11 Jul 2015 18:07:09
I know everybody is going to say it's only a couple of friendly games but I have just watched 23 of our players in the Audi/Quattro cup and didn't see anybody have a good game except one. That was Stekelenburg in goal and the rest were mostly run rings round . I can not see a push for the top 6 happening with the current squad we have and to be honest we still look as goal shy as last season . We need to get some quality in midfield and defence otherwise we will struggle and all the huff and puff in the world will not get us anywhere.
11 Jul 2015 19:24:21
To be fair we've played one game before those. We've not played a full strength side yet, it's all been half first teamers and half youngsters so far and even then we haven't had every 1st team player out yet. Playing against regular champions league sides, Red Bull are on for winning their league for a 3rd season in a row, we'd have been given a tough game with a fully fit 1st eleven.
Pre-season is all about fitness, not results, there's nothing to panic about, wait until a few games time when we're playing a first team squad for more minutes
Take the positives, Soares looks good, Stekelenburg looks good, Juanmi looks good, J-Rod is back (albeit severely down on fitness), supposedly new signings coming in over the next couple days, utd looking increasingly disinterested in Schneiderlin
11 Jul 2015 19:50:17
Would be very harsh to judge anyone on their performance today, given that for the majority of our first team players it was their first run out. There would have been very limited pre-match preparation for either of the games, essentially the instructions would have been try to keep the majority of possession, work the counter and score a few goals.
I do agree we could do with improvements in centre mid and obviously a centre back will be coming in.
11 Jul 2015 21:30:30
What about up front also?
I think we need better quality all round if we are going to match or improve on last season.
Many other EPL teams have strengthened and bought in new players and I think the league will be more competitive next year.
If we are to take the europa league seriously we need more quality and depth
11 Jul 2015 22:52:10
I can't believe that anyone seriously is knocking Saints after the results today. Come on Chrisdownj, what on earth are you on? Preseason has barely started, with a few player not even back, and unlike previous seasons we're playing at a decent standard early on. Put that together with U21 players mixed in with regular first teamers, and it isn't really a surprise that we struggled today.
However the team that played today has little or no resemblance to the team that will kick off the season.
Isn't the problem that we operate within a set of well constructed guidelines to a planned goal, and that despite the club having wealth, we continue to play a waiting game as we move forward, developing our own talent, and supplementing that with carefully selected targets.
I find the whole negative thing comical, since a few years ago we were within 24 hrs of being liquidated. Since then, we have moved forward at a vast pace, and have now secured a place in Europe.
If the last few years have taught Saints fans anything it really ought to be 'Keep calm and support the Saints'.
Our progress has quite frankly been remarkable, and been remarked upon by people world-wide. It is progress that almost every fan of every club would love to have.
11 Jul 2015 23:21:53
I agree with st christopher but a lot of saints fans inc me don't want to see that hard work wasted which is what WILL happen if they don't strengthen, a lot of teams around us are building and next year will be more competitive, leaving us I fear strugglung for 13th-10th position which in real teams will a) not build our brand as set out b) rightly or wrongly not fill the stadium, again reducing revenue. Squad wise personally bar Reed I don't see any u21s doing a job for first team so I beleive if we don't sign a quality cb, a goal scoring creative attacking midfielder (shaquiri/sigurdsson) and another out and out striker (austin) we will struggle
12 Jul 2015 09:24:18
Jrod and Gallagher will give competition to pelle and take the heat off him when he needs it, gaston and a fully fit tadic are the creative midfielders. We know that they are still in the market for a top quality centre half, with koeman touting Stephens as cover too and an opportunity to prove himself. We have to progress steadily dsj. It's not fifa when u get promoted and then win the league in 2 seasons! Look at the club's who we are competing against. Tottenham and liverpool have thrown obscene money at trying to break the top four. Hasn't worked. Everton have tried on a very tight budget for years to do it, with shrewd signings and selling the odd player for big money. They've come close. Swansea are the only club in the league with a model similar to ours and they are now beginning to push the bigger clubs. I would rather a few seasons of 7th, 8th,7th,6th and be solid financially and bringing through good young talent. Than throw mega money at risky signings, finish 5th one season and battle relegation the next, with no chance for any academy products. Apart from the very biggest clubs in the world, you cannot throw 100's of millions of pounds at signings. We tried that with 2 cortese signings and it didn't work. We are in the second tier of clubs where we want to compete but have to show trust and faith in our youth and have a responsible plan and model in order to progress and also SURVIVE! (remember when we nearly didn't?!?!?!) We've always relied on youth! (Le Tiss, shearer, Wallace brothers, bridge, bale, walcott, oxlade-chamberlin, lallana, chambers, Shaw,) why stop now? We need to get to a point, in the right way, where we no longer have to sell these players but we can keep them, build a team round them and progress. Football is changing, unless you're Russian/middle eastern owned, you can't try and get short term gain because it risks the long term safety of the club
12 Jul 2015 10:21:05
Who was it who ALWAYS looked useless in pre-season? RICKIE.
Do not judge players from what they do in training otherwise Le Tiss would have been sacked after one season.
