Saint Pete

Poor from Long there, should have gone on outside.

Hmmm...Looking more solid or just not playing Lukaku this week?

Wanyama and Mane need to be told by the club that they are not leaving in this window and that's the end of it. For me, it's that simple. If they want what's best for their careers, they will knuckle down, get on with it and do their best for Saints, just as Morgan did last season. Losing a player of Wanyama's influence at this stage of the window is not an option in my opinion, as many of the best options to replace him will already have been snapped up by now.

The press pack obviously think we've got off lightly this summer so far - time to give us both barrels now as we enter the final stretch of the window! So in the last 12 hours - Mane, Vic and Pelle all potential departures depending on which paper you read

We are not strong enough defensively at the moment to afford to play Mane in the No 10 position behind Pelle. Compared to last season's usual line up, we were weaker defensively in 5 positions on the field from the start :- Cedric weaker than Clyne defensively Targett weaker than Bertrand defensively Yoshida weaker than Toby Davis weaker than Morgan in holding role Mane weaker than Davis defensively (when played in advanced midfield position) As dangerous as Mane looks when he gets hold of the ball in central areas, we can't risk playing him in that position again until we have a much stronger platform. Maybe once we have a new centre back, Bertrand back and Romeu and Clasie settled in, we will be solid enough again to try it, but for now we have to go back to a more solid 3 in the centre. The only positive today was Romeu looked like he will be decent in midfield once he's settled in and gets to know the other players.

Interesting comments those as when Cortese was in charge, I distinctly remember him talking about how the manager/head coach at Saints was just another head of department within the club, which doesn't on the face of it seem that different to what he has at Spurs, even if the job title is different. I suspect the difference is that at Saints the manager/head coach is at least involved in the conversation when transfer targets are identified, whereas at Spurs it's more out of his hands completely and dealt with between the recruitment guys and Levy. I much prefer our way of doing things, as it has to be an advantage if the coach has at least had some input in recruiting players he is happy to accommodate in the way he wants to play.

Ramirez was signed before Poch took over so can't blame him for that one I'm afraid! Suspect that one wasn't down to Adkins either.

Looks like a decent signing, should be keen to prove what he can do.

Seems to me this doesn't necessarily mean it's deal done, as in theory, they could also allow other clubs to do a medical and talk to the player pending a deal being agreed by the clubs (possibly after Champs league tie)? What it would confirm though is Celtic are at least open to selling VVD - don't think they would allow this if they were not pretty committed to selling him.

Think that's unfair, as heard Pulis say just after his move that he's taken a pay cut to leave Liverpool and join West Brom. He could have languished on the bench/in the reserves and stayed on higher money. I think he probably felt he couldn't pass up the opportunity to play at Anfield, in the Champs League, etc, and that he would regret it if he didn't go there and try. Can't really blame him for that even though most could see that it was a move that was unlikely to work out well for him.

Utter rubbish in my opinion. If this was the case, how come the club gave Rickie such a glowing tribute when he left and Lallana the complete opposite? I've no idea what happened with the West Ham move but from my own eyes watching Saints, I know Rickie continued to give his all for Saints right up to when he eventually left to join his boyhood club. It's a shame a few on here seem determined to try and taint his time at Saints with unsubstantiated rumour. Anyway, will be good to see Lambert back in action more in the Prem this season and the vast majority of Saints fans will wish him well.

You would think we still have quite a bit to spend on a defender going by how Les Reed said we were offering just as much as Spurs for Toby. So, you have to assume we still have the money to go for a 1st choice CB (e.g. VVD).

As others have said, Caulker looks like would be a stop gap while Gardos is out (hopefully). Would be worried if he is the replacement for Toby.

You could be right that this is why Koeman wants him - I just can't see him in practice getting many games ahead of the other options we have. The way I see it, we can change the wide positions around easily already when there are injuries/loss of form without a significant drop in our quality. Whereas an injury to Pelle (or Wanyama for that matter) would have a much more significant impact, so it's these areas that I would focus on to improve our backup (as well as getting a CB to replace Toby of course!)

This would be a bit of a strange signing as think we already have plenty of options in the 2 wide positions. I would personally rather see us adding another target man striking option to add better cover for Pelle than another wide player who is presumably going to be well down the pecking order.

Clasie sounds like a good signing, but still a little concerned by a lack of height/physical strength across the midfielders in our squad. When Wanyama is out/rested, there could be a problem. Clasie, Reed, JWP, Davis - all of a similar build. Could make us more vulnerable to the Stokes and West Hams of the Prem, who will target us at set pieces and try to bully us in midfield. Are we likely to sign another taller midfielder as well as Clasie (and a centre back to replace Toby)?

Shooting was certainly not Morgan's strongest point, but I would suggest that he has many other facets that are more important when selecting a holding midfielder. That is why Van Gaal and United have chosen to part with £25m for him, nothing to do with his shooting ability - they have a fair number of other players who should be scoring the goals. Don't agree with your point about wild tackles either - yes, he picked up a few suspensions, but you will find very few players who play in his position in the modern game who don't pick up yellow cards, as you only need to breathe on a player to get one now. But you carry on slagging off one of our best midfielders in recent decades if it makes you feel better - it's SWF tradition when a good player leaves after all

I understand that players have to look after themselves in these matters, but can't help feeling disappointed in Toby's actions in this. Unless Les and Ron have been downright lying, it does appear that he gave us a pretty strong indication that he wanted to sign for us up until pretty close to the deal being signed with Spurs, when in reality he and his agent must have been negotiating with Spurs for some time. It does also seem a bit messy from Saints point of view though - for whatever reason, the communications with Atletico seem to have broken down and we've ended up trying to salvage something at the last minute (or so it seems), which makes it look like we were blindsided in some way. You would have expected us to be in close contact/negotiation with Atletico since the end of the season to establish whether the various clauses in the loan deal were being exercised or not? I hope we will hear some kind of response/explanation from the club about what happened from our point of view.

The most disappointing thing about this (if true) is that he's signing for Spurs of all clubs, possibly our biggest rival in our mini league in the table at present. If I'm honest, I never really thought we would be able to pull off signing Toby permanently in spite of the option to buy clause, because he played so impressively last season that he was always going to attract offers from clubs who can offer him (and Atletico) more than us. Just gutting that he's chosen Spurs.

Wow! - could that article be any more misinformed?

Would you rather he had given interviews saying he would be happy to stay at Saints for the rest of his career, when that clearly wasn't the case? He was simply being honest by saying he wanted to move up to a Champions League club, which is what he is now doing. I think it's perfectly understandable he wants to play at the next level after 7 years at the club.

Pelle will need to be rested for a lot more than half a dozen games this year if we are to challenge in Europe as well as put in a decent league campaign.

Can see what you're saying and you may be right. But the noises coming from the club are that they want to progress to being a club regularly qualifying for and playing in Europe. Can't see how that is a realistic aim unless we can achieve better strength in depth, as Pelle will never last the season if he's played in more or less every game domestically and in Europe. I personally don't think Pelle (or Austin) would have a massive problem with not playing all the time as long as they are getting a decent amount of games at a successful club, but agree with you that wage structure would likely be the main issue.

I think if we are involved in a European campaign this year, we will need better options up front so that Pelle can be given a rest more often - I think this was part of his problem in the 2nd half of the season anyway, he should have been rested more. So, I would like to see us have both to allow more rotation. (If we need to let someone go to afford Austin, I would rather it was Long than Pelle).