Lallana's Left Peg

Very good team on paper, but if it is Shane Long up front on his own I have some concerns that he will be asked to play like Pelle. Also would it be Jay left, Juanmi middle, and Mane right?

I'd give Pelle a complete rest. We rode him heavily in the first half of last season and it really showed in the second half. Jay Rod should be able to play up front, but I'd like to see him play with a partner. Not opposed 3-5-2 tonight.

I think Les Reed said that Wayama has already been offered a new 5 year deal (though my recent recollection of his comments hasn't been accurate so that may need double checking ) therefore I think the club are trying to plan as far ahead as possible. I agree with you that the market will be a mess - everyone will be after the lions share of the new money and it'll be interesting to see what clubs act early and place their cards on the table and which wait and see what happens with the market.

I wouldn't be against it, but I don't see it happening. Others ahead of him in the queue no matter what way you look at it.

It's from a Les Reed interview on the clubs YouTube channel earlier this summer. May even have been one of #TheMarch videos. In it he says words to the effect of 'once we signed Soares it became clear Clyne was not going to sign his new contract'. Will try and find an exact link tomorrow or Thursday if you really doubt it.

To continue the West Ham shot conversion madness, they had three shots on target Saturday and scored twice. Going into added time it was two and two!

Yeah I think so. First week back in training so seems a bit much to be on the bench.

I think we know how we play with Long up front on his own and I don't think anyone wants that again. Jay would be an interesting option as long as we play differently and don't expect him to be like Pelle. The problem is all our forward thinking players like to play off Pelle and I don't see Jay as that type of striker. Maybe put Jay up front with someone and see what happens?

This calendar year the club have been very vocal about ambition and what we want to do etc. The summers transfer business was all about that. Reed even claimed we got all our targets (which we know is BS to be fair). It went very quiet after Europe and being thumped by Everton.

Just what I get told in public by the club! Reed and Krueger in particular.

I am with you in that I don't like Davis as a DM (not in our system, anyway) but Yoshida as an emergency right-back is fine but as a bonafide alternative to Soares is concerning for a club with Top 6 ambitions. Yoshida is a valuable squad member and had he been forced to play there through injuries then I have no complaints. But for him to be selected over Soares concerns me because a) it's Yoshida at right back, which defensively isn't great and going forward is a disaster, and b) it means Soares either can't be that good, Koeman doesn't fancy him, or he has some big errors in his game which will take a while to fix. I think for Southampton to have Soares / Martina / Yoshida as options at right back is fine. I think for any team wanting to finish Top 6 it's laughable. And that is the way I look at things. If I look at things from a Saints perspective it is very easy to justify most of what we have done in the summer. If I look at it from a punter who gets told by the club that they want to compete on all fronts and push on I just laugh - it's not good enough. Stek I will give you but with Forster out the bar was low to find better than Davis. I am quite happy with Stek and think the club have done good business there. Clasie we have to see but I suspect you are right and he will be a starter no matter what. Romeu and Soares I don't see him as thinking they are better than what he has got, but time will show there. I'm not seeking a big wage player really, but I am seeking someone ready to make an impact straight away. Because each summer if we sell high and buy low - and the replacement player is of an ilk that they will need half a season to get up to speed this club cannot and will not sustain progress and will instead just be a factory that takes punts on players and some will be hits and some will be misses. With the money we have available we should be able to do better in my opinion. That said, it's all very early but when I see signings to beef out the squad that aren't better than what we have I don't think it's a good way to go about things.

I would suggest there is a difference between rotating central midfielders in their natural position and shoehorning a centre-half who has weak distribution into a right-back spot. This is my main issue: If Soares is known to be defensively weak (you would like to think the club were aware of this before we signed him), and yet he is immeasurably better than Martina, why didn't we buy another proper right back to compete with Soares (who has differing characteristics)? This would mean we don't have to play a centre-back at right-back. The only teams who do this crap are Tony Pulis long ball teams. It's the same with Juanmi, club talked about pulling off a great deal etc. when we signed him and yet he has the body of a pre-pubescent 12 year old and he isn't in a condition to be able to contribute. Of all the signings we made in the summer right now there is only ONE who is Koeman thinks is better than what we already have and that is VvD. That's a problem for me.

