HarvSFC

Sima would be my top choice from that list. Played in Europe, played and done well at a higher level than the Championship, Senegal international, but there is the AFCON this season. Fellows would also obviously be a good signing. Good numbers in this league with the feeling he will get better and could look better in a superior team. Koumas is a similar player to Dibling, doesn't lack confidence, technically very good and beats a man, but also not the quickest and doesn't have the best end ball, so wouldn't be top of my list. Campbell at Charlton would be a risk, I'd only take him as a squad player to develop and Charlton wouldn't let him go for a squad fee. Never heard of Manneh or Fitz until now and only know of Vicente from the YouTube video after those initial links, so can't really comment on those.

Must also give props to the team for not giving the ball back after Coady's time wasting "injury". Usually we're far too nice and sportsmanlike. But, this is the character we want to see. You kick the ball out to waste time, as your player will just run back on the pitch in 30 seconds, which Coady did, then we'll keep the ball. They had players going down afterwards, but they didn't kick the ball out again to stop the play after that.

Football is back, after the horror show of last season today feels fantastic. Scar tissue, what scar tissue? Get the criticisms out of the way. I'm still not a fan of the formation. After the Brighton match last week I posted a team of a back four, as I felt even though we looked good with the wing-backs it was too knee jerk/reactionary to then start it this week on the back of a good 20 minutes. Also didn't think you should play three centre-backs at home against Wrexham. I think today it caused problems at both ends of the pitch. Armstrong, who is now letting another manager know after Hasenhuttl, Jones, Selles, Martin and Mowbray (At West Brom last season) that he's no good as a centre-forward was made to look even worse as he was an isolated figure who didn't stand a chance against the Wrexham centre-backs. While at the back there was always one centre-back either getting pulled out wide, or not really knowing what position to take up, so you see good experienced strikers like Moore breaking the lines. Meanwhile, Sugawara and Wellington, who I think had his worst game in a Saints shirt today were getting rinsed with no support on the wings. Hopefully when we get some new wide players we can go back to a more balanced formation, as we looked better with a few more forwards on the pitch to occupy Wrexham. And the referee. Felt like he was playing into the Disney documentary narrative, looking for a part in it and for a time it felt like we playing against one of the big six with the decisions being given. Has it been confirmed the play before the penalty was onside? Now, onto the positives. A good omen, as we started the last Championship game with a 2-1 win over newly promoted Sheffield Wednesday with a late, although not quite so late goal from Adams. We scored a lot of late goals that season, and I think it's because our depth is just better than most others in the Championship. It happens to us in the Premier League when they have a bench full of superstars, while we had Will Smallbone. While today we brought on Stewart, Archer, Manning and Fernandes who all start for most teams in the division. Superior squad depth will see us through. Charles looks classy and that cross field ball to Manning for the second goal was huge. A good long ball at the death, which we never saw under Martin despite us all calling for it, so was great to see. Bazunu and Stephens saved the day. Who'd have thought that before the game. Who shall we all criticise ahead of Ipswich? Manning also very impressive and he was another who looked quite average two years back. Maybe he does have some of Danny Fox's strengths. At the end of the day, today was without our best four players from last season in KWP, Ramsdale, Dibling and Fernandes for 60 minutes and then THB, Bednarek and Sulemana, who despite his weaknesses was starting every game at the back end of last season and is one of the wide players we're now lacking. These players haven't really been replaced yet and our only starting debutee was Quarshie (Bednarek's replacement) at the back. So, at this stage of the season it's all about grinding out results and getting the first win on the board. It's a lot harder to tempt new signings to the club after a 1-0 defeat against Wrexham, as there may be doubts as to whether we have turned a corner after the horror show of last season. But, a good and battling three points on the board is helpful. Up the Saints.

What a guy Matty Fernandes is by the way. His head could have easily dropped last season. A 20 year old in a new country, talented footballer, but put in a team that loses every week. Most of the other more experienced heads gave up, but he kept going every week. Now, this summer, again, he could have easily got straight on the phone to his agent and demanded a move. He could've joined all the other footballers in 2025 who say their head isn't right and they don't really want to be at their current club, so sit out of preseason and the opening games in the hope of a move. He's the most talented player in the squad and has no business playing in the Championship. But, he's available tomorrow. Even if it's only one game he's shown himself to be a classy person on and off the pitch during his time here.

