I can understand that. We would have no like-for-like replacement for Pelle (Sam G maybe, but he's a bit green), but we would have plenty of options to play a bit differently with pacey forwards like Long, Mane, Jay and Juanmi.
However, the Daily Echo understands that Austin is not on any list of targets at St Mary’s, and that the club are not actively seeking to recruit a striker at this stage, with other positions a priority.
Saints, who have generally played with a lone front man under Koeman, already have Graziano Pelle, the fit again Jay Rodriguez and Shane Long as front line striking options for next season, withSadio Mane and new signing Juanmi also capable of playing in that role.
http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/news/13346486.Austin_not_a_Southampton_target/
I can understand that. We would have no like-for-like replacement for Pelle (Sam G maybe, but he's a bit green), but we would have plenty of options to play a bit differently with pacey forwards like Long, Mane, Jay and Juanmi.
I haven't heard anything, maybe DTLW or some one else has?So did saints bid for austin or was it just rumours from a paper?
I haven't heard anything, maybe DTLW or some one else has?
I assumed he got it from the Express.Didint DTLW post that we have bid 10mil??. Just wondering were he came by that info cos the post looked posted as fact?
I assumed he got it from the Express.
Makes sense in a way, with Mane, Juanmi, Rodriguez, Pelle, Long, Gallagher and Seager. That is two for each of the positions in our front three if Gallagher and Seager are considered part of the squad for this year. I'd have liked him but so be it.
Why doesn't Shane Long have money? Gambling habit?![]()
Why doesn't Shane Long have money? Gambling habit?![]()
And what happens if Rodriguez doesn't find his form again or does his knee in again? What happens if Pelle goes on another drought? What happens if Juanmi struggles to adapt to the PL? We score **** all goals. We need another CF, Long doesn't score that many and apart from youth, we only have Pelle as an out and out CF and as much as I like him, he struggled for much of the 2nd half of the season. Austin would really bolster our goals tally. For those saying we have enough, what was the primary reason we faded away from the top 4 last season? Lack of goals. We've got the defensive foundation sorted and with Juanmi and Jay Rod next season, we'll have more creativity and more goals. But if we add Austin into that, we could have the makings of a substantial top 4 challenge.Forgot about Tadic too. Not strictly a forward but plays in one of the wide forward roles we use.
So thats:
Long and Pelle at CF
Mane, Juanmi, Rodriguez and Tadic as inside forwards/wingers playing off on either side.
Gallagher/Seager/Sims as extra options for either of those roles.
Pretty balanced. Ideally I'd like a Pelle-style number nine to have instead of Long but as we know, Shane Long doesn't have money, but he does have are a very particular set of skills. Skills he has acquired over a very long career. Skills that make him a nightmare for defenders in this league. If you give him the ball straight away, that will be the end of it, but if you don't, he will look for you, he will find you and he will kill you.