Dusic

No wonder misinformation is such an issue in society - some people are so easily taken in by clear and utter dross. Mods should start issuing bans for people posting this shit (or posters stop posting out of embarassment for having no common sense).

Apologies for the long post and appreciate I may be in the minority here but I am of the view that Broja would be a good signing, and here is why: - He has shown that when fit and in good form he can really trouble the best defenders in the league. During the purple patch he had for us he really looked like a top striker. Remember he had great games versus West Ham and Man Utd, bith away, where their defenders couldnt live with him. Clearly a small sample but he showed a level that others strikers (Adams, Arma etc) just aren't capable of. - Around that time he looked like a £30m+ player and Chelsea then wanted him back and weren't keen on a sale (at least Saints and WH were very keen). He then got a bad injury but one that these days the vast majority of players recover very strongly from. - So the issue is, has his injury significantly changes the potential he showed? Obviously scouts and prosective buyers would have more data/medicals etc to truely determine that, but he hasnt really played enough for Chelsea (basketcase club with no patience) and Fulham to say that it has. He barely played for Fulham largely because Muniz suddenly went on a great run and made himself undropable (whilst probably tripling his value to Fulham). - Then there is the question of what other options we have at that price bracket. The answer is not many and pretty much anyone will be flawed in some way, either just not being PL quality, being injury prone or totally unproven. At least with Broja we know that at his best he has a high level where he could create and score out of not a lot - we don't have anyone like that. Anything in that position will be a punt and I think Broja still has the potential to be good now and develop further into a really good PL player. He is only 22 so even if he disnt do well but largely retain his value at £20m. He needs to find a home where he is wanted and trusted and can settle and find that level again. Would certainly rather spend £20m on him than another Onuachu type from a poor league. Of course a loan with option or obligation depending on apps would be ideal and realistic IMO.

A week to go before the first PL game, so a good time to review what we have done. 1. Have we improved our starting XI vs the team that finished 4th in the Championship: Lallana - no Taylor - slightly although not suited to wing back role Wood - no Edwards - no THB - no Downes - no Sugawara - no (will do well to equal KWP) BBD - probably Overall verdict: Minimal improvement vs last season and largely based on hoping BBD maintains form he showed across a very small sample size 2. Has squad depth improved? GK - no CB - yes Full back - minimally Midfield - no Wide - no (worse) Forward - no Overall - aside from CB, not really Summary - a hell of a lot to do otherwise nowhere near good enough to compete at this level

I know there is an element of frustrstion about the lack of clear improved quality in the starting XI, but one area where we have bossed this window is the wholesale and partner market. We have got Etonridge over the line, a brand we had been tracking for a long time and who chose us despite lots of competition which bodes well. https://wholesalemanager.co.uk/etonridge-confirmed-as-official-water-supplier-of-southampton-fc/ We have also signed a deal with Home Leisure Direct who were sought after a few years back and could be a shrewd deal although only a one year deal so hopefully we have an extend option incase they really cook: https://www.southamptonfc.com/en/news/article/home-leisure-direct-becomes-regional-partner The one that probably gets the most tongues wagging is the deal agreed with 2cl to officially sign as Venue Security Technology Supplier - from a quick browse on some other club forums there is a lot of jealousy about that deal, mostly because their digital radios are top notch - and a few clubs seem lacking in that area. https://www.southamptonfc.com/en/news/article/2cl-become-official-venue-security-technology-supplier Hopefully a few more to come in before the end of the window and look forward to hearing more about these at the Phil Parsons fireside chat with Adam Blackmore next week.

Sounds like we have missed out on Ollie Rathbone - having a medical at Wrexham.

I think come the last week of Aug anything above £10m surely? Sure he will be keen to link up with his best pal Solanke at Spurs if they get shot of Emerson Royal.

Surely something will happen with KWP soon as obviously a lot of interest in the background and imagine at this point, having already replaced him, the club will just want to move him on. Not overly far fetched that Brighton waiting to get O'Riley before giving us some cash for KWP that might possibly allow us to compete for him (though I think he is who RM refered to about moving on) - any suitor knows we are desperate and don't want to lose him for free next summer so we aren't in a strong position with him at all, and he is our most sellable asset. Will be interesting to hear the chat in Phil's EMEA Townhall on Monday...RM usually fairly open so imagine we will know a fair bit more after that.

I don't think he knows to that level of detail, I mean its kind of obvious that we want ins and outs every week now until the window shuts. From RM comments about moving on from targets and how much Downes/THB cost etc I thinknwe can rule out O'Riley - he will simply cost too much which is ironic given the club briefed to Alfie House earlier in the summer that agreeing a fee with Celtic would be the easy bit! GK a big concern but surely a loan better than spending another £10m on potentially a short term option? Attack should be the focus of the cash we have left - we just dont nearly have the quality or depth to have a chance as it stands. Taking Lallana out, its scary how few PL goals we have in our squad.

You would assume wrong with £60m! Poor recruitment and contract management means we will probably be lucky to get £12-15m for KWP and pretty little else - certainly nowhere near £60m.

Have we still got the pitch disease from 2023? Considering a whole summer off it looked awful tonight. Used to be one of the best in the PL a few years ago but like most stuff at Saints is a shadow of its former self!

Imagine loan with option offers.

Fraser may well not be pursued (although I think he will) but regardless don't see why Dibling would be a factor in that as he plays different positions to Fraser, either as a no 8, false 9 or coming from wide right whereas Fraser has almost exclusively played as a left winger for us.

