Romeo Lavia - Official: Signs for Not Liverpool

[Saint_clark]

1 hour ago, Marsdinho said:

Trouble is....decent players dont stay at Saints for 2-3 seasons. One season of geting anywhere near 8th will mean the best players of that season would be poached. 

If they're all signing 5 year contracts then at least we should get gigantic fees for them, and be back in the position we were in when we sold Van Dijk...hopefully with better outcomes.

[hypochondriac]

15 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

The thing which worries me about Armstrong is his physicality, but that was highlighted much more due to the fact that our strikers had to do all the work - as our 10's were rubbish. 'if' our 10's are better then 1) he may not look so isolated, and 2) he could make the runs which could benefit us - i.e channel runs, stretching the centre backs etc. He would need a Broja type alongside him though for me to be totally comfortable with that.

I haven't seen much to get excited about but it wound be interesting to see what he was like if we had more of a provider. 

[Saint_clark]

1 minute ago, hypochondriac said:

I haven't seen much to get excited about but it wound be interesting to see what he was like if we had more of a provider. 

Need to get our midfielders working on through balls and our forwards on making diagonal runs between defenders. Should be simple but I don't remember the last time we scored a goal from a through ball and a striker running one on one with the keeper.

[beatlesaint]

18 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Maybe we share a source. I was told this three weeks ago: 

Bednarek,Djenepo,Theo,Long,Redmond  all been told they can go 

Romeu will more than likely stay  JWP 100% going nowhere,Adam Armstrong is highly rated. 

If Armstrong is so highly rated then picking Long in front of him as Ralph did at the end of last season is a bloody strange way of showing it.

But that’s Ralph for ya !

 

[hypochondriac]

2 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

Need to get our midfielders working on through balls and our forwards on making diagonal runs between defenders. Should be simple but I don't remember the last time we scored a goal from a through ball and a striker running one on one with the keeper.

Almost never nowadays. We've never replaced tadic or even had a player like him. Even Schneiderlin played that role quite well on occasion. 

[Saint_clark]

1 minute ago, beatlesaint said:

If Armstrong is so highly rated then picking Long in front of him as Ralph did at the end of last season is a bloody strange way of showing it.

But that’s Ralph for ya !

 

In fairness Salisu was highly rated but he sat on the bench for an entire season. Ralph seems to be big on making sure players are fully bedded in before they become regulars.

[hypochondriac]

2 minutes ago, beatlesaint said:

If Armstrong is so highly rated then picking Long in front of him as Ralph did at the end of last season is a bloody strange way of showing it.

But that’s Ralph for ya !

 

Maybe they rated him but not in the system we played last year? 

[beatlesaint]

4 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Maybe they rated him but not in the system we played last year? 

What the system where we abandoned the pressing game, conceded shed loads of goals and had one forward so isolated he was virtually in a different post code to the rest of the team? Could be !

[hypochondriac]

1 minute ago, beatlesaint said:

What the system where we abandoned the pressing game, conceded shed loads of goals and had one forward so isolated he was virtually in a different post code to the rest of the team? Could be !

I mean if we are going to try a change of formation as suggested by other posters, maybe they see it as playing to his strengths a bit more. 

[Saint_clark]

Just now, hypochondriac said:

I mean if we are going to try a change of formation as suggested by other posters, maybe they see it as playing to his strengths a bit more. 

I'd really like us to adopt a 3-4-3 formation. Can't see it happening unless we sign another CB though, especially if Bednarek is off.

[Teddeer]

6 hours ago, Saint_clark said:

I'd really like us to adopt a 3-4-3 formation. Can't see it happening unless we sign another CB though, especially if Bednarek is off.

Didn't Adam Armstrong profit from some brilliant supply and assists mainly from Harvey Elliott when they played together at Blackburn? Then we signed him and fed him on scraps from players far less gifted than Elliott. Get him a decent player or two to supply and I still think Armstrong will get goals. 

Edited 5 July, 2022 by Teddeer

[qwertyell]

1 hour ago, Saint Garrett said:

Also heard we're looking at trying out a 4321 formation this pre-season, probably hence the lack of striker signings...supposedly Ralph is a big fan of A Armstrong and wants to keep him this summer. It's a gamble IMO.

No chance A Armstrong thrives as a lone striker. Too limited. All he's got is pace. Hold up play, link up, aerial - all hopeless.

[Chez]

2 hours ago, Daft Kerplunk said:

Not British Knights as he’s Belgian

how about Travel Fox? 

[Turkish]

2 minutes ago, Chez said:

how about Travel Fox? 

Troop?

[Badger]

42 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

In fairness Salisu was highly rated but he sat on the bench for an entire season. Ralph seems to be big on making sure players are fully bedded in before they become regulars.

