OK only a few more Sundays until we travel to Anfield and I'm getting nervous. If Lovren goes we will have banked nearly £80m and spent less than £20m. Very little noise in terms of any transfer activity and it looks like Caulker is off to QPR and Ings is staying put. Not much time for new playrs to bed in. Anyone else getting edgy?
A bit, yeah. On the other hand, we're not broke, we're not in administration, and we're starting the season in the Premier League, not League 1.
Not really. Koeman said he'll make sure we have a competitive and relatively strong line-up by the Liverpool game and I believe him.
I imagine the team being away on a mini-tour will have stifled them on the transfer trail slightly. I expect bigger waves once they return to Southampton.
Nah, I've got new ambitions for the club now anyway, every season we will buy players in and sell them on for extortionate fees to Liverpool, United etc like a second hand car dealer. Eventually we shall become the richest club in the world. Every chair in the stadium shall be a lazyboy, dwarf (so they don't obscure our view) butlers will fetch food and drinks to our seats, airport style conveyor belts will speed us to the stadium from the centre of town and KL will pay us to attend and provide us with a new shirt each week so we don't have to bother washing them or worry about having the latest star we have sold still on the back. Hundreds of replicas of the team coach will be purchased to take us to away games with free alcohol and lapdancers thrown in, and private jets will take us to the games any further than Birmingham. The futures bright, the future is ripping off big clubs.
Regardless of who we sign (realistic signings) this season is going to be abit of a struggle anyway with probably at least 4 of last years first team leaving, possibly 5 if Morgan goes. If these are the only replacements in the first XI then that is 5 new players, plus we don't know how well Koeman rates the tohers who are left so our team that starts against Liverpool may have 6 or more new players in when compared to last years "stongest XI" Would genuinely take 15th right now.
With all that you've said, is it not slightly odd that I'm actually quite excited/intrigued to see how this season goes? It doesn't seem like it will be boring...
Not really, I mean I get nervous before the start of every season, but that quickly changes to excitement. If we bring in 2-3 players before the Liverpool game, and 2 more before the window closes I shall be pretty happy. I'm quite excited about what the season holds actually, there will be ups and downs, but I believe in Koeman when he says we will have a strong squad come the start of the season.
Worried a little but then again surely thats part of the deal when you follow saints. We do need alot of signings and we need them quickly but its still going to be a while before we are actually a team again, so expect a very bumpy start to the season with just as many shocking results as amazing one's.
Oh I'm not worried. Worried is probably the wrong word as worst case scenario is we get relegated and tbh I really don't care what league we are playing in, so am not worried about the possibility of relegation. You are right it will be an interesting season, but trying to put my realistic and non Saints head on for a moment, we are likely going to have half a new team and a manager who has struggled everywhere outside of his home country, it is going to take time for this to all settle into something half decent, if it ever does.
Still 31 days until the Liverpool game, 45 days until the transfer window shuts. Plenty of time ahead
I'm happy so far, and think we'll do as well as last year. The rebuild is ongoing, and we may even find that existing members of the squad play better under Koeman - I don't believe Pochettino was the be all and end all of football management, and IMHO, Koeman is an upgrade, and as such, will get better results with what he's inherited. From the look of his buys so far, I'm also confident that we will have a good squad by the end of August. Nobody else is recruiting with much more haste apart from the obvious ones like Liverpool, and I do wonder whether the 'shotgun' method of transfer targeting any and all talented individuals available will work for them. Spurs tried it, and ended up with a team full of talented individuals that couldn't actually play well enough together to become a great team - I think their team needs more work than ours
The omens aren't good. We've sold all our best players for mega bucks and most of the cash has gone into the owner's pocket. We've brought in players and managers unproven at this level. We've also chosen a strip that looks just like the one we last got dumped out of the Premiership in.
I don't believe in omens, and virtually our whole squad was unproven in the premiership two seasons ago. Also we don't know how much money is available so as it stands I'm still positive the owners are trying to improve the club, not strip it of cash until it's proved otherwise. I'm also very aware that I can't change the situation regardless of the outcome, hence I'm always positive, and always enjoy my football each new season.
