The best summer ever.....

[MarkSFC]

This will sound like a very strange thing to many but I truly believe that this has been brilliant for our club.

 

Over the last four to five years the team had remained very settled with two or three additions each window and the inevitable 'wastage' as poorer players slowly get replaced. The only big sale was Ox when we were still in League One.

 

When poorer players leave and better arrive no one really cares as they see perceived improvement, even though that does not always happen, we have been lucky that it has recently. As the Club rose back up the leagues the core of the team obviously improved until we finished 8th last season. International call-ups and contact with players already at bigger clubs and who were obviously being paid many times more and competing for titles turned the heads of some. This is understandable, but the way some appear to have gone about getting their move is what leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of many. When 5 really good players leave within weeks of each other fans start to panic, media have a juicy story and recruitment becomes far more important. On top of the players, the manager walks out too.

 

Change is very uncomfortable for most, and for those who's emotions are permanently tangled up in a football club, change of the ilk we have seen is difficult to experience and make sense of. Rational thinking for most is lost in the turmoil of change, fear, anger, frustration, and whatever other feelings manifest themselves. But this change could well be the most important and good thing to happen since we came out of administration.

 

Let's assume that Pochettino had stayed. Would all the players have stayed? I doubt it. They were not here for him, if they were why did they not go to Spurs? No, they wanted moves to the Champions League with a big club, fair enough. If we said no to all of them then we would face the potential dilemma of having 5 or 6 disgruntled players who would probably not perform at their peak - no World Cup squad to motivate this season. And so if their form dipped who would come in? Worse players. And without 100m to spend we may have purchased a couple more players but in a side that was under-performing values of Lallana, Lovren, Shaw, Chambers would probably drop and then either January or next summer we would of been faced with the same scenario but now they would not command as high fees.

 

So in my opinion the club have done brilliantly given the fact that the egos of a few have caused this situation. But they were the egos of the leading characters in the club and they effected the culture of the group. We have cleared those egos and begun a revolution, which has no expectation. It's a great place to be. We have a very sound, very experienced, very well respected, a footballing legend as a player and I think a very honest and very cool manager. This is not a club with a project or a five year plan, this is a club with a philosophy.

 

At the end of this window everyone will be able to judge fully the net product of transfers. As it stands I think we are ahead already. We have a better goalkeeper, a CB who like for like cannot be regarded any less good if not better than when we signed Lovren, in Bertrand we have a very capable player and CL winner, Pelle and Long look very strong and offer as much if not more than Lambert and Osvaldo, Taider adds real depth and quality to CM, whilst Tadic looks the real deal. Better than Lallana, who knows, but as he is younger, probably has more development left than Lallana. With a winger confirmed as a target we will certainly have a lot more speed in the side, and a group of players with lots to prove.

 

We have a manager who is quoted as saying he is here for the long haul. I hope he is and if so I think we will look back at this Sumer as the best summer ever.

[Golac's Iron Gonads]

I preferred last summer.

[LVSaint]

Yeah last summer much better, this summer...overrated.

[BadgerBadger]

I'll be judging this summer next spring.....

[St.JonB]

I really hope you're right but think this season will be a struggle. A couple of injuries up front or even worse, in defence and we could be in trouble. Please keep up the optimism though to balance out miserable sods like me!

[david in sweden]

This will sound like a very strange thing to many but I truly believe that this has been brilliant for our club.

 

At the end of this window everyone will be able to judge fully the net product of transfers. As it stands I think we are ahead already. We have a better goalkeeper, a CB who like for like cannot be regarded any less good if not better than when we signed Lovren, in Bertrand we have a very capable player and CL winner, Pelle and Long look very strong and offer as much if not more than Lambert and Osvaldo, Taider adds real depth and quality to CM, whilst Tadic looks the real deal. Better than Lallana, who knows, but as he is younger, probably has more development left than Lallana. With a winger confirmed as a target we will certainly have a lot more speed in the side, and a group of players with lots to prove.

