Saint Fan CaM

A shadow lifted. Interestingly, Ramirez remains at the club it would appear ready to take up a Europa league place in the squad. Also, there was a comment made on the training video clip from the club that made the point that Morgan was training with the squad - a sign he might be staying? Is his £25M valuation too high for United or whoever to come and get him?

Just having expensive players at your disposal doesn't make for a good management with effective tactics etc. I don't think Brenda has realised that just because these ex-Saints were great with us, doesn't mean they will come for him...in fact the evidence suggests very much the opposite. He really could be looking at the sack by Xmas if they are outside the top 6 I suspect.

Couldn't give a monkeys about him moving on - I feel sure Cedric will offer as much if not more. I look forward to seeing his career take a nose-dive at Pool.

Morgan has been great for us....he deserves his pay upgrade. Hope he's awful for Utd though.

Au contraire Rodney. There are clearly some who are relaxed about the prospect of losing two of our best players..."we knew about these leavers so whats the problem?" seems to feature a fair bit. The key issue though is how the club respond - keeping Toby would be a massive step forward, but finding a Morgan replacement will be high on the agenda but a difficult task when considering the time he has spent here and what that brings to the morale of the team. To put it another way, how many youngsters are in the 1st team squad? 50%? Is our team becoming less cohesive because its full of 'strangers'? Important questions.

I don't think we should underestimate the effect Morgan and a top CB next Jose has had on our journey to date. There are many games that saw us no or low score but our defensive strength delivered points. Those three will definately be harder to replace effectively than last years departures...the club need to work very hard to retain Toby IMO to dramatically reduce the effect and also boost morale across the squad.

Yep, so crap we went straight up to the Prem - no messing about. Sure, he's starting to look slow now, but Davis has been an absolute top pro for this club at L1 to Prem and anyone who says otherwise must be a complete troll.

At Southampton a player has the opportunity to do something extraordinary...to make history. At a club like Liverpool you need to be an extraordinary player to stand out from the crowd and really achieve. Liverpool are most definately not in an upwards trajectory - Clyne, like Lallana will find his bank balance is nice, but his relative value will diminish.

It will be away to Bompey. Or possibly them at ours. It has fix written all over it.

Looks to be an absolute steal. With JRod back and Juanmi signed thats put paid to any thoughts of our two loanees coming back. Now onto Toby and Clyne please.

This exemplifies the joke our national team and its management have become. Like the FA...rotten to the core, top to bottom.

If Morgan leaves then I can see the club spending more on a replacement such is the importance of the role to the spine of the team.

Utterly vile. But hey, there are more pressing matters to trouble the human race right?

All I want to know about any new attacker is can he shoot on target from further out than 6 yards? If not, then he's no better than what we have. I'm tired of the team always trying to walk the ball into the net!

Sorry but nah - Alan Smith was gash compared to where JRod was in terms of fitness and goal threat before he injured himself. I am warming to Austin and what he can offer the team, mainly because he can actually hit a ball on target from more than 10 yards out.

I remember similar reservations being bandied around when Davis joined from Sunderland.

LIKE

Professional footballer talks himself up to increase his market value shocker...

Austin and possibly Trippier. Theres a reason why the teams that went down associated themselves with the players that failed them - think about it...its not just about their individual ability.

I would list his attributes as tenacious, honest, fit as a fiddle, courageous and a team player. When he's presented with opportunities he tries his best to take them, but sometimes his accuracy lets him down. However, he is gifted with the ability to learn and improve - key to playing for Koeman IMO. I'm warming to him, however I still see him as a bit of a journeyman player who has little allegiance to Saints - at least so far anyway.

We will need to sign up to 6 players in the window I reckon and that's even if we don't make Europa. GK - With Forster out and Cropper gone, we are desperately light. If Gazza and Davis are to be relied upon we are going to have a 'testing' season. £10m CB - Depends if Toby stays - if not then we need a replacement of his quality to partner Fonte. £7m RB - Depends if Clyne stays - if not then we need a quality replacement. Circa £8m will probably be spent. DMF - Morgan will go, so we need someone like Clasie to replace him or perhaps Reed to step-up. £10m AM/Att - Can't see Elia retained based on his impact this season - although would we get the same quality for the money? And he's happy here on the bench. £3m AM - I think Djuricic will be retained, but if not then we need someone of his emerging ability to be an impact playmaker. £8m If we make Europa, then I expect to see more Academy lads coming through to rotate and integrate into the 1st team, but there might be a need to bring in one more quality striker such as Austin - perhaps £12m. So a potential total of £56m???

Goalkeepers Forster-7 : Best of our limited options Davis-7 : Fantastic servant to the club - yes, he has issues, but for his age he is a top pro Gazzaniga-5 : Little confidence in him unfortunately, although I do believe he has improved Defenders Clyne-7 : A good season Fonte-9 : Great Captain and leader Toby-9 : Need to keep this guy as a priority Yoshida-7 : Has done well when called upon Gardos-5 : Not enough game time to get a grip in the team and not as good as Yoshida Bertrand- 8 : Great season, although his defensive positioning can let him down Targett- 6 : Solid understudy to Bertrand Midfielders Davis-6 : Can do the simple things well, but the harder stuff like shooting on target he is poor - we need an upgrade urgently Wanyama-8 : Great season Reed-7 : Rate this chap higher than Davis...good ball skills, passing...and he can shoot on target when given the opportunity JWP-6 : Has improved latter part of the season, but needs to improve further - not sure what his best position or job is to be honest Morgan-8 : A gifted player no doubt, but seems to pick up more injuries lately - contentious, but I think we can get as good or better (Clasie?) Tadic-6 : Not doing enough to convince me he deserves a regular place - he should be scoring more for his position/role Djuricic-5 : Another Gaston possibly, but might improve with more game time. Not sure if there's better for the money though. Attackers Pelle-7 : Hot and cold - one minute genius and goal threat, next he acts like a statue. If we sign Austin, can see him spending bench time Mane-8 : Great season...most improved player...can only get better...needs fast players to link him to be most effective Long-7 : Tenacious and a threat to defences - starting to gel with Mane and find a place out on the right Elia-3 : Offers little to a side that needed to score more

I do hope we sign a player willing and able to take a shot on goal - it's one of the things that separates us from the teams above us and a top 6 place IMO. That and being extremely predictable in our build-up play, so a goal scoring playmaking central midfielder of utter quality would be the ticket. If we spent £15m it would be well spent.

Davis off, Reed on for me - more dynamic and can strike a ball. Is he even on the bench?

The way City are playing I cannot see us getting more than a draw out of this game unless they collapse dramatically. As good as we are, you can tell the gulf in quality. Shame, but we should not be disappointed in this season whatsoever. Arse for the cup then!