eddie

No, those West of UK hear about a signing earlier (earlier obviously only in relation to their own days..). 3pm kick offs happen at 8/9am or so. Not very convenient

Would be great to be 8 hours behind and find all signings announced by the time you go for your lunch. I'm an hour ahead.

? He was still right with two signings. I think it'll be a big one, actually. The time spent on it, the hushness of it all. McCarthy was leaked, Pied we knew we had a bid in even if we thought he wasn't coming in the end. I'm not sure it's going to be one of the names mentioned here as in Ox, Depay etc. I'd be surprised if it would be such a mammoth task to get Ox back. Depay never sure about his attitude, but hey. Seems we've had a couple slip through recently. From the comments made by AR-10 "we aren't the only PL club in for him" made it sound distinctly like it was going to be from the continent rather than a player we know from the prem. All speculation though. I for one am fairly chuffed that ITKs have given us the thumbs up for 1-2 more signings. It's exactly what we need, and I think the squad could look rather tidy, good amount of youth, unproven manager but a pre season to whet the appetite. Just ordered my #23 Hojbjerg away shirt. Feel a bit ridiculous wearing a 20 year old kids name on my back, but hey. That's football. The things we do.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2009/aug/25/the-question-diamond-tactics-jonathan-wilson good analysis of the diamond midfield. Bottom line, it can be incredibly stale/goalless if you are channeling all creativity through one key #10, and that player fails to deliver. The lack of width is the downside of the diamond midfield, and opposing teams should play wide, pressing our full backs, to ensure that we are limited to 2-3 key people in the middle of the park. However, premier league doesn't really play with out and out wide wingers very often in a kind of high line of 3/false 9. CONS for Saints: No experienced #10. No real wingers except Redmond to keep opposition full backs pinned back and allow Bertrand/Cedric to overlap. With Pelle's loss, there are not many people who can hold up the ball to allow our fullbacks to get forward. Only by accident will Cedric get forward, for instance where JWP/whoever else is covering close to the box and Cedric is out wide. If we break on the attack, he will go forward rather than the player further back. The speed through the middle/towards the sides is wasted by and large. The only way we get the most out of Long is if he does the same as against Bilbao; the #10 slots a pass in behind the CB and Long runs onto it (was more of a hoof ball but you get the point). Austin is also wasted except for corners or in the case that the attack builds giving him time to get to the edge of the box. My feeling is we won't get this time very often. We just don't have the quality except in 2-3 attacking players to have solid possession football close to their by-line and then lump it into the box. Yes, Tadic is one of these players. PROS for Saints: We have now 1.5 very good midfield players to play in front of Romeu. Hojbjerg and Clasie/Davis (only 0.5 because of last seasons showing and consistency, but we could say 1 to be fair). These will be vital for allowing close quarters possession football to be played further up the pitch, and such quality allows us to recover the ball quickly since Romeu, Clasie and Hojbjerg have defensive pedigree. Our fullbacks are very good, are encouraged to get forward and have exceptional defensive cover at CB, with solid cover inside in the midfield (6/8 roles) so that every attack doesn't need to be a huge risk. Since our fullbacks will be the place that teams are most effective to go for - because we play narrow and the midfield is strong - the opposition is likely to put crosses into the box. Pro? We have height in the box to deal with that.

Alderweireld wasn't a signing...I know you know that but it's just strange to say. He came over on loan, for a world class top player there was something fishy going on. If he wanted the move why not sign a contract? My view is he had in mind a move bigger than Southampton and came to us either to show his talent or because noone had approached. Otherwise agree with the others. Hojbjerg and Romeu have grown on me.

Don't want to read into these small ITK posts too much, but the fact that the selling club is waiting on a replacement means the player is in the first team squad. If they were dead weight why get a replacement? Nice if we're buying first team quality, though suppose the first team quality in one country doesn't equate to a Saints starter

So I suppose it means the selling club should be making an announcement about a new replacement before Thursday?

Fair enough, could probably have used common sense to work that one out More wondering whether there was some behind the scenes frustration at the way we lost out on him, or the like. Never heard of him myself

Meaning?

