Summer Transfer Window 2021

[beavis17]

Fabian Schar anyone? 
 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-9902287/Steve-Bruce-pushes-Newcastle-sign-Hamza-Choudhury-loan-Leicester.html

[CB Fry]

Adarabioyo

Adarabi-o-yo

I want Adarabioyo and I want one now

 

Edited 17 August, 2021 by CB Fry

[Dusic]

https://www.footballinsider247.com/sources-35000-a-week-deal-offered-to-rangers-and-southampton-target-cahill/

One year contract on the table for Cahill according to Wayne Veysey.

Must admit I don't know much on the reliability of this guy but do recall MLG talking him up, so probably pretty genuine.

Personally feel Cahill would have been a good signing when Palace got him, but would be a cheap option now, and probably a squad option rather than a regular starter. Wouldn't be very pleased if he replaced Vestergaard.

[Matthew Le God]

1 minute ago, Dusic said:

Must admit I don't know much on the reliability of this guy but do recall MLG talking him up, so probably pretty genuine.

[Baird of the land]

Unless there’s a release clause you wonder if Fulham would even sell. They look massive favorites to win the championship.

On the other hand forest could probably do with worrall funds to try and improve their squad.

[DT]

Social media bigging up Simeu. We are skint , clearly. Gambling on him against Man U would be disastrous potentially, nog least for his confidence. Need to buy a CB. Surely we aren’t going to try and muddle through 

[Billy the Kidd]

Jeez you continue to overlook the fact we are buying a CB, is that as it doesn’t fit your agenda?

[Matthew Le God]

6 minutes ago, DT said:

Social media bigging up Simeu. We are skint , clearly. Gambling on him against Man U would be disastrous potentially, nog least for his confidence. Need to buy a CB. Surely we aren’t going to try and muddle through 

He is possibly only there because in an eleven a side training practice game they needed 4 central defenders, until another is signed somebody had to make up the numbers from the under 23s. 

[egg]

9 minutes ago, DT said:

Social media bigging up Simeu. We are skint , clearly. Gambling on him against Man U would be disastrous potentially, nog least for his confidence. Need to buy a CB. Surely we aren’t going to try and muddle through 

Behave! He ain't playing against Man Utd. We'll sign another CB. Relax. 

[S-Clarke]

10 minutes ago, DT said:

Social media bigging up Simeu. We are skint , clearly. Gambling on him against Man U would be disastrous potentially, nog least for his confidence. Need to buy a CB. Surely we aren’t going to try and muddle through 

How have you worked that out?

You don't half get your nickers in a twist sometimes.

[CB Fry]

14 minutes ago, DT said:

Social media bigging up Simeu. We are skint , clearly. Gambling on him against Man U would be disastrous potentially, nog least for his confidence. Need to buy a CB. Surely we aren’t going to try and muddle through 

Jesus wept.

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, CityRanger said:

Sign him up , incredible interception stats.

How do they compare to Bednareks?

[woodsaint1]

1 hour ago, Chez said:

is 160+ games not seasoned? VVD was also 24 and had only played 130 games when he signed for us. Not sure anyone was using terms like `youth' and `seasoned' then, but I guess playing for Celtic in the Champions League trumps championship experience - and it was obvious he was top draw.

Have you in anyone in mind? CB is a really tough position to find talent.

Yeah its not the number of games, more so the quality of opposition - european competitions, international football, top flight football. But even thats not a given with the likes of Hoedt and Forren we've had before. 

Caleta-Car or Kabak strike me as the best options we've been linked with. Both young but for their age have a breadth of experience playing european competitions, internationals and have some big clubs on their CV. Would even like to see us explore a loan option before spending 10-15m on Worrall

[Turkish]

39 minutes ago, DT said:

Social media bigging up Simeu. We are skint , clearly. Gambling on him against Man U would be disastrous potentially, nog least for his confidence. Need to buy a CB. Surely we aren’t going to try and muddle through 

I have it on good authority from a VERY reliable source he’s going to start as front sweeper on Sunday against United 

[Pat from Poole]

1 hour ago, beavis17 said:

Fabian Schar anyone? 
 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-9902287/Steve-Bruce-pushes-Newcastle-sign-Hamza-Choudhury-loan-Leicester.html

Could do a lot worse than Schar.

Though I think Worrall would have a more imposing presence.

[Badger]

2 minutes ago, Pat from Poole said:

Could do a lot worse than Schar.

