eddie

Just some advice, it isn't adding anything to the whole debate. We all know what we're still gunning for in terms of transfers as fans, we're looking for some more teeth up front given injury doubts and unproven youth. Although if you've watched any of pre season you'll know Hojberg seems the real deal and both Redmond and Austin have done the job against crap opposition which is the least we could have hoped for. Sorry man it's just unless people get called up on these constant 'underwhelming transfer window'/'where's the ambition' posts, when the window hasn't even closed and there's rumours of two more signings, the forum will be a pointless agony aunt for pessimistic fans. Needs to be more constructive is all.

Ballocks This is not the kind of news I was wanting to hear. At best 2 new additions at the back (keeper/RB) would have been nice, depending on the signings, but a minimum of what we expect as fans. Fonte touted to leave feels like a slap in the face, even for my optimistic self. Not sure whether I should spend energy fighting it or whether this is just the state of the game now.

Lots of refreshing new opinions on thread page 61. I'm excited to see what thread page 62 is going to hold!! Oh, and back to the issue at hand; O Jogo and The Sun are reporting today we've bid 13m EUR for Christian Tello. Its around a lot of news sources but seems it came from these.

Forum bores me now. I come on to see ITK posts and other rumours. The forum fanbase is as divided in its opinions (board, transfers, view of the club, ambition, players, formation, form, kit, sponsors) as much as in the cat fights that seem to take place between established posters who I guess have such a history with, and built up opinions of, other stalwarts of the forum, that they never actually post anything interesting anymore except meaningless trolling/name calling. I don't agree with that offshoot forum that sprung up not long ago...seems like too many in-jokes for my liking but hey o. Would just love to see some interesting threads than the Red vs Blue boxing ring of Les Reed, outgoing transfers/transfer policy etc. etc. Sorry if this adds nothing to the whole debate...

Not sure how Pogba features into it, you're therefore saying they lose an incredible midfielder (23 years old, arguably already at the world class level) and get a striker instead, not really a like for like other than saying they've now got the cash. The Suarez transfer wasn't even that much, with a younger and arguably better player. He was being bought by the 2nd richest club in the world. His behaviour at the world cup played a part but you're losing out two months at the start of the season, and now he's turned it around and is excellent. I'm not saying it makes no sense - agree about the weakening of a rival and obviously he'd done very well in the past few seasons. Not that any journalist or fan put him in the same bracket as the top crop of players in the world - has he ever been nominated for ballon dor? I'm just saying it's a shock that this is the norm now

Go support the hammers then I'll even buy you a tube of bubbles so you fit in, while you have a whale of a time in the olympic park with other fans supporting a massive world class club, chatting about all those transfer rumours and tasty expensive signings

Probably the most hilarious and least likely rumour there's been so far. maybe Fonte feels English football is too clean? Couple years experience doping, boosting his performance and keeping his int'l career going until his mid thirties Makes perfect sense

Just some good ol British understatement

Not exactly in the same league as a saints 'rival' but the Higuain > Juventus deal is enormous. He's a tidy finisher, granted, still seems a bit inflated though.

Thanks OP for your new point of view and a new platform, this very thread, on which to hold reasonable discussion

