Lallana's Left Peg

I'm not advocating signing a centre-back, but the media haven't been linking us with too many considering two clubs bigger and better than us are also reported to be interested in Alderweireld. Schneiderlin and Clyne are still our players and yet we've been linked with plenty of central midfielders and right-backs, but hardly any centre-backs despite Toby not even being our player. Seems strange to me.

Bit concerned by the lack of quality / numbers of centre backs we're being linked with. I know we want Alderweireld but Fonte, Gardos, and Yoshida are our only senior central defenders at the moment and that doesn't feel good enough for the number of games or part of the table we want to consistently be in.

Mail claiming we're sticking to our £15m valuation of Clyne, and would spend £6m of that on Charlton defender (not midfielder) Joe Gomez (also a target for Liverpool): http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3128301/Southampton-stand-firm-15m-Nathaniel-Clyne-price-beat-Stoke-signing-Sporting-Lisbon-defender-Cedric-Soares.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter So charge Liverpool more for Clyne so we can beat them to a signing they also want to make. I know they're stupid, but lets see how stupid Liverpool really are.

Undisclosed has been the Southampton standard for transfers since the takeover to be fair.

Ah yes - the game wasn't in Italy. Italy lost the game which meant they won't be seeded for the World Cup Qualifiers

Same player!

Flown in from Italy yes?

I think Jenkinson has some awful games and is prone to collapses in concentration where some bad mistakes are made and I know nothing about Byram. At this stage I think Cedric, if signed, would be first choice if Clyne leaves and his understudy would be a work in progress. Basically swap Clyne for two players. Which is what I think we'll do with Schneiderlin as well.

I conclude Cedric is a value signing we're making regardless of Clyne and Clyne's future then dictates other moves like Jenkinson, Byram etc.

Would a 100min YouTube video of him struggling to play the lone striker role for Spain do?

A good point I hadn't considered.

One thing to note (you may even already know it) - the star rating system in FM is relative to the existing ability of your squad. Thus the rating that Juanmi would have got is in comparison to the existing strikers that Man Utd have - not that he is only a 1.5-2 star rating player.

If Southampton progress through to the Europa League group stages, the following fixtures will be played on a Sunday or Monday (more likely Sunday): Newcastle (away) - Sunday 9th or Monday 10th August (this is guaranteed to be moved) Watford (away) - Sunday 23rd or Monday 24th August Norwich (home) - Sunday 30th or Monday 31st August Manchester United (home) - Sunday 20th or Monday 21st September Chelsea (away) - Sunday 4th or Monday 5th October Liverpool (away) - Sunday 25th or Monday 26th October Sunderland (away) - Sunday 8th or Monday 9th November Man City (away) - Sunday 29th or Monday 30th November Crystal Palace (away) - Sunday 13th or Monday 14th December

He's decent but has a horrible attitude and questionable disciplinary record. I think we can do better.

Well the goal poacher still exists but usually those sort of finishers contribute little else to the team. Great finishers who also contribute to the team will play for far better teams than us. So I guess we're taking the route of ensuring we have depth and options, which seems sensible to cover injuries, form, and fatigue.

Won't most employees bar the Manager and players have a rolling contract?

Depends on how Koeman wants to play next season and the degree to which he thinks Jay Rod can play up front. In the 4-2-3-1 I would be wary of Jay Rod's ability to play as a lone frontman with his back to goal. We know Long gives it a go but isn't great with the ball, so that would mean Pelle is our only option and dangerous. When we go two up front (either in the flat 'Atletico' 4-4-2 or in the 3-5-2) we know we can play Pelle, Jay Rod, Long, and Mane in those two so we have plenty of options there. If 4-2-3-1 is the default then it's all down to whether or not Jay Rod could cover Pelle as the long striker if required. Personally I'm not convinced but you never know.

Would be good if true - this morning the Daily Echo said Villa, Newcastle, West Ham, and Liverpool were all still pursuing him.

They don't learn do they

If Saints were aware of his contract clause, so were the big boys. I doubt this is new information for them. Saints being close to a deal could be, but it sounds like things are so far advanced it would take an unlikely turn of events for him to sign for someone else. And if he did, it says a bit for his character and we're better off without.

Yep you can include Davis too I suppose.

More than a little unfair when in an ideal world right now if the club had its choice our first team would contain Lallana, Chambers, Shaw, JWP etc.

Think the likes of Gallagher, Hesketh, and Sims would be the best prospects right now from the U21's in that part of the pitch but they are still a little way off in my opinion. Slattery from the U18's but he is very young. Other than that, I don't think anyone is anywhere near knocking on the door.

I think it gives us plenty of variety and depth, potentially the only question mark is the central role as a long striker as Jay Rod isn't proven in that role (for me) and Long isn't the best up there. But that aside we have lots of options for mixing up our style and personnel and that's a nice thing to have. Not much of a pathway for any kids though, but there isn't anyone knocking on the door yet so that's ok.