Why is it annoying? I prefer our 32 year old central defender to their 31 year old central defender. Loves the club and a great captain. They've got rid of the only member of the England team touted as being able to reach world class, for an aging centre half. He's still a top top player mind, just saying it's not the best signing of the window..

Doesn't surprise me that there are ****ups like this . There's so many places that news can leak from these days, I'm amazed that there are still surprise signings like Hojberg or Bailly.

I said earlier that Hojberg looked so competent going forward in pre season that I did wonder whether there was any bite to all these links for another central midfielder, with him being moved up the pitch. I imagine it's not the case. At least we know from his showings that he's capable of playing in multiple positions

I think Morgan will play alongside Pogba. Mourinho likes two in that position. He's not sentimental enough to give Schweingsteiger a chance, and probably Carrick neither. He's said Rooney wouldn't be playing that far back, and I think Mykitarian was brought in so he wouldn't keep having to choose between a million Lindgards, Herreras, Matas or the like. One of those is probably on the bench (Lindgard I guess) and Mata will likely leave (he already sold him once). Besides, they're on the same national team although MS doesn't play a lot, but could be a factor.

He only gets the grief in hindsight, at least from what I've seen. The longer that the post-Cortese era has gone on the more sour I've become about his tenure. It's strange. I was pretty positive 4 years ago.

If I'm not mistaken, the decisions to purchase Osvaldo and Ramirez came more from our chairman than our scouting dept. In any case it's a little silly to make any comparisons with the fact a 5' 5 diminutive attacker hasn't yet found success playing in the premier league

Recommend just to google the match and watch a replay. Might even be on OS YouTube channel. Going to be a hellavalot easier than answering that list. Not a jibe tho, they're good questions and I'd be interested to hear the answers once you get em

Wow. You'd genuinely be disappointed at your beloved club if they don't smash watford by such a margin that they go top of the league? If your reasonable expectation is 5th you haven't got a clue about the state of the league and where Saints sit in that. If you think Leicester winning was a sign of the times changing you're mistaken. It was a reflection on the fact that some of the big clubs have rested on their laurels the last few years and this was a wake up call. Liverpool post-Suarez money and Man Utd post Fergie, as well as a city side with aging players and a Chelsea side with Mourinho in his classic third season syndrome. You could have seen it coming a mile off with hindsight. I'm not saying let's not be ambitious. But how is it unambitious to replace primadonnas (Wanyama/Mane) who wanted to leave the club with younger, hungrier players and a bigger more stable squad, most of whom are now signed on till 2020? Koeman left for money or whatever else, we got two years out a manager who didn't fit our ethos of youth and who was hell bent on bringing the Dutch league/national side over to Saints, including Clasie who is at best, feisty and a luxury passer. He's improving, but he's not a success yet. We have plenty of time to bring in a fowrward - Guan said it takes time to bring attacking talent and I take that as an indication that there's more to come. If he comes in for the Watford game or not is of no consequence to our finishing position. To click your fingers and expect transfers to be wrapped up early July is nonsense - it isn't Fifa. If I were a selling club there's not a chance I'd take the first offer that came my way - why? Leave it a few weeks see what else comes in. Maybe one of the clubs with a rich owner will come along. Most fans shared the expectation because of a win against palace? Last home game was the sweet icing on a reasonable cake. We didn't have the best of times in the winter but we got through. Optimism is only lost if you are basing your idea of what Southampton FC is as a club on the last three or four seasons, or even two seasons for Pete's sake. To say 'Got it right' is misleading. They're more likely to get it right than you, unless I'm mistaken and you are part of football management in real life. In which case, ignore the above.

I hear that, and understand where you are coming from. It's a balance between the old lot who see 'ambition' as being mid table premier league club, considering our history and all, and the new lot who can't see why the last three seasons should be a 'one off' but rather part of an upwards curve. Seems it's the age old battle between realism and idealism - those who think we need to remind ourselves how lucky we are to be where we are, and those who want to dream big. Bottom line is in today's market it's impossible to predict what is good or bad before the season starts. I think the cup has changed less than the league in the last few years, and it has the same feeling it did 5-10 years ago. The Premiership just feels like a different beast. In that sense I would take a great cup run as being a good target to aim for this year, and somewhere mid table to Europe League places as solid affirmation of our stability and recruitment. I don't think it's being pessimistic, but that is my expectation for the coming season.

