Bewildered

Sucks if Tadic leaves as well as Mane and Victor, but on the other hand maybe it is not much of a surprise if there is any truth in this piece published a couple of months ago: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3520912/Dusan-Tadic-pondering-away-Southampton-Ronald-Koeman-s-abrasive-management-style.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

With Wanyama, there is no reason to believe he won't want to move during the summer given his antics last summer. As for Pelle, most other reports linking him with a move over the last few weeks claim we are not exactly rushing to offer him a new contract so it is no surprise if he moves either.

http://sportwitness.ning.com/forum/topics/southampton-expected-to-make-bid-for-player-soon-15m-should-do-it Sport witness quote a report in Record (Portuguese newspaper) that Saints are about to make a bid for CB Reuben Semedo of Sporting. €15m should be enough to get him according to the report.

Some of the paper reports about this warchest says a lot of it will be money from selling Stones and Lukaku.

Adam Blackmore ‏@bigadamsport 34s34 seconds ago #saintsfc Ronald Koeman just told me that he is not interested in Everton job & intends to honour his contract #efc

Massive signing. Forster was entering his last 2 years and it could have been a very uncomfortable Summer if one of the big boys went looking for a new GK if he hadn't extended. Also hard to see the "new direction" being bad if players of his quality and importance are willing to commit to the club.

They spent £80m (75m net) and got relegated because they wasted it on players who are lazy, dross or both.

100 million that some of these reports say will be largely funded by selling Lukaku and Stones.

Given that all those papers have the story with the same bit about a 100m transfer fund, suggests Everton have briefed the press about it.

Whatever happens, I don't think he will be here on the first day of next season. Doubt he will or ever intended to extend his deal and if the club is embarking on a new five year plan and/or going in a mysterious new direction then that is hard to do if you know the manager is only here for the short term.

De Gea pelted with bottles for celebrating their equaliser according to journalists at he ground.

Last summer he made it perfectly clear that he wanted to move on and the club have had a full season to scout replacements and unprecedented financial clout in terms of the new TV deal and better sponsorship money. I just hope that by selling Mane and Wanyama the funds are used as a further boost to transfer funds as opposed to being the entirety of it. Nobody is expecting a 250m spending bonanza, but I think now it is reasonable to want the club to commit to a net spend in the summer.

Need to sort out that defending for the second half, won't get anything if we defend like that for another 45 minutes.

VVD signing on for 6 years is good news, Mane and Wanyama are/were always going to be hard to persuade after last summer when they had their heads turned. I wonder what this new direction entails?

I can't see us paying in excess of €30m the story suggests is needed to get Napoli to sell.

Typical to let in such a stupid goal just before half time after outplaying them for the half. However, if Man City continue to defend like that it would be very disappointing if we don't score another.

We have to play 3 teams at or near the bottom (Villa, Sunderland and Palace), two good teams (Man City and Spurs) and one team that is erratic in performance (Everton). The bare minimum we must do is beat Villa, Sunderland and Palace. Three points or more from the other three games and we should do it IMO.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3520912/Dusan-Tadic-pondering-away-Southampton-Ronald-Koeman-s-abrasive-management-style.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490 Story primarily focuses on Tadic considering his future with the club because he feels like Koeman does not treat him fairly. However, it goes on to say that JWP and Mané, among others that Joe Bernstein doesn't name, are also unhappy with Koeman because they feel he has undermined their confidence.

Surely Bertrand at CB with Martina at RB and Targett at LB since Bertrand has been good when he has played there.

A new contract for Koeman is the top priority could be a grim season if we have a locker room of players aware that the manager is just seeing out the final year of his contract. But ultimately it appears like that will only happen if we show a bit more ambition in the transfer market, something I can't see the board commiting to unfortunately.

Forster - Made a couple of decent saves, could do little about the goal Martina - Rubbish in both directions Fonte - Had no choice but to attempt a challenge when he got sent off as the striker was through and Fonte didn't have the pace to catch him VVD - Good, bailed us out at the end with a decisive finish our front three can seemingly only dream of about right now Bertrand - Best player first half, faded in the second Romeu - Tried hard, but didn't really dominate the midfield. Not that he had much help. Clasie - Ineffective off the ball, too slow on it. Davis - Not at the races today. Tadic - Was not that bad first half, useless in the second until the assist at the death though. Pelle - Very lucky he was the only fit CF today. The fact that such a player is a strong contender get into Italy's euros squad shows how far their attacking depth has fallen. Mane - Won't be weeping when he leaves in the summer, likely for an entirely inappropriate amount of money. Subs: Juanmi - Ineffective. JWP - Barely noticed he was on Yoshida - Managed to produce the piece of comedy defending that gifted them their goal almost instantly.

Some of the attacking play was frustrating, esp. in the first half but defence was good enough that we only needed to score once. Only 1pt behind Man U now. 5th place is definitely there for the taking this season.

Why would we replace a target man like Pelle with a short, quick and skillful player who can operate on either wing (though he is more left sided), behind the striker? From what I've seen of him, mostly in international games mind you, he is much more similar in style to Mané.

Yeah. Les Reed was even saying it himself as opposed to merely using club friendly journos like Jeremy Wilson as mouthpieces.

Summary (since the article covers more than just Wanyama): Club increasingly hopeful they can get Wanyama to sign a new deal, talks over a new contract are happening Mane will be sold if a good offer comes in during Summer Pelle may also be allowed to go in the Summer, club are frustrated about his drop in form before knee injury and as such don't want to talk to him about a new deal untl the Summer. Club won't sell Long as he offers something different up front to Austin and Pelle. Koeman's contract unlikely to be discussed until the summer, though they are confident he won't ask to leave this summer. There is an increased focus on signing under 18s and under 21s due to the lack of youth players progressing to the first team. The Board and Koeman are aiming at finishing 7th or higher.