Short press conference, only questions from Blackmore were shown on the YouTube stream. I like what he said about playing the ball forward and playing with energy. The antithesis of what we've seen for the last couple of years. Hopefully not just talk, as Juric promised the same.

Thought Blackmore was a lot better tonight than he has been in previous years. Although, repeatedly saying that we signed Rickie Lambert from Bristol City when introducing Trollope was a stain. I thought Trollope came across well. He obviously wasn't the focus of the evening and couldn't tell us too much as a step in and assistant manager, but his responses were good. Still became available to us as he needed to leave France due to personal reasons, hopefully the reasons aren't too severe and don't impact anything going forward. I thought Spors didn't give too much away. The Stephens response wasn't great. Said he had a good pre-season, when we've all seen with our own eyes the mistakes he's made. Also didn't like Blackmore's comments regarding the fans scapegoating him. If a player's good, they're good, they're applauded and they're well supported. If they consistently make mistakes, they get called out on it. There weren't many questions or comments regarding individual players this evening. Two years ago there was the Bazunu and last year McCarthy comments. But, only discussed Dibling, Fernandes and Stephens. Not too many promises made this year, and I think the panel were more tight lipped than they have been in previous years, but it wasn't ever going to be a night of revelations. Parsons did say that the PSR rules are likely to change to "squad cost ratio", so wonder what impact that will have on us. Hopefully a more positive one.

Regarding PSR loopholes, first port of call when we start to get close to the limits is to sell our women's team to ourselves, like Chelsea, Aston Villa and Everton have all done. We also have two other clubs to move money through. Nottingham Forest, the owner Marinakis is very close to John Textor. There's a few dodgy deals between them. Textor owns both Botafogo and Lyon. You'll see this summer that Botafogo signed Danilo from Forest for £21m this summer. A player who made 8 Premier League appearances last season. While Lyon signed Matt Turner for £6m. One of the worst Premier League goalkeepers you're likely to see. It would be like someone coming in with £6m for Bazunu or McCarthy, which doesn't happen. Last summer Forest also sold Orel Mangala (bad) for £20m and Moussa Niakhate (who?) for £27m to Lyon. When Forest get close to the line, their friend Textor helps them out. Forest repay it by spending £20m on Botafogo players, but that gets spread over their contracts, rather than an outgoing which is immediate on the accounts. We should start to look to sell players like Lis to Goztepe for £10m or so. It does feel for a long time now that we strictly abide by the rules, while others find loopholes to gain success both off and on the pitch and leave us behind. Only one way to break the status quo now.

Amidst all this our good friend and skate Alex Crook is showing himself up on Twitter again. Saw the initial reports, Tweeted that Everton were hopeful of completing a deal "in excess of £35m", pretty much what the original Everton site said. And then 13 minutes later after all the reliables Tweeted it had been rejected, he then follows up with it being rejected. Absolute con artist. On the talk of Everton and PSR, they recently sold their women's team to their parent company: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cjey097w872o, which is something we should look to do should we get promoted again. On the price, £45m is a good fee, especially if we include a sell on. Just have to hope the new recruiters can spend it better than we did the Lavia, Livramento, JWP and Tella money.

Did they? They went into the season with McCarthy as number one with the plan for him to keep the gloves until Bazunu returned from his injury and seemed quite confident with doing so at the fans forum last year. Bazunu, McCarthy and Lumley were the three goalkeepers they decided to go into the season with. It was then after the Newcastle debacle on the opening day and the Nottingham Forest match that the realisation hit that we were going to break Derby's points record with McCarthy and they panic bought a goalkeeper, being Ramsdale.

Hutchinson's throwing his toys out of the pram at the moment and didn't travel with them to France at the weekend. Hackney's already turned down Ipswich.