It's not about some fourfourtwo ranking. Puel is already singing in tune with Saints board/club ethos by his focus on giving young players opportunities, playing attacking football and being shrewd with transfers. Koeman was an excellent manager, but he certainly can't be said to have been that keen on youth, remember he publicly denounced the academy as not producing 1st team talent. And, like it or not, I found it a stretch to describe our play as offensive football last year. The bottom line is that Koeman preferred defensive solidity above risk taking up front - a respectable strategy that worked - but for all his post-match interviews that claimed otherwise, in general it was only against weaker teams that we really dominated the games, were able to play "good football" and got on the ball more times than not. I have memories of last years Europa League misery where I can only assume Caulker and Fonte were actually instructed to hoof the ball up front from the back, playing in a back 5 so they had the space and time on the ball to look up and make the pass. 5-3-2 made quite an appearance, and it certainly couldn't be described as an offensive formation. We saw "the kind of football Southampton like to play", but most of the time RK played a combination of counter-attacking (w/ Long and Mane as the pace) and balls in the box (w/ Cedric, Bertrand, Davis, JWP delivering and Long/Pelle getting on the end of it). Not saying these viable Southampton tactics, and Koeman's versatility in changing systems was his strength, but I wouldn't say it was always good, creative, along the ground football, other than overlapping runs from full-backs. In that sense I'm really up for seeing what Puel can do and giving him a chance.

My bro - I quote you the rules of The Saints section of SaintsWeb; "We ask that supporters of other clubs do not post on this forum." In all seriousness I'm not being a **** for no reason. I'm being a **** because we have one month to go until the end of the window and the very thing you are getting angry about is in the first place your own invention (your idea that the club are not going to make any additional attacking transfers). If you think about what you are doing, it is completely pointless. Not as pointless as me responding to you, but that's a different story... Believe me I'll be calling 606 or the equivalent to air my grievances about saints if it goes tits up come the new season, but let me tell you pre season and transfer window open is just not the time to be making any kind of reasonable analysis on which to base your frustrations.

For one, keep shut until the transfer window is closed. Until then this conversation is unbelievably pointless. You can't even imagine how pointless it is to voice complaints against your own hypothesis (that the club has no more transfers to make). If Puel thinks Redmond is more suited to go in the middle upfront, let him try it for Petes sake. If we have another transfer coming in (likely) and Redmond is the second choice, jolly good. If Redmond is actually first choice and on the training pitch impresses to be first choice, get behind him and don't sit there with your arms folded when the board goes up that he's coming off the bench. Sorry if I'm being rude, actually not intended, just ridiculous to get het up about your own assumption of what is going on, against the grain of ITK snippets and with a whole flipping month to go until the window shuts.

**** you and your opinions if you are half as pessimistic in real life as you are on the forum it's a miracle that fans sitting nearby on matchday don't clout you with a right hander

Defour in centre mid and move Hojberg to #10? Had a couple of tasty attacking runs in pre season..

thoughts on his attitude? I was put off by him the other year when he had that tweet aimed at jeremy peace. came across as petulant kid but perhaps he's changed. Not seen much about him in the papers though (other than transfer rumours), so perhaps pulis has told him to keep a lid on it. either way seems to be more risk than other options out there (I got no suggestions, just a feeling). happy to accept a club move and new manager/freedom can bring out the best in players and folks can turn a corner. still..

Can't tell it either way since Utd don't have an exceptional first choice CB pairing, but they have many backup options arguably of a similar level to Fonte. Bailey orwhatever his name is, the expensive signing this summer, will presumably be in the first team. Smalling had a fantastic season in a mediocre Man Utd side last season so you think he'd keep his place. I guess Fonte would fight with Jones, McNair, Rojo for the backup position. At best, he'll be a rotating CB for Utd, which isn't so bad. Seems an odd move from being well regarded first choice at saints with the fans behind him and the captains band. Then again I suppose Schneiderlin went under similar circumstances.