A lot will depend on player sales as well. Hopefully we can shift Tall Paul, Lyanco, DCC, possibly ABK and Perraud as well. I would probably look to keep Perraud as he's shown he can play at PL level and it saves us having to buy a LB.
That would kill the championship. The play-offs keep the season alive for so many teams. Without them, in the current format. the season would be over by February for a lot of teams. Plus it gives us stories like Luton which is great for the sport.
Would you be happy with Perraud & Manning as our LV options then? Perraud was decent imo but we played a very different way back then. I don't know if he is technically suited to Martin's system.
DCC has already gone. But yes agree with the others. I do think Onuachu could be that 10-15 goal striker in the PL if we played a certain way, but we won’t and hopefully someone gives us a decent fee for him on the back of last season
TBH what I would do is keep the 4 team format but tweak it so the higher placed you finish the better odds you have of winning them. All one leg ties. 5th plays 6th for the right to play 4th (the team who finished highest plays at home). Then the winner of that game goes through to the final to play 3rd.
We should take a bit of a risk and get someone like Omar Campos in. He’d be cheap and could be v good.
Pretty sure there was an obligation to buy with his loan, if there isn’t then I’d consider keeping him tbh. Though we would be hugely stacked at CB if ABK also stayed. Be tempted to sell Bednarek with only a year left on his deal, think him and DCC are pretty comparable
I liked Perraud as well, but I'd be amazed if he stayed; didn't Martin say something about him not suiting his style of play back in the summer? Edit: Found it: https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/2...n-believes-youngster-ready-challenge-manning/ “I think Romain is an excellent player, but the way we play is probably not suited to him," the Saints manager said reflecting on why Perraud has left to join Nice on a season-long loan with an option to buy. "He’s going to go somewhere that he really suits because he is a good player. “People suit different ways of doing things. He really suited the way Southampton played before but not so much now – not that I’m saying he couldn’t do it. But he wants to play. “I’ve been really impressed with him as a character. Everyone said that before we came, and we’ve now seen it ourselves. “I wish him nothing but the best of luck and I’m sure he will do really well.”
Oh FFS, not another one. Wouldn't be surprised to hear that Benali is coming back to play LB at this rate...
Or we're joint 1st. Perhaps we can have a few transfers that relate to our current lofty league position.
We start the Season in 17th! 1 Arsenal 2 Aston Villa 3 Bournemouth 4 Brentford 5 Brighton & Hove Albion 6 Chelsea 7 Crystal Palace 8 Everton 9 Fulham 10 Ipswich Town 11 Leicester City 12 Liverpool 13 Manchester City 14 Manchester United 15 Newcastle United 16 Nottingham Forest 17 Southampton 18 Tottenham Hotspur 19 West Ham United 20 Wolverhampton Wanderers
I wouldn't want Manning as our 1st or 2nd choice LB (or LWB) next season. So that almost certainly leads itself to us needing to sign somewhere there, regardless of whether Perraud returns or not. I suppose the two unknows are: (1) Larios - has his injury had an lasting impact, and how good really is he (might it be sensible to loan him out for a year?), and (2) Is Martin looking at playing a back four with a LB, or a back three with a LWB?
