Saints fans have no reason to envy transfer dealings of the likes of Palace and Stoke

I agree we've gone for padding the squad and investing in potential rather than overhauling the starting eleven, although I'm not sure that was needed. We've certainly improved our 'options'.

 

I take your point though. Cédric is the only (possible) upgrade. Stekelenburg > Forster, too, if you subscribe to the views of some on here.

I've seen no signs to suggest that soares is an upgrade on Clyne thus far. We have looked a fair bit worse than last year which is a real shame.

I've seen no signs to suggest that soares is an upgrade on Clyne thus far. We have looked a fair bit worse than last year which is a real shame.

When players a lured away by bigger clubs than ours it's not reaistic to expect us to replace them with better players. If there was a better Clyne out there we could afford Liverpool would buy him. Same goes for Morgan.

Personally I think we'll be alright. Clasie has better forward passing than Morgan/Victor so him alongside Victor or Romeu should create more chances. J-Rod is back and a fit Tadic will prove to be a strong asset. Toby is hard to replace, but let's not forget he was very injury prone. Caulker or VVD should be able to do that job.

Sure we had a slow start but we were without Bertrand and Clasie and Romeu and Caulker had only just got here. Don't panic we'll finish in the top 10 which two years running would really start to mean we're growing into a top team.

I've seen no signs to suggest that soares is an upgrade on Clyne thus far. We have looked a fair bit worse than last year which is a real shame.

I'm slightly confused. According to SWF, Cédric was an upgrade on Clyne, and now he's worse. It's still too soon to judge, in all honesty. (Not calling you a hypocrite, btw)

I'm slightly confused. According to SWF, Cédric was an upgrade on Clyne, and now he's worse. It's still too soon to judge, in all honesty. (Not calling you a hypocrite, btw)

Did anyone say he was upgrade on Clyne.

Lots of people complaining that he isn't an upgrade on Clyne. But then he was never going to be and expecting him to be (especially right now) is rather dopey.

Did anyone say he was upgrade on Clyne.

 

Lots of people complaining that he isn't an upgrade on Clyne. But then he was never going to be and expecting him to be (especially right now) is rather dopey.

I'm not complaining but it's a bit silly as you say if anyone expected him to be. I would have liked one or two "ambitious" and "exciting" players though in the mould of Jay Rod, Wanyama, Toby etc. It does appear to me that we have gone for the players slightly below the bracket containing Mané, Wanyama etc this year. I wonder if that was a deliberate change of strategy?

Did anyone say he was upgrade on Clyne.

 

Lots of people complaining that he isn't an upgrade on Clyne. But then he was never going to be and expecting him to be (especially right now) is rather dopey.

Fairly sure there were a few on him, hyping him up. It was a small sample then, and still is a small sample. The next couple of months will tell us more.

I agree that it was pretty dopey.

When players a lured away by bigger clubs than ours it's not reaistic to expect us to replace them with better players. If there was a better Clyne out there we could afford Liverpool would buy him. Same goes for Morgan.

Personally I think we'll be alright. Clasie has better forward passing than Morgan/Victor so him alongside Victor or Romeu should create more chances. J-Rod is back and a fit Tadic will prove to be a strong asset. Toby is hard to replace, but let's not forget he was very injury prone. Caulker or VVD should be able to do that job.

Sure we had a slow start but we were without Bertrand and Clasie and Romeu and Caulker had only just got here. Don't panic we'll finish in the top 10 which two years running would really start to mean we're growing into a top team.

+1

Excellent post

I wonder if palace and stoke are envious of our signings this summer?

In Clyne for £12.5 million and Chambers for £16 million we have sold £28.5 million worth of right back and replaced them with Cedric Soares at £5 million and Cuco Martina at £1.5 million - that's the problem we've spent just £6.5 million on replacing them

If we truly were a progressive club we'd have spent at least half the money we made from selling them on replacing them

For arguments sake if we'd spent £6.5 million on Sam Byram last summer and £8 million on Carl Jenkinson this summer - roughly half the money we'd made and put the rest back into the academy would we be in a better position right now - I think we would

Cedric might turn out to be a good buy - the early signs are not good though - but on paper he was the right kind of signing - still young and with potential. We could get 2 or 3 good years out of him before repeating the process. The problem is we just needed to make two signings like that - and more than likely one of them would have come good. I do worry he's just too small to be a full back in the premier league - and it doesn't look like he can defend

The Cuco signing I don't get at all - it's like we just given up - mediocrity is OK - a journeyman squad filler

Cedric is not and will never be an improvement on Clyne.

