BARCELONASAINT

well no surprise that no matter what Russ puts out is immediately shouted down by most on here and everyone is bitching before the ball is even kicked. I don't expect a win, unfortunately every team in this division is better than us but for gods sake we are not out of September yet, get behind the manager and the team!

Don't know if it has been mentioned anywhere else I can't be bothered to scroll. I have it on pretty good authority Dibling has been offered a new contract but his agent is using Man United's very strong interest in him as a levering tool. Hopefully Dibling's experience at Chelsea will work in our favour and he will sign a bumper contract here.

I'm sorry everyone is entitled to their own opinion but calling for the managers head after only 4 games is madness. It is a learning curve for RM and a huge part of the current squad. They need to be given at least 10 games to see if they can adapt to the Premier league. I also don't agree with this opinion that with each week passing we become less appealing to a manager who's capable at this level. I'm sorry but money talks! If we were already looking like a lost cause then there is little reputational damage for any manager taking us over, BUT should any new manager come in and save a side looking odds on favourites for the drop then their stock rises massively! Add to that a nice 3/4 year contract on very decent money and its a win/win for any new manager!

I try not to post straight after a game because of emotions running high and a somewhat clouded view, so i wait until my anger and frustrations have subsided and then look at things again. I get everyones frustrations, it's been mostly horrible watching us this season with the suicidal football we have been playing but yesterday for 30 minutes we were really good and that gives me hope this side can gel and get that first win that will give them so much belief. I really do think it is a massive over reaction to be calling for the managers head already. Give him 10 games to get this squad gelled and time to work on the mistakes being made. We have signed an awful lot of players that need time to settle and gel. We now know that Tall paul and Bella Kotcha are going nowhere and imho both need to be intergrated into the squad. Bella Kotcha for me needs to come in alongside Bednarek. Dibbling has to start games and we need to be giving him the ball as much as possible, a bit like Alan Ball used to shout to his team "give it to Matty" I still think this team are playing for RM and they need to be given time.

Stu ARMSTRONG scored his first goal for Vancouver Whitecaps last night in their 2-0 win, came on as a sub and finished well from about 12 yards out. Nice to see Stu enjoying his football

If we don't get anything from this game or at least be 100% more competitive we cannot really blame RM because he's put our strongest side out there (Stephens aside maybe) It's for the players that have the shirt today to prove they desrve it!

I really hope the club get enough contact that they will put Elijah's pic up on the screens at the 20th minute mark, still can't believe such a likeable young man has gone.

Sulemana's lack of progress was not down to RM for gods sake. Some are just clutching at straws that he could have been the next big thing. The problem with that is the player had to have the right mental attributes and the willingness to learn. I honestly do not think that Sully as much as i liked him had enough of either to ever make it in English football. Reading his personal stuff he posts it comes across that he believes he is already a big player. He is all huff and puff but lacks any end product and lacks a footballers brain. We took a punt on a guy that had blistering pace and hoped we could coach him into a Premier League player....it hasn't worked out, that does not make it the managers fault, far from it.

I still think we lack a real striker who plays up the middle, is strong, holds the ball up well and shoots from anywhere because it's an instinctive part of his game. It absolutely goes against the grain but right now i would be delighted if we announced INGS!

Unless Saints pull a rabbit out of the hat it is looking more and more likely that any attacker we get in will be someone way down our list if even on the initial list at all. I hope we are all pleasantly surprised tomorrow but i have a horrible feeling it will be someones injury prone, hardly played any competitive football in the last 12 months player! I don't know why we waste so much of our time chasing South American players. My son is a football agent and deals predominantly with the South American market and he tells me it is horrendous when dealing with agents and clubs over there.

Well with just over 48 hours to go and arguably 3 positions still to fill (goalkeeper, striker and winger) it's certainly going to be a nervy next 2 days. Only going by the press snippets coming out we seem along way off from nailing down those three vital positions. I've quite like the business we have done so far, BUT without doubt 2 of the 3 positions i think we need incomings for are absolutely vital to us having a chance of staying up. That refresh button on the work laptop is already suffering!

So many on here are ready to have a pop at the club or RM in their frustration that we are either letting go off players the club have deemed are no longer required or we have not signed a striker or goalkeeper. Alcaraz the vast majority of us love his unpredictability, his obvious skill and potential to unlock a defence BUT the club have decided to call time on his stint here. Why? Looking at it without being emotional I would say the player has failed to settle in the UK, he does not speak the language and RM has been frustrated by his lack of desire to learn English. For all his skill he gives the ball away far too much in very dangerous positions and for me has never looked like he would make it as a Premier League player....do we have an Alcaraz replacement....yes we do i would say, Tyler Dibling! Tall Paul......again has any other Premier League team come in for TP?? NO! He really is not a Premier League player, he makes Peter crouch look a world beater. Our desperation for a striker is making some irrational in their thought process. Do you those slating the ownership and club not think we have been doing everything we can to bring in a striker and a goalkeeper?? Be realistic we are Southampton, we have just been promoted and are favourites to go straight back down, we dont have the millions to spend to compete against the likes of Bournemouth let alone Brighton. We have a wage cap we wont break, which is sensible. It will be an extremely hard sell to convince players we would all like to see here and then even if we convince the player we have the nightmare of clubs thinking because we are a Premier League club we can be held to ransom over the fee.