What do people think about Ryan Fraser? Seemingly Newcastle willing to let him go for free but Fraser wants his contract paying up which they havent agreed to. Feels like he would be a good squad player and handy he can do a job as a wing back if needed but on the other hand he wouldnt really improve the starting XI to the extent needed. Sure he will end up here on a free after we have played Newcastle.

I like Adam Blackmore and he does have a good relationship with the club so gets fed info but in this segment there was quite a bit of joining some dots that were quite far apart. On O'Riley specifically...his suggestion that Celtic should just hurry up and sell him to Saints is pretty bizarre. Its their perogative to do what they like with a player who they have signed to a long contract. With for absolute definite as a minimum Saints, Atalanta and Brighton in for him then the onus is surely on those clubs to push Celtic by making an acceptable offer rather than on Celtic to cave in with virtually a month left of the window? In the end someone will make that offer and I am pretty doubtful that it will be us which is a shame as the RM relationship gives us a potentially significant edge. All our deals so far have been easy ones aside from possibly Downes (and even then WHU were clearly open to sell to fund their spree). Everyone else it was either unwanted players, frees or players with a year left on contracts.

Buonanotte is a decent prospect but using a PL loan spot on a Brighton squad player without any kind of option to buy really shows where we are in the PL food chain. Come on you phytoplankton!

Brighton have already spent £30m or so on two players this summer and probably still have a good chunk of the Caicedo/Cucurella cash left over. As ever, the player will ultimately move where he wants to go and I'm sure if that isnt to Saints then RM will know as imagine MOR would treat him respectfully - and if thats the case we can go after others. Shame if that does happen as he seemed ideal but we probably aren't that attractive considering we are likely to get relegated again.

Bringing this topic back to the actual discussion point I think your point is very valid and the ability to put aside poor results is going to be very important. However I think the first game is slightly different in that following it we play a couple of those bottom half teams, ones that people feel if we are to stay up we will likely need to finish ahead of at least one of them. If we put in a terrible performance and get totally dismantled I think it makes it far less likely that we do well against those two, and certainly for the Forest game it would impact the atmosphere before we even start as the whole narrative will be that we will really struggle at this level. Our starting 7 or 8 fixtures are the best run (on paper) that we have all season so we really need to be ready to pickup points from the start and a heavy defeat wouldnt be a good marker for that.

Not exactly a hot take but even from watching 30mins of the Celtic game its clear how MOR would fit into our system, he is almost perfect for it. Obviously good technically but liked his movement off the ball too. After 10 mins Kilmarnock had only completed 6 passes...ridiculous league and he is clearly ready for a proper test. No suprise lots of teams want him.

Clubs know we will get desperate re KWP. Someone will get a bargain, I still think Brighton as they were linked earlier in the summer and barely have a senior RB in their squad besides injury prone Lamptey. In the end we will peobs take £10m to avoid him going for free. ABK we will probs just get loan offers as teams will be wary of his fitness record. Alcaraz, Sulemana etc the same because if they didnt shine in the Championship nobody is going to be chucking cash to us for them, will be loan with option again. We are poor at selling because we have been poor at buying (until maybe the last year). Not ideal for a club that is essentially reliant upon sales to fund incomings - especially in the days of PSR. We have so few really saleable assets and then always end up letting them get to 1 year left on contracts.

No point waiting for PL exposure - will be too late by then.

One of the best players in pre season and likely to be on the pitch in the first few games given how thin our squad is attack wise. Need to sign him up to a longer contract to protect what looks to be a top asset. Same with SAA too. These are the types that will solve future FFP issues.

Very hard in that shape to sustain possession in attacking areas as we largely saw in the playoffs when we did play that shape. Especially as we don't have a LB/LWB with the ability to be a threat in the final third (hoping Sugawara would be on the right). I imagine its the way we will go as our wingers are poor so easy decision to leave them out but we could defend well and the likes of Isak, Gordon etc still get three. In the PL you have to have an attacking threat and a way of getting your forwards involved. Positive is at least we have two shapes which offer different strengths.

I think a balanced view, and probably the accurate one is to say that we have signed some promising young talents to provide cover in central defence, have added a competent but unspectaular LB in Taylor. In all honesty we probably had no PL competition for those signings. We then replaced outgoings/expected outgoings (Adams and KWP) with players who look likely to be of a similar, decent level, albeit are unproven and in the case of Sugawara will clearly need time to adjust. Certainly cannot say we have hugely improved a team that finished 4th in the Championship. In goal, playing a style that is high risk and requires technical ability we have a keeper who is notoriously poor with his feet and who was 3rd choice for most of last season in the Championship, who has been awful in pre season and will start as #1. In attack as it stands we are undeniably massively short of giving ourselves a fighting chance. We are relying on Arma having a hugely greater impact than he managed before (4 PL goals in 2 whole seasons) and BBD who is still an unknown at this level in all honesty. To think people turn their nose up at the idea of someone like Danny Ings! The likes of Edozie, Mara, Sulemana did not really make an impact at Championship level yet will be the first attacking options off the bench as it stands, with Edozie quite possibly starting. Its not to say we need to go into mass panic because there is still a month left in the window but we absolutely have to sign at least two attacking players who are good enough to start 30+ games in the PL and ideally have some form of track record of scoring/assisting at a good level, plus a good GK who fits the style. If we think we can survive with just adding a couple more £8 - 12m players with potential it is clear we will get relegated, without question because the PL is ruthless and looks stronger this season than for the last few.

Interest in Molde midfielder Petter Rudi according to Dagbladet. Sheff Weds also keen.

Grit - tick Steel - tick Bite - tick Cliché bingo - complete