Rate last summers signs

We signed a lot of (dodgy) players last season. But they were not all bad.

Rate each signing out of 10,state whether you think they have a future at the club and how much you think they can achieve with us.

Lambert - 4 - No future
Lallana - 5 - Spoilt by injuries, second chance
Lovren - 2 - Bye bye
Markovic - 5 - Slow start, possibly strugglingwith language and new country, but improvedand has shown good potential. Top player potential, yes to a future here.
Moreno - 4 - Good going forward, poor defender, classic of young full backs these days - will improve with time, has future.
Manquillo - 5 - Decent when used - Potential Arbeloa reliability if he sticks around
Balotelli - 2 - Good, bad and ugly. Struggled as he contradicts our player style but has been a useful plan B at times. No future.
Emre Can - 7 -Slw start but has look solid and reliable when used. Good all round but needs refining. Top potential, big future.

 

Only Can came out as a positive for me.

Balotelli and Lambert are obviously gone.
Lallana will stay as a squad player
Moreno is very average
Markovic, personally I see no potential, awful player.
Manquillo, on loan, disappeared half way through season, who knows what will happen?
Lovren probably a squad player now.

 

Lambert - 4 - back up again as we wont fecking buy another to replace.
Lallana - 5 - Spoilt by injuries, second chance, agreed.
Lovren - 2 - Bye bye, agreed over rated and priced.
Markovic - 5 - not convinced personally and i seriously do not understood the fee paid for him, what did Ibe cost?!!!!!!!
Moreno - 4 - another bale perhaps?
Manquillo - 5 - hope he stays
Balotelli - 2 - gone asap want players who want to play for the club,
Emre Can - 6 -got better as season progressed, out of all of them only one happy with.

 

By this do you mean he is not a LB but instead an attacker?

 

potential to be yes, i just remember that run he went on and scored, it was bale-esque and maybe he could develop that area of his game as i am not convinced by him defensively personally.

riise wasnt the best defender but his free kicks and shots made up for it and he was used in midfield, could moreno be the same?

 

Only Can is worth talking about, and even then because he's been shunted in defence is a solid yet unspectacular 7.

 

As a Saints fan it is quite satisfying to see Lovren have such a disastrous season for you. He was superb for us in 2013/14 and was thought to be a major miss but our defence has actually improved without him.

Adam Lallana is a quality midfield player. When Liverpool played at St, Mary's last season, his performance match Suarez's and seemed the culmination of a career on the South coast where he seemed to become better after each successive season. Had be been free of injury, I think he would have played a greater role yet there is the nagging doubt that he made a massive mistake going to your team when he would probably have be wiser to have joined Potchetino at Spurs. He is too much of a flair player who a team like Liverpool.

The most intriguing signing from Saints was of our legendary talismanic forward Rickie Lambert. He was the one player to have captured the affections of Saints fans as much as Matthew Le Tissier. Lambert was a goal machine for Saints and also integral in making a nuisance of himself to allow further goals to be scored by his team mates. Lambert was total quality and worthy of his England call up. However, I think he would probably have been more of a squad player this season had he remained and young Sam Gallacher stayed fit. Ironically, Rodgers had previously been hailed as a tactical genius yet his inability to employ Lambert to any effect (if at all) must have been one of the most stupid oversights this season. A proven goal scorer over the last 5-6 seasons has been transformed in to a fringe player. It seems unreasonable for you Liverpool fans to criticise the players you bought from Saints as they worked wonders for us last season. I think it is your manager you need to replace. Still, I think Liverpool sans Suarez did well to reach sixth this season.

 

Lambert - 5 - Not his fault but needs to move on. Hasn't worked despite being the 1 player you know would put in 100% every game

Lallana - 6 - Shown glimpses, needs another season to show true class.

Lovren - 4 - Started poorly but then showed glimpses of what the defender we thought we had bought later in the season. Problem is, him & Skrtel are too similar, need to be one or the other not both.

Markovic - 5 - Similar to Lallana, shown glimpses but bene unlucky in that as a RW he's had to play RWB and be a defender more than a forward. Would like to see him play in a proper 433 as clearly has potential.

Moreno - 4 - Poor going forward, poor defending. Not sure about him... like to see him in a settled defence playing LB not LWB

Manquillo - 6 - Actually thought he looked good when played. Should have played far more 2nd half of the season instead of using make shift midfielders at the back/

Balotelli - 4 - Gamble but didn't pay off. Not be utilised correctly in that he's not a lone frontman and needs a partner. When played with a partner has looked better and when came on as sub was useful in holding the ball and winning free kicks, but as he likes to drop deep, need to play with a striker willing to run behind.

Emre Can - 7 -Best of the signings despite playing in defence. I'm going to ignore the fact he got slaughtered in some games when forced to play RB in a back 4 as it's like asking Alonso to go play there, just stupid stupid idea.

 

If you had had a season ticket for Saints over the last 4-5 seasons, you would have known that Lallana had true class already.

 

We've been quite kind to Lovren so far...