Not really a backup if you are injured and new to the club, and with Long on fire. All of us were chuffed with Austin's arrival and anyone who doesn't see him as long term perfect replacement for Pelle is bizzare, given that he was prolific for QPR (that beaut against us at St Marys), and in the prime age for a footballer. Romeu is classic midfield muscle who seems to have worked on his ball playing skills and general match awareness. Wanyama was a bit less of a hard tackler (yes, you heard me - when Romeu came in he was an uncontrollable wrecking ball) but more of a clever footballer and could hold onto the ball better. Both were poor in disciplinary record. Wanyama seems to have had a strange attitude toward the end of the season which one can only describe, given his recent move to Tottenham, as 'having his head elsewhere'. He came back into the team and performed well. Romeu on the other hand has improved throughout the season, given license by Koeman to have a crack if the defense opened up, and covering well on both sides and behind. Several times he, like VW used to do, came across for Targett/Cedric, or whoever else, and justified his label, as RK said when he came in, as being their first choice target for a defensive midfielder. This was last summer when VW was touted to go, so most likely the long term replacement. I'm happy with that, he seems a good bloke, exactly what we need in midfield seeing as our other CMs are fairly small builds. He puts in a shift and generally improved over the course of the season. I say give him the starting place alongside Clasie/Hojberg in midfield. If it's a team where the game is won/lost in midfield, play all three, or Davis for Hojberg. Redmond I just don't know, I didn't watch him for Norwich very much. Mane was fantastic, arguably guilty of the same demeanor as VW for several games, including his well highlighted goal drought. He'll be difficult to replace because he took on players and while his long passing wasn't ever used, his short passing and the way he played the ball between the other front 2/3 was fantastic. That's tricky, because we don't have an obvious deputy. Davis is pretty good at short passing, but doesn't combine that with the ability to take on players that Tadic and I believe Redmond provide. In other words, we need 2 players to replace a player that previously did both jobs, taking on/creativity and distributing the ball. That's a loss, but not one that we have no ideas how to solve because a) Redmond may well be able to come into that system and start doing a similar job and b) Tadic problem with RK was that he was very pushed out. He was forced to sit on the sidelines, only appearing when we moved from a 5-3-2 system. Under Puel, the freedom given to play as an out and out number 10 may be good for him. Or, the new system could be 2-2-2 up front, two tight midfielders, two wide players and two centre forwards in the middle (striker/second striker). In any case, I'm saying we're not out of ideas of how to solve the issue. Maybe Puel will try and for a few games we're shown up. However, at least we do have ways to solve that loss, and clearly unless the club bring in someone else (yes, a #10), they think these solutions will be adequete. I don't think it's a duck-tape job either. I'm fairly optimistic about returning injurees and a smattering of youth. Mind you, a tasty transfer or three in the next month would bring a smile.

I don't know why people keep saying this, when Le Goddard posted that Redmond was Juanmi's replacement. There is literally more than a whole month for transfer business to continue. CP only came in a few weeks ago...

He'd be walking the well trodden Barcelona > Southampton player transfer route. Seems about as likely as Koeman actually putting on the boots again and covering for the loss of Stones at centre half until they sign a replacement.

I'm chuffed with this, he's a good player and it's yet more of the current first team committing their future, at least contractually, to Southampton. I think there's some crossed wires though, people seem to be relaxed about Pelle leaving at 31 since he's "past it" but happy that Long has signed a contract taking him even past that age. If anything, I think Long's effectiveness will decline much faster than Pelle, in the sense that GP doesn't need to have the body of someone ten years younger to be a demon up front. Long relies on having fast legs, I can't really see his first touch improving that much as time goes on, and since he's not the tallest, his ability in the air will probably decline also. Like I say, I'm pleased he's signed, and he was fantastic last season, no doubt. However he wont be able to provide that quality of game week in week out for more than another season and a half I would say.

I don't know enough about football/tactics to know, but it would be interesting to see if there's other ways of playing without a natural #10. Not encouraging such a formation, is it a given that successful teams always have a 'creative, goalscoring #10'?

Great post, and I agree that it's unlikely for these factors. The issue about freezing out players is a big one - the assumption is that if we bring in a player better than Austin, Davis (perhaps he's the exception here), Romeu, Cedric, that those players will be content to play when their first choice counterparts are either too injured or too tired, or just for the sake of it to provide 'competition' which is meant to somehow motivate everyone to be really skillful all of a sudden. Don't forget we nearly lost Tadic, and might still lose him, on the basis of Koeman not playing him. You can talk all you want about big wages and 'what I'd do if I got paid 50k a week' but the bottom line is you don't expect to be relegated to backup two years, or even 1, after arriving at the club as a first team player with much lauded over you on OS and by the manager etc. etc By the way, I'm not saying it's right or wrong. It could be wrong because we don't have the rapid progression the fans have been wanting for at least two seasons now (to 'push on' and "cement" our place in top 7..). It could be right because the deliberate choice to bring in these players may well have a ripple effect in terms of squad motivation, other players (this seasons tadic and mane, although mane not for lack of game time) wanting to leave, and so on.

I agree - which is why I was surprised to see us still linked with those positions. Again, probably newspaper hot air.

