Southampton Banter Archive June 18 2013

18 Jun 2013 17:32:21
Eds, are any of you in the know to who Southampton fc are interested in fed up of reading us being linked to everyone which is mostly made up. Thanks. {Ed016's Note - Not particularly as they are very tight lipped, wait until a papers reporting it before you can consider}

18 Jun 2013 19:11:26
Ok well I was thinking and looking at who we have been link with and what players we have. now I know we all love certain players in the team and I know sometimes you don't want to replace them but as a club if you want to be challenging for top 6 you always need to be buying better. so I think if we mange to get the players we are after we may challenge for 7th places I mean this team looks awesome ( if we get the players)

(Gk) Boruc
(Rb) Clyne (Cb) Lovren (Cb) Forren (Lb) Shaw

(Cdm) Spider (Cdm) Ever Banega

(Cam) Gaston (Cam) Miroslav Stoch

(Cf) Rodrigues

(St) Lambert/Hooper

now I know there's a few things that people will be like "no" to but let me explain. I know Miroslav Stoch is a left winger but I like the 4, 2, 3, 1 formation and I think he would be good in this position. I know a lot of people don't rate Hooper highly but stikers are given all the glory which I don't think is right, the play makers give the strikers the chance to score, not the other way around and hooper is a like to score and does so a lot given the services. so I say give him a chance. I put Jay Rod in certre forward because he has pace and can provide and can score goals and I think he would play well switching from striker to Centre Forward with either lambert or hooper. but the team we have here is capable of a top ten finish if we get these player, Tbh Ever banega would be a coup for the saints as he is a world class play maker. Sorry for the essay but I just wanted to explain myself and kinda say that I think this team has the makings of being a top class squad.

Hooper wouldn't add that much to the attack and realistically I'm not sure your idea provides enough width in the play.

Seeing as gaston can't seem to play more than 60 mins I would offload him as I think Lallana will greatly improve this season without the injury problems he had last year. Rodrigues is still developing so I would bring in another striker a real bank buster the best we can attract lol so please insert your ideas my team would be

Boruc
Clyne, Forren, Lovren, Shaw
Cork, Spider
Puncheon, Lallana, Stoch ( if he signs )
Lambert?

If we do get more players in and I assume we are going to then they have really got to be better than we have by an obvious margin as the core of our team has proved it can cut it at that level and with a seasons experience will push on again hopefully.

Id rather have this formation
Boruc
clyne, lovren, forren/yoshida, shaw
morgan banega

stoch/jayrod, gaston, lallana

lambert/hooper

Boruc
Clyne, Forren/Yoshida, Lovren, Shaw
Cork, Schniederlin,
Ramirez, Lallana, Banega
Lambert.

Don't think anyone is really having a good guess at our attacking midfield set for next season. For starters Stoch and Lallana are both left wingers. More likely we will sign a right winger and see Ramirez play through the middle swapping around with Lallana on the left and the newbie on the right. Also think we'll see less of Lambert and more Rodriguez next season. Which may not go down well.

18 Jun 2013 15:00:13
Cagliari have said in the last hour that astori is going nowhere. He is a vital part of their future development. If this is true I would be disappointed. I know some have argued that since signing lovren we don't need him but I respectfully disagree. People have also argued that we need a 20 goal plus strikrr but that would cost in excess of 20 mill. Nc and pochettino have correctly identified that stopping goals is the top priority in this window. with the right appointments and provision I think Lambert will be a 20+ striker. Scoring goals wasn't the problem last season it was the -11 good at the other end.

On the other hand, even after the defense settled there was a tendency to score far fewer goals than our play merited. Lots of chances in the second half of the season were wasted due to poor finishing. I can see the argument for having someone other than Lambert who can put the ball away consistently.

We already have Lovren and if either Hooiveld or Fonte were to leave (preferably Hooiveld), young english centre back Jack Stephens should be involved. We only need a few additions in certain areas and now we should be well covered in the centre back position, although Astori is a great player

Whilst I completely agree with you, we still have the CB we signed in jan and the new signing.

We do not need Astori. We can sign other defenders probably cheaper and maybe younger for a long term plan. The more inter changeable our squad can be with top talents the better.

18 Jun 2013 10:29:56
Southampton have placed a bid of 7.6 million for midfielder Ever Banega according to the Mirror. In all honesty I can only see him as a back up for Morgan Schneiderlin and Jack Cork. In my opinion Saints had one of the best partnering Central Midfield in the Premier League last season in Jack and Morgan and with Banaga on the brink of signing I can't see him being placed in the starting 11 straight away. This would be extemely unfair on either Jack or Morgan. Having said that we all know as Southampton fans how cruel the club and certain members of the back room staff can be on players (past and present) and managers. 7.6 million is a lot of money for just a 'back-up' player. Which worries me into thinking he will be placed straight in the Starting 11 replacing one of the two from last season. It is clear Southampton need a natural right winger? So why are we spending all of our time chasing a player in which his position is already covered at the club? Since Chambo left us for Arsenal we have lacked a game in game out winger. I hate moaning because I love the club I really do, I've supported then all my life and go to all the games. But my gosh watching Southampton without a natural winger fustrates me so badly. Potch find a winger. Soon?

Think this Banega guy is more likely to replace Davis in his role switching around the midfield and being slightly more attack minded than Cork or Spiderman. But I completely agree the strength in our midfield only works through the incredible partnership.

Enough with the essays please, Banega can play further forward like davis did against chelsea and liverpool. If we sign him pretty sure he'll start

I suspect MP is looking to utilise rotation of players a lot more during the coming season. His style of play is exhausting and we do have a number of young players in our team still adapting to the Premiership, so I would anticipate he wants to be able to move away from the same 11-14 playing every game.

Saint Martin

He could play in a 5 man attacking midfield line up, tucking in behind a loan striker.

Banega backup to Cork and Schneiderlin. oh guys you make me laugh my pants off.
Have you ever seen this guy play?
He would be first choice by a mile, and that´s saying from a guy that rate both Cork and Schneiderlin extremely high, but no one of them are close to Banega in terms of quality.

Watch the video of him getting man of the match against Barcelona and your see we're the man above is coming from lol

I'm not sure Banega would be a good enough replacement for the strength of that defensive midfield partnership though. They play so well off of each other and have amazing Chemistry do Cork and Schneiderlin. I think he should play slightly infront of the two in an aggressive midfield line if we did sign him to make it a 4-2-3-1.