Alberto has the potential to be an eye-catching summer signing for Saints. His former teammate Edinilson's praise tells the story of a player who could skyrocket under the right set-up: “Since (Alberto) arrived, I have seen huge potential in him. I know that, soon, we won’t have him here anymore because he has really huge potential." He has registered an impressive tally of 57 goal contributions (43 goals and 14 assists) in 129 appearances for Corinthians, and he has even been capped once by Brazil to date. In total, he has 83 goals and 24 assists at club level across 253 appearances for some huge clubs in South America, as well as a brief spell in Russia with Zenit. The idea of Southampton signing a player who has appeared for arguably international football's most famous and glamorous nation would immediately be an exciting prospect for many supporters, and he is still young enough to improve significantly as a footballer, too.

Southampton see bid turned down for Yuri Alberto HITC understands that a number of Premier League clubs have held talks with Corinthians about a possible deal for striker Alberto. We understand that Southampton are amongst the teams looking closely at Alberto after previous interest from Wolves. Wolves failed with a bid to land Alberto in January, but he now could be heading to England in this window. We reported that Wolves were willing to pay £18 million for Alberto back in January but Gary O’Neil’s side could not pull off a deal this summer. Another side that failed to get a deal over the line was West Ham United. So if this report is anything to go by then we are not the only Premiership side with clueless scouts!!

you should know better than that! Everyone on here is a football expert about every player out there despite never having heard of half the players linked with us.

the only positive i can take from that first half is the fact its still 0-0. Adarma, Aribo and Smallbone having awful games. McCarthy did his best to present the opposition with a goal from another awful pass straight to one of their players. This performance is so far removed from last weeks its difficult to understand its the same 11 out there. Walker Peters is trying his best to drag us up but he is about the only bright spark. Its far too easy for Forest who will be gutted they are not winning this.

If there is a real possibility of a transfer happening then it would be madness to risk Charly playing at all

I'm in the camp where i think it makes perfect sense to do this deal and sell Alcaraz for an amount that will not see us lose money on our original purchase. I like Charly and have love the flashes of brilliance i've seen BUT they have been so far and few to suggest he will ever make it in England. If we sell Alcaraz for the rumoured $18 mill what is there not to like about receiving this or something close for a player that will not feature for us this season?? Then add into the equation we are also getting a very highly rated youngster (that Wolves were interested in buying) as part of the deal who even if he didnt work out would be sold for pure profit. Again for Southampton what is there not to like? Too many on here have a real problem with this multi club ownership and and appear blinkered on how it could benefit Southampton in the long run.

For gods sake can we stop with the who is the most shittiest keeper out of baz and McCarthy......the one thing we all agree on is neither is good enough for the Premiership and we desperately need a new keeper!

Genius why the hell did we not think of doing this with half our squad purchases?? Problem solved.

Simple answer i believe......we are relying on the loan market towards the end of the window for a goalkeeper and we are shopping in the bargain take a punt in the dark basement for a striker because we really have very little in readies!

Martin was quite clear a week ago he hoped to have 1/2 through the door before the Newcastle game, this is clearly not happening which suggests we have failed with targets. We all know we are financially not able to compete with virtually every other Premiership team out there when it comes to recruiting a proven striker and creative attacking players that are Premiership standard. We are going to have to rely heavily on the loan market and any extra players we do sign i don't believe we will see until the end of the window. I don't wish to sound negative before a ball has even been kicked but my honest opinion of our chances of being anywhere near competitive are really low. At the moment having watched all our preseason games i honestly think we have a nice team but one that will get battered because we give the opposition so many chances and are toothless in the final third.

Really???? Guaranteed we have made some ridiculous transfers but really??? Mark Robins has revealed that Coventry City’s influential midfielder Ben Sheaf is not as close to a return as it had been previously believed. The newly confirmed Sky Blues club captain has been sidelined since he limped off with an ankle injury just minutes after going on midway through the second half against Stevenage in last month’s pre-season friendly against the League One club. That forced him to sit out the three warm-up games against Darmstadt, Everton and Werder Bremen. It’s now emerged that the 26-year-old has been recovering from ligament damage that Robins admitted after Saturday’s opening 1-0 defeat at Stoke is a “fairly bad” injury.

and knowing our track record they will not be available until January due to a minor injury that just never seems to get better!

I've avoided coming on this thread up until now because i guessed it would be mostly doom and gloom. However with a week to go before the big kick off and still 4/5 signings away from being a competitive Premiership side i have to say I agree with the majority posting on here and think we will get battered on the evidence of the pre-season games so far. Newcastle 6 Saints 0