 

We have a manager who is quoted as saying he is here for the long haul. I hope he is and if so I think we will look back at this Summer as the best summer ever.

 

 

 

you see, there you go ...coming up with all these common sense arguements and positive predictions.

 

don't you know you'll upset dozens of the " no-hopers " who come on here regularly .....and you're going to get ridiculed by them with equally stupid and nonsensical opinions with the opposite view.

 

Personally, I can't argue with much that you've written, but then again, there isn't much place for optimists around here.

[angelman]

I do find it interesting that the press take the direct opposite view of Koeman than you do. Some say it is PL and with no experience we are doomed. They also think we are weaker. In CB we are, but not in attack. SRL has been elevated to some ridiculous level now, and is seemingly irreplaceable. Same with AL.

 

Guess time will tell, and today, while not being definitive will begin to show us what we can expect.

[hutch]

Hardly, but not as bad as some would have you believe.

 

We've only lost players to Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool. No shame in that. It is just a coincidence that we happened to have so many players at the same time that were wanted by top 6 clubs.

 

We've bought pretty well in the market to replace them, including 5 full internationals.

[Turkish]

Is it still time to protest? Are the board still asset stripping? Are they all tossers?

[Professor]

The manager didn't 'walk out on top of the players', he was first through the door. It's true that Lambert was past his sell-buy date and selling him was probably in the forward plan, but ultimately, the timing was a serious error, letting him go while we had no manager and contrary to the stated policy of the club at that time. The club's board lost the support of many fans by making statements that later appeared to have been less than honest and by failing to live up to the claim by Les Reed that a string of good players were keen to come here. As it is, good players have come in but appear to have been sourced in other ways such as Koeman's past contacts and from the Osvaldo deal. With two players here on loan and starting the season with a weakened back four we may come out of this with a team that is as good or better than last year and a coach who is better than Pochettino. It's far too soon to try to judge how effective the rebuilding has been and whether it took place early enough to make a good start this year. We will only know as the results come in over the coming weeks.

[Colinjb]

I admire the optimism, however, it misses the point as to why this summer was so frustrating. It just proved that clubs of our stature cannot break into the very top of the English game without crazy levels of investment.... And even then FFP is there to stop that.

 

Football now exists to further the bigger clubs. We have our place, should we get ideas above it again we shall be slapped down once more.

[Turkish]

I admire the optimism, however, it misses the point as to why this summer was so frustrating. It just proved that clubs of our stature cannot break into the very top of the English game without crazy levels of investment.... And even then FFP is there to stop that.

 

Football now exists to further the bigger clubs. We have our place, should we get ideas above it again we shall be slapped down once more.

 

Such negativity Colin. We were told on here, even in out league one days, that to make the champions league you don't need to spend billions, you just need dreams and ambition. Are you suggesting all those that said this were talking bol+ocks?

[ENSKIED]

This will sound like a very strange thing to many but I truly believe that this has been brilliant for our club.

 

Over the last four to five years the team had remained very settled with two or three additions each window and the inevitable 'wastage' as poorer players slowly get replaced. The only big sale was Ox when we were still in League One.

 

When poorer players leave and better arrive no one really cares as they see perceived improvement, even though that does not always happen, we have been lucky that it has recently. As the Club rose back up the leagues the core of the team obviously improved until we finished 8th last season. International call-ups and contact with players already at bigger clubs and who were obviously being paid many times more and competing for titles turned the heads of some. This is understandable, but the way some appear to have gone about getting their move is what leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of many. When 5 really good players leave within weeks of each other fans start to panic, media have a juicy story and recruitment becomes far more important. On top of the players, the manager walks out too.

 

Change is very uncomfortable for most, and for those who's emotions are permanently tangled up in a football club, change of the ilk we have seen is difficult to experience and make sense of. Rational thinking for most is lost in the turmoil of change, fear, anger, frustration, and whatever other feelings manifest themselves. But this change could well be the most important and good thing to happen since we came out of administration.

