Transfer Rumours Transfer Rumours - Summer 2018

No forward on the horizon, so we need to hope there's 3 teams worse than us for this campaign.

Also, it doesn't bother me when the players get signed its the type of player that's signed. We look like being overstocked in the wrong areas and drastically short up front. Our board have played out to the media in seasons past at how methodical and practical they can be yet now they are a shambles.

PS ...signing Welbeck (i want him here) wont change my opinion either.

 

If hughes manages to get our players passing it quickly out of the back and counter attacking that way I can see us doing well. Ely and Armstrong will be able to carry the ball forward as well as score on the counter. If we can't which we couldn't in pre season then I think we're ****ed.

I personally would like us to high press, I think our squad might be good at that now. Pack the midfield, hoj, romeu Armstrong, Ely all closing down, force them to play it long and have vestergaard win the clearances. But I can't see hughes doing that.

 

Sigh.

 

Oh well batten down the hatches for another season of battling relegation, thanks Ralph, Les and Roger
Hope your massive gamble plays off again

 

Sigh.

 

The dodger?....

 

Agree with the sentiment SS. When you look at the GK position, l would suggest it is adequate, CB's are all pretty average, Berty is quality at LB, Cedric is good, the central midfield has a journeyman look about it, Armstrong looks good, at AM we have Eli but is untested and of the strikers Gabbi and Charlie have maybe 6-8 goals apiece in them. Unless alot of teams implode about us, a final position above 14th looks improbable and a serious risk of another relegation battle beckons.

 

5.89/10 unless we sell JWP then it's a 1/10

 

Good. Fed up with all these kids who reckon the way to play football on the PlayStation us how it works in real life. I support Southampton because I can relate to players like MLT, Channon, Benali and others who believed in the club. I can even relate to the foreign players like Golac, Claus and Fonte who came and fell in love with club.

More than anything I want to see a team playing by exciting football with the likes of Targett, Prowsy, Sims and Gallagher alongside loyal experience like Bertrand and Davis.

I don’t want to see overpaid divas like VVD, Welbeck or Promes muscling in for an easy pay day. If that means our ‘level’ is top half of Championship so be it.

 

Well if you look at the drop in quality in Puels first season after Koeman, the warning signs were already ringing (from Koemans final January we didn't sign a striker when we were challenging for top 4). Yes, under Puel we managed to finish 8th but we lost 16 points from the season before and scored 20 fewer goals. The style of play was also turgid and Puel drew a lot of criticism for that. Curiously his Nice team played incredible attacking football, and he did well with Leicester, with a sulking Mahrez. Pellegrino came in and the board decided to continue to ignore our glaring weakness going forward and let him get on with it. Yes Pellegrino was poor, but the fact we have so few attacking/creative/dangerous players was always going to make things difficult. In steps Mark Hughes and we grind out some results, despite still being poor going forward.

The idea that we have an underperforming squad is a myth and it largely stems from Saints fans overestimating the abilities of our players in comparison to those of other teams.

If anyone thinks Hughes is the tonic and is going to get this bunch firing, then prepare yourself for disappointment. Can anyone honestly say they found Stoke enjoyable to watch during his tenure? He made them more palatable than Pulis, after a lot of investment in new players.

 

Hold on another year and you may just get your wish, albeit in the Championship. Bertrand won't be here though.

 

I'm still going to wait and see, we can all have an opinion at this stage but until it is proved that we fail to pick up results and score goals then it is just supposition at this point.

 

IMO, it all depends on Vestergaard and the defense. We've always had a strong defense until last season. And even then, it wasn't terrible. Just a little lacking in talent overall and poorly organized. We lost lot of points in games where we generally did okay but gave up a silly goal due to lack of concentration or miscommunication.

I think our attack puts a cap on how well we can do, but if we're just looking for a relaxed, boring season where we finish between 10-15 that can be accomplished simply by shoring up the back line. I really felt like unfortunately Forster was a disaster last year, so just having McCarthy all year might be worth 4-5 points in and of itself. That would have put us at 14th right there.

It's just that the margin is so thin. You can be just a tiny bit better and it's worth 3 spots and you cruise through the season or you can just be that tiny bit worse and it's another relegation battle.

 

Yup, I'm living in hope that hughes is a better manager than me. Which isn't that far fetched

 

The new signings may or may not improve us. But right now, I absolutely agree it's not been a good window. After the last TWO YEARS, the board basically had one job this summer. And they've completely and utterly messed it up. Again.

Gunn might become the next De Gea, and I'd love it if he does. But it's quite possible that he won't play a single minute of PL football this season. If we really are that hard up for money (which I do find very hard to believe), then what sot of strategy is that when you're a club that was almost relegated last season, and have hardly scored a goal or won a home match for two years?

I'll be there on Sunday, and throughout the season. Whilst I have my health and can afford it financially, I will be a season ticket holder continuously. But this is the least I've been looking forward to the season since, probably, 2008. And that, although in different circumstances, lead to our most recent relegation.

(Not the I blame Hughes in any way. I'm actually positive about having him in the dugout. But thanks to yet another failure in the market, I can't be positive about what I'm expecting on the pitch.)

 

Has Fraser gone yet?

Have we sold Prowsey yet?

 

talkSport reporting that Danny Ings missed training today and is looking for a move today.
Fingers crossed

 

That he goes to Palace?

 

KB supersound on saints web says somebody has just flown in to staplewood.
He guesses at Ings....