benjii

Delph and Young won't be used as midfielders. They are being taken as full backs / wing backs. Even with 3 "central defenders" you don't need ten defenders in the squad. Especially when some of your full backs and one of your central midfielders can play at centre back. There are too many defenders being taken. Fact.

I'd rather get Johnno Quick back.

Not really sure why Loftus-Cheek would be preferred to Shelvey. Also, the number of defenders is over the top.

Do you think so? If only someone had said before....!

He's complete garbage, based on the two playoff semi-finals.

If Everton want to play attacking football, sign loads of big names and genuinely push the biggest clubs then I very much doubt they would be looking at Hughes.

Agree about next season. It's conceivable that Spurs, Arsenal and Chelsea all have relatively poor seasons.

He won't.

Forgot Ox was injured. I agree there is no point taking a Welbeck or Walcott as a 4th striker but I think there's space for a "hail Mary" option.

Forgetting the actual squad, what would people's 23 look like? Mine would be: Butland Pickford The Burnley one Walker Trippier Bertrand Young Stones Maguire Smalling Dier Henderson Shelvey Cork The Ox Alli Sterling Lingard Lallana Kane Vardy Rashford Carroll / Crouch Probably forgotten someone. Is Crouch retired? Is Carroll fit? Anyway, the point is, I can't see the point in taking 4 similar strikers and I would take a big bugger in case we need to get it in the mixer late on.

Jack Grealish looks to have developed well and would be a good addition. Would require Villa not to go up and no interest from big spenders though. The haircut, however, remains unforgivable.

"I take responsibility for how, as a board, we thought Southampton really needed to consolidate to go to the next level. It wasn’t. An overambitious club stumbled on its own ambitious and needed a regroup and a reboot.” That's cleared that up then.

Why do some people constantly overrate home grown players?

Yeah, that's a really serious conundrum. Meditate on it?

Agree. Bednarek wants to defend; Stephens wants to be a midfielder. I would keep them all, use Stephens as back up RB / 5th choice (particularly if we are going to play with 3 at the back) and try to add one who is a cut above, a la Toby / VVD (easier said than done).

Depends how he reacts to being left out of the England squad, I guess.

I don't think they are for the sake of it but there will be a lot of departures. It's fair to assume Boufal will leave. Likewise those who have been loaned out such as Gardos and Clasie. Reed and Gallagher may well leave. Pied will be out of contract. Cedric has 2 years left so we would normally look to sign him to a new contract or sell. Forster is a very expensive sub. The strikers need a reshuffle.

Why the **** would we want to do that?

I would take him but bearing in mind that Man City and Man Utd have had English left backs for most of the season and Rose is fit and plays for Spurs.... if we're taking two left backs he would need to get picked ahead of two of Young, Delph and Rose. "Big club" innit. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't go.

I doubt Bertrand will go.

All three of those have been outscored by the likes of Glenn Murray and Chris Wood, FFS. Austin - good finisher, otherwise generally fairly average, fitness very questionable and can't really be relied upon. Long - great athlete, lower league footballer. Gabbiadini - leaving. I'd be happy to keep Long as a squad player, as he has tactical uses. When you're defending a lead and want fresh legs off the bench he's great. If you want to set up deeply and have an outlet he's useful.

Hopefully Yoshida isn't leaving though!

Players I expect to leave: Cedric (entering last year of 4 year deal) Pied (contract expiring, won't be renewed) Boufal (considered to be a bellend; loan to French club) Gabbiadini (back to Italy although would like to keep if he's keen to stay) Plus those who have been out on loan like: Clasie (perm to Holland) Gardos (perm to somewhere in Europe or the Championship) Reed (perm to Championship club) Gallagher (perm to Championship club) Then there are the following players who I think we would happily sell if we got a decent offer, although they might be hard to move on: Forster (overpaid) Austin (often injured, although I doubt we would sell him, Long and Carillo in the same window) Carillo (considered rubbish but we might have to loan him out and pay some of his wages) Long (doesn't score enough and value will only go down, although I would keep him) Davis (surplus to requirements but not sure if he would want to move) Targett (maybe viewed as PL capable but if Bertrand stays then I think we would look to take the money after his decent spell at Fulham) Of the above, I would want to keep Long and Gabbi but I suspect we may end up with some of the ones on the last list still being here too. In terms of additions, we would need: GK if Forster goes to challenge McCarthy Starting RB As backup RB I would use Stephens First choice CB Upgrade on Redmond / Boufal if possible Striker In an ideal world, that leaves: McCarthy **NEW** **NEW** Stephens Bertrand McQueen **NEW** Hoedt Bednarek Yoshida Romeu Hojbjerg Lemina JWP **NEW** Tadic Redmond Sims **NEW** Long / Austin Gabbi (plus Gallagher if no sizeable offers made) Then a few youth as additional backup. If the "news" are good quality and we have a manager in place that the players can get behind then there's no reason not to target "best of the rest". Of course, we have no idea what our appetite to spend will be. It will probably depend on how many of the "might leaves" we can shift.

He wasn't in the game at all. I was surprised Long didn't come on at half time.

Most looked it.