 

Let's assume that Pochettino had stayed. Would all the players have stayed? I doubt it. They were not here for him, if they were why did they not go to Spurs? No, they wanted moves to the Champions League with a big club, fair enough. If we said no to all of them then we would face the potential dilemma of having 5 or 6 disgruntled players who would probably not perform at their peak - no World Cup squad to motivate this season. And so if their form dipped who would come in? Worse players. And without 100m to spend we may have purchased a couple more players but in a side that was under-performing values of Lallana, Lovren, Shaw, Chambers would probably drop and then either January or next summer we would of been faced with the same scenario but now they would not command as high fees.

 

So in my opinion the club have done brilliantly given the fact that the egos of a few have caused this situation. But they were the egos of the leading characters in the club and they effected the culture of the group. We have cleared those egos and begun a revolution, which has no expectation. It's a great place to be. We have a very sound, very experienced, very well respected, a footballing legend as a player and I think a very honest and very cool manager. This is not a club with a project or a five year plan, this is a club with a philosophy.

 

At the end of this window everyone will be able to judge fully the net product of transfers. As it stands I think we are ahead already. We have a better goalkeeper, a CB who like for like cannot be regarded any less good if not better than when we signed Lovren, in Bertrand we have a very capable player and CL winner, Pelle and Long look very strong and offer as much if not more than Lambert and Osvaldo, Taider adds real depth and quality to CM, whilst Tadic looks the real deal. Better than Lallana, who knows, but as he is younger, probably has more development left than Lallana. With a winger confirmed as a target we will certainly have a lot more speed in the side, and a group of players with lots to prove.

 

We have a manager who is quoted as saying he is here for the long haul. I hope he is and if so I think we will look back at this Sumer as the best summer ever.

They do say hope springs eternal!

The post reminds me of a man lost in the desert with little water, and with the heat of the sun frying him, his mind succumbs to delusions. Convinced the mirage ahead is an oasis of pure water, he crawls toward it. While as he does his fertile imagination takes over creating visions of dusky young nubile maidens who living at the paradisical oasis devoid of any male company long for his arrival. He crawls onward until the heat of the sun finally does its work. Later on the man is found dead but with a large beaming grin on his face, which really perplexes the search party.

[altoniansaints]

On the whole of it I agree with this post I doubt tho that it will prove to be our best summer ever! It's been a solid summer under the circumstances but for it to have been our best summer we would have kept hold of at least one of lovren or Lallana! Having said that the window is not closed yet so time will tell! I feel we have done enough rebuilding to at least finish mid table. Another CB and a winger before the window closes and maybe then it could be classed as one of our best summers ever, but we still can't judge that until the end of the season but I'm hoping for a good result today and maybe the negativity will fall away and we can all get on with our job of supporting the team

[MarkSFC]

They do say hope springs eternal!

The post reminds me of a man lost in the desert with little water, and with the heat of the sun frying him, his mind succumbs to delusions. Convinced the mirage ahead is an oasis of pure water, he crawls toward it. While as he does his fertile imagination takes over creating visions of dusky young nubile maidens who living at the paradisical oasis devoid of any male company long for his arrival. He crawls onward until the heat of the sun finally does its work. Later on the man is found dead but with a large beaming grin on his face, which really perplexes the search party.

 

What a nice way to call me an idiot.

 

Far too many people like yourself are unable to see the future and judge the future because they have very little understanding of sport, coaching, psychology and live in the paradigm that sky have created call the Premier League.

 

Reality is vitally important to grasp but without visionaries, optimists, leaders, and believers, the reality never changes. If nothing ever changes what's the point of sport, what's the point of life?

 

I'd rather die with a smile on my face than a look of boredom and acceptance.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Wes Tender]

It has been a frustrating and worrying summer. There has been so much rumour, innuendo and speculation, that it would have been easy to have swept along on a tide of negativity. Happily, for every fan who has been seduced by these tales of doom and gloom, there have been many more who took the far more sensible position, that we should wait and see what transpires by the start of the season, or the closure of the transfer window.

