Lallana's Left Peg

An interesting dynamic to Ings leaving and Armstrong arriving is how it trusts Adams as our senior striker. I often felt that when Adams didn't have Ings as his partner he stepped up in his all round game (leading the line, holding the ball up etc.). There is definitely more to come from Adams and I wonder if the need for him to step up will now suit him.

We don't need players in Oxlade-Chamberlains position and he would be an expensive loan. Better than what we have got but we need a striker and a defensive midfielder. Bit concerning that we're linked as it makes me wonder if we're about to sell JWP (which then makes AOC affordable)?

I don't think its as clear cut as having a deal lined up for a replacement the moment Villa moved for Ings. I do think it would be normal and sensible to be kept abreast of the market so that in the eventuality Ings went (for whatever money) we knew what we might do. I assume the club have done this and feel confident we can retain our status in the league so gave the Ings deal the green light. Whilst its hard to know what is true and what is not in the media, it doesn't appear on the face of it that the club has been able to act swiftly after Ings' departure which again suggests to me we aren't as sure about things as I might otherwise hope we would be after selling our best player. Right now we're less than a week from the start of the new season and have one of the worst strike forces in the league and have to hope that one of the most porous defenses last season has got better. It doesn't exactly fill you with confidence, does it? EDIT - to add to this, signing a kid on loan from Chelsea is the sort of thing you normally see from Championship clubs or promoted teams, not one that has been back in the Premier League nearly a decade now. Alarm bells should be ringing. And I would love for him to be brilliant, but the odds are that he isn't right now.

The decision to sell Ings for such a good fee should have only happened if they are sure they can purchase players to replace him and retain our presence in the league. If the club sold him without knowing who they could realistically get in then it is a massive risk that means the fee is less attractive to me. If Ings had no intention of signing then £30m sounds good in principle but if we end up signing players who between them cannot replace his goals then the club is likely relegated. I'll decide on whether or not the Ings deal was good firstly on 1st September, and then with hindsight at the end of next May. As for the overall criticism it is entirely probable that both Semmens et al are doing a good job and the club is decaying can both be true. The club heading in one direction is no criticism of our board when you consider they are playing in a rich mans playground with no money. Gao needs to find a solution quickly.

Bye bye Premier League 👋

I think its even worse than that in terms of the way things are trending: Light Years Away Forget About It Man City Man Utd Chelsea Liverpool Spurs Arsenal Too Big / Too Rich (either by size and / or investment from owners) Everton Leeds Aston Villa Leicester In & Around Us But More Means Wolves Brighton Crystal Palace West Ham Hopeless Praying On Muck Coming Up Saints Newcastle Burnley Promoted Clubs - Wilcards But Likely Crap Watford Norwich Brentford We're really only a couple of promoted clubs getting their act together or Newcastle waking up to being back to where we were most of my life - but back then there was always a clutch of teams fighting it out each season but those above us will simply leave us stranded because of the investment they get while we decay.

Negatives Best player gone Vestergaard still not signed a new deal (or been sold) Operating in bargain bin and club has said as much Team has very little goal threat League is very much becoming a playground we can't afford to play in Absolutely nothing about a takeover which means the club is heading only one way Positives We're so broke and so desperate we're genuinely attractive to 18 year olds in big clubs as they know they will get gametime Signed a left back (still one short) Some takeovers come out of the blue, but I really am clutching at straws here

Not for top half clubs in the richest league in the world. Shows the trajectory of our club right now.

Which is exactly why they are more attractive. This league is slowly becoming a playground we're too poor to play in.

Two sides of this deal for me. The first side is that on the face of it £28m (after the £2m we give Liverpool) for a player who may otherwise walk free next summer is decent, and I presume the brain trust at the club have a clear idea of what to do with the money. The other side is that he has decided that Aston Villa have more to offer him - both monetary and on the field - and both equate to ambition no matter what you think - and that serves as a reminder as to the long term prospects Southampton have right now under the current ownership. It's another reminder that the club is slowly decaying no matter what anyone says. There is no way we buy anyone as good as Ings with the money either, so next season will be challenging up front.

Man City nab one of our top prospects: At least I assume he was a top prospect if Man City want him. A big blow for our Academy that.

We're very skint, that's why we operate around the £10m for signings and no-one of any interest to any other club signs a new deal with us. £10m is peanuts in the Premier League. As a way of comparison: 1. It got Aston Villa one season of Ross Barkley 2. It's a quarter of what Manchester United spent on a teenager with no senior appearances 3. It's just over a third of what good Championship players cost 4. Most Premier League teams (but not all to be fair) don't even spend that on players for depth - and it's what we spend on first teamers Until the club has a takeover we have to hope that others don't get it right when they spend money and the clear decay in the quality of our team can be slowed as much as possible so we're still in this league.

Did anyone honestly think he was going to sign a new deal? Even if he wanted to stay and could earn a great wage, the club can't afford to sign anyone that will do anything to stop us dwelling in the bottom half for the foreseeable and he's probably fed up of kicking off over 100 times a season.

I see what you did there...

Brighton have a net spend of £202m the past 5 years. Their owner invests a lot. They don't have to sell. They will eventually get it right and head up the table.

Brighton about to drop £25m on a striker while we're operating in and around the £7-10m mark 😬 https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/jun/16/brighton-agree-record-25m-deal-to-sign-stuttgart-forward-nicolas-gonzalez-argentina?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other That is arguably a direct rival in the part of the table we operate in with about 4 times the spending power we have. We're only heading in one direction unless we get an owner able to invest.

I find it unlikely but also clubs don't often chase players they haven't been led to believe there is a chance of a deal - either from the club, the player, or people connected to both.

Haven't you also exactly described Eddie Howe's tenure at Bournemouth in the above as well?

People writing off Elyounoussi are holding our team to a higher standard than I've seen in a while. I've no doubt he could match the output of most of our other attacking midfielders bar Armstrong if he had the same amount of opportunity. I'm not against moving on from him and I think he has struggled at Saints but the question you have to ask yourself is - can we afford better?

Clearly had his head turned. Ings as well. Club has no respect from its players and we've always been a soft touch, even moreso now because of our financial situation. He will go where he wants in the summer.

Bumping this ahead of the summer. The talk of giving loaned out players a second chance is confirmation we're broke. There is a lot to fix this summer and it all revolves around money - shipping out players for it and spending the required amount on it. I'll start with a little poll - anyone think we'll outspend a single other team in our division this summer - including the promoted teams? I can only see us and Burnley fighting it out for that honour. It's pathetic. Takeover needed.

For this to succeed it has to go one of two ways: 1. Ralph is backed and we sign players of a required quality and type to meet his ideological view on how he wants us to play. 2. Ralph finds a pragmatic bone in his body and adapts his ideology to fit what he has to work with, which is clearly a lower half quality of player and a bottom three transfer budget. What is happening right now is neither and its very very messy. Saints can't afford to sack him either.

I wish him well, can't complain based on the service he gave the club and overall body of work. But can't help but think selfishly in the short-term that its now two left backs we need to buy this summer with what I am assuming is a small transfer budget which isn't supplemented by his departure because we won't receive a fee for him.

I was never worried about us going down, but only being the 17th best team in this division is worrying for next season, because we won't outspend anyone above us in the league this summer and if one of the teams coming up gets their transfers right we're in for a crappy season come August.

That team had Ings and Bertrand. This team does not. That team also had Ramsay and Jankewitz to be fair. But I bet it would beat this team.