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Claude Puel's 1st day training tomorrow


Matthew Le God

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Pelle, Cedric and Jose should all come back from the Euros feeling positive, seeing how far their national teams have gone in the competition. Even if they don't make the final, which at the moment is still possible, they've had a really good summer. Will have done their reputations with CP no harm at all, Pelle especially. Jose has continued his solid form, while Cedric really seems to have grabbed his opportunity. Unlike the 2014 World Cup, when Southampton players who went to Brazil mostly left the club soon afterwards, the six outfield players who played in France provide a good base for the Saints' team in the coming season.

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That's all I know for now. It was extremely difficult last season... All of the u21's wanted to go out on loan (this season). That will have now changed with Puel coming in. Nothing that was reported but we have a happy and now motivated bunch of players as of today!

 

I was kinda happy with the unhappy and demotivated bunch of players who powered through to finish sixth, but that's just me.

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That's all I know for now. It was extremely difficult last season... All of the u21's wanted to go out on loan (this season). That will have now changed with Puel coming in. Nothing that was reported but we have a happy and now motivated bunch of players as of today!

 

Good to know. Cheers. Will be interesting to see who can kick-on this season. Puel will get a really good look at them whilst a lot of the senior team are still absent.

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That'll be a disappointment IMO, we can't just stand still so we need replacements for those players AND improvement in other areas.

 

I doubt much improvement in any of our current players, though the likes of Cedric & Clasie may improve as they won't be new to the league anymore and hopefully JWP and Targett will kick on a bit but aside that we don't have any youngsters that will suddenly burst onto the scene and most of the other players are probably as good as they are going to be.

 

There are of course question marks around Jay Rod and to a lesser extent Austin, fully fit and back on form those two could be massive but it's a big IF, especially for Jay Rod.

 

Every other Prem club is awash with cash and will probably improve, with their new managers it's almost certain that Man Utd, Man City and Chelsea will improve a lot.

 

Biggest improvement are for me would a no.10 as other have mentioned, someone to score us some worldys, turn a drab game around etc. If we had a Payet, Mahrez or Coutinho last year we'd be currently in the Champions League.

 

I'd also worry about our centre back cover as well. I'd be looking for someone that could challenge Fonte's spot.

 

Plus maybe a better right back or more quality there and there are question marks about our Strikers, though I think a fully fit season from Austin could easily be a 20 goals man and considering that guy is on the bench for Belgium and scored 17 goals for nice is going for nearly £40 million it might be an optimistic area.

 

I'd hope if the rumours about them being available we'd look at Ox-Chamberlain, Morgan and Chambers, plus I quite like the potential interest in Behrahino, also depending on price and wages maybe look at Benteke.

 

Every year people speculate that we will not invest to improve but we generally do. 24 players is not enough for the demands of Europe. We need a keeper (all clubs at our level have at least 3), a new CB as Fonte needs a long term successor, a defensive midfielder and maybe some under 21 talent from other clubs.

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I get the feeling the unhappy ones were the under 21s ....

 

Yep. Koeman was openly very dismissive of the youth teams, made no effort to praise or encourage them and barely ever watched them play. Compare that to Poch who would travel up north for U21 games, knew the names of kids at lower age groups and spent a lot of time motivating them. They used to routinely train with the first team squad yet Koeman put a stop to that and pretty much placed a barrier between them and the academy.

 

A club renowned for youth development who want to encourage the best youngsters of all ages to join needs a first team manager that, at the very least, gives the impression he cares about progression. Koeman didn't, and the academy will be a better place for his departure.

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