Tadic, Pelle and Mane will never be an improvement on Lallana, Lambert and Rodriguez (ok, maybe Mané can be an improvement on post-injury Jay).

Having Long as our 3rd striker would've been clever, having him as our main alternative is wrong.

I fear Juanmi is a younger Ramirez. Brilliant feet but unable to take on the wind.

Caulker will never be an improvement on Lovren or Alderweireld.

Clasie is no Schneiderlin.

Romeu is frankly no improvement on Cork (contrary to forum mythology that really doesn't say much).

Stekelenburg is as good as Forster who is better than Boruc.

Bertrand is as good as Shaw, or as close to his performances as we need him to be.

Martina is waste of space, and Elia and Djuricic were a waste of time and resources considering what we needed in January.

If this is the "black box" then swing it from the Itchen bridge ASAP!

Cedric is not and will never be an improvement on Clyne.

Tadic, Pelle and Mane will never be an improvement on Lallana, Lambert and Rodriguez (ok, maybe Mané can be an improvement on post-injury Jay).

Having Long as our 3rd striker would've been clever, having him as our main alternative is wrong.

I fear Juanmi is a younger Ramirez. Brilliant feet but unable to take on the wind.

Caulker will never be an improvement on Lovren or Alderweireld.

Clasie is no Schneiderlin.

Romeu is frankly no improvement on Cork (contrary to forum mythology that really doesn't say much).

 

Stekelenburg is as good as Forster who is better than Boruc.

Bertrand is as good as Shaw, or as close to his performances as we need him to be.

 

Martina is waste of space, and Elia and Djuricic were a waste of time and resources considering what we needed in January.

 

If this is the "black box" then swing it from the Itchen bridge ASAP!

Agree with almost all of this, but rate Boruc better than you.

Cedric is not and will never be an improvement on Clyne.

Tadic, Pelle and Mane will never be an improvement on Lallana, Lambert and Rodriguez (ok, maybe Mané can be an improvement on post-injury Jay).

Having Long as our 3rd striker would've been clever, having him as our main alternative is wrong.

I fear Juanmi is a younger Ramirez. Brilliant feet but unable to take on the wind.

Caulker will never be an improvement on Lovren or Alderweireld.

Clasie is no Schneiderlin.

Romeu is frankly no improvement on Cork (contrary to forum mythology that really doesn't say much).

 

Stekelenburg is as good as Forster who is better than Boruc.

Bertrand is as good as Shaw, or as close to his performances as we need him to be.

 

Martina is waste of space, and Elia and Djuricic were a waste of time and resources considering what we needed in January.

 

If this is the "black box" then swing it from the Itchen bridge ASAP!

That made for depressing reading. Sadly I concur too.

Cedric is not and will never be an improvement on Clyne.

Tadic, Pelle and Mane will never be an improvement on Lallana, Lambert and Rodriguez (ok, maybe Mané can be an improvement on post-injury Jay).

Having Long as our 3rd striker would've been clever, having him as our main alternative is wrong.

I fear Juanmi is a younger Ramirez. Brilliant feet but unable to take on the wind.

Caulker will never be an improvement on Lovren or Alderweireld.

Clasie is no Schneiderlin.

Romeu is frankly no improvement on Cork (contrary to forum mythology that really doesn't say much).

 

Stekelenburg is as good as Forster who is better than Boruc.

Bertrand is as good as Shaw, or as close to his performances as we need him to be.

 

Martina is waste of space, and Elia and Djuricic were a waste of time and resources considering what we needed in January.

 

If this is the "black box" then swing it from the Itchen bridge ASAP!

Depressing thought crossed my mind, you could argue that we had a stronger spine of the team in League 1/championship than we do now.

Obviously Fonte remains,

But Shaw > Target (I know Bertrand is > Fox)

Morgan > Clasie

AOC > Tadic

Lambert > Pelle

Lallana > mane/long

Cork > Romeu

Cedric is not and will never be an improvement on Clyne.

