Lallana's Left Peg

£16m doesn't mean anything unless we sign a capable replacement. Not expecting the replacement to be anywhere near as good as Lovren as I suspect our days of attracting players of that calibre are over however hopefully we'll sign someone who is good enough for mid-table.

Poor Morgan must be wondering what is going on - conducts himself with a bit more respect than some others and yet he will be the last to get his move.

I never declared it as a failure. It does however point to a club who, at least on the face of it right now, is going to struggle next season compared to last seasons achievements. So why shouldn't the media point this out right now?

I think that reason may be us failing to convince our Manager to stay and also losing three important players, and also our best defender wanting to leave. It's not as though the accusations are without foundation right now. It's down to the club to get some deals done and adequately replace players.

It doesn't feel like we're giving him any reason to stay, however there are 6 weeks left of a transfer window. Let's hope the club manage to get some things done as right now it feels like we're closer to losing him than keeping him. I think the only thing that is to our advantage is that Arsenal have him third or fourth choice as a target.

'period of transition' 'summer of change' 'struggling to adapt'

He supports Liverpool apparently. And I'm not even joking.

Adequate as 4th choice and as long as he is happy with that I think he is a solid squad member. This may even be the season he is surpassed by Stephens / Turnbull / McCarthy in the pecking order but with just a year left on his deal I suspect he will be released as Guly was at the end of last season.

And as I said in my original post our squad players were young and will hopefully improve and I also talked about astute signings. There was more to come from our team, I'll maintain that.

Either a better league position or higher points total. Given lots of our players are wanted by clubs higher than us in the league, do you not think it was possible? I don't subscribe to this Champions League being attainable narrative, but there was still much more to come from this team. If not then someone wants to have a word with all the clubs that want our players.

I agree with you - he doesn't need to be as good as Shaw to get in our team and I would love for him to be good enough for us and to see us replace one Academy graduate with another would be great. The problem is people trying to say Shaw wasn't as good as he clearly was and people building up Targett to be better than he is. I know it is a case of the King is dead, long live the King but we need to be realistic here - Targett is not as good as Shaw and is the same age. I hope he gets an opportunity but I am not expecting him to be Premier League ready just yet.

It's not too early to make predictions, but it is too early to appraise our business this summer. However I'm more than comfortable in saying that thus far our actions have left me concerned. I do not think we will be in any real danger of relegation - far from it - however I do believe that we will regress this season. Here are some facts about what has happened this summer: 1. Our Manager, a key aspect of our progress the last 18 months, has left taking all his coaching staff with him. He is also known to be a Manager that the majority of players enjoyed playing for and wanted to stay. They said so publicly. 2. Our starting left-back - possible the best in the league - has left. 3. Our Captain - and best player - has left. 4. Our best striker has left. 5. Our best defender wants to leave. 6. What is now our best midfielder appears open to leave (but is being far more respectable about it) 7. One of our most in form players of last season is out until around Christmas. 8. Last seasons vice captain and starting centre-half, along with one of our more consistent midfield performers, have no signs of a new deal with less than 12 months to run on their contract - yet we know the club are capable of handing out new contracts as Jay Rodriguez has apparently received one. Now in fairness we received good money for the players who have departed. But then the Board told us repeatedly that we'd never sell any of our best players unless we wanted to. And then again, we also sold our players without signing replacements first meaning the whole world and his dog knows we're loaded and any benefit of receiving good fees is now likely wiped out by the premium we'll have to pay for new players ourselves. There is no net gain in my opinion. For example, signing a player from Holland for £11m when he just has a year left on his contract. I fully expect us to sign more players. I also fully expect the amount of change that has occurred at the club to mean we will not hit last seasons heights and we'll have a season of no excitement either end of the table. That's ok of course, but don't tell me your expectations for Saints are not different now to what they were the day after the Man Utd game last season. So if it is quite alright with you I'll express than opinion until this club can prove me wrong.

Do you believe we will match or even better last seasons finish? Now is the time to put your cards on the table. I agree with the latter statement but then I also think by now we'd have a better squad than we do.

At the end of last season it wasn't unrealistic to think we could push on even further with some astute signings and our young players continuing to make progress. I think it is safe to say any Saints fan would be happy with a Top 10 finish as it stands right now. Whilst I agree that the wages on offer from the big clubs will turn players heads regardless I do feel there was focus and momentum that we had previously which just isn't there at the moment.

It's a fair point to be honest, Sharp must have thought he'd have a chance to try and impress this summer with the change in management at a footballing and club level and yet he's being played out of position He's got a year left on his deal and I suspect another loan move beckons before we wave goodbye to him.

And voted as the best left back in the league by his fellow professionals. He's already very good and he is going to be one of the best in the world for the next decade and more. We may find an adequate replacement, but he won't be as good as Shaw, I'm 99% sure of that.

He is a different player but nowhere near as good as Luke Shaw. People pretending otherwise are being silly.

I think we'll end up 10th - 12th when it is all said and done. I think it will be a half decent season where we go through fits and spurts of form and then come the summer anyone half decent will move on. Basically, back to what we all know as Saints supporters except perhaps a more comfortable season than fighting relegation.

Lee Todd: Heinous

Mayuka is a year younger than Jay Rod. I'm not saying Mayuka will end up as good as Jay Rod but finishing ability can improve very quickly in football. Personally I don't think we can afford to develop Mayuka in the first team during a period of massive transition however I would not write him off as being the finished product, that's all.

Not going to say Mayuka is going to be as good, but I do recall a certain Jay Rod coming in for some stick for his finishing in his first season with us...

No point getting too wound up about it because if they are sensitive they are also hard to get over the line and there is every chance they won't happen. If we were clear favourites they wouldn't be so sensitive.

Maybe we were playing against a team of midgets but JWP and Chambers both looked to have grown taller this summer (not impossible at their age I suppose).

Do you honestly think Koeman will play exactly how he plans to in pre-season? When was the last Manager we had that did this? I can't remember. Games will be used for fitness and to test a few things but all of the work on how the team will play is done behind closed doors.

I think you're massively misjudging how much the players will care. They all understand and are professionals. They won't care and will get on with it.