 

Now that we have nearly arrived at those deadlines, we can at least draw some conclusions, now that the dust is almost settled. Although it remains to be seen how the players who have been brought in as replacements perform, arguments can indeed be made that they are of adequate or even better quality than those who left. But the claims that the club is for sale, that KL was asset stripping us, that it was a fire sale, were clearly all rubbish. I'm not expecting any of these journos, or our own fans who made those allegations to apologise. These are people who are never wrong, even when events subsequently prove them to be.

[dubai_phil]

They do say hope springs eternal!

The post reminds me of a man lost in the desert with little water, and with the heat of the sun frying him, his mind succumbs to delusions. Convinced the mirage ahead is an oasis of pure water, he crawls toward it. While as he does his fertile imagination takes over creating visions of dusky young nubile maidens who living at the paradisical oasis devoid of any male company long for his arrival. He crawls onward until the heat of the sun finally does its work. Later on the man is found dead but with a large beaming grin on his face, which really perplexes the search party.

 

This is the problem with the forum. So many people believe they are experts on every subject.

 

Leave the Desert analogies to the Desert Experts thank you very much. The grin on his face is because he had just been watching the Saints down at Barasti.

 

I like the supreme positivity of the OP. Like all of us I have been getting sh1t all summer from fans of other clubs. I've tried to turn the negatives into positives. Some have worked really well.

 

"You signed Rickie Lambert as the replacement for SUAREZ??" Works every time.

"Lallana can only play for 60 minutes, 25 mil for a bench warmer?" Then requires lots of explanations of Heart Operations and the like so that usually fails.

 

My favourite?

 

"Yeah, we knew all along we had to make changes. We are building to a plan for the Champions League. The squad last year wasn't good enough, they could only scrape us into 8th place. We've now brought in better players, strengthened the squad AND got some spare cash in the bank to extend the Stadium, how's your new 3-5-2 system going Plastic Man?"

 

That one works MUCH better than doing a Chicken Little.

 

Oh and my other favourite?

 

"This must have been Alpine's Dream Summer. We finally got to sign 7 players before Deadline day"

 

(Expecting a tonking today, who cares we're meeting the crazy gang again and drinking beer)

[Cabrone]

It's been a busy summer and the club have done as well as they probably could, getting top $ for the sales and buying some decent cheaper replacements. I fully expected those players to go at some time, just not all at the same time. That said the only big disappointment was Chambers, thought he'd hang around a bit longer.

 

Surprised to see so many press predicting we'll go down, I'm thinking more mid to lower mid table comfort. Actually I'm not surprised really, as per usual they've read the headlines and made up the script accordingly.

 

To call it the best ever summer is a bit OTT but some of the dramatic nonsense on here over the last 3 months has been equally ridiculous. It's been as good as it could have been given the circumstances and we've still got cash in the bank if we need it.

 

We'll find out pretty soon anyway.

[ENSKIED]

This is the problem with the forum. So many people believe they are experts on every subject.

 

Leave the Desert analogies to the Desert Experts thank you very much. The grin on his face is because he had just been watching the Saints down at Barasti.

 

I like the supreme positivity of the OP. Like all of us I have been getting sh1t all summer from fans of other clubs. I've tried to turn the negatives into positives. Some have worked really well.

 

"You signed Rickie Lambert as the replacement for SUAREZ??" Works every time.

"Lallana can only play for 60 minutes, 25 mil for a bench warmer?" Then requires lots of explanations of Heart Operations and the like so that usually fails.

 

My favourite?

 

"Yeah, we knew all along we had to make changes. We are building to a plan for the Champions League. The squad last year wasn't good enough, they could only scrape us into 8th place. We've now brought in better players, strengthened the squad AND got some spare cash in the bank to extend the Stadium, how's your new 3-5-2 system going Plastic Man?"