 

I think he's a good player, needs a season to show his class with us is what I was referring to

 

Lambert - 2 - 2 marks soley for actually being lfc fan and caring
Lallana - 4 - 25 mil for one trick (cruyff turn) and hair...
Lovren -4 - very nervy.
Markovic - 4 - didn't show anything at start, showd a wee bit of fight then dropped off... not sure about this guy but not a 20mil player
Moreno - 2 - really really poor defender
Manquillo - 4 - positionally average (see 1-3 game v west ham) still learning but average going forward... then vanished
Balotelli - 0 - nothing at all to say.
Emre Can - 6 -showed good stuff playing really out of position. can build from here. really would give the 7 but in the end he is weak where rodgers has used him and he still for me doesn't look like he can run all day at CM so I'm hoping a good preseason will help him get CM place under new manager

 

For value - Lallana and Lovren are the worst.

For lack of logic - Lambert.

I won't rate Manquillo, Can, Markovic and Balotelli because they have all been used incorrectly or not enough.

 

Why? We didn't want any of them. We criticise them because they haven't replicated any signs of their game at Soton.
On a personal level, concerning the Soton 3, I was never all that impressed by Lallana at Soton, decent yes but nothing special and certainly not worth anything over £10-15mil.
Lovren, what a waste, you mentioned that he did had a good season for you lot, frankly I don't see it that way. He had a good first half a season with you, then faded. I find it unbelievable that we turned down the chance to sign him at £10mil when you bought him and then went back for him at double the price with only 6months of good form behind him.
Lambert, abit of a shame really, he's just not right for us and probably at the wrong time in his career. Yes he's a local lad but we don't have the same connection with him as we would with someone who had been brought up in the club. I mean Joey Barton is a scouser but I wouldn't want that twat at the club.

Only Lallana would be worth keeping.

On the others.
Markovic; Really needs to work hard over the summer to prove he's worth anything to the club. Overall the price was too high.
Moreno; Clearly not a defender, lets buy a new LB and use him as a winger.
Manquillo; Would have liked to see him more, shame that BR fell back into using Johnson and playing wingers out of position.
Can; FFS play him in the right position.
Balotelli; Well that was just a disaster waiting to happen. Fingers crossed we can sell.

 

Lambert - 4 - Not really worked out for us - effort good - hope a loan to a different team will bring more out of him.

Lallana - 5 - Matt Cardle lookalike. Got a big price tag to live up to. Long way to go to justify it. Keep.

Lovren - 3 - Nightmare start. Needs a loan move to get his confidence back.

Markovic - 5 - Great potential. May take a year or two to get more out of him. Keep.

Moreno - 5 - Not as bad going forward as he is playing in defence. Needs coaching. Keep

Manquillo - 6 - Probably the only defender who knows how to defend. BR doesn't seem to want to use him. Keep.

Balotelli - 4 - Scapegoat for most of the season. Like most say he does not play on his own very well. Strange signing for a BR team. He can be the deadball specialist in the absence of SG. Maybe with strikers like Origi, fit Sturridge and Ings he can work well with. Keep until a good offer comes.

Emre Can - 8 - Best of the summer signings. Not really played in his favoured position. Hopefully a better defence, a new DM will free him up for a B2B midfield role in which he'll flourish. Keep.

 

Markovich is definitely being underrated on here. He's technically good and has a bit of football intelligence about him, and he runs at defences. Even if he doesn't establish himself in the 1st team (which I think he could with the right coach) he will be better than most squad players around which is an absolute must for any top 4 team.

 

Markovic is an exceptional talent - he has been terribly managed this season by playing as RWB. He has struggled though but I'm sure he will develop over the next few years.

 

Roger

I would have to say that Lallana seemed to improve season upon season for Saints and his vision and creativity were pivotal to our ability to attain a decent level within the EPL. Even before we enjoyed back-to-back promotions, most Saints fans could recognise his genius and it was surprising that he was never prized away before be eventually went up to the top flight. As I said, in the match against Liverpool last season he was every inch the calibre of Suarez. I agree that he hasn't enjoyed the form with Liverpool that he had with Saints but can't agree with your comments that it failed to impress. Lallana is probably the best player Southampton have produced since Gareth Bale. The same is probably true with Steven Gerrard who is probably held in far less esteem by non-Liverpool fans who have been bewildered by his lacklustre England performances and loyalty to a team that has underachieved for twenty-five years. Gerrard doesn't merit his almost hagiographical reverence he enjoys on Merseyside if you ask fans of other teams. A good player but not a batch on Kevin Keegan.

 

You could only wish that Southampton "underachieved" like us over the last 25 years and btw Keegan wasn't fit to lace Dalglish's or Gerrard's boots.

 

You have got to be kidding. Lallana on a par with Suarez? Suarez is a world class player and one of the best players in the world and last season was on top form, Lalllana isn't even close to that. Lallana is a decent prem player but not top 4 quality. So one match last year Lallana looked good and Suarez looked less than stellar, ONE GAME, hardly makes Lallana anywhere near as good Suarez or even Bale.
Gerrard was one of the best players for England, especially at the 2010 world cup. Granted that doesn't say much as pretty much any player who has played for England hasn't done anything since 1996, Lampard, Rooney, Scholes etc etc etc have all been crap for England.