Southampton Discussion

[Honey Honey]

Quote

 

Southampton have signed Juventus midfielder Mario Lemina in a club record deal worth up to £18.1m (20m euros) on a five-year deal.

The 23-year-old Gabon international only made eight starts for the Italian champions last season after joining from Marseille a year ago for £7.5m.

The Saints will pay an initial £15.4m with the rest depending on his success at the club.

He becomes Mauricio Pellegrino's second signing of the summer.

Saints vice-chairman Les Reed said Lemina's signing was a "significant statement of intent from the club".

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40841080

Juventus more than double their money in a year by selling to a mid table English club 

[Batard]

Questionable attitude but the talent ... well it was there. He was just a bit light weight. This transfer was a bit out of left field though. 

[The Liquidator]

Well I have learn't over the past few seasons to take notice of any signings Southampton make from mainland Europe. Lemina built a good reputation at Marseille and I remember him being linked with West Ham. You have to question why Juventus have moved him on so quickly, however this could be another clever signing by Southampton.

[Honey Honey]

Quote

 

Southampton have signed Netherlands centre-back Wesley Hoedt from Lazio for £15m on a five-year deal.

Hoedt, 23, joined the Serie A side from AZ Alkmaar in 2015 and made his full international debut earlier this year.

Saints vice-chairman Les Reed said Hoedt is "one of the most promising young defenders in Europe".

His Dutch team-mate and Saints captain Virgil van Dijk recently handed in a transfer request, but the club say he is not for sale.

Reed added: "Wesley has proven his talent through his performances for Lazio, as well as the Netherlands, and we believe he can develop even further here at Southampton, alongside his international team-mate Van Dijk, as well as the likes of Jack Stephens, Maya Yoshida, Jan Bednarek and Florin Gardos."

He is Saints' third summer signing after the arrivals of midfielder Mario Lemina for a club record £18.1m and defender Jan Bednarek for £5m.

Hoedt said: "I'm really happy to be here. I think Southampton is a really big club, so it's a good next step for me to come here and to play in the Premier League and try to help the best I can."

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41019083

 

Buying a friend for Van Dijk or a replacement?

[Panna King]

Van Dijk and Him are not friends, have never played together at the same time for the Dutch National team also its just a coincidence that they are just buying a Dutch player, Hoedt played for AZ Alkmaar for 1 season before his agent Mino Raiola got him a move to Italy as that is what he does.      Hoedt is a solid player but was never going to get games in Lazio with another Dutch player there de Vrij in front of him who is probably better than Van Dijk. 

[Berserker]

Love how Southampton are turning into a feeder team to our NT.

[Guest Cannabis]

Whispers are already going around Southampton that Pellegrino is facing the sack, Fat Sam the front-runner to replace him should the dismissal happen. 

 

 

[Rick]

They have started very poorly considering the squad they have. 9 goals in 10 games is shite.

[Lucas]

8 minutes ago, FOYM said:

They have started very poorly considering the squad they have. 9 goals in 10 games is shite.

You say that but the squad is not blessed with great attacking options. Shane Long and Charlie Austin have had enough injuries between them to sink a battle ship and aren't the players they once were. Gabbiadini is half decent but if they get him in the game, he's anonymous.

The creativity has to come from Tadic who has one good game in six and is horrifically overrated, and Redmond who is a poor man's Theo Walcott. Says it all. James Ward-Prowse has a decent delivery on him but you need more than that. Boufal has never settled since he came over and struggled to live up to the hype of hype price tag. He's done two things since he's been over here. Scored a worldy against Palace in the League Cup last year and a goal out of nowhere against West Brom. Not sure he's cut out for the English league personally.

What used to work for them so well was having Clyne and Bertrand bombing down the wings, Mane's pace, trickery and directness, Lallana's skill, vision and passing and the target men the likes of Lambert and Pelle were, who not only provided a good outlet from defence to attack, but brought other players into the game who took on the burden of scoring the majority of the team's goals.

The only thing you can say about Saints currently is they can be solid. But what do you expect when you play two defensive midfielders in Romeu and Lamina. The ambition they show in games is simply not enough.