 

That one works MUCH better than doing a Chicken Little.

 

Oh and my other favourite?

 

"This must have been Alpine's Dream Summer. We finally got to sign 7 players before Deadline day"

 

(Expecting a tonking today, who cares we're meeting the crazy gang again and drinking beer)

 

Leave the desert analogies to the desert experts? Really? You have to be a "desert expert" to know when you are being baked and dying of thirst - really?

 

Well here's a diagnosis in a field in which I am an eminent expert, you've undergone a humour by-pass and here's the good news - it worked.

 

Re-read the post and Relax! Life is too short and I'm something of an expert on that too . . . . . .

[OldNick]

It's been a busy summer and the club have done as well as they probably could, getting top $ for the sales and buying some decent cheaper replacements. I fully expected those players to go at some time, just not all at the same time. That said the only big disappointment was Chambers, thought he'd hang around a bit longer.

 

Surprised to see so many press predicting we'll go down, I'm thinking more mid to lower mid table comfort. Actually I'm not surprised really, as per usual they've read the headlines and made up the script accordingly.

 

To call it the best ever summer is a bit OTT but some of the dramatic nonsense on here over the last 3 months has been equally ridiculous. It's been as good as it could have been given the circumstances and we've still got cash in the bank if we need it.

 

We'll find out pretty soon anyway.

they did well in what they achieved for transfers (although Lovren was worth more to us ) but if you believe that Lambert + 8m for. Long is good business then I don't concur.

I accept that Shaw AL and RL would go but that is when the drawbridge should have been pulled up. No use using MS as the lamb to slaughter when the damage had been done.

As for relegation, we won't know for 5or6 games. We need the new team to gel instantly

[ENSKIED]

What a nice way to call me an idiot.

 

Far too many people like yourself are unable to see the future and judge the future because they have very little understanding of sport, coaching, psychology and live in the paradigm that sky have created call the Premier League.

 

Reality is vitally important to grasp but without visionaries, optimists, leaders, and believers, the reality never changes. If nothing ever changes what's the point of sport, what's the point of life?

 

I'd rather die with a smile on my face than a look of boredom and acceptance.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Couldn't be father from the truth I don't know you and thereby I would never call you or even imply you're an idiot, you have inferred that of your own reasoning process. In fact you seem a really decent person who has manufactured a dream from what appears to be a potential disaster and you enter the dream [hope springs eternal] - didn't you get the beaming smile on the face bit? No? The mirage becomes true to you and you've passed into a heaven. Scouse humour is prevalent and maybe a little subcutaneous as I can deduce on here [you'll get used to me] and we all know why Scousers require a cutting sense of humour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .please fill in the blanks

[OldNick]

What a nice way to call me an idiot.

 

Far too many people like yourself are unable to see the future and judge the future because they have very little understanding of sport, coaching, psychology and live in the paradigm that sky have created call the Premier League.

 

Reality is vitally important to grasp but without visionaries, optimists, leaders, and believers, the reality never changes. If nothing ever changes what's the point of sport, what's the point of life?

 

I'd rather die with a smile on my face than a look of boredom and acceptance.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

funny how you think you were being called an idiot when your 2 posts gave the impression everyone else was.

As for understanding sport I think you should look in the mirror. Teams when they have lost their star players and characters are normally a shadow of the the team before. Koeman may be a brilliant man manger but to gel a team so quickly and get the spirit high is a mammoth task. Especially if you have a couple of players sulking either by feeling hard done by or now not No 1choice.

Im pleased you enjoyed watching the players leave in the summer and had a good exciting time, personally I hope that your optimism is well founded. Whatever the result today it will not be a barometer of our season, the next 4 or 5 games after that will though.

Here's hoping

[Leicestersaint]

The weather has been fairly good this summer - ripping our team to shreds has been a bit of a down side though.

[Wes Tender]

.... but if you believe that Lambert + 8m for Long is good business then I don't concur.

