Re: Kondogbia, he'd be out of our reach I'd feel, the biggest of the big boys are after him, and I certainly don't think he'd be interested in coming here as an understudy to Morgan and Cork. I agree with a lot of the above really, unfortunately a lot of good servants are no longer required so although it'll be a shame I'd like to see a little bit of a clear out of the fringe players. Personally on the acquisition front I'd like to see us just make some nice key purchases without making too many waves. As I said on the Lopez thread a while ago, I'd like to see us just bring in a couple of nice young players to give us depth and challenge at DM and full-back, a big-time CB and then just do a lot of promoting from the academy, Targett, Rowe and Isgrove are the ones I'd most like to see make the step-up. I think we should continue to transition slowly and allow the progress to be made by the players themselves rather than just bringing in a host of new faces every year, we've got a lot of talent and we should let them blossom together with the chemistry we have and not disrupt that. Oh, and sign Boruc up! I don't want to go through more nonsense next year, and keeper is one of the best positions to have locked down long-term, so I hope we go to great lengths to keep him with us, unless he's really being uncooperative which would be a shame.
I don't think that we should get rid of a lot of those players, simply because they are not first team. We have not had many injuries recently so we have not had to utilise our squad, however players like Fox and Guly are useful back up, the same for Hammond or Chaplow, so long as they are willing to stay. Of course it would be great if young players such as Ward-Prowse come in and do well, however we also need experience, imagine if Schneiderlin or Cork were injured we would need some bite in midfield. I think the goalkeeping position is the biggest question mark and perhaps another striker. Players such as De Ridder, Martin and Seabourne may move on but I don't see why we need to force out fringe players who are useful backup.
Imagine Schneiderlin and Cork are injured Are you trying to drive me to an early grave? You will be suggesting that the Mighty Lambo is not indestructible next
Because if we are aiming for Top6 next season (and yes I expect Cortese is) then there is going to be a firesale of anyone who is not going to be at least 'nearly as good as' our first 11. All but our youngsters and our very best are likely to be moved on IMO. Gonna be a massive window for us. Maybe top European spenders this year. Whether that is a good thing is up for debate but I don't think Cortese has any plans to slowly build us up to be what he has stated. No time just because we have a young team that will mature. I think he wants that young team to be as succesful as they can be for a number of years while the academy slowly replace them over the next 5-10 years (unless any of them are good enough to do as Shaw has done)
I will be amazed if wesign players as back up - we are looking to progress and this will mean improving the squad - we may as well keep some of the ones who may go as back up - you dont progress without adding serious quality and certainly not by adding to depth. Teams like Bolton, Norwich etc added to depth and they look poor as a result...
You all seem to be forgetting that some of 1st teams squad must be attractive to others, so if anybody goes from that we will need to replace
I don't think many pf our first 11 are going to jump ship knowing that Cortese's words are more than just spouting off. I think they will be seen as even bigger players if Saints achieve than if they join an already established team. Will be hard to refuse some offers though as I expect Schneiderlin and Shaw to have some major very very high bidding on them. Said before I could see Man U or someone offering 25-30m for Schneiderlin.
I agree. If anything, we need to be signing players that make current first XI players backup.. I know we have a connection to these guys after what they've done for us, but if we want to progress, it has to be done.
Thats spot on. It will be hard though, having to replace any of the current team. Also, I think its important that we don't do it wholesale as we need to keep that fantastic team spirit we have. In addition to that there has to be room to allow the youngsters to come through. All in all its a difficult balancing act.
Really, we are only just beginning to see what this team are capable of and they will only get better in time, with an average age of 23 it is possibly 2 or 3 years before reaching its' peak. We are already competing and sometimes outplaying the best teams in the League, I really think that the majority of the team building has already been done, that's not to say that there won't be additions, of course there will be but the only area that I feel that the team is slightly weak is the central defence.