The only person who could be suggesting Soares is rubbish is Koeman as he is playing our third choice centre back ahead of him out of position.

But if he never gets the chance to play against the best wingers in the league, how will he ever be known to be ready? He's 23 and Clyne's replacement - I think he should play accordingly.

Always enjoy watching the U21's - we often come up against teams with a lot of individual talent but as collectively as a unit they aren't as cohesive or refined around being a proper footballer and managing the game etc. We are clearly very well coached and trained and taught the fundamentals of the game which give them a good chance of competing in every game they play, even if as I said better individual talents. I even quite liked the way we just played percentage football the moment we went 5-2 up. There was no desire to do anything other than see the game out and make the most of any opportunity on the break. Not that we sat back, but we just didn't take any risks going forward, and the moment any of their wide players came inside he was just hassled until he lost the ball or he was fouled. We're coached to be a very savvy team.

The club claimed Clyne decided to leave when we brought Soares in but I don't believe it to be anything other than arse covering after they publicly stated they were hopeful on Clyne signing a new deal and then he did what any sane person would do and join the bigger club for more money.

Accounting profit does not equate to money in the bank, so club can spin the financial results any way they want depend on the mood of the club at the time.

I think most teams have some £10m+ players, but not many outside those who finished above us last season have as many as we do. Off the top of my head (therefore would need validating): Swansea - 1 West Ham - 3 Leicester - 1 Everton - 1 Crystal Palace - 0 Norwich - 0 Aston Villa - 2 Stoke - 2 Newcastle - 4 Sunderland - 4 West Brom - 1 Some of those may be wrong, but I think regardless none have as many as we do. Many have kept their best players too so number of £10m players isn't an indication of how good you are (and wages come into it too), but it should give an indication of how could you maybe could expect to be. We have spent a lot of money.

Yeah that is a fair point, but when I see Saints play well and not win and then not play well and not win, I start to worry. Momentum is a huge thing for us, and we have none of it.

7th to declaring ourselves ok from relegation is a helluva fall from grace. Just because we avoid relegation I don't think that should prevent fans wondering what has gone on. A team that could, when all fit, field 8 £10m+ players should be very good.

We do not press under Koeman like we did under Pochettino. But it is fair to say that all of our better performances under Koeman have been when we have pressed and taken the initiative against teams and gathered some momentum. Pressing makes us look better. Where we are better under Koeman is when we have to soak up some pressure and accept we have to concede possession, but since February that has degraded from what it was.

I agree we'll be ok but it's whether or not, for the money spent in the summer, that going from 7th to 'we'll be ok' and dumped out of Europe in August is acceptable? It's taken 6 league games this season for that to be deemed as acceptable to some supporters.

If you can't capitalise when you play well you will not get points. If you can't defend properly when you decide to sit back and soak up pressure you will not get points. It seems to me like there is a complete lack of belief in the team - even an early goal and Man Utd playing like part-timers for 30mins wasn't enough for us. Remember under Adkins when we first went up and we'd have a few moments early on in games but then teams would turn the screw and a little and we'd fold, but then in the last 10mins we'd rally a bit and people would pretend that was good enough? We got all we deserved - that is not to say we didn't have our moments, but how many times will we play well and get nothing before we accept there is an issue somewhere rather than say 'oh well, onto the next one'?

The summer has not been wasted but it was a rather limp trudge back to heading back where every team who finished above us last season wants us to go - mid-table. The quality of the team has been diluted in favour of a slightly larger squad. The same issues we had with the balance of the squad last season haven't been addressed. We're still in great shape as a football club, but another summer next year like the one we've just had and that'll be the job finished and the team back to what we all knew pre Premier League relegation - the odd good player, the odd good result, but by and large just a very average team.

No - it would be perfect for us as our competitive edge would come from the young players we produce which couldn't leave so easily. EDIT: Unless I've missed something.