 

Equally Tadic and £15 million was fantastic business for Lallana, wasn't it? Of course, you'll say that we will have to wait and see, but somehow that isn't your position when you assess whether Long will be worth every penny of what we spent on him. And there are no guarantees are there, that Ricky would have been the player he has been these past few seasons. Lambert + £4 million for Pelle? That sounds reasonable.

Edited 17 August, 2014 by Wes Tender
additional thought

[OldNick]

Equally Tadic and £15 million was fantastic business for Lallana, wasn't it? Of course, you'll say that we will have to wait and see, but somehow that isn't your position when you assess whether Long will be worth every penny of what we spent on him. And there are no guarantees are there, that Ricky would have been the player he has been these past few seasons.

Fair point, and I hope Long turns out to be a fantastic signing. I am not concerned about AL because I think he was replaceable and hopefully Tadic turns out well. We were pretty amateur in our business, buy before we had sold and the prices would have been lower. The clubs held us to ransom and any massive gain is eroded due to the sellers knowing we have a pocket full of readies. RL was not only a goal scored, he was our talisman and provider of goals, very hard to replace IMO

[Whitey Grandad]

Fair point, and I hope Long turns out to be a fantastic signing. I am not concerned about AL because I think he was replaceable and hopefully Tadic turns out well. We were pretty amateur in our business, buy before we had sold and the prices would have been lower. The clubs held us to ransom and any massive gain is eroded due to the sellers knowing we have a pocket full of readies. RL was not only a goal scored, he was our talisman and provider of goals, very hard to replace IMO

 

Buy before you sell and you could end up with too many players to fit in the dressing room. Tap up your targets, sorry, that should read 'identify and sound out your targets through the proper channels' and be fairly confident of securing them and I'd agree with you. Of course, we knew that Liverhampton had sold Suarez for Monopoly money so we could squeeze the maximum juice out of them too.

[OldNick]

Buy before you sell and you could end up with too many players to fit in the dressing room. Tap up your targets, sorry, that should read 'identify and sound out your targets through the proper channels' and be fairly confident of securing them and I'd agree with you. Of course, we knew that Liverhampton had sold Suarez for Monopoly money so we could squeeze the maximum juice out of them too.

That's fine but don't big it up that we have been so shrewd and clever in selling like some do. We gained a bit and lost a bit, add to that the targets coming in and seeing a strong squad may have been more keen than when they saw us in meltdown.

[dubai_phil]

Fair point, and I hope Long turns out to be a fantastic signing. I am not concerned about AL because I think he was replaceable and hopefully Tadic turns out well. We were pretty amateur in our business, buy before we had sold and the prices would have been lower. The clubs held us to ransom and any massive gain is eroded due to the sellers knowing we have a pocket full of readies. RL was not only a goal scored, he was our talisman and provider of goals, very hard to replace IMO

 

I agree with your sentiments Nick, especially think that the bond we did have between the players last year was something very special and that we may never see again for a long time. Certainly that has been poisoned in this summer as the leavers, MS & Boruc appear to have shown.

 

I do however recommend that article in The Independent today. Reed does make a very valid point in that the club did have to wait for Koeman to get his feet under the desk, assess what he had and THEN involve him in the process of selecting replacements. He may not be in charge of player recruitment but it was good to see that the club stated they wanted his inputs, it was a big stick that TSW has used to beat the club with in the past.

 

This season really is all about the start, we get off to a flyer then the new spirit will take hold quickly and gelling becomes easier. If we don't? #shudder.

 

I still think we need another CB, but then maybe the club think Stephens could be ready by mid season and after a Capital One Cup debut. Who knows?

 

I'd still rather be a Saints fan right now than Palarce or Villa that is for sure. Hell, having read FB and some of the press this morning, right now I feel a helluva lot better about this season than most of the Manure fans I know! One of them I know put 50 quid on them being relegated last night!