Booed off at full time after the first game of the season. Motherwell, 38% possession, but more shots and the same amount of shots on target. I don't get what enjoyment Martin himself has watching his football every week. On another note, Slattery played in the match. Forgot he existed. Once very highly rated here, but has been at Motherwell since he left us four years ago, so hasn't fulfilled his potential.

For a good 60 minutes I was bemoaning the lack of intensity and energy from the side. A lot of players just ambling about and not stepping up to the ball, or getting into the Brighton players faces while also not creating anything. We were easy to play against and it showed in the second goal, as much like last season, we kept backing off and let Minteh pick his spot. Then the subs came on and it all changed and I must say we had the better of the play for the final 20 minutes, could've won it, whereas I don't think Brighton threatened to score a winner. Props to Jay Robinson. I've previously thought he's a player who's a nuisance for the opposition, but lacks that final ball, but today he stood up and like said changed the flow of the game, as he was attacking with directness and pace while also pressing the Brighton backline, when they had had an easy afternoon up to his introduction. Must comment on the full-backs too. Sugawara and Wellington also had very decent performances. Much better than Bree and Manning were managing. I think the former two have a lot more about their game than the latter two. Bree and Manning are limited full-backs, who struggle defensively while also offering very little in attack. Now, we all know Sugawara also has big limitations regarding his defending, but he does at least give us something going forward. I think a promotion chasing team could carry a Sugawara in theirs. While, I don't think I've ever actually seen Wellington have a bad game for us. He got nutmegged once, but for whatever reason a manager hasn't made him the number one left back when Manning and Taylor are quite poor. Our attack was also aided with the Brighton defence having to think about Sugawara and Wellignton also, as when it was Manning and Bree, they only had to think about the front three, and they easily coped with that. Bazunu's also had a good pre-season. The club are probably confident with him at the moment, and we do have more glaring issues if this is Bazunu's performance level now. However, he did have a good pre-season two years ago also, so please can he carry this form into the season when it matters. Charles looks very good too. The team I'd like to see start next week against Wrexham is: Bazunu Sugawara - Edwards - Quarshie - Wellington Sesay - Charles Armstrong (Right wing) - Robinson (Left wing) Downs - Archer Of course Stephens will be in there instead of Edwards, but hopefully Still's team doesn't look too different. I know we improved with the wing-back formation today, but you can't start three centre-backs at home against Wrexham.

I wonder what the Brighton team looked like. If it was their Under-21s, again not impressive from an attacking sense. Edwards, Wellington and Robinson the surprising inclusions for me. Especially Robinson who has looked so much more threatening than our other attackers this pre-season. With Edwards and Wellington you can at least argue that we have an abundance of centre-backs and left-backs (although Wellington is our best one).

By this time two years ago our only two first team signings were Ryan Manning and Shea Charles. But, it would be nice if we were a bit more active earlier in the market for a change. Giving players a pre-season at the club. Then you have all the 2025 nonsense of a new player needing to learn the tactics before they can start matches, so a few more games wasted when we all saw Rickie Lambert sign and score the day after. On the new transfer policy, I didn't dislike the policy of two years ago. We clearly identified Championship experience - Manning, Stewart, Downes, Fraser, THB and Brooks, alongside the squad signings of Lumley, Holgate (Shite) and Rothwell all had a wealth of experience of the league. The only first team signing with no experience of the league was Charles. And it worked to an extent, we got what we set out for and won promotion at the first time of asking. It would be good to get a mix of signings of some who have proven to be top level Championship players and some from the foreign market. That would be an exciting window, but SR's problem has always been going from one extreme to the other in the windows and their policy seems to change with each one.

Very lethargic for a high pressing system, no guarantee of fulfilling potential and wasn't getting into the worst top flight Southampton team of all time last season, so £40m would be a good fee. He could become a superstar, or he could go the same way as Broja and plenty of more talents have gone. With these departures and money raised, I want some concrete links to incoming players now with 9 days before the season's start.

I think Edozie is one of those players who we're now trying to move away from. Technically gifted, but lacks physicality. He did have a good run in the Championship before he was crunched, but then never really came back and didn't exactly boast great stats in the Belgian league last season. One of those who could do well at his new club in France, but I think his time here is done. Still disappointed we lost Amo-Ameyaw to Strasbourg, but Shields has at least helped us back by taking Mara and Edozie now.