Tadic, Pelle and Mane will never be an improvement on Lallana, Lambert and Rodriguez (ok, maybe Mané can be an improvement on post-injury Jay).

Having Long as our 3rd striker would've been clever, having him as our main alternative is wrong.

I fear Juanmi is a younger Ramirez. Brilliant feet but unable to take on the wind.

Caulker will never be an improvement on Lovren or Alderweireld.

Clasie is no Schneiderlin.

Romeu is frankly no improvement on Cork (contrary to forum mythology that really doesn't say much).

 

Stekelenburg is as good as Forster who is better than Boruc.

Bertrand is as good as Shaw, or as close to his performances as we need him to be.

 

Martina is waste of space, and Elia and Djuricic were a waste of time and resources considering what we needed in January.

 

If this is the "black box" then swing it from the Itchen bridge ASAP!

Depressing.

Cedric is not and will never be an improvement on Clyne.

Tadic, Pelle and Mane will never be an improvement on Lallana, Lambert and Rodriguez (ok, maybe Mané can be an improvement on post-injury Jay).

Having Long as our 3rd striker would've been clever, having him as our main alternative is wrong.

I fear Juanmi is a younger Ramirez. Brilliant feet but unable to take on the wind.

Caulker will never be an improvement on Lovren or Alderweireld.

Clasie is no Schneiderlin.

Romeu is frankly no improvement on Cork (contrary to forum mythology that really doesn't say much).

 

Stekelenburg is as good as Forster who is better than Boruc.

Bertrand is as good as Shaw, or as close to his performances as we need him to be.

 

Martina is waste of space, and Elia and Djuricic were a waste of time and resources considering what we needed in January.

 

If this is the "black box" then swing it from the Itchen bridge ASAP!

hard to argue with any of this....sadly.....

hard to argue with any of this....sadly.....

Do we need to go down and then rebuild again ? Sell off our players then go down and then rebuild again ? Sell off our players then go down and the rebuild ?

yoyoyo....yoyoyoyo....yoyoyoyo....yoyoyo...yoyoyo...yoyoyo..

Think it might be better to compare certain players after a couple of months, i remember dennis bergkamp being slated by arsenal fans until his hat-trick against us in Nov.

New players to our league generally need time to adapt, look back a few weeks ago and you were all raving about cedric now he's ****** ??

Clasie has been injured and will take a while to adapt as well.

Juanmi is adapting via the under 21 route but needs time.

The overwhelming problem currently is our lack of ability to create chances from our midfield meaning an over reliance on our full backs one who is new and the other a young bloke so maybe lets chill a bit and try and look that those above will get better.

I liked Caulker's work in the watford game I thought he played really well at both ends of the pitch (he looked most like scoring) but didn't get into the game expect to launch forward balls last night.

You can be the best player in the world but if your not getting picked or being played out of position with inferior tactics then thats down to the manager not the player.

How can you judge players that have only just joined and are not up to speed? Pathetic comment about Clasie. I remember all the bad comments about Bertrand before he had even kicked a ball for us.

I agree we've gone for padding the squad and investing in potential rather than overhauling the starting eleven, although I'm not sure that was needed. We've certainly improved our 'options'.

 

I take your point though. Cédric is the only (possible) upgrade. Stekelenburg > Forster, too, if you subscribe to the views of some on here.

Your blog came across as a complete sniffing your own farts and loving it job. Not even a caveat of caution regarding our approach to signings this summer which is reflected by the new age happy clappers on here.

How can you judge players that have only just joined and are not up to speed? Pathetic comment about Clasie. I remember all the bad comments about Bertrand before he had even kicked a ball for us.

The thing with Bertrand was, that those comments were warranted at the time after looking dismal for villa.

The thing with Bertrand was, that those comments were warranted at the time after looking dismal for villa.

Right - and then he proved people wrong.

It's daft enough branding new signings not good enough after 2/3 games, but it's something else when it's players who we've watched play well every or most weeks for years.

Do we need to go down and then rebuild again ? Sell off our players then go down and then rebuild again ? Sell off our players then go down and the rebuild ?

