Transfer Rumours Transfer Rumours - Summer 2018

It is slightly unfair to judge our Strikers on the evidence of last season where the whole team was dysfunctional.

I will add that we will be lucky to unearth another Mane, those players are rare for the market we are shopping in, but who knows, Mo El could turn out to be as good.

 

I’m more interested in how we play this season. If we get the combination right between possession and when to get the tempo going up through the gears, then we have players who can create and score. If we play to not get beat, then it won’t matter who the players are.

 

We have 2 strikers who can score goals. Its creating the goals we've struggled with imo. Shane Long scored as many as Mane one season when we had teh right balance.

 

Nobody's mentioning Mo El's potential contribution...1 goal in 3 games at Basel and 1 in 4 for Norway.

 

As well as armstong's goals the season before last. i think we will have a front 3 of Austin, Eli and Armstrong which has goal scorers.

 

I'll have wait until after the Derby game to look at the games to compare but these are only EPL games so apart from the few Corrillio players there probably isn't much between them

 

If we do buy another Striker then I sincerely hope that he is a Pelle type.

 

We've had a very good transfer window so far in my view. Our best (January or Summer) in a long time. And yet, if the window shut tomorrow, I would be worried about another relegation battle.

West Ham have strengthened. Leicester have strengthened. Brighton have strengthened (and have a year of PL experience under the belts). Wolves have come up, no doubt full of confidence and ambition. Newcastle still have Rafa, and have managed to keep hold of their two January additions who largely kept them.

Am I putting us in the bottom three? Absolutely not. I think there are at least three worse sides than us. Indeed, I think Burnley are in more trouble than we are. But if the last two years have shown anything, it's that the gap between the relegation zone and the fringes of Europe is wafer thin. Given that our offensive issues very much remain (whether it's creating the chances or scoring the chances - at the end of the day, not scoring is not scoring), I can't currently have confidence that we're not right in the battle.

 

But Mo El and Armstrong might go some way in addressing those issues, we won't know until we have seen them in action.

 

How do you know our offensive issues remain? we've changed 2/3 of our attack and we were 12th in goals scored last season.

 

If you don't score goals you don't win football matches. We undeniably need a potent striker. Preferably fit and proven. If we don't sign a striker we are taking a real gamble with crap odds and all the good work so far done will be to no avail.

 

We've lost Tadic as well so any extras brought in negate that

 

Been out of the loop and not paying much attention to Saints matters. Didn't even know we'd signed Stuart Armstrong, so reading this thread I was thinking "David's a bit old. And he wasn't prolific in front of goal either".

I'm happier now, and wiser

 

To put things in perspective, Aberdeen just sold our most prolific striker to non-league Salford City - he`s getting 4 grand a week there. And only a few days before we play Burnley in the Europa league. Marvellous.

 

Do you reckon he will be able to handle the step up to the Conference?

 

I wonder !. Salford seem to have a lot of backing from the Nevilles etc, so they`re trying to fast track their way into the league.

 

Have we? Our forward line last season was, in the main (when fit), Redmond, Austin and Tadic. Two of them are still here as far as I can tell - and indeed, both started today. The best one of the three, in my view, we've sold.

People can bang on about Gabbi being our saviour as much as they like. But if Hughes is naming him on the bench all the time, it doesn't really matter.

Now the new signings might improve things for us. I hope they do. But if you want us to take that gamble, feel free. I don't.

 

Who should we realistically buy then Brendy in your opinion?

 

We've signed four players this summer, and I don't think I've ever seen any of them kick a ball. So I'm quite happy to put the club's scouting system over my own knowledge of the players out there.

We very rarely purchase from the PL, so there's point suggesting the sort of players who I am knowledgeable about.

I'm quite happy to put my trust in the club. Even Carrillio, who I think we all accept has turned into a disaster, I was happy to back him to begin with. We needed a striker; the club went out and acquired a striker. Just a shame that it turned out they got it so wrong. (And to a lesser extend, the same could be said in relation to Boufal). But it does put us back to square one, needing that striker once again.

 

I'd be happy with a Pelle type Striker, but if we don't get one I still think that we should have enough firepower and creativity to be ok, last season's performance was mostly about the coaching and management IMO.