Though I think Worrall would have a more imposing presence.

Would have liked Schar when Fonte left. I read we tried only to have the price jacked up.

[danjosaint]

2 minutes ago, Badger said:

Would have liked Schar when Fonte left. I read we tried only to have the price jacked up.

Correct, they added £5m to his price 

[Saint-Reece]

58 minutes ago, DT said:

Social media bigging up Simeu. We are skint , clearly. Gambling on him against Man U would be disastrous potentially, nog least for his confidence. Need to buy a CB. Surely we aren’t going to try and muddle through 

Hilarious as usual. 🤣 

[Dusic]

29 minutes ago, Pat from Poole said:

Could do a lot worse than Schar.

Though I think Worrall would have a more imposing presence.

League starts last 3 years for Newcastle: 22, 18, 13 (last season)

Aged 29, poor injury record. No chance we go after him and nor should we.

[Badger]

Just now, Dusic said:

League starts last 3 years for Newcastle: 22, 18, 13 (last season)

Aged 29, poor injury record. No chance we go after him and nor should we.

Didn't we crock him in the game up there last season ?

[Toadhall Saint]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

I have it on good authority from a VERY reliable source he’s going to start as front sweeper on Sunday against United 

You’ll tip him over the edge - do you want that on your conscience?

[Appy]

42 minutes ago, Badger said:

Didn't we crock him in the game up there last season ?

Yeah, down to nine men. 
 

Obviously lost. 

[CB Fry]

New Athletic article this morning covering centre back search.

Says Nat Phillips is not in the frame but might be if circumstances change (to be clear its a really vague article)

A pointless paragraph on Cahill concluding he's not our type. Kabak briefly mentioned as a possible.

Really the main target seems to be this Tosin Adarabioyo from Fulham. A bit of analysis on why he is a good option and fits our Young/Hungry/GTI requirement.

Lastly no mention at all of Worrall, which in an article that is essentially just a scattergun list it's interesting that he doesn't even make the cut. So maybe nothing there.

All in all Sheldon/The Athletic are pretty much just fulfilling their contractual obligation to write a new article about Saints 3 times a week. As a result it is little better than a post on here. 

You're welcome.

 

 

[SuperSAINT]

40 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

New Athletic article this morning covering centre back search.

Says Nat Phillips is not in the frame but might be if circumstances change (to be clear its a really vague article)

A pointless paragraph on Cahill concluding he's not our type. Kabak briefly mentioned as a possible.

Really the main target seems to be this Tosin Adarabioyo from Fulham. A bit of analysis on why he is a good option and fits our Young/Hungry/GTI requirement.

Lastly no mention at all of Worrall, which in an article that is essentially just a scattergun list it's interesting that he doesn't even make the cut. So maybe nothing there.

All in all Sheldon/The Athletic are pretty much just fulfilling their contractual obligation to write a new article about Saints 3 times a week. As a result it is little better than a post on here. 

You're welcome.

 

 

Worst of all it re-uses the infamous Les Reed mantra: Club insiders insist they are relaxed about selling the Denmark international to Leicester and are confident he will be adequately replaced.

[ErwinK1961]

1 hour ago, CB Fry said:

New Athletic article this morning covering centre back search.

Says Nat Phillips is not in the frame but might be if circumstances change (to be clear its a really vague article)

A pointless paragraph on Cahill concluding he's not our type. Kabak briefly mentioned as a possible.

Really the main target seems to be this Tosin Adarabioyo from Fulham. A bit of analysis on why he is a good option and fits our Young/Hungry/GTI requirement.

Lastly no mention at all of Worrall, which in an article that is essentially just a scattergun list it's interesting that he doesn't even make the cut. So maybe nothing there.

All in all Sheldon/The Athletic are pretty much just fulfilling their contractual obligation to write a new article about Saints 3 times a week. As a result it is little better than a post on here. 

You're welcome.

 

 

Wish I’d seen this before I’d read it. An accurate summary, in a lot less words.

They (Athletic/Sheldon) really don’t have a clue. Lots of guess work, I miss Carl.

[st alex]

Would Fabio Carvalho be out of our league from Fulham? Impressed against us at the end of last season and has started this season well enough. Looks like an upgrade on Redmond/Walcott/Djenepo.

I guess we're just doing this one centre back and then deciding the rest of the squad's good enough to scrape by.

