaving on a free next Summer.

I'd be more than happy with that. If we really are skint then I just hope we use our domestic loans a little better than Minamino and Walcott this time around. Completely agree that I don't particularly want to be loaning in players we don't have an option for though.

Maehle is showing that we were at least looking at the right player. Seeing him play this well on the left for Denmark though is pretty depressing.

That’s Gunn and Hoedt both sold for fees which was unexpected going into this Summer. If we can manage to shift Lemina, Obafemi, Valery, Long and maybe Elyounoussi permanently then they’ve done a good job on that side.

I was a little unsure as to where to put Tella. I think most Saints fans would agree we want him to start a lot more next season, but if Ings stays I doubt there’s anybody who wants to break up Ings/Adams up top. I wonder if his immediate future is back-up to the strikers or moved to the wing. Completely agree though, our depth is frighteningly bad in some areas.

Going off what I'm currently expecting to happen; Vestergaard leaves, Ings stays without renewing, Perraud & Williams both come in and Elyounoussi/Long both return from loan. How many further additions do you think this needs? Gunn looks to be a good sale. I don't think there's a hope in hell we buy another keeper with Forster/McCarthy being two of our highest earners as it is. (Bartłomiej Drągowski/Sergio Romero) You'd assume/hope we'd definitely replace Vestergaard. (Tosin Adarabioyo/Marc Guéhi) I find Ralph's comments about DM not being a priority quite strange, especially seeing as Diallo/JWP didn't work at all. Romeu was our back-up DM and I think you'd be reaching to say he's improved enough to become the starting one, we've just dropped off in quality. I'd feel a little worried going into another campaign with those four being our only central options. (Thomas Delaney) There's a definite chance that Obafemi and Long both leave as well, which would make the need for a third striker even more obvious. (Josh King/Adam Armstrong) Ralph also clearly felt the need to strengthen the wide positions mid-campaign by bringing in Minamino, so unless he's happy with Elyounoussi filling this slot, this could be another position to improve on. (Ademola Lookman) Looking at the squad above, it 100% needs another CB. Is that the bare minimum we can get away with this summer seeing as that seems to be the strategy? I'd personally be unhappy without another DM and ST, bringing the total incomings up to an optimistic 5.

£5m with possibility of rising to £10m with clauses, good deal really. One down, about six others to go.

It is pretty depressing, any other team with the three year spell we had would have kicked on massively, or at least attempted to. Semmens seemed pretty confident of some sort of takeover/investment this summer, would like to think we'd hear something about that soon because every year we spent £20m~ or so just puts us further behind the rest.

He isn't worth what he'd cost to buy, and he isn't good enough to go to a team that'd turn his head. Look forward to the "we managed to keep Ward-Prowse!" as we flog Ings for £20m to West Ham or some shit.

Apparently Matheus Pereira available for just £15m. I'd love us to be all over that but assume we'd get outwaged by almost every other team in the league.

Ah, misread that one! Definitely seems to fit our profile though, maybe the alternative to Balogun who we definitely wanted to convince.

Heard from a friend who’s mates with a guy in the coaching team that we’re taking a look at Wahid Faghir this summer. 17 years old striker from the Danish league, think he’s just been called up to their Euros squad. Apparently seems to fit our price bracket of £5m-£10m unless his stock rises with Denmark. Leicester had a bid rejected last year from a quick Google search.

Honestly at this point I'd 100% take Lemina in the squad. Not sure about Elyounoussi, maybe if we somehow managed to get rid of Redmond and Minamino stays away.

Just ignore his comments. He was the worst player on the pitch against Chelsea outside of the goal, been the same with most games since. Goodness me if we decide to waste anywhere between 5-15m on him.

Phew! Hopefully got duped by one of the many Southampton-related Twitter accounts.

In talks for Minamino apparently... fucking hope not.

Let's not forget that Romeu wasn't and probably shouldn't be a starter. Diallo and JWP playing together clearly doesn't work so we should definitely be looking at Delaney/Romeu - JWP/Diallo as our depth. I think our absolutely comical lack of depth over the past few years has got people forgetting you should have options.

Surprised Ings isn't ready to start given his limited minutes vs Fulham. Salisu 7/1 to get booked at LB up against Raphinha.

Che - Ings Tella - Walcott Armstrong - JWP Salisu - Vestergaard - Stephens - KWP Forster Subs: McCarthy, Ramsay, Romeu, Diallo, Djenepo, Minamino, Redmond, Obafemi, Nlundulu This is what I'm expecting for tonight, although I'd rather Romeu in for Walcott and Salisu at CB. No real surprise if Redmond sneaks in over Tella as well.

1. Stu 2. JWP 3. KWP Hope Stu wins but seen a lot of love for JWP on Twitter so wouldn’t be surprised.

How Djenepo doesn’t get more minutes is beyond me. Should be him and Tella if Stu is behind.

Edouard is really good, pretty sure he'll go Leicester though.

He's been way off for at least the past 12 months. You'd be pretty negative to assume that we couldn't replace him with a player with better output than what he's been producing. Brilliant player for the club but right time to move on and also a high earned off the bill. Hope we go for Henry because Williams looked absolutely dreadful yesterday.

There's literally never been a chance of us going down this season, anyone thinking otherwise just had their little pessimistic hat on.