SaintTex

tall, good with his head, but his mobility is suspect

i would give my left hand for either of those two players on our team - paying 90 min every week. At some point, you would think these players get sick of languishing on the bench in the prime of your career? I think of a guy like Shaqiri.. which do you think he enjoyed more? His 3 years at Stoke or his 3 years at Liverpool?

i can't decide what i liked more... the actual the pass, or his maneuver with the ball at his feet to escape Adams to give him space to make that pass to KWP. someone else said it, but 9 out of 10 times, that pass gets made wide (maybe due to ease or coaching instruction). Good to see a player forward thinking.

funny.. i rate Perraud quite a bit. Well, in the sense, I think he is the best we could hope for at LB if we are limited to spending 12m for any one player. he was in quite a bit of good form in the middle of last season when the team itself was also doing quite well.

Back 4. all 5 of our new signings on the pitch. finally!!

he should be suspended from class.

It worked! We neutralized those 2 in the match. Now, about the others on the pitch...

What happened to having a whole new coaching staff this season? Does no one have Ralph's ear? Isn't someone on staff saying: "hey, gaffer,ummm.. why don't we put our best players in their best positions?" when do you propose we find out if he has a clue or not.. in the Spring? He has had a whole preseason. Sink or swim.. get him out there. -- and so what is up with Mara? Didn't even make the bench? is this guy good to go or what? I know he was a passenger against Villarreal, but this guy scored 6 goals in a top European division last year. Che had 7, AA had 2. we need help now.

i kinda thought our summer was about finding other players, so those wouldn't be in our starting XI..... and then there they are out there in the season opener.

i think he has this fantasy that it will somehow be effective and then he will be showered with praise for his out-of-the-box master stroke thinking. That formation proposed above by OttawaSaint is such a no-brainer, that it makes me think Ralph doesn't play something like it, because it doesn't show "tactic genius". he doesnt feel like he will get any credit for employing something so obvious.

i know Mo doesn't always impress, but he did score 8 goals in all competitions. That was tied for 2nd on the team, if I recall, last season.

umm, our opponent today was the same Villarreal team that was in the Champions League semifinals, right? what were you expecting?

BS. i am stick of this trope - the assertion that some are above all that and everyone else is at fault. 1) Mane was a big boy - like he would even care. 2) Our fanbase is no different than any others. Supporters give stick when a player is stinking it up, they give praise him when its going well. You don't think Liverpool supporters don't do the same? Mane got way more praise than criticism during his time here.

in defense of his association with a bottom table Ligue 1 team... Bordeaux's issue last season was defensive... gave up a whopping 92 goals. And, actually they were 9th in the league in goals for. He was the 3rd top scorer for the club with only 900 minutes. i am a glass half full kind of guy 🙂

seems like yesterday JWP was the youngster. Now he doesn't even make the list!

wow.. 2 years in the Eredivisie... 28 goals, 22 assists. durable (lots of games) Transfermarkt has him valued at £12.60m. is he being shopped?

I thought that was our plan! 🙂

possibly.. i didn't do extensive research, but used Transfermarket as a source. https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/fc-southampton/transferrekorde/verein/180 good point, tajjuk.. Mane's wikipedia page says £11.8 to Saints.. so i don't know what is what now.

Only 3 of our 10 ten most expensive signings are still on the squad. £22.59m Ings £22.50m Vestergaard £20.70m Mane £19.80m Carrillo £16.83m Boufal £16.20m Elyounoussi £15.93m Armstong £15.53m Lemina £15.30m Gabbiadini £15.03m Che Adams Ironically, the 2 of 3 where we broke £20m barrier gave us a return. Maybe that is where we should be aiming 🙂

Nice that we have so many early summer signees and the cane be a part of pre-season camp Important to build relationships and everyone get to familiar with each other, so we don't have a bunch of strangers on the pitch for match 1.

Minamino went for a bunch and he has played so few minutes in the PL. Not sure how proven he is. hell, Minamino had more PL minutes with us than with all his years combined at Liverpool. 717 v. 711 only 5 PL starts with Liverpool (9 with us)

for everyone saying we need to find an attacking player that gives us 10-12 goals a year, here is your going rate.. Richarlison £50m Jesus £45m

i think it is fair to say : Everton and Man U underachieved Brighton and Brentford overachieved and everybody else, for the most part, met expectations.

Maybe expect better signings. 7 of our top 9 biggest signings ever are not currently on the team. 1. Ings £22.59m (19/20) 2. Vestergaard £22.50m (18/19) 3. Sadio Mané £20.70m (14/15) 4. Guido Carrillo £19.80m (17/18) 5. Sofiane Boufal £16.83m (16/17) 6. Mo Elyounoussi £16.20m (18/19) 7. Adam Armstrong £15.93m (21/22) 8. Mario Lemina £15.53m (17/18) 9. Manolo Gabbiadini £15.30m (16/17) for comparison.. Liverpool has 9 of their top 10 record signings still on their roster. and as far as record signings go for the 20 PL clubs, we rank 16th on record transfer fee amount with Ings (£22.59m) . Only these clubs have a lower record signing than Saints 17. Brighton £20.70m (4 of their top 5 signings are still on their roster) 18. Burney £15.21m 19. Brentford £14.13m (4 of their top 5 signings are still on their roster) 20. Norwich £9.90m 2 relegated, 1 finished 6 points better, 1 finished 11 points better