Edited 18 August, 2021 by st alex

[tajjuk]

1 hour ago, SuperSAINT said:

Worst of all it re-uses the infamous Les Reed mantra: Club insiders insist they are relaxed about selling the Denmark international to Leicester and are confident he will be adequately replaced.

Isn't this basically re-iterating what most have said on here, that Vestergaard is not that good and therefore is really not that hard to replace or in fact improve on. I get the impression that the club didn't exactly move heaven and earth to get him to sign a contract. 

He had one good 6 month period and was generally below par the rest of the time, was horribly slow and his passing ability often IMO meant people less noticed his poor defensive ability. 

We also then got £15 million for him, so only about £3 million less than we paid for him, when he was 3 years older and only had a year left on his contract. 

I've seen a lot of comments on the outside looking in that we have 'sold our best players' this summer, now that is a definite with Ings I don't think anyone can argue with that. But with with Vestergaard and Bertrand I don't think that is true at all and I suspect the club were probably happy to get their wages (and a fee for Vestergaard) off the books so we could sign younger players better suited for our game. 

Edited 18 August, 2021 by tajjuk

[FarehamSaintJames]

Most of these articles that keep popping up are re-hashes of the last.

Shocked and underwhelmed if Cahill was signed, we have pocketed a fair bit of money and should prioritise experience and a marque signing now, not some ‘potential’ player from lower leagues.

I’m confident we will score goals this season, but defensively I am not convinced, CM cover, CB and GK positions are the exact problem now, fix two of them now and we move a few places up the league.

 

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, SuperSAINT said:

Worst of all it re-uses the infamous Les Reed mantra: Club insiders insist they are relaxed about selling the Denmark international to Leicester and are confident he will be adequately replaced.

Why do i always shudder when i hear the club are relaxed about something?

[egg]

5 minutes ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

Most of these articles that keep popping up are re-hashes of the last.

Shocked and underwhelmed if Cahill was signed, we have pocketed a fair bit of money and should prioritise experience and a marque signing now, not some ‘potential’ player from lower leagues.

I’m confident we will score goals this season, but defensively I am not convinced, CM cover, CB and GK positions are the exact problem now, fix two of them now and we move a few places up the league.

 

I'd be fine with it. He knows the league, won't need half a season to adjust, and will get us through the season with some experience and on field leadership. Who knows, Simeu may be more ready to then step up. 

[DT]

11 minutes ago, egg said:

I'd be fine with it. He knows the league, won't need half a season to adjust, and will get us through the season with some experience and on field leadership. Who knows, Simeu may be more ready to then step up. 

Agree. Cahill would be good steady eddie if we signed another serious player for when his legs go after 200 minutes...

[WALK DMC]

38 minutes ago, tajjuk said:

Isn't this basically re-iterating what most have said on here, that Vestergaard is not that good and therefore is really not that hard to replace or in fact improve on. I get the impression that the club didn't exactly move heaven and earth to get him to sign a contract. 

He had one good 6 month period and was generally below par the rest of the time, was horribly slow and his passing ability often IMO meant people less noticed his poor defensive ability. 

We also then got £15 million for him, so only about £3 million less than we paid for him, when he was 3 years older and only had a year left on his contract. 

I've seen a lot of comments on the outside looking in that we have 'sold our best players' this summer, now that is a definite with Ings I don't think anyone can argue with that. But with with Vestergaard and Bertrand I don't think that is true at all and I suspect the club were probably happy to get their wages (and a fee for Vestergaard) off the books so we could sign younger players better suited for our game. 

A really good summary - I pretty much agree with everything you are saying. However, I really don't think we should underestimate the loss of three experienced, solid international players all in the same window. Each of them had some flaws, but they had been around and knew the Premier league - that experience is difficult to replace, particularly when we only have 37 games now to get to safety ....   

I also think that while Bertrand wasn't at his peak, he wasn't quite the disaster some on here paint him as, he played further back last year to cover for KWP's cavalier runs on the other side, so it wasn't just age that stopped him getting forward as much. 

Either way - will be interesting to see who replaces Vest - I am in the Cahill plus one other camp (the Forest guy looks interesting) 

[Jeremy Corbyn]

19 minutes ago, adriansfc said:

The Athletic is great. But Sheldon's not been a very good pick for Saints. Carl seemed more into it and got more club contacts. Right now it's not much more than I'd expect from the echo. 

Carl was excellent, built strong contacts and also put lots of effort in to his analysis.  For his article on Salisu he went in to great depth about his background in Ghana and his stats in La Liga.  Unfortunately with Sheldon every article feels like "oh shit I need to write something in the next half an hour".