That said, if it's the attacking game they want to improve on, why on earth would you turn to Big Sam. That's nothing short of desperate in my eyes.

[Batard]

That’s annoying. I put money on at 14/1 that Southampton would get relegated 

[HK85]

Problem with Southampton is that there is no flexibility for a manager because every one at the club and the fans have bought into a certain way to run the club and how to play. Koeman was their best manager in years and he still got criticism because of a failure to promote certain youth players which is demanded at Southampton. 

If a manager doesn't buy into it then he won't last long unless he does something special. They're just happy to plod along and get plaudits for the youth setup and sell for a lot of money. It'll get them in trouble eventually. 

[Dan+]

Come on!!!!!

[Guest Cannabis]

Just looked and he's 10/1 to go - them odds that you've got @Dan are great though. Fair play if it comes through.

Edit: Quite interesting that Tony Pulis and Marco Silva (already?!) are second and third favourites.

[Dan+]

Just now, Cannabis said:

Just looked and he's 10/1 to go - them odds that you've got @Dan are great though. Fair play if it comes through.

Still 20/1 on William Hill.

[Guest Cannabis]

Just now, Dan said:

Still 20/1 on William Hill.

I'd swoop on that but can't be arsed setting up an account just for one bet !

[Batard]

16/1 on SkyBet, stuck 6 quid on it for just over a ton

[Batard]

Curiosly, SKYBET have Marco Silva 6/4 on

[Honey Honey]

Ffs, has Fat Sam gone into every Greggs asking for a job? 

[LFCMike]

1 hour ago, Batard said:

Curiosly, SKYBET have Marco Silva 6/4 on

Now favourite for the Everton job too

[Batard]

5 minutes ago, LFCMike said:

Now favourite for the Everton job too

I hope that’s after Pellegrino gets the boot 

[Dan+]

They seem more like odds of people just jumping on a story rather than anything definitive. I remember one night just being sat on Twitter when Oddschecker churned a tweet out saying Nigel Pearson is now 1/10 favourite to be the next manager to go and that's where you know something's happened.

I can see Everton sticking with Unsworth for the season. It's uninspiring but I doubt he'll take them down. Still find it mental that that's the remit for Everton at the minute.

[Stan]

i see Fat Sam is the Alan Curbishley of this decade. 

Constantly linked with any job going. 

[Inverted]

I think even back when they were the neutral's favourite in England, Southampton were still quite a defensive team - in Koeman's first season the big talking point was that by Christmas only Chelsea were better defensively. 

The difference between now and then seems to be that there's no real chemistry upfront, or creative confidence in the team. With Gabbiadini they've found a clinicial finisher like Pelle again, but Tadic falling so badly out of form after being amazing when he arrived, and replacing Mane with Redmond, has led to them just being a  boring, safe side. Pellegrino can either scrap the base that makes them so solid and hope that their forwards start performing in a more aggressive set-up, or he can wait and hope that thing click creatively. 

[Lucas]

On ‎11‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 0:57 PM, HK85 said:

Problem with Southampton is that there is no flexibility for a manager because every one at the club and the fans have bought into a certain way to run the club and how to play. Koeman was their best manager in years and he still got criticism because of a failure to promote certain youth players which is demanded at Southampton. 

If a manager doesn't buy into it then he won't last long unless he does something special. They're just happy to plod along and get plaudits for the youth setup and sell for a lot of money. It'll get them in trouble eventually. 

Pochettino was because ultimately he was the one that transformed Southampton from what he inherited from Nigel Adkins. It was his philosophy installed that had them pressing teams so high and increasing their fitness and tempo that made them so difficult to play against. Koeman was fortunate to inherit a squad going the right way. 

[Storts]

6 minutes ago, Lucas said:

Pochettino was because ultimately he was the one that transformed Southampton from what he inherited from Nigel Adkins. It was his philosophy installed that had them pressing teams so high and increasing their fitness and tempo that made them so difficult to play against. Koeman was fortunate to inherit a squad going the right way. 

Correct.

Pochettino was their most important manager - set all the foundations for their progress to a top half club.