Back from holiday on a very rainy Sunday morning but I'm feeling a lot happier than I was a few days ago. The Board and Ron are saying and doing the right things and I'm quietly confident that we are rebuilding a squad to be even better than last season. Two or three more signings and I think we will be in a strong position to push on. How's everyone else feeling? Is the fire sale scare over or do you still feel badly let down by all the player exits?
Feeling more positive, yes, but I doubt the squad will prove better than last season. The low point was hearing Chambers was gone. Not really scared of relegation though, but in my mind I can't escape concerns over what Morgan and Jay end up doing. Desperately want and need them to stay. Life's too short to feel let down by people I will never meet, at least once I've stopped calling them Twatbeards, etc.
Still work to do yet. If we're holding back on the meltdown until September then we're holding back on the party too.
Still feel pretty badly let down and there's no way our squad won't be weaker than last season. With the kind of money we have we can still push towards Europe but it's going to take at least a couple more years than we thought before it even looks like we have a chance, so that's frustrating. We've told Morgan and Jay they have to stay but that's a problem that's only been delayed because if they wanted out this year they're probably going to want out next year too, along with anyone else who realises he can do better than Saints. I still feel like there was something at the club (maybe just Cortese leaving; maybe Reed being disliked) that was pushing people away as well, so that'll need fixing somehow. I also don't foresee stability in the boardroom just yet, and I'm sure you all know by now where I'm going with that.
Maybe if every single signing plays to the best they possibly can, but history shows that doesn't happen. There's no way we'll get 8th or higher.
No because Pelle isn't as good as Lambert, Bertrand is miles worse than Shaw, the CB probably won't be as good as Lovren and Tadic probably isn't as good as Lallana. We also have to gel far too many players and as the squad is right now we're really going to struggle for goals. The new forward will have to be really good.
I'm just going to feel good about last season, 8th! That's our version of winning the Premier League! This season obviously can't live up to that. Of course we will NEVER win the actual Premier League or qualify for the Champions League.
Need to do some decent business this week. I know I keep on about it, but we have to buy a CB, and also a striker is needed. Yesterday didn't fill me with optimism.
I agree with everything you say. Getting a new very good goal keeper shores up one of last seasons gaps, but we still need a CB and a proven goal scorer. We are miles from where we were last season, not neccesarily in playing quality but in team cohesion
Agree that scoring goals is the issue. Ron certainly isn't stupid so I'm certain thats being worked on. Some-one to get onto Pelle's knock downs would be ideal
I hope your are wrong, but fear you are right. Somewhere between 10th and 15th is my prediction. All could be forgiven if we take the cup competitions seriously this year..
As someone who is usually a cup half full kinda person, I'm really concerned about the current line-up. We are short in lots of areas especially as already mentioned at CB and up front, hopefully Pelle will start knocking them in but I'm not overly confident. Goals win games and I fail to see where they are going to come from, as we are not renown for goals from midfield. New board, new manager, new team = long hard season
I am optimistic now, not because I think that we will be top 6 this year, but I do believe that is the plan. There seems to be an openness about the board and manager. Asked a direct question, there is little obfuscation. I understood the desire to do business quietly (Nigel wouldn't even confirm if a player was crocked!), but what is happening is exactly what they said would happen. A while back, I started a thread commenting that the missing component from the "Southampton Way" always envisaged by Markus, was that the club be sustainable and not rely on constant cash injections. Well, we have that now. The vision is there. Now to enjoy the season, season ticket in my wallet, COYR!
I was never negative to begin with. But I'm not overly optimistic either. Our first team is not that great, and more to it, we lack squad depth in certain areas. So we have Pelle, Isgrove and Tadić, likely a step down from last season, and they are the first options at the moment. If someone of them gets injured or suspended, then in the starting lineup enters brave Mayuka or youngsters Gallagher and McQueen. Some options. In the central defense, only one injury or suspension to Fonte/Yoshida will invite Hooiveld in the team. That would be great. Only positions where we have both quality and depth are the goalkeeper and the central midfield. So, there are still a lot of things to address to in the transfer market
Feeling confident purely on account of the Big Ron, who is already exhibiting all the characteristics of a total legend. Genuinely would not consider swapping him for that horrible git Pochettosspot. As for the squad, well, like the doughnut, it's got a massive hole in it. A few holes, actually. Get a couple of those filled and I'll be a lot happier.
I don't know if Pelle is as good as lambert; I'll need to judge that when I seem him play. Several have said he isn't so I can go with that. However, there will be things he does better than lambert, so that judgement will also depend on how we play to his strengths. I was as disappointed as the rest at people leaving, but was always prepared to give it time and the board time. I'm still awaiting the next saints fan "slag off" if we get a good beating at Liverpool and don't batter WBA. The melt down will happen, but again it will be about the long game. I am liking Ron more and more and I'm liking what the board are trying to do.
I am pleased that we are keen to bring in some decent players. Forster is a good start but it is actually a position where we already have a decent candidate and swapping more players out of our first team along with the departures makes things more difficult. As people have said above, clearly not all of our players will turn out to be great acquisitions, however we need a lot of them to settle quickly. I think we are very light up front and that is the difference between most teams in this league, the quality of the strikers. If you score goals you stay up. At the moment if we do not strengthen here we will struggle and could even be relegated, just because our fixture list works against us with the easier games early on when we are settling. I hope that we can do ok and perhaps finish somewhere between 11 and 15th but at present that will be a push. Our saving grace is that there are some very vulnerable teams this year.