[Whitey Grandad]

That's fine but don't big it up that we have been so shrewd and clever in selling like some do. We gained a bit and lost a bit, add to that the targets coming in and seeing a strong squad may have been more keen than when they saw us in meltdown.

 

I certainly don't think it was ever planned out this way and I suspect that things got out of control for a while but I don't think the circumstances helped. Cortese skulked off, then Pochettino, then the World Cup turned up and got in the way. Not much could be done until the new manager was sorted but by then Liverpool in the form of Gerrard had already turned players' heads. Hence the grand clear-out and refurbishment.

[sadoldgit]

Like every new season we start with zero points on the board. What happens happens and there is no guarantee that if Pochettino had stayed we would have pushed on from last year. Let us just enjoy the football and see what happens.

[VectisSaint]

Problem with the OP is that he is just comparing players out with players in. I too think that Lambert going was no great problem, Pelle is a good prospect, and replacing Lallana with Tadic is probably not a downgrade. Lovren was never as good as some people thougt and was helped out so many times by Fonte getting him out of jail. Shaw willbecome a great player, but like for like Bertrand is currently as good if not better. I have a big problem that we let Chambers go, big mistake and unneccesary, and sorry to say but I don't think Forseter is currently better than Boruc (England's No 3 better than Poland's No 1, no way Jose) but he may be in a year or two. No, the two big problems that are not covered are (a) the loss of the togetherness and team spirit, and (b) more importantly we have failed completely to address the issue of a very poor squad in terms of depth. Brendan Rodgers was quoted yesterday that we were heading for the CL, we clearly had a team (11 or 12) that were capable of beating anyone in the PL on their day. But we don't have a squad with enough depth to cover injuries and suspensions and that is what ultimately prevents us ever breaking into the top 6. Well we ended last season with a very small squad and we are now in the same situation but this time at the start of the season, we have not strengthened the squad. We appear to have gone backwards in the goalkeeping department if Boruc has been alienated, stood still in our weak area at CB, if Jos is still "on the roster" we know we are in trouble, and gone seriously backwards in the LB position.

 

Anyway we'll see how we get on today and in the next few weeks, but to say we have done great this summer really is stretching it a bit, rose tinted glasses and all that.

[spyinthesky]

Problem with the OP is that he is just comparing players out with players in. I too think that Lambert going was no great problem, Pelle is a good prospect, and replacing Lallana with Tadic is probably not a downgrade. Lovren was never as good as some people thougt and was helped out so many times by Fonte getting him out of jail. Shaw willbecome a great player, but like for like Bertrand is currently as good if not better. I have a big problem that we let Chambers go, big mistake and unneccesary, and sorry to say but I don't think Forseter is currently better than Boruc (England's No 3 better than Poland's No 1, no way Jose) but he may be in a year or two. No, the two big problems that are not covered are (a) the loss of the togetherness and team spirit, and (b) more importantly we have failed completely to address the issue of a very poor squad in terms of depth. Brendan Rodgers was quoted yesterday that we were heading for the CL, we clearly had a team (11 or 12) that were capable of beating anyone in the PL on their day. But we don't have a squad with enough depth to cover injuries and suspensions and that is what ultimately prevents us ever breaking into the top 6. Well we ended last season with a very small squad and we are now in the same situation but this time at the start of the season, we have not strengthened the squad. We appear to have gone backwards in the goalkeeping department if Boruc has been alienated, stood still in our weak area at CB, if Jos is still "on the roster" we know we are in trouble, and gone seriously backwards in the LB position.

 

Anyway we'll see how we get on today and in the next few weeks, but to say we have done great this summer really is stretching it a bit, rose tinted glasses and all that.

 

I suspect most of all would be feeling fairly positive now if we had been able to keep our squad together and quite optimistic of challenging for honours if the squad had been improved.

 

As it is, I guess quite a few of us feel we will be looking over our collective shoulders (or even worse looking to close the gap on the teams above us to get out of the bottom 3 this season.

 

However perhaps the expectation level had cranked up a gear or two last year and a season of relative mediocrity but avoiding the drop will be seen as a good result.