 

yoyoyo....yoyoyoyo....yoyoyoyo....yoyoyo...yoyoyo...yoyoyo..

So exactly which part if the original post do you disagree with??

"Saints have nothing to fear about Palace" .....

"Saints have nothing to fear about Palace" .....

Well, we haven't.

4 games people, 4 games.

Palace won't finish where they are, Chelsea won't finish where they are and we won't finish we we are. That's all that's worth talking about right now.

I wasn't aware we were envious to begin with.

4 games people, 4 games.

 

Palace won't finish where they are, Chelsea won't finish where they are and we won't finish we we are. That's all that's worth talking about right now.

Palace will finish comfortably above us this season. Hopefully they will then get ransacked by the top 6. With our complacent board not properly investing in our first 11 and buying dross like Martina if we don't bring in a decent attacking midfielder aswell as a defender I can see us in the relegation zone until January when we will probably make panic buys to try and save our premiership status.

Can anyone find the current percentage chance of us and Palace making the champions league? I remember this time last year for about 5 months they were all the rage. Week after week we were shown them and told how relevant and interesting they were. Surely they must be equally as relevant and interesting now.

Palace will finish comfortably above us this season. Hopefully they will then get ransacked by the top 6. With our complacent board not properly investing in our first 11 and buying dross like Martina if we don't bring in a decent attacking midfielder aswell as a defender I can see us in the relegation zone until January when we will probably make panic buys to try and save our premiership status.

Sorry mate, that's a load of trash. Everyone just needs to calm the hell down, cause there's way too much OTT crap being spouted on here at the moment.

I'm not sure why everyone seems to think that spending lots and lots of money equals success. Why is everyone desperate to see lots of new players? Our forays into the 'exciting' signing market, which fans seem to want us to dip into again, have been complete devastating failures for us on huge levels. We won't go there again.

Sorry mate, that's a load of trash. Everyone just needs to calm the hell down, cause there's way too much OTT crap being spouted on here at the moment.

 

I'm not sure why everyone seems to think that spending lots and lots of money equals success. Why is everyone desperate to see lots of new players? Our forays into the 'exciting' signing market, which fans seem to want us to dip into again, have been complete devastating failures for us on huge levels. We won't go there again.

Sorry mate but that's a complete load of trash. Why does talk of decent or exciting signings automatically equal Ramirez or Osvaldo and not Tadic, Mane, Davis, Lovren, Clyne....?

Sorry mate, that's a load of trash. Everyone just needs to calm the hell down, cause there's way too much OTT crap being spouted on here at the moment.

 

I'm not sure why everyone seems to think that spending lots and lots of money equals success. Why is everyone desperate to see lots of new players? Our forays into the 'exciting' signing market, which fans seem to want us to dip into again, have been complete devastating failures for us on huge levels. We won't go there again.

I don't want marquee signings as Osvaldo and Ramirez have proved to be expensive flops. But surely we should be looking at someone like Dennis Praet or a winger like Matt Phillips as Davis and JWP will be lucky to score a couple of goals between them and we need more from our AMC player imo

We are toothless infront of goal and everyone knows Mane will clear off next summer so why not get Charlie Austin in now and have some decent options upfront.

Do you seriously think our team will finish above teams like Swansea, Palace, Stoke and Everton this season as i will be amazed if we do?

I honestly think we are heading for a relegation battle but will have a better idea after tomorrow as i expect Norwich to turn us over and for us to be sat bottom of the table winless with all the happy clappers saying everything is fine as we continue playing hoofball. Hopefully Saints will shove my prediction right back down my throat and everything will start looking better tomorrow but i certainly wouldn't put any money on it

I wasn't aware we were envious to begin with.

Neither was I.

I don't want marquee signings as Osvaldo and Ramirez have proved to be expensive flops. But surely we should be looking at someone like Dennis Praet or a winger like Matt Phillips as Davis and JWP will be lucky to score a couple of goals between them and we need more from our AMC player imo

 

We are toothless infront of goal and everyone knows Mane will clear off next summer so why not get Charlie Austin in now and have some decent options upfront.

 

Do you seriously think our team will finish above teams like Swansea, Palace, Stoke and Everton this season as i will be amazed if we do?

