Saint Fan CaM

So actually, he's still not signed. Meh.

Its not often that you will find the owner of a football club reverred by the supporters in quite the way Markus is. Such is the legacy of a great man...thanks for the dream Markus.

Well that went ok then.

Should have asked him what he said to Lallana and Lovren about joining Liverpool. (-;

'We will re-invest the all the transfer fees back into the squad to improve on last season' - Reed. Oh really? When might that happen then Les? Ralph? Kat? Err...knock, knock...anyone in there??? #itshappeningbutnotasweexpected

Big step down from Utd to Southampton. All of one PL place and a few points. Don't need or want a journeyman like that little plank here anyway.

Bit like Lallana then?

This doesn't strike me as the type of signing we would make.

That would make a lot of sense if he's to step in for JRod until he's fit. Good player and one would fit our system too.

Let's see now. Without Lallana and Lambert we looked poor going forward last season, so the front-line clearly needs strengthening. I'm not really worried about LB - Clyne does a great job and if the information I've been given is true Targett will be very good for us. If Morgan goes, I truly believe the Cork/Wanyama partnership is very good indeed and we've still got Davis, JWP and Reed coming through. Lovren going would be a huge blow - a player that would cost us £15m+ to replace. So, my prediction is based on three likely scenarios... Replace Lambert and Lallana with top quality players and nothing else changes - 7th-10th. If no decent replacements then 12th-20th. If no decent front-line players AND Lovren goes and is not replaced by an equal or better CB, then relegation looms. All the above assumes that the present team and any incoming players gel with Koeman and staff and understand the system they want them to play (the 'Southampton way' is dead).

LOL. That is both sad and laughably true!

Over the top? Mmm, not really...I don't think we've seen any real signs yet that the substantive squad adjustment to push on from last year is taking place or will take place. For example, if we had made a decent bid for Lukaku we would have perhaps considered that to be a serious sign of intent. That certainly doesn't appear to be the way the Board is taking us transfer-wise. The strategy seems to be sell high, buy cheap (which turns out not so cheap because everyone knows we're minted). Put me down as one those not getting too excited at a return to 'go faster stripes' lol. Yes, it's a nice gesture, but it's not going to improve the squad is it?

Oh dear, there's going to be a few people coming down to Earth with a big bump come August kick off. There's only one way to replace 5 + years of team spirit and it's not signing lot's of lower quality players at inflated prices or relying wholly on untested youth. I said months ago that the summer would be a massive test of the Boards competence and we're now at the sharp end. At the moment the signs appear not too positive, but there is still time to make the right buying decisions. #itsnothappeningyet

Good point about Lallana, however I suspect that Mopo allowed Lallana freedom and that in itself got him playing better (and in turn confirmed to himself that he was a big deal).

Pity there was no option for 'Like it, may buy it'. I'll reserve my judgement on whether I invest any more of my money when I see whether the club keeps it's promise to invest all the transfer fee money into new players. I'll not be holding my breath to be fair.

Mmm, well it's not unusual for a Manager to favour an inner circle of staff he trusts. For Poch that was probably Lambert, Shaw and Lallana I suspect...maybe Lovren too? I don't think Cork was in that circle of trust.

When we were in relegated to league 1, did you think we would never see the Prem again in your lifetime? Serious question.

A truly magnificent post. Unfortunately the intellect of many on here will mean they will just not get it. In fact they probably will not even be able to read it, let alone understand what it means.

New shirt looks good. Not sure if I'll be forking out £50 though...feeling a bit ripped off by the club at the moment....will wait and see how much they invest in the squad before putting my hand back in my wallet.

This. With Pelle in particular we will pay more as Koeman wants him and they know we've got the money burning a hole.

Don't be such a naive girl....if we were not important to them, why try to buy our best players. Everytime we faced them we were their rivals you dinlo.

Well whatever...it's £50 that will be staying in my bank account!

Nah, you're kind of half right. Fonte was better with Lovren, but that's not due to Lovren specifically. Fonte has enough about him to raise his game with whatever partner providing that partner is a PL class defender (i.e. a primarily left-footed ball player) that suits Fonte's game...it could be anyone that meets that spec.

Liverpool are enacting a strategy that has served other PL teams in the past...buy up near contender clubs best players to break up the squad, even if they're not really needed. It kills two birds with one stone - destroys the other team and bolsters the depth of their own squad. They knew Saints were on the brink of something big - let's face it, we stood tall against them last season - so unfortunately Saints became the natural target. Unfortunately, our owners don't have the dangly bits to stand up to the bullies and use financial muscle to keep players under long contracts with the club. Not only that, but we've got decent youngsters knocking on the 1st team door waiting for their chance - the strategy is of course to sell our first team, not our Academy products. We have had it confirmed to us this summer that we are nothing but a breeding ground - that's what's "#happening'. Lovren is an incidental - a player brought in to bolster the PL squad as we didn't have that quality coming through to claim a CB slot. If the funds are there and a decent player available, then he's replaceable.