I was thinking about this the other day; in January I really wanted us to sign a right sided midfielder, but when I think about it now, I have no idea where they'd fit in. Puncheon has been excellent this season, but is struggling to even come off the bench due to the options we have, and if we brought in another attacking midfielder it may limit the opportunities for Ward-Prowse, and I really don't think we should be doing that, I think he's good enough to be pushing for the first team next season. A suggestion I've seen on this thread is to 'buy a striker as good as Rickie', and while this is nice in theory it's very difficult to have two top quality strikers and only one first team striking role. I think we are working quite well currently by giving Rodriguez quality game time, despite being out of position. Surely his final position will be as CF when Lambert starts to look on the way out... I think what would be good would be to buy a real talisman of a centre back, and this may mean one or both of Hooiveld or Fonte moving on.
If you discount Saints first 10 games when only 4 points were gained, in our other 22 games we have accumulated 33 points which would be enough over the whole season to be challenging for a Europa Cup place. In fact a ratio of 3 points from 2 matches from the start of this season would put us 1 point behind Liverpool right now. So I think we are seeing what is possible with the existing squad!
It's not the sole reason of course, but the absence of Cork from those opening games did not help us. We have been ok for injuries and only Gaston & Lallana have struggled to stay injury free, but this is an area of the pitch where we have decent depth to the squad. We need that kind of cover elsewhere in the side
I think it’s safe to say a new commanding centre back should be our top priority. We also need cover at full back, this would depend on whether Chambers (right side) and Targett (left side) are deemed ready to play in the Premiership. If not it will be hard to bring someone in to cover players that are so young, so an option may be to bring in players that are flexible and can play a number of positions. Someone like Andreu Fontas from Barcelona, we were linked with him last summer but he ended up on loan at Mallorca. He can play left sided centre back, left back (where he has played mainly for first team) and defensive midfield (where he spent most of his young career in ‘La Masia’. Some help for Cork and Schneiderlin is also a must, with the amount of work they get through it is essential to get them some help. They will at some point over the course of the season need to be rested so someone with an equal work rate to allow rotation would be great. This would also give us the option of moving Cork to right back if needed. Another attacking midfield option preferably someone with a bit of pace or maybe someone with a touch more quality to play the role Steven Davis has been covering recently. The player we are supposed to have bid over £15 million for on deadline day Barrada from Getafe would be a good fit for this role, quick feet has an eye for a pass, has a good engine and is more of a goal threat. I also think depending on whether the new regime see a place for Tadanari Lee, which doesn’t look very promising for him, we may go for another striker. For me it would make sense to get a striker who has good ability in the air to be able to play the main striker role that Lambert does but also with a bit more pace and the option to be able to be deployed in one of the wider positions if needed. Again a player we have been linked with Adrian Lopez would seem like the perfect option. Another cheaper option would be Franco Di Santo from Wigan who is out of contract at the end of the season. If we want to be able to compete with our current form over the course of a season then strength in depth is needed. We need to be able to cover injuries and loss of form seamlessly, with our current squad that would be difficult IMO.
There are many reasons why we did not do so well in the first 10 matches of the season. The debate on that is a thread on it's own! There has been a marked improvement following that early period. As for bringing youngsters on normally that takes a couple of years and at best you are likely to only get one possibly two from any given years intake. There is as usual obviously exceptions to that rule but rarely. For me it is a chicken or egg situation. We have to build the team up to a level that can and does challenge for honours then use the youngsters to maintain that level as being the better option to having to buy in the quality as we do at the moment. Then the only time we should need to buy is probably to replace someone that thinks the grass is greener on the other side........We are bound to have some of those as has been proven. In reality though we are going to have to lose a few of our old buddies Chaplow and the likes...but they too have to make the most of their remaining football years.
So can I. And it gives me sleepless nights! For all the talk of players coming in, a Saints team without Schneiderlin and Cork would be nowhere near where they are now. There are two consolations. One is that they seem to be a pair, and I'm not wholly convinced that divided they'd be as effective. The other is that Morgan is a Liverpool fan and wouldn't want to go to United (this is straw clutching!).
I know we hate to imagine some players leaving the club, but, as long as it isn't en masse, we should be able to get suitable replacements...but we'd have to pay a hell of a lot more for them. I also think (naively, I know) that the players seem happy here and, as long as we are successful, most will want to stay. Just seen a piece in The Mirror about all the players that QPR may seek to off load in the summer. Just shows that paying the earth for players and hoping they will miraculously gel together to make a team isn't always effective.
