eelpie

Nothing wrong with what Art wrote at all (apart from the last para, but his intention is clear). Your reaction is OTT.

A well thought through analysis by The Guardian. I'd be relieved to achieve 14th place in this our second year, all things considering. Yes, we are a stronger team now and a much more experienced one. So on paper we should do better than 14th. But against that, other teams have had plenty of time to study our style and work out our weaknesses. With simple observation plus a little read of this foyer's honest appraisals the whole world knows that Danny Fox for example is perceived to be a weak link, and we can expect WBA and others who sussed us last season to exploit our flanks if Shaw and Clyne are injured. The Sociadad game was very interesting. We saw the exciting best and frustrating worse of Saints. Score then concede easily via mistakes (while the majority of goals came from defenders and midfield). VW is definitely going to be a massive strength in midfield, but time will tell if The Guardian's reservations prove correct, however I reckon any weaknesses will be sorted by Poch and co. We are a promising team with much potential but certainly not a complete team yet and so I predict an up and down season, a bit like Norwich's and ours last year I think. My three part breakdown of our strengths and weaknesses to predict an end of season position is: midfield, worthy of a top 10 place. Current strikers (with contributions from defenders and midfield)= 15th. Defenders without Shaw = bottom three (with Shaw 11th.) So between 14th and 15th I would be happy with. It will not be until next year, I reckon, that we will have strengthened to be able to achieve a top 10 place. I'm not a pessimist, just cautious. Much will depend on how Poch organises tactics so as not to leave the defence too exposed. The telling part of the campaign will be the first quarter when we avoid the top teams, so it is essential that we get off to a good start because the end of the season when we won't have so much energy, might be tough. 14th place btw is not the Guardian's prediction but an average of several pundits views. HTH. For some on here to predict a top 8 place is unrealistic fairyland. That's not to say that it couldn't happen. Certainly with a top new striker a higher than 14th place would be more likely.

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Thanks for these memories. I wonder why he did not progress with Saints as a lad. Did we not see his potential, or was he snapped up by another club?

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Yes, I agree. We are strong in midfield capable of plenty of options. Not wishing to make comparisons with our former manager, but one thing that NA was becoming quite good at was varying tactics (in his case towards improving the defence). I'm hoping that Poch will have alternative strategies as sometimes other teams were able to counter our forward style of play too successfully. Kelvin referred to being happy with the style of play we were intending to adopt. I'm hoping there will be some flexibility with tactics this season. Adapting play with a new striker could help towards achieving this.

Spurs were definitely a team then above our present level. Yes, we are ambitious and we have significantly strengthened our midfield and defence. But are we actually in a different position to this time last year when the consensus was that our aim was to ensure survival? What is different now? This time last year we had added a major international signing, but we had a Championship strength defence. Now we have a stronger defence. Twelve months ago we had a freescoring attack. Now our strikers are not finding the net so easily. I'm confident that they will find form, however until they do I am afraid that without a Damiao or even a Hooper to freshen our strikeforce survival must remain our main aim. Without a Damiao aren't we all getting above ourselves in reality? Perhaps Saturday's game will reassure me.

This is an attacking formation, however because we are in a worrying goal scoring rut I feel (against my usual instincts) that we should best aim for an away draw against a solid, formidable West Brom that heavied us out of games last season. We have big Vic now, but I would feel more confident with adding Cork or Steve Davis to make three in the middle. We should play to our current strengths, which is defending better. I am sorry, but I have no confidence in our strikers at present. If we go with this formation we will be throwing everything upfront and exposing our defence which currently is our strongest asset (surprisingly). This leaves Shaw and Clyne to be our attacking wings when opportunities arise. So Punch sadly has to be on the bench with Lallana imo. I would be more than happy with 0-0 for this first game of the season.

So even if he signs we are not going to begin the season with a top striker (given Rickie's strike record under Poch, and JayRod did not score that many).

The white chevron sleeves are quite horrible. Very embarrassing. I bet the players hate them. It's a bit of a colour clash and surely aap3 can't be happy that the gold logo can't easily be seen against the red from a distance (although it's not as ugly as last year's 'stick on' effort). It does seem that whoever decides on the shirts these days has no design sense. I'm surprised the Don approves of them because Italians have a good reputation for design. I'm not buying.

This exactly.

So what is the profit/loss projection if we are relegated? Little chance of that happening of course.....

Give it a go and wait for the January window if they don't make the grade. I think at least one of them will be tops.

So have a lot of players that we have signed in the past.

Winger? What about Tom Ince. His dad has actually told him he needs to leave if he is to advance his career. Fast, 24 goals in 77 matches for 'pool, and voted the League's young player of the year. And Corese has indicated that Saints have a responsibility to supply England with young internationals . I for one am not that happy that we seem to be relying on bringing in top foreign internationals. I feel that is squeezing out home talent.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23450297 Not agreed and I still think he would strengthen us upfront. Still time to sign him.

Striker. Goals every time, even if we continue leaking at the back (which we will anyway given our forward style of play).

Interesting. What's to stop clubs enrolling for a league outside their own country in the EEC? EEC rules must allow it surely. We should do well in Switzerlnd, or even Luxembourg. Even our under 21's would walk it to the CL.

Rickie Lambert gives more to the team than goals, as we all know. So losing him would be more than a disaster.

Anything to do with us all singing 'COYR's?

Too close to Arses for my liking. I do however prefer the aap3 on gold against the background which is much better than last years messy 'stuck on' white on black on red background logo. I didn't mind last years faint stripes and now wish they were on this year's shirt. At least that was a faint nod to tradition. But the big no-no-NO is the giant white hanky sleeves. How clumsy they are. This isn't a specially designed SFC shirt. It's a rehash of a ready made Adidas design, which is an insult. I'm afraid the club are going to rue choosing this apology for a design, because they are not going to sell as well as a Saints shirt should.

So the good news could be Banega, Lamela or Stoch or any combination of these. The bad news - no stripes.

Some on this forum have suggested that JWP should go out on loan, which would be worrying if that were to become a consensus view. He is young and talented and deserves to experience more Premiership games, which is always a risk but one worth taking. How the club nurtures the youth is going to be very interesting. We don't want the best of them to seek other clubs because they feel they are not getting games, neither do we want to play anything other than the best players that we need to bring into the club. This is going to be a particularly fascinating season.

Let us also not forget that it was Cork's return to the team that coincided with a change in form last season. All the players were jaded towards the end of the season. We shouldn't judge one player's form at that time too harshly. I think some are being a bit overcritical of Cork who played some outstanding games. His partnership with Schneiderlin is massive. However with competition for places and hopefully more strength in depth all the players will get opportunities to be rested and that should ensure they last the pace of a heavy season. I feel that Wanyama could make a difference especially if he is as strong as people say. He could create a tougher central misfield against some of the more physical teams that we have previously wilted against.