I think it's a mistake to think that buying Ramirez meant we didn't get the defenders we wanted. The club is on a secure footing with an excellent chairman at the helm and a plan to thrive in the EPL. Had the right defender been available at the right price, I believe we would have signed both him and Ramirez in the summer. NC thinks long term. The players we have purchased are likely to increase in value. I don't believe that signing Ramirez can be anything other than a good decision.
your patronising manner is so unnecessary . Read this twice. I think he already is class. I think he already is class. Go and read the other thread where you did question things again. You think he will be class (not at Southampton), I think he is class. Maybe it's time I leave the forum be again for a while. It's the patronising and criticising from the likes of you that get my goat. go and read all your previous posts. You questioned the money at the time and you've questioned it again.
Ramirez was and still is a gamble buy, only at the end of the season can we say its a good thing or a bad one for sure, sure we can speculate, I would of much rather got other players in but there we go.
CF - there was a defender (allegedly £10M) on the cards in that window. On the night of Ramirez signing, the press were leaving and told to stay put as another announcement was imminent. That was the alleged defender that didn't happen.
You are correct GMI. What I am trying to say is that in my opinion, and putting my player judgement on the line, I am looking at a truly talented player; the most talented player we've had since MLT. I am not saying he has been the best performer and yes, it is a gamble, however I have seen someone with huge talent. I belive he is an incredible player (though not necessarily performing at 100% yet). I don't actually think he'll be with us that long. I think he'll move on to bigger things soon.
You accuse me of being patronising but your the one who said I harp on and also accuse me of being a typical premier league fan whatever that means. Flt chill out your a good poster who has valid points don't take things personally its a forum also remember your opinion as right as you think it is not the opinion of everyone. So lets kiss and make up and move on.
no. can't be arsed. You called me a "C you next Tuesday" before (that's fairly personal!), gave it the "read it twiced so it sinks in", and now you talk about people allowed opinions and kissing and making up? I have always clearly said it was what I believe and you like to twist it having disagreed rather than just state a different opinion, so no, you can take the moral high ground I can't be arsed. No kisses from me.
I agree, a good player but not one that fits in really with our club ethic at this time, he is a good luxury player, we dont need luxury players realy at this stage, he is a good player though but one I think we did not and dont need.
We were a newly promoted side who not long ago were in League One. Our choices are limited and the stakes are high. Fortunately, we seem to have a bit of money to throw about which helps a bit. But still, just about every non-developmental, immediate impact buy we made or will make this month is going to be a gamble. Davis at his price was maybe the only guy almost guaranteed to be worth the transfer fee, but that was a special circumstance.
Why do we have to hark back to our League 1 days? What relevance is that? Are we a League 1 club or a Premiership one? I have always said we should be in the Premiership and as a club should of won more trophies, we need to think big and we need to think of ourselves as worthy, buying "gambles" and players who quite frankly are not up to stratch in this League is a statement not of intent but moreso settling for 2nd best. Lee, Mayuka and Yoshida as examples.
The vast majority of players if given the choice between equal wages and a starting spot at Southampton or Man City are going to pick Man City. Southampton would have to offer them a much bigger wage to get them to sign, and if they do so they will be signing purely for the money which almost always leads to bad results. Saints do in fact "think big." Extremely big. However, they settle for second best because they have to. You still don't understand this. Or rather, I suspect you do but are being deliberately obtuse about it.
I'm sorry Barry, but I don't think that you could've watched our last 10 games as Yoshida has been solid and is forming a very good partnership with Fonte....Yes the jury is still out on Mayuka and Lee, but that is only because of their lack of game-time, nobody should be judged on a couple of games and a few subs appearances and, in Lee's case, no games at all this season.
Hiya GMI - we havnt seen enough of Lee & Mayuka to know if they are 2nd best or not, but i cant agree that Yoshida could be considered an example of a 2nd best player. He has been very good in our defence for quite a few games now and struck up a pretty solid partnership with Jose Fonte - i thought he was excellent v Arsenal the other night and in other games. Our whole back 4 were good against Arsenal and in other quite a few other games over the past month or two. As for Ramirez - i tend to agree with Saint Kitch rather than FLT, although i respect his opinion too. I feel that Ramirez is a very good player but he does not exite me in the same way as MLT did or Lallana does. Having said that i like having him in our midfield providing that he is playing in the middle.