Carl also engaged with the fans and seemed a lot more interested in general with what was going on.

[Alanh]

I'm a big fan of having an on field leader at CB so experience plays a big part, but I can't get on board with Cahill being the answer.  He only played in 20 league games for Palace last season so I can't see him playing more for another Premier league team this season.  If we were to get him that would mean regular disruption to our CB line up, which I don't see as a good thing.  Get experience that can play 30 plus games.  not sure who that is - possibly Phil Jones if he will accept the right wages and can prove his fitenss.

[Turkish]

31 minutes ago, egg said:

I'd be fine with it. He knows the league, won't need half a season to adjust, and will get us through the season with some experience and on field leadership. Who knows, Simeu may be more ready to then step up. 

Exactly my view. As a low risk stop gap he's perfect. Can come in a do a job straight away for a year and help the other players along. As we wont be able to sell him for a profit though i guess the club wouldn't even entertain the idea 🙄

[DT]

Perhaps he could also be a defensive coach after he hangs up his boots. Could be good all round.

[trousers]

48 minutes ago, egg said:

I'd be fine with it. He knows the league, won't need half a season to adjust, and will get us through the season with some experience and on field leadership. Who knows, Simeu may be more ready to then step up. 

 

13 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Exactly my view. As a low risk stop gap he's perfect. Can come in a do a job straight away for a year and help the other players along. 

Yep, said the same last week. Seems common sense to me (on a one year deal).

[wild-saint]

16 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Exactly my view. As a low risk stop gap he's perfect. Can come in a do a job straight away for a year and help the other players along. As we wont be able to sell him for a profit though i guess the club wouldn't even entertain the idea 🙄

id argue that we sign him and one of the other targets particularly if they can play in DM

[hypochondriac]

7 minutes ago, wild-saint said:

id argue that we sign him and one of the other targets particularly if they can play in DM

Cahill and then a DM would be my preferred option. 

[Saint Garrett]

2 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Cahill and then a DM would be my preferred option. 

And a keeper and then a "ten"

[VectisSaint]

20 minutes ago, Alanh said:

I'm a big fan of having an on field leader at CB so experience plays a big part, but I can't get on board with Cahill being the answer.  He only played in 20 league games for Palace last season so I can't see him playing more for another Premier league team this season.  If we were to get him that would mean regular disruption to our CB line up, which I don't see as a good thing.  Get experience that can play 30 plus games.  not sure who that is - possibly Phil Jones if he will accept the right wages and can prove his fitenss.

Reports this morning that Jones is not leaving Man U, OGS has plans for him as 5th choice CB.

[hypochondriac]

4 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

And a keeper and then a "ten"

Yes but I'm thinking about what's realistic. I think we can avoid relegation without a ten or a keeper, I don't think we can without a dm if romeu or jwp is out injured for any period. 

[Maya's Dad]

1 hour ago, adriansfc said:

The Athletic is great. But Sheldon's not been a very good pick for Saints. Carl seemed more into it and got more club contacts. Right now it's not much more than I'd expect from the echo. 

yeah exactly. if i was signing up now i would be pissed with the level of work sheldon gives. carl were the good days, not sure if we will get it but a change would be welcome

[tajjuk]

Not completely against Cahill but not as the main option, someone experienced to have about the squad, show a good example, play the odd game, maybe play in a back 3 if we needed to switch to that etc. but I think really we'd want a clear starting centre-back as well.

Dujleta-Carr would be my first choice I think, Tosin Adarabioyo and the Forest guy also seem decent. 

[Turkish]

6 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Yes but I'm thinking about what's realistic. I think we can avoid relegation without a ten or a keeper, I don't think we can without a dm if romeu or jwp is out injured for any period. 

Forgive me but isn't a number 10 simply a central attacking midfielder? If so we dont really play with one in Ralphballs 4-2-2-2 system. 

[TWar]

5 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Forgive me but isn't a number 10 simply a central attacking midfielder? If so we dont really play with one in Ralphballs 4-2-2-2 system. 

The two attacking midfielders (Armstrong/Djenepo/Walcott/Redmond/Tella/Ely) are called 10's by Ralph as they often line up more narrow than the strikers/CMs. Last season we would often play with an asymmetric formation of Armstrong centrally as a true 10, Redmond/Djenepo wider as a winger and then have KWP push forward and Bertrand sit back to account for this. Sort of like a 3412. Not sure if the same thing is true this season, in the opening game Walcott and Djenepo played very wide and it looked a lot more like a traditional 442 with overlapping fullbacks. I suspect this change in shape is why Armstrong was benched.