12 Jul 2015 11:01:27
But mikeysaint were are on same wave length just different ideas, I didn't say I wanted 100s spent and be like liverpool or spurs and i'm not bothered about 4th place but I would like to challenge for 8/7/6 but I can't see this happening with current squad esp when Morgan goes, we struggled last year creating. fact. this should have been identified and addressed, you mentioned tadic and ramirez?? If this is our creative source then we can forget about scoring more. i'm not a fifa/football manager fan I've played all my life at a pretty good standard so I feel I've a reasonable input as many on here and I really beleive we will not evolve and settle for mediocrity, with the sale of Morgan i'd like to think the 27-30m would be reinvested in the squad but I just don't think it will, look at cb situation, Les should of had back up plans if toby situation went wrong, they didnt, they tried to outbid west ham at last minute for ogbonna, now were left with no cb to integrate during preseason with only 30 days to go, I think people need to take what Les says with a pinch of salt as we the fans won't ever no truth only what we want to hear, well oneards and upwards and I hope i'm wrong about coming season, coyr
12 Jul 2015 12:41:19
Well said MilkySaint.
dsj20v were you one of those last season that was banging on about how we were going to get relegated? So many on here were, but few actually came out and admitted they got it wrong.
I went on record before the season kicked off stating how many points I thought Saints would end up with, and I shall do so again this season, as I do every season.
What you need to understand is that we seem to have rather a large squad. Yes, large numbers of the squad are players that we have developed, and they may not quite be ready for regular first team football, but we have a philosophy of producing our own kids.
If we look at attacking options as an example then yes I'd love us to bring in someone that will score us 20-30 goals a season, but we have a few players that can play in that role. Pelle; Long; JayRod; Gallagher; Seager. Since we play with one up front, how many options do you think we actually need?
I think in part, the panic is focused around the Uefa Cup (or is it curse), but things don't have to work out so poorly.
All I am saying is that we should keep calm and Supports the Saints - the club is in good hands and will get stronger as we go forward.
12 Jul 2015 14:00:34
Our squad is already much stronger than last season.
We will add a CB and if Morgan goes he will be replaced. Both Morgan and Toby missed chunks of last season, so where is there any logic to predict we will struggle?
Les made a very interesting point the other day. The teams who do well in the Premiership often put out the same team week in week out. Just check that out-it is accurate. We do not need to follow Brenda's shotgun approach hoping we will hit the bulls-eye one day and waste a fortune in the process.
12 Jul 2015 15:31:25
Tadic was brilliant for us until his groin problem curtailed his season. Gaston has the ability, now he has to take his chances. I can see him being used in Europe league and cup comps more than prem, but if he stays fit he might do it. If not we'll let him go cheap and possibly add in January. If clasie comes in for shneiderlin then that's fairly like for like. Ward-prowse has another season under his belt, more experience and still young . mane also has a year under his belt, and a full preseason which he didn't have last time, and he could tear teams apart next year. What makes you say we don't have a back up plan for Toby?! And we have been told all along that money raised from player sales will be reinvested, and I believe that. A solid centre back, and 1-2 midfielders (if spider goes) and I think our squad is much stronger than last year!! Is it a coincidence that the only positive thinking people on here have "Saint" in their name? Lol
12 Jul 2015 23:04:47
I think the logic of our club works along the rules that every season we produce players from our academy. Now in recent years we seemed to produce potentially world class players every 5 minutes. Therefore by said logic, if we wait for a little while, we'll have a team full of Academy stars with the odd purchase to supplement the kids.
It doesn't cost a fortune. Indeed we won't be able to put all the kids in the squad as there'll be too many, so we'll sell a few off.
Every year we get stronger. The kids mature and become better players. And people please remember that as we produce so many kids, we need to buy less players.
One of the things that everyone from the 'Fifa15' school of thought seems to forget is that due to FFP our wages system is seriously hampered. Minimal increases each season are all we are allowed under FFP, so therefore even if we wanted to buy every linked player we couldn't.
Keep Calm
Support the Saints!
13 Jul 2015 00:06:50
That's all well and good, St Christopher, and I'm a big fan of Saints' commitment to developing young players, but the current batch really aren't anything special. Chelsea have got some quality youngsters. Man City have got some exciting kids. But Saints' best academy graduates have already been sold.
If the club are relying on them to take the team to the next level, I think they're going to be sorely disappointed. The philosophy falls down if the players coming through aren't of sufficient standard.
There's certainly no "potentially world class" prospects on the books.
13 Jul 2015 12:59:12
To a degree qwertyell I agree with you.
Chelsea and Man City do have some great kids on their books and most of our kids wouldn't get into their youth setups (I think that Callum Slattery would be the only one who probably could, and there is a certain amount of excitement around him).
Unfortunately none of the Chelsea/ManCity kids will ever be given the chance to fully develop at said clubs.
My quip about Saints producing potentially world class players every five minutes was a little tongue in cheek, but we do have a great history of producing players, and we will no doubt continue to do so!
We have a relatively large number of kids on our books that will go on to play regularly in the premier league, whether it be with us or another club. Indeed, there were only two kids who played in the barclays U21 cup final at St Mary's who hadn't played for our first team and one of those has been coming back from a long term injury- What a goal by Gallagher by the way! Very special!
The philosophy of the club is such that it operates in such a way to promote slow; sustainable; growth. There is no boom or bust! and by producing our own kids, we need to buy fewer players.
The club is thinking long-term. It's looking at the next five to ten years, whereas we, the fans, generally have an attention span no longer than a handful of games.
I am hugely proud of the manor in which Saints is run. They do things the right way, create their own players, and profit from the clubs that use a 'must have now' philosophy. And when we spend money, we look at every aspect of the players that we buy in an effort to avoid the mistakes of the past.
People sometimes accuse me on here of having rose tinted glasses.
I don't.
I just have faith in the way that the club operate; the way they have steered us back from the brink of oblivion, to the heights of the premier league.
We still have people being negative about the team, the lack of signings, the quality of signings, that we've lost our first couple of games pre-season. Where on earth were they when we were in Div 1?
All I am saying is that we, the fans, need to take a few minutes to re-gain a little perspective.
Keep Calm
Support the Saints