 

I honestly think we are heading for a relegation battle but will have a better idea after tomorrow as i expect Norwich to turn us over and for us to be sat bottom of the table winless with all the happy clappers saying everything is fine as we continue playing hoofball. Hopefully Saints will shove my prediction right back down my throat and everything will start looking better tomorrow but i certainly wouldn't put any money on it

Put some money on Norwich then.

Wonder how we would of done with just 8 outfield players for near on 70 mins....

Love Clarkes posts. "Why do people insist on new signings?"

Dumbest thing I have read for a long time. Because maybe our team is not as good as you think? Or should I say hope?

Sorry mate but that's a complete load of trash. Why does talk of decent or exciting signings automatically equal Ramirez or Osvaldo and not Tadic, Mane, Davis, Lovren, Clyne....?

So, you don't class Clasie or Cedric as decent or exciting signings? They're in exactly the same category as a Tadic/Mane/Clyne when we signed those guys.

And so will our CB when he comes.

Wonder how we would of done with just 8 outfield players for near on 70 mins....

 

Love Clarkes posts. "Why do people insist on new signings?"

 

Dumbest thing I have read for a long time. Because maybe our team is not as good as you think? Or should I say hope?

Umm, maybe because I have a hell of a lot more faith in players than some of you wet fannies have? Seriously, some of you on here need to grow a flaming pair.

The shortsightedness of footballs never ceases to amaze me. Things aren't going well so sack the manager, buy lots of new players. Quick fix.com

How about just keeping calm and believe in your qualities? which aren't massively different from what they were last year. The team needs time to grow, talk of Relegation is quite frankly pathetic.

Sorry mate but that's a complete load of trash. Why does talk of decent or exciting signings automatically equal Ramirez or Osvaldo and not Tadic, Mane, Davis, Lovren, Clyne....?

Out of interest, why does it not equal Clasie, Cedric or Van Dijk?

Umm, maybe because I have a hell of a lot more faith in players than some of you wet fannies have? Seriously, some of you on here need to grow a flaming pair.

 

The shortsightedness of footballs never ceases to amaze me. Things aren't going well so sack the manager, buy lots of new players. Quick fix.com

 

How about just keeping calm and believe in your qualities? which aren't massively different from what they were last year. The team needs time to grow, talk of Relegation is quite frankly pathetic.

Discounting the Villa game as an outlier, in our last 17 games last season we scored 15 goals, and this season have scored 2 in 3 - however premature you might think it, over a whole season those would be relegation numbers.

My anxiety over our attack this season is not because I think there's been a significant change since last season, but because it feels like the continuation of a very obvious downward trend. From what I've seen Clasie looks an excellent passer, and I really hope he can come into the side as a genuinely creative force, but our Dutch visitors have been pretty adamant in saying he can't play further forward, which is a worry when we're desperately in need of someone to dictate our attacking play.

Out of interest, why does it not equal Clasie, Cedric or Van Dijk?

We haven't signed Van Dijk yet...

I know.

Umm, maybe because I have a hell of a lot more faith in players than some of you wet fannies have? Seriously, some of you on here need to grow a flaming pair.

 

The shortsightedness of footballs never ceases to amaze me. Things aren't going well so sack the manager, buy lots of new players. Quick fix.com

 

How about just keeping calm and believe in your qualities? which aren't massively different from what they were last year. The team needs time to grow, talk of Relegation is quite frankly pathetic.

So if you think some of the players are actually not very good then it makes you a wet fannie? Talk about child mentality.

If you can't see the team needs some serious quality added to the team after the start of the season than you must be the most deluded person on here. Even pundits, jornos, players, commentators, ex managers have pointed it out too. But what do they know hey. They are just a bunch of wet fannies. Not a super duper fan like you hey...

Out of interest, why does it not equal Clasie, Cedric or Van Dijk?

I'm not saying it doesn't but we haven't always had to get quality players in against a background of losing known quality. We lost two of the best players in their positions in the country this summer and the evidence suggests that Cedric isn't fully trusted thus far and Clasie will likely need time to adapt to the league. Have we made a single singing which looks to improve the first team significantly this summer or even helped us stand still?

Cedric is not and will never be an improvement on Clyne.