Not sure he was available for much of  it. 

[Chez]

2 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Troop?

yeah, or LA Gear.

[Chez]

48 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

Need to get our midfielders working on through balls and our forwards on making diagonal runs between defenders. Should be simple but I don't remember the last time we scored a goal from a through ball and a striker running one on one with the keeper.

Brojas goal against Brentford perhaps.

[VectisSaint]

Already signed according to Wiki (no it wasn't me that edited it).

[Saint_clark]

2 hours ago, qwertyell said:

No chance A Armstrong thrives as a lone striker. Too limited. All he's got is pace. Hold up play, link up, aerial - all hopeless.

Adams would work up top though, perhaps with Armstrong as one of the two instead.

[Daft Kerplunk]

2 hours ago, Chez said:

yeah, or LA Gear.

Oh yes. Lots of good suggestions here. I’d raise you to a Pony but been there, done that.

[SuperSAINT]

 

[SNSUN]

2 minutes ago, SuperSAINT said:

 

We love a SuperSaint post. 😏

[Toadhall Saint]

6 minutes ago, SuperSAINT said:

 

👍

[Chez]

11 hours ago, Wade Garrett said:

Still not convinced with buying all these unproven players.

Long term, he could be a fantastic signing, but in the short term, is he really going to get into our centre midfield?  I don't see it based on the youtube videos, but I might be wrong.

If we don't strengthen our starting eleven, how do we hope to turn last year end of season nightmare form around?

Going down before these young starlets come good would be a disaster

[Give it to Ron]

1 minute ago, Chez said:

Long term, he could be a fantastic signing, but in the short term, is he really going to get into our centre midfield?  I don't see it based on the youtube videos, but I might be wrong.

If we don't strengthen our starting eleven, how do we hope to turn last year end of season nightmare form around?

Going down before these young starlets come good would be a disaster

He could be paired with Romeu allowing JWP play further forward.

Romeu cannot do all again this year as not sure Diallo can play that role

[Toon Saint]

I'm not sure it matters too much if he isn't in the team in the short-term given we actually have decent options there in JWP and Romeu as first-choice and also Diallo as back-up. It feels like this is the one position where we have the luxury of integrating a player slowly. 

[HarvSFC]

If it was Lavia to replace Romeu, which could still happen given the contract situation, then the deal wouldn't look as good. However, if it's JWP + Romeu + Lavia, then it looks a lot better. It's a position we need better depth in, which we simply haven't had for the last couple of years. Last season, Romeu had a period where he looked the complete defensive midfielder and one of the better ones in the division. His form then dropped off a cliff, coinciding with our overall drop, for whatever reason, whether it was fatigue, or whatever, we simply couldn't take him out of the team, as we were even more overrun without him, than we did with him in his poor form. The same happened the season before, after his injury at Leeds, the team collapsed. If we can now bring Romeu out of the team, rest him and not have that worry that our midfield will be overrun and the defence won't be protected without him, then this signing could be as important as the goalkeeper, centre-back, number 10 and striker position this summer. Our team has been neglected for years now with no investments and we've got plenty of holes to fill. This is one of them and a young player with plenty of room to grow and learn fits the role perfectly. He'll hopefully be what we hoped Jankewitz could be.

[Badger]

And his Saints career last more than 90 seconds 

Edited 5 July, 2022 by Badger

[Ex Lion Tamer]

1 hour ago, Chez said:

Long term, he could be a fantastic signing, but in the short term, is he really going to get into our centre midfield?  I don't see it based on the youtube videos, but I might be wrong.

If we don't strengthen our starting eleven, how do we hope to turn last year end of season nightmare form around?

Going down before these young starlets come good would be a disaster

We'll turn our form around by being fresh after the summer break rather than knackered after a season of high pressing

[CWD]

Not claiming to know anything about him, but £12m does seem quite high for a player with so few appearances. I’m enjoying this new Dortmund style recruitment policy, but it’s definitely risky.

[Chez]

1 hour ago, Toon Saint said:

I'm not sure it matters too much if he isn't in the team in the short-term given we actually have decent options there in JWP and Romeu as first-choice and also Diallo as back-up. It feels like this is the one position where we have the luxury of integrating a player slowly. 

Is it though? JWP and Romeu aren't some world-beating centre midfield partnership. I like them both, but Romeu was terrible in the run in, and because JWP scores some amazing free kicks, his all round game is not overly scrutinised. Diallo was woeful last season - and that's from someone that bigged him up and thought we had signed a gem. Perhaps our limitations in every other position just make it look strong.

Don't get me wrong, I love that fact we are signing young talent. And in truth be told, what choice does a club like ours have? But unless we radically improve on what we saw in the last dozen games, we are relegation fodder. Will Lavia change things?