And there was James Trafford right next to them for £15m.

But, a minority of posters confidently told us all that Ramsdale wasn't rated at Premier League level, and he's going to a Champions League club? If Ramsdale is going out on loan, then surely we're going to go into the loan market for his replacement as well? The loan probably stops us from signing a permanent replacement. However, it doesn't stop us from getting a one year loan ourselves. We can't go into another season with Bazunu and McCarthy. We tried it last season, at Premier League level hilariously with the hope that McCarthy could keep the position until Bazunu returned from his injury, we quickly found out it didn't work and we panic signed Ramsdale for big money and uncharacteristically high wages from SR. If we do the same, we're going to need another panic signing, or give up on the autos. But, the hope is that Spors has a long list of goalkeeper targets, as this Ramsdale news hasn't come out of the blue and I imagine he's one of the ones Still has mentioned has been open about leaving. The Stephens new contract was a red mark on the new decision makers this summer, surely they have a contingency plan for Ramsdale's departure. Incoming new McCarthy two year contract, or Bazunu gets one.

Yeah, we've never had a good defence involving Jan Bednarek in it, not even in the Championship two years ago. He's been the best of the centre-backs for some of it, but it has been a very low bar. Of course, he has had a redemption after the Villa interview and refusing to play in our biggest game of the season against City in the cup because Poland were playing a week later. However, Bednarek has been taking up a squad place at this club for years now and we could do a lot better. I don't think he'll get much game time after the first month at Porto.

A small sample size and it is still only pre-season, but searching for positives this summer and at least Quarshie and Downs now have shown glimpses of talent on the pitch. After a number of years of signing 3 or 4 duds for every 1 good player, maybe the Spors scouting regime is better at identifying talent.

Damn was just about to come on and say how grim a display it was and how there wasn't a single positive going forward. But, we make one quick forward pass at the end and Downs scores it from an angle first time. Shows he has something and we need to sort the service out behind him, because he had nothing else to work with after coming on. We didn't get many clues from the pre-season squad, but today was quite telling with the lack of minutes for some with two weeks before the season's start. No run out for Bazunu, or McCarthy again, although they're keepers, so probably slightly different there. Sugawara didn't get on the pitch and played very little in midweek, so probably not going to get many minutes once the season starts, which is good because he is more of a defensive nightmare than Stephens. Neither Smallbone, nor Aribo got on the pitch today either. Two of our most lethargic players in the squad, so possibly not endearing themselves to Still. Sesay was picked ahead of them. Kayi Sanda also an unused sub, needs a loan to League One. You'd hope these players who aren't getting minutes will start to actively seek moves elsewhere, rather than seeing out their well paid contracts.

Still waiting for these high pressing, high intensity tactics. But, I've been waiting for them since Juric promised them, so who knows. I know a lot is said of the records of our forwards in the Championship, but Adam Armstrong also struggled and we struggled when Che Adams wasn't up top as the hold up player. I think it's showing again, as none of the forwards at the moment can hold the ball up and are just running down blind alleys continuously. Bring Downs on at half time, I want to see what he can do. Onto the positives, Quarshie is looking good. Charles looks good. Add Downes and by some miracle we keep THB and Ramsdale, and our defence is looking fine for next season. Just going forward. We need that attacking midfielder Solak promised before the window and before the sale of Sulemana.

"TransferRoom is taking football’s transfer market into the digital age and making football transfers easy." "When selling a player you want to appeal to as many potential buyers as possible." Can we get anything from Ankersen. Get on the phone to his brother, because we're still finding football transfers hard. We just want to find one potential buyer for our deadwood.

Newcastle announced their Singapore squad this morning before all the Isak news came out. Their official line for him was "Alexander Isak misses out with a minor thigh injury". Now and since, it has been quite well reported why Isak isn't going on the trip. Just to add to the theories for ours.

Rates Koeman as his best manager, Pellegrino as his worst. They were one year apart here. How Les Reed and co got it so wrong after 2016 is impressive in itself.