There's absolutely no place for this sort of reasonable, well thought out, insightful analysis on NSC. What were you thinking of?
Exactly this. BURN HIM.
There's absolutely no place for this sort of reasonable, well thought out, insightful analysis on NSC. What were you thinking of?
Kiss of death
They're unfortunate to be losing, playing very well. They got a new manager in, sold their best players to make themselves financially secure and bought in a higher level of squad players. They'll be fine this season and better off for it.
Ring any bells?
Yes, but not the playing very well bit
We're not in the position to replace the players quickly.
But why are Southampton and we aren't? We are surely aiming for a lower bracket of player than they are.
People said, papers/pundits that Southampton would be fighting relegation after seeing their squad dismantled but after seeing that performance then I'd expect them to finish in the top 6.
I'm afraid I have to disagree with most people on here.
Katharine Liebherr, the new owner, isn't asset-stripping, and there's no suggestion that the family money will be pulled out. Re-tooling, more like. She engineered the departure of a highly unpopular executive chairman in Nicola Cortese, whose transfer activity last summer left them with a £27m deficit, which was effectively wiped out by the Shaw deal - unbelievably good business for an 18-year-old left back.
Lallana and Lovren made it very clear that they wanted to go, and Liverpool have paid massively over the odds for both, IMHO. And £4m for Rickie Lambert, who makes me look fast, was ridiculous on Liverpool's part. West Ham offered £1m, which was about right. And Arsene Wenger has taken a bit of a punt on Callum Chambers, I think. By selling English players, who go for well above market value as usual, Saints have now got a huge transfer kitty to spend on additions to a few decent young players that they have pushing for the first team as ever.
Ronald Koeman is a manager who has been around and won trophies in Holland and Spain, and he's picked up a couple of bargains from Dutch football already. Dusan Tadic, the replacement for Lallana at a fraction of the cost, was the top provider of assists in Holland last season and the fourth-highest scorer. Graziano Pelle, although twice the price of Lambert, can contribute more than just free kicks and penalties.
The departure of Cortese has also had a very positive effect off the field, from what I've heard. The local paper has been un-banned, fans are regarded with less suspicion, and former players are being invited to St Mary's again. Matthew Le Tissier had been told he wasn't welcome, which is rather like us barring Peter Ward.
Much as I'd have a chuckle or two at Southampton's demise if it happened (not to mention spending fewer hours of my professional life at the Estadio Santa Maria), I won't be putting any money on them to go down. Eighth place again is out of reach, but I'm sure there will be three wosre teams than them.
As I've said before it's the trickle down effect. The best players get bought, the lower players need new teams. That is when we come in. The World Cup was always going to delay that even longer.