Edited 18 August, 2021 by TWar

[hypochondriac]

3 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Forgive me but isn't a number 10 simply a central attacking midfielder? If so we dont really play with one in Ralphballs 4-2-2-2 system. 

Well exactly. I don't think we need any more attacking players this summer. I do think we will regret not getting a dm. 

[The Curse of St Mary's]

I'm interested to know from others on thoughts as to why we are so bad defensively therefore can we address it in this window?

Some questions I have asked myself to try and figure it out.

Is it Ralph's tactics and in game management the main problem?

Is the root cause being both keepers are very average if not below average? Do we have the worst goalkeepers in the league?

Are the centre backs better than our relegation rivals CB's?

Is the defence lacking protection from midfield therefore a true CdM would help ?

Are the team so scarred from the 0-9 matches that there is a huge psychological barrier involved ?

For me it's a culmination of the all of the above so no quick fix having said that weve had 4 windows since the first 0-9 to try and at least find some solutions. 

 

[TWar]

16 minutes ago, The Curse of St Mary's said:

I'm interested to know from others on thoughts as to why we are so bad defensively therefore can we address it in this window?

Some questions I have asked myself to try and figure it out.

Is it Ralph's tactics and in game management the main problem?

Is the root cause being both keepers are very average if not below average? Do we have the worst goalkeepers in the league?

Are the centre backs better than our relegation rivals CB's?

Is the defence lacking protection from midfield therefore a true CdM would help ?

Are the team so scarred from the 0-9 matches that there is a huge psychological barrier involved ?

For me it's a culmination of the all of the above so no quick fix having said that weve had 4 windows since the first 0-9 to try and at least find some solutions. 

 

Our poor defending is due to:

A) Truly crap goalkeeper who is poor at many things including commanding his box and filling CB's with confidence

B) One bad CB (Stephens), one average CB (Bednarek), and one with a tonne of potential but needs to sharpen up and learn the prem a little more (Salisu)

C) Sloppy passers in midfield (Djenepo, Walcott, Romeu) who put us under pressure when we are attacking as the fullbacks get caught out of position by the quick turn over

D) High pressing actions which get steadily less effective as legs tire coupled with a seemingly unwillingness to use our bench by the manager

Pass accuracy for Everton and Saints midfielders:

Ways to fix it:

A) Better keeper (not happening)

B) New first choice CB (hopefully happening)

C) Giving Salisu some game time and hoping he develops fast!

D) Bench Walcott for Armstrong

E) Potentially bring in Diallo for Romeu after he has gotten a bit more used to the pace of the league as he is a much stronger passer

E) Coach Djenepo into being more safe with the ball, he is exciting and combines well with Perraud so I don't want to bench him but if he can't make better decisions then we will need to see Redmond/Ely considered

F) Ralph needs to use his bench. Judging by his post match comments hopefully he has noticed this was an issue last week and will internalise that going forward.

Edited 18 August, 2021 by TWar

[tajjuk]

The GKs don't help, a good confident Keeper would have stopped the first goal on Sunday by coming out and clearing that IMO, but defensive switching off seems to be an issue, Stephens just seemed to give up marking Calvert-Lewin for the third goal, the second I don't think a huge amount can be done about that one. 

I also think JWP not being fully fit caused problems as well, he is important to the closing down and intercepting before attacks get near our defence and I think him being not 100% we lost some of that. 

Again having a keeper that actually communicates well and saves some shots would help, I mean the first 9-0 as an example the XG for that game was like 3-4 IIRC, which means on average Leicester didn't have anywhere near the chances to score 9 goals but Gunn basically didn't save a thing, which seems to be a repeating issue with McCarthy and Forster as well. 

I mean Everton had 6 shots on target and scored 3 goals, conceding 50% of the shots on target is pretty poor, so the defence must think every time the opposition gets a chance they are probably going to score. 

It's why I would give Forster the nod over McCarthy though, both are bad for PL keepers but at least Forster seems to talk to his defence and organises a bit, plus he seems less prone to faffing around with it with his feet and making f ups, he seems to just either find an easy pass or if there is some risk he smashes it into the channels. 

Edited 18 August, 2021 by tajjuk