Tadic, Pelle and Mane will never be an improvement on Lallana, Lambert and Rodriguez (ok, maybe Mané can be an improvement on post-injury Jay).

Having Long as our 3rd striker would've been clever, having him as our main alternative is wrong.

I fear Juanmi is a younger Ramirez. Brilliant feet but unable to take on the wind.

Caulker will never be an improvement on Lovren or Alderweireld.

Clasie is no Schneiderlin.

Romeu is frankly no improvement on Cork (contrary to forum mythology that really doesn't say much).

 

Stekelenburg is as good as Forster who is better than Boruc.

Bertrand is as good as Shaw, or as close to his performances as we need him to be.

 

Martina is waste of space, and Elia and Djuricic were a waste of time and resources considering what we needed in January.

 

If this is the "black box" then swing it from the Itchen bridge ASAP!

Tosh.

You cannot make these judgements on a handful of games from these new players, we haven't even seen Clasie yet, but apparently he is written off.

This forum is full of absolute idiots.

BTW Lovren was top class today, top class yeh I'd really still want him in the team. Caulker is way worse.

Lallana has been missing for Liverpool for about 6 months now, so yeh I;d rather have Tadic thanks. Lambert is gone completely and Mane is quality.

I'm not saying it doesn't but we haven't always had to get quality players in against a background of losing known quality. We lost two of the best players in their positions in the country this summer and the evidence suggests that Cedric isn't fully trusted thus far and Clasie will likely need time to adapt to the league. Have we made a single singing which looks to improve the first team significantly this summer or even helped us stand still?

This time last year, toby was a makeweight last minute desperation replacement for lovren. Tadic was a poor mans lallana. Pelle was a duplicate of lambert, but not as good.

We've barely seen this years crop yet, and the transfer window hasn't closed. As far as I know, we are still likely to sign vvd, let's see what happens when we have a full squad available to play.

I'm not saying it doesn't but we haven't always had to get quality players in against a background of losing known quality. We lost two of the best players in their positions in the country this summer and the evidence suggests that Cedric isn't fully trusted thus far and Clasie will likely need time to adapt to the league. Have we made a single singing which looks to improve the first team significantly this summer or even helped us stand still?

Only honest answer is no, we haven't. Nobody can dispute that.

I wonder what the reaction of this board would have been if we'd signed Sako from Wolves, and Palace had signed 21 year old Spanish International striker Juanmi.

Just wonder.

I wonder what the reaction of this board would have been if we'd signed Sako from Wolves, and Palace had signed 21 year old Spanish International striker Juanmi.

 

Just wonder.

I actually hope Martina comes good - if only to have a good laugh at the experts on here who wrote him off before he'd even put pen to paper.

Tosh.

 

You cannot make these judgements on a handful of games from these new players, we haven't even seen Clasie yet, but apparently he is written off.

 

This forum is full of absolute idiots.

 

BTW Lovren was top class today, top class yeh I'd really still want him in the team. Caulker is way worse.

 

Lallana has been missing for Liverpool for about 6 months now, so yeh I;d rather have Tadic thanks. Lambert is gone completely and Mane is quality.

Apart from the Clasie comment, there's actually little to disagree with what he said. Yes, we need to give a greater chance for them all to bed in. Your Tadic over Lallana says it all, you're absolutely f*cking crazy if you truly believe that. Tadic can't even get a game for us these days; Lallana is an absolute ***t but a really good player.

Take your rose tinted shades off, lad. You've made a tit of yourself arguing against that list.

I actually hope Martina comes good - if only to have a good laugh at the experts on here who wrote him off before he'd even put pen to paper.

To be honest, he's a convenient stick to beat the club with because he was ''cheap''. But he's not actually done anything wrong in the limited time on the pitch to attract any criticism, he looks steady. But why people feel the need to have sticks to beat the club with is beyond me.

To be honest, he's a convenient stick to beat the club with because he was ''cheap''. But he's not actually done anything wrong in the limited time on the pitch to attract any criticism, he looks steady. But why people feel the need to have sticks to beat the club with is beyond me.

I think people have more faith in our famed academy that we have players on par with martina. Which looking at it, has to be true.

Rather than putting a few million £££ on him.