 

[Chez]

20 minutes ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

We'll turn our form around by being fresh after the summer break rather than knackered after a season of high pressing

 Hope you are right. Come out the blocks strong and then don't look back.

[It's There]

It shouldn't be forgotten that we are allowed 5 subs, so Lavia could be a sub at the start of the season and get plenty game time.

Edited 5 July, 2022 by It's There
Predictive txt

[SNSUN]

LAVIA SIGNS!!!

 

 

😜

[Saint Garrett]

16 hours ago, Saint Garrett said:

Sounds about right, I heard there are 2 medicals booked this week...

3 more signings expected (includes Lavia), and then we have to sell to buy. Heard Bednarek, Stephens, Djenepo, Walcott have all been made available for transfer.

Also heard we're looking at trying out a 4321 formation this pre-season, probably hence the lack of striker signings...supposedly Ralph is a big fan of A Armstrong and wants to keep him this summer. It's a gamble IMO.

V interesting summer this.

Guessing the other medical was Aribo then. 

[tajjuk]

15 hours ago, Chez said:

Brojas goal against Brentford perhaps.

We certainly didn't play that many through balls, that is an example but probably the two people in the team that are best at doing it are JWP and Romeu, but they are often in the 2 system too far back.

All our 'no 10s' are ball carriers, their ability to pick out a pass aside maybe Stu Armstrong is pretty limited IMO. 

Maybe Aribo might fix this, he seems much more in the playmaker mould rather than the tricky winger mould that Djenepo, Redmond etc. are.  

I still think there is something there in Armstrong, you don't bang in that many goals in the Championship without having something about him and the few goals he did score were really nice, we just I don't think played much to his strengths and then he lost confidence, drifted out of the team and when he started coming back in the whole team was playing awfully. 

At the end of the day the guy had only had 17 PL starts in his first real PL season. Moi IIRC only got 16 and was pretty much written off by most but it's clear there was more of a player there than most thought, so who knows, play more to his strengths, find some confidence we might get more out of him. Not expecting him to suddenly score 15+ goals, but 7-8 from 20 or so starts would be ok. 

[Lighthouse]

3 hours ago, SNSUN said:

LAVIA SIGNS!!!

 

 

😜

Maybe it’s just me but they both sound like parts of the female anatomy in some language.

[JRM]

10 hours ago, It's There said:

It shouldn't be forgotten that we are allowed 5 subs, so Lavia could be a sub at the start of the season and get plenty game time.

That's most likely, have him on the bench and ease him in slowly, see how he takes to men's football, completly different pace and physical battle compared to what he has been used to 

[warwicksaint]

 

[S-Clarke]

[Manuel]

I only have youtube to go on, but he seems very positive.  I laughed at one bit, as he receives the ball his team mate urges him to play it back, he ignores the instruction turns and makes a forward pass.  Yeah!!

[Toadhall Saint]

5 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

[Manuel]

....

Edited 6 July, 2022 by Manuel
Wrong fred

[Sunglasses Ron]

Let's hope Romeo Lavia is more, err, Romeo than, Lemina. 

[Saint_clark]

2 hours ago, warwicksaint said:

 

Blimey, not really leaving ourselves much with future sales to fund future purchases.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

26 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

Blimey, not really leaving ourselves much with future sales to fund future purchases.

Guess it's an indication on how highly they rate him

[Saint86]

3 hours ago, Saint_clark said:

Blimey, not really leaving ourselves much with future sales to fund future purchases.

The buy back is rumoured to be £40m - and is that allowing for a 20% discount (i.e. £50M) - The fact that its 20% of his next sale (not 20% of the profit), makes me wonder if it is. Similar to how the Livramento deal was explained last week.

 

Edited 6 July, 2022 by Saint86

[SNSUN]

4 hours ago, Sunglasses Ron said:

Let's hope Romeo Lavia is more, err, Romeo than, Lemina. 

Funnily enough in his highlights video I did get echoes of Lemina. Lemina was a good player he was just very inconsistent so if Lavia can be an improved, more consistent version of Lemina we'll have a hell of a player. 

[Chez]

5 minutes ago, SNSUN said:

Funnily enough in his highlights video I did get echoes of Lemina. Lemina was a good player he was just very inconsistent so if Lavia can be an improved, more consistent version of Lemina we'll have a hell of a player. 

If he tries to do some of those tricks in the highlights videos against Premier League opponents, we'll see similar nightmare results (i.e. conceding) as we did when Lemina overplayed on the edge of our own box (all be it waiting for someone else in the team to show themselves for a pass).

There is obvious talent, but unless you are absolute world class, you can't get away with some of that stuff in the centre of the park. He will have to reign it in a bit. Not too much though, as it would be great to be entertained a little.

[SuperSAINT]