Dusic

Is Bednarek good?

Would not suprise me if we sold Cedric. His contract is running down, best time to get value. He has given 3 years and the last one probably hasn't resembled what was sold to him.

Judging by Leitch in the Echo, I think we are done. Considering we got the VVD money in Jan and have also sold Tadic, its clear they won't spend any more than what is generated by sales. Across Jan and this summer I still make us up net spend wise, so with the TV cash untouched for transfers the club must be in an extremely healthy financial position versus other clubs.

@Ian_Wilding1: Terrific home debut by Stuart Armstrong for @SouthamptonFC tonight - Saints could have a real player on their hands Also spoke to Mark Hughes who said Lemina has tonsillitis & Redmond fell awkwardly against Dijon. He hopes they’ll both be available on Saturday #saintsfc

Brighton has 31k now I think and also has the advantages of being a far better tourist city, with closer and better transport links to London. Only chance Southampton has ahead of Brighton is avoiding a total south east bias.

I like the players that we have actually signed - all have the potential to be good signings in key positions. The main question I would have is, given the current situation of needing to sell to buy another player (a much needed attacker), why were we so keen to spend £12-15m on a backup GK in Gunn? Whilst he is clearly a high potential player we have signed McCarthy to a long deal and also have another extremely high paid player who is now an even bigger problem as you simply cannot have a third choice GK on that kind of cash. Clearly when we signed Gunn there wasnt a done deal for Forster to leave. I imagine they really wanted Gunn and knew if we didnt move now he would go elsewhere. But given the current situation, that cash could have been put towards a forward, and maybe Gunn could have been signed later in the window depending on who we could shift? Also....we had an offer in excess of £20m accepted for Maddison. I wonder if we had signed him how that woukd have impacted our other signings, as we ended up signing Armstrong in that position for significantly less? Shows how fluid the window is I guess.

West Ham going big this summer, no doubt about that - have backed Pellegrini big time which will add even more pressure to a baslet case club. Hard to compete with that level of spending - they will have signed four players for over 20m if that happens, plus Fabianski, Wilshere and Fredericks - all good buys on paper. Our business decent-ish but some mid table teams have had brilliant windows its fair to say.

I agree with 6/10. Decent start, get the logic behind each signing amd whilst all unproven, they each have potential. But we still lacking pace and quality in the final third and have no backup or competition for Cedric. Get a good attacker it becomes 8/10, competent RB and get shot of Forster and its 9/10 I do think the league as a whole will be stronger next season. Wolves and Fulham have come up and made excellent signings, so it will be very tight in the bottom half - hopefully we have enough to be in the upper part of that section, but I'm not sure we do.

Leandre Griffit averaged 2.37 goals per 90mins for Saints in the PL. If only we could get him back.

Great pod. Interesting that Adam, who is usually less reactionary than fans are, feels we haven't really added enough quality to improve the first XI (yet) as much as is needed. Also that he pretty much expected Les Reed to go over the summer. Great listen as always.

Sounds like Fulham in for Targett again - £12m offer apparently which must be getting close to acceptable? For me he is miles better than McQueen but nowhere near Bertrand. Kind of makes sense to let him go, assuming Bertrand stays and signs a new contract. If Bertrand leaves next summer and we have sold Targett this summer then its less sensible.

14 PL goals in two and a half years. Thats not particularly impressive IMO. Average of about 6 a season and he hasnt scored a lot of goals in a season for about 4 years now.

IMO Burnley comparisons are irrelevant, because we would be unable to setup like they do. We don't have the same squad profile, Manager, ground, location, fanbase that would approve of that style of football etc. Our lineup is quite lacking in quality. What Burnley's lineup is or was does not change that at all.

I would say there aren't too many decisions to be made except from: 1. Will Cedric and Yoshida be up to speed in time as realistically will only have one friendly before the first game? We have no reasonable options instead of Cedric so hopefully he plays, but perhaps Yoshida will be given time to get up to speed again? 2. Which two start from Redmond, Armstrong and Moi? On this I think Moi will start on the bench, he has only had 2 x 45mins in pre season so far, so seems like they are easing him in. ---------------------McCarthy------------------ -----Bednarek--Vestergaard--Hoedt---- Cedric------Romeu-----Lemina------Bertrand ----------Redmond-------------Armstrong----- --------------------------Austin----------------------- Overall it looks a bottom 8 lineup to me, especially at CB and in the attacking three positions, which won't scare many teams. Hell of a lot resting on Austin's fitness and Armstrong and Moi being able to score regularly in a far better league than they are used to.

Hopefully will hear some more serious attacking links soon. We are still very much short in this area of the pitch with basically two selectable strikers and two genuine attacking wide players. Not enough quality to scare PL sides.

Not doubting that, obviously Saints haven't been what he signed up for i.e a team challenging for Europe but i.) He has been very inconsistent and ii.) He wasn't a sub today so why would he sit with them?

There is literally no reason we would sell Lemina, unless offered something like £50m. We have already made close to £100m from sales in the last 12 months (Jay, VVD, Tadic) or so, not like we need the cash.

Are we at 25 now with the current squad? Obviously you can leave people out but thats far from ideal, and no way you would want to name four GKs.

Likes of Bournemouth and Brighton will end up spending a lot considering they haven't/won't sell anyone of value.

Probably not the best sign that we are weak in both areas, but which do people see as our biggest problem area? Defence - where we have a number of bang average centre backs and seemingly have to play with 3 to cover for their ineptitude? Attack - where we have one striker who scores but is always injured, another who was good for two months a year and a half ago and a third whose best attribute is running, mixed with a series of goal shy midfielders? Tough one for me, but feel our attack is what holds us back most and puts more pressure on an already fragile defence. What do you think?

His style of play is exciting because he looks to run at the opposition. Whether he is truely effective is another thing. I feel he could develop into a player that gets regular PL game time, but that he isn't ready to start 15 PL games just now - his ball retention, final ball, composure etc isnt of the level needed now to have more than just fleeting moments. For his development it would be better to play 35 games at a lower level, than 8 games at ours.

Personally feel Sims is quite rough around the edges and probably a good loan move woild be great for him. He isn't ready to be a regular starter at PL level and playing a bit part role with some drossy U23 games thrown in won't help him. See how he does in the Championship until January.

Whereas Cedric, after a poor season, now has even less competition than last year.

Aside from Palace all the teams above us in that table have better squads. Would take 12th if offered right now. A few years ago we had better players than the likes of West Ham, Leicester, Brighton, Bournemouth etc but we have regressed and others invested. After the top 6 is Everton, Leicester and possibly WHam and maybe Wolves then everyone else is much the same. We are in that section IMO.

So...with just over two weeks remaining of the window, who is going to take Forster off our hands on a hugely subsidised season long loan to spare us the shame of our 3rd choice GK probably being the top earner at the club? United and now Chelsea have signed clear 3rd choices in Grant and Green, whilst the other top PL sides already have a solid 3rs choice. Surely Championship teams couldn't afford even half his wages, so possibly a move abroad like Joe Hart? Has to be a fair chance we will be stuck with him at least til January when maybe injuries mean someone is on the lookout?