 

btw thanks for the optimistic posters on here. They always help the poor old timers amongst us who tend to only remember the seasons of struggle and forget there have been a good number of 'Happy Days'!!

[spyinthesky]

Problem with the OP is that he is just comparing players out with players in. I too think that Lambert going was no great problem, Pelle is a good prospect, and replacing Lallana with Tadic is probably not a downgrade. Lovren was never as good as some people thougt and was helped out so many times by Fonte getting him out of jail. Shaw willbecome a great player, but like for like Bertrand is currently as good if not better. I have a big problem that we let Chambers go, big mistake and unneccesary, and sorry to say but I don't think Forseter is currently better than Boruc (England's No 3 better than Poland's No 1, no way Jose) but he may be in a year or two. No, the two big problems that are not covered are (a) the loss of the togetherness and team spirit, and (b) more importantly we have failed completely to address the issue of a very poor squad in terms of depth. Brendan Rodgers was quoted yesterday that we were heading for the CL, we clearly had a team (11 or 12) that were capable of beating anyone in the PL on their day. But we don't have a squad with enough depth to cover injuries and suspensions and that is what ultimately prevents us ever breaking into the top 6. Well we ended last season with a very small squad and we are now in the same situation but this time at the start of the season, we have not strengthened the squad. We appear to have gone backwards in the goalkeeping department if Boruc has been alienated, stood still in our weak area at CB, if Jos is still "on the roster" we know we are in trouble, and gone seriously backwards in the LB position.

 

Anyway we'll see how we get on today and in the next few weeks, but to say we have done great this summer really is stretching it a bit, rose tinted glasses and all that.

 

I suspect most of all would be feeling fairly positive now if we had been able to keep our squad together and quite optimistic of challenging for honours if the squad had been improved.

 

As it is, I guess quite a few of us feel we will be looking over our collective shoulders (or even worse looking to close the gap on the teams above us to get out of the bottom 3 this season.

 

However perhaps the expectation level had cranked up a gear or two last year and a season of relative mediocrity but avoiding the drop will be seen as a good result.

 

btw thanks for the optimistic posters on here. They always help the poor old timers amongst us who tend to only remember the seasons of struggle and forget there have been a good number of 'Happy Days'!!

[Whitey Grandad]

I suspect most of all would be feeling fairly positive now if we had been able to keep our squad together and quite optimistic of challenging for honours if the squad had been improved.

 

As it is, I guess quite a few of us feel we will be looking over our collective shoulders (or even worse looking to close the gap on the teams above us to get out of the bottom 3 this season.

 

However perhaps the expectation level had cranked up a gear or two last year and a season of relative mediocrity but avoiding the drop will be seen as a good result.

 

btw thanks for the optimistic posters on here. They always help the poor old timers amongst us who tend to only remember the seasons of struggle and forget there have been a good number of 'Happy Days'!!

 

I'm pleased to have helped, if I have

 

Sometimes you have to have a clear out and bring in a fresh lot in order to make progress. For what it's worth, whilst we did ok last year I feel that we were still a few players away from ever improving.

[Whitey Grandad]

I suspect most of all would be feeling fairly positive now if we had been able to keep our squad together and quite optimistic of challenging for honours if the squad had been improved.

 

As it is, I guess quite a few of us feel we will be looking over our collective shoulders (or even worse looking to close the gap on the teams above us to get out of the bottom 3 this season.

 

However perhaps the expectation level had cranked up a gear or two last year and a season of relative mediocrity but avoiding the drop will be seen as a good result.

 

btw thanks for the optimistic posters on here. They always help the poor old timers amongst us who tend to only remember the seasons of struggle and forget there have been a good number of 'Happy Days'!!

 

I'm pleased to have helped, if I have

 

Sometimes you have to have a clear out and bring in a fresh lot in order to make progress. For what it's worth, whilst we did ok last year I feel that we were still a few players away from ever improving.