Lots of links today on newsnow. Who knows if they're more than newspaper fillers but some interesting names/positions nonetheless. Strikers, Defensive midfield, Right back. I still think there'll be some new saints come September that we didn't expect,

Hi. Part of the point of the post is to turn the conversation away from saying that players have been and will be driven by financial incentives, and that there are measures a small club like Southampton can take to be proactive and create a place where players want to stay. Most of the posts have really good ideas. I'm not shying away from the fact ST and tv money, as well as sponsorships, will make or break Saints ability to keep hold of players. It's a money game these days, and that's a little sad. However, I wonder if there's things we can do - other clubs of a similar size to us seem to have less turnover. For instance, does the club look to sign players that are of the same nationality or knew each other before? (Cedric/Fonte, Pelle/Tadic, Bertrand/Romeu, VVD/Clasie, VVD/Forster/Wanyama). The club also seems to put a lot of energy into facilities. As well, there seems to be a solid structure of player development, both for youth, yes, as we know, but also for first team. physically and in terms of football development. Injured players get a lot of support and that's been a reason JRod and FF signed new contracts, according to the vids. More trivial, ehat comes across from the OS material/social media is that there is a good atmosphere, there's always some trite stuff at xmas time but it seems fun and relaxed. The club has a clearly communicated vision, values, culture and especially relevant for footballers, mentality of approaching the game, which is that we try to play to win, we want to be in the opponents half, we want to play the ball, if you prove yourself you will get playing time opportunity, no matter the value/age. These are some of the kinds of things I've seen in the last couple years since promotion. But you're right that money can't be avoided, just a Q of whether other factors can be just as attractive.

Hi. The more I've read, the more that this summers outgoing transfers have reinforced this idea of Southampton being a club that often sells players. Nothing new here. However what's apparent is that there's little the club or manager can do when players want out. We hear that was the case with Wanyama, Mane and Juanmi. It's probable Pelle went for money. In any case, im not wanting a discussion about money. There's little we can do if we offer an early contract extension and another club comes and offers double. Maybe there's a way we can negotiate, or clauses about first team appearances, though. But in the long term - how do we create the conditions, the environment, the structure, opportunities, that make players want to stay, and not leave. For example, you might say Mane we just needed to offer a giant contract of money. But there's little we can do to affect saints cash flow other than a buyout or ironically, player sales. Not wanting to look back/regret - for future players, what can the club do to encourage players to stay? Is it play time, is it making them feel settled in England? Would like to hear your thoughts, as I feel we constantly turn to the issue of money. It would be nice to think if there's other ways to ensure there is a core of commuted players and a good culture around the club.

I agree man, your points are correct, I still do not think a 5 year contract and 'this current market' means Van Dijk is worth being like the 3rd/4th most expensive player in history. He's very decent and I'm chuffed he's playing with saints and committed his future to us. But let's be realistic, stones is English, younger and no reason to think he won't be just as complete as VD 50m would be silly money for VD

After all you could get 5 Jeremy Pieds with that kind of wage budget

That might actually be the most deluded statement I've read on here for months. Van Dijk was our top player and a solid centre back, for Southampton, for one year. Before he played in the SPL. I think he could be worth 40m in a years time if he performs at the same level. Stones is young, English and with arguably more potential

To say we've lost a lot of goals is strange. I mean, obviously, because we lost first team players. Had Austin and a fit Rodriguez been playing we may have had just as many goals. It would be unusual to expect any rumours at this moment - Puel needs time away on pre-season to see the squad. Maybe he tries and thinks Tadic can play that #10. Or maybe Rodriguez is the pacey wide player we're looking for. In any case, we added Van Dijk on last day of the transfer window last season, which was a very expensive first team player. However, he was filling an obvious gap, Koeman said so himself (Gardos was injured, everyone knew that Yoshida had nailed down the backup place and wasn't going to be playing every week). I wouldn't say in our case that there is a glaring need for a #10 or #11. Long is fast and can play wide, Rodriguez too. Tadic could play that #10, Davis if he has a stormer can play there, agreed neither has proven themselves but hey. My point is that it's a case of being untested - there is no gaping hole. It's a matter of consistency, a matter of proving that the players we have can nail down these positions week-in-week-out. I think Puel wants to test that out before splashing the cash on an unnecessary 20m forward before finding that another forward (e.g., Long, Tadic) leaves because of not having game time.

****ing shut up the lot of ya. Let's talk about new players that might wear the shirt and play for our lovely club