MarkSFC

I think the summer will be an interesting one with perhaps a few more exits than most would expect as Puel gets a chance to really build his squad. I think VVD will stay for one more season and I would expect the following exits; Stuart Taylor (no surprise) Targett Gardos Reed Clasie JRod Martina Forster Ins Caceres or other quality CB (Fonte replacement) A youngish CB - Nathan Ake / Rueben Samedo / Terence Kongolo perhaps Gardos replacement and a year to get ready to take over from VVD. This also gives another year for one of the academy to step up to 4th choice, Alfie Jones probably. A young RB if Valery not ready A quality CM of the more defensive type - no idea who! A Striker to replace JRod. Squad based on 4-2-3-1 general format GK - McCarthy, Hassan or other. Would love Heaton! LB - Bertrand, McCarthy RB - Soares, Valery or new CB - VVD, Caceres or New, Stephens, Yoshida CM - Romeu, NEW, JWP, Davis, Hoijberg Attackers - Boufal, Redmond, Sims, Tadic Strikers - Gabbiadini, Austin, Long, NEW or maybe Gallagher IF he's has really progressed. That's a squad of 23 main players leaving a bit of room for a handful of academy to break through

It would; Guildhall Square or in the WestQuay esplanade.

"Supercompensation".....

I doubt it was a deliberate ploy just to ensure this two week period but I think it will do the players (and the manager) the world of good. No doubt if we lose the final which is more than likely, there will be people who say it's because of the break and that they had too much time to think about it. Well that is valid but I actually think that Puel has structured the 2 weeks very well to minimise that effect. Giving the whole squad a few days off with their families and then to take them someone warm will boost moral no end. After they return they have a full "normal" week to prepare. It also sounds like the players have already fulfilled their media duties ahead of the final so that allows them to focus fully on what for many could be their biggest game in their career - although hopefully not! Luckily we have several players with excellent experience.

Some people really need to find different ways of letting their thoughts out.....especially the pointless ones which all of your posts are.

The headline (and the content come to that) doesn't actually say we are paying him 100k, it implies it, but the way it is used is an adjective. It's all about the headline to generate clicks!!

I can only assume that there is a discernible change in company policy and we are now adopting the Kevin Keegan philosophy of football which if you score 3 we will score 4 seeing that our defence is currently weaker than it has been in all the time we have been back in the EPL. Should be fun at least. Oh wait a minute, we are averaging just one goal per game the 4th worst in the league......Gabiadini has to hit the ground running!!! Fuming.

Even during the summer when it was Fonte, VVD and Yoshida we needed another CB better than Fonte. To be fair Toshida has had his best season for us so far but even still we needed one before Fonte left and now VVD is out for god knows how long we are simply desperate. Stephens did well against Liverpool, but was terrible v Arsenal. Gardos is just way behind and irrelevant to the equation. IF the club do not have a late announcement for us we are in a shockingly bad place. We would not even of been happy with Yoshida, Stephens and Gardos when we were in The Championship. Very poor show.....but still 35 minutes to go....

Links? Not a hugely inspiring signing but clearly experienced.

What form does this Saints knowledge you speak of take? What is the qualification you possess as proof of learning this "knowledge"? Im curious as it sounds like there may well be an oppprtunity for others who have a great level of "Saints knowledge" to potentially seek employment in this realm. Or us it as I suspect that your "knowledge" is statistical interpretation and opinion?

The club should provide every fan at Wembley with a duplicate of Markus' camera!!

I said that...... Maybe but we need a decent striker not neccessarily one that is "cheap" Very possible but thats the problem with reporters, they make comments open to interpretation!! What I hear......you can choose to ignore it if you want, I do not. What a lovely chap you are spouting from your pedestal. Want to add any context to that? I know a vast many things but if you "know" more in regard to this particular rumour, well done indeed, I will bow to your superiority, but I doubt you really do.

IF this is true and £17m is too much for Saints as in we can't afford it then where the hell has the money gone?! IF this is true in the sense that we will not spend £17m on a striker then we are going to go backwards very quickly. IF we do not rate this player at 17m then really, why are we going for him?!! We need to sign a striker of this level plus to improve on what we have? However I suspect the line is just more Sky spin to make the big clubs look bigger and the smaller ones look smaller as is their agenda.

Yes

4. Sign Sakho

Spot on

Hopefully that means Berahino is on his way to us!!

Not sure too many would agree with you there mate. Unlikely to play for us I would suggest, and if he does it would likely mean we are desperate or playing in The Championship again!

Swap Fonte for Carroll!

Its not about the total amount the club spends but the quality of player it buys. To use your number, if the club soent 150m in the summer on 4-5 £30-40m players, as opposed to 10-15, £10-15m pound players which would have the better outcome? We are in danger right now of "doing a Lowe" and filling the squad with mediocre. Boufal price tag should now be the minimum we spend on a player that needs to go straight into the team. We need a better team not a bigger squad.

That's interesting, well done. What it tells me is that Koemans two seasons in terms of line shape was pretty similar (at least to this point) and that Pochettinos "shape" was fairly similar to Koemans (or other way round given timeline!). In the case of Puebla line there is a totally different overall shape emerging which has more frequent peak and troughs, which would back up a theory that the rotation is not working (which is obvious really) but is causing more differences in performance. Keep up the good work, love stats, graphs!!

After the WBA game My mind was made up, he needed to go. Then I read the Reed interview in the Echo and the part he talked about the fact that Puel was brought in for his coaching and that the season schedule so far only allowed for rest, prepare play cycle, and not the coach, improve, prepare, play, rest cycle (as a coach myself) made me pause for thought and to be frank made me think he does deserve longer. What baffles me still though is his almost duplicate interviews and what appears to be a stubbornness to rotate because he's so ingrained in that process. He reminds me of Wenger in the stubbornness but what matters is results and (just like Wenger) they are not good enough for the squad. I understand the need to rotate but today and a few games ago he dropped JRod when it seems to me that he is really finding his way back and what he needs for his game and his confidence is a run of 5 or 6 or more games consecutively. Maybe he takes longer to recover but I'm cynical of that, but at the same time he sticks with VVD (which obviously is good!) and Redmond (even though he's not scoring what he needs to. If we do not sign a striker of noteworthiness in January then I worry for our PL season. I can't really see us sinking to a relegation battle but we've lost 4, it's possible to lose 4 more and then we could be in trouble. The fact that we are creating so many opportunities without the goals to show for it means our strikers are not good enough and or being coached well enough. Given the fact that the season is not allowing for coaching time (Les Reed) then the only option is to spend some money.....probably 15-20 if not more on a striker NOW.

Very true, thanks for the correction!

for once I agree with one of your posts, they look a really good pairing but my preference would be Gibson, as he looks much more composed and is left footed. Home boy and Chairman is his Dad so unlikely to leave unless for a "big" club though! I thought this would be his likely destination; especially when one of their CBs was linked with a move to Manure, guessing thats the hold up! I would be happy with Schlar or Sakho.

The actual number paid to players (as outrageous and scandalous it is) is simply down to market forces. Getting hung up on who gets what is pointless as is worrying about what clubs pay in transfer fees. At the end of the day it's all relative to income of clubs and their business model and in relation to competitors. Unless you are privy to all the details you can't comment on whether the "gossip price" is right or not, fair or not. The only thing that matters is that Saints remain solvent off the pitch and highly competitive on it. I don't care what numbers are involved to achieve that.