Well said. I put this on the transfer rumour thread when some were questioning spending the 12 million on Ramirez and the potential outlay of about 8 million for Astori. 'As with any deal I can't help thinking that NC would not spend that amount if we could not afford it. We are all very aware of how hard nosed he is and the way he runs a tight ship. I would therefore be very surprised if he allowed this ship to sink on his watch' As many of us continue to say. In NC we trust!
I maintain that the team is stronger with Gaston in it than without and still would be even if we had signed our ultimate centre half instead. -----------------Boruc Clyne-----Fonte-----New CB-----Shaw ------------Cork-----Morgan ----------------Lallana Puncheon--------------------Rodriguez ---------------Lambert -----------------Boruc Clyne-----Fonte-----New CB-----Shaw ------------Cork-----Morgan ----------------Davis Puncheon----------------------Lallana --------------Lambert Ignoring the minor details, I'd say that those teams would be much better with Ramirez and Yoshida in them than they would be with the best centre half we could get. Since Shaw has come in and Fonte and Yoshida have got a partnership going, the defence hasn't caused us too many problems. It could do with some bolstering in the coming month, but it's certainly not a crisis and nor have we made glaring errors in the strategy.
I'm inclined to agree with Itchen North Matt. In retrospect, I think the Ramirez signing is better than I thought it was at the time. I think we would all agree that Lallana is better on the left than in the middle. Puncheon's best move is cutting inside so he is better on the right. And at the time there wasn't any expectation that he'd even be this useful on the right. I think we were at the time hoping perhaps Jay Rodiguez could play an outside striker/winger position but that hasn't worked out (though we need to give that some time). Our only real alternatives at attacking-ish central mid are Do Prado, Chaplow, and perhaps Mayuka. Ramirez to my mind should in most games be starting over all three of them. And whilehe has had some bad games, in general he's been solid and most of us don't see that position as one of great need. So we bought a player who is helping us already now and is in my mind at least one of our better players in the starting XI, if not the immediate superstar we hoped for. And he has more potential than anyone else in the squad, and we've seen more than enough flashes of it to still be optimistic he could be very, very good. He is helping us now, he helps us in the future, worst case scenario is he leaves us for a fee that is highly likely to be at least what we paid for him. The knock seems to be that we paid for Ramirez's future value when we need present value. But meaningful minutes/money spent Ramirez has delivered a better ratio than Mayuka or Jay Rodriguez, so even only considering the season to date he's not been a bad transfer. The only other criticism is I can see is that we should have bought a defender or GK. Which, as has already been mentioned doesn't mean that Ramirez was a bad purchase. Simply that we should have made an additional purchase if possible. To me not having a defender and buying Ramirez are two entirely different things. If the food at Saint Mary's is bad does that make Ramirez a bad purchase because we didn't buy a chef?
I was impressed by the signing of Gaston, and I'd say so far that I've not been let down. I am pleasantly surprised in fact, at how quickly he has settled into the set-up and begun to contribute in our performances to date. I don't think we have anyone at his standard/ability within SFC. Sometimes I think people will find him infuriating or frustrating that he is trying the killer ball or trying to jink past someone, but as said previously, quite often I think he looks for or plays the killer ball - but the rest of the Saints lads are not even on the same planet, let alone wavelength. I have also been impressed by his sense of team spirit, and he doesn't strike me as a shirker - he will chase and get stuck in, and does not stand around expecting everyone to come to him. He does not give off the vibe that he feels he is above playing for us and that is good to see. Inevitably the guy will go on and be a great player and I won't be surprised in a couple of years to see Gaston doing his thing in the Champions League. It was a good signing, and a sensible one in that we have the benefit of having a highly-talented and desirable young talent tied to the club for four years. I'd be very surprised to see Gaston in a Saints shirt in 2016/17 but if all goes to plan for Cortese - who knows. But for now we should enjoy being able to watch such great talent in a Saints shirt, alongside the likes of homegrown stars like Lallana, Shaw and Ward-Prowse, and appreciate what we have and ultimately how far we have come in a very short space of time. Now let us continue our push for safety this year, and see just how far we can go if we can add more talent like that of Gaston in the coming years.
I was very nervous about the GR signing, as I thought the fee would put a unfair amount of pressure on Nigel. But I must say, he's been really good, even with a few early interuptions to game time he experienced. Still think the transfer window didn't go to plan as we all knew there were positions that needed support, but we have a chance to build now with hopefully little disruption.
