Summer Transfer Window 2015

Jenkinson is half-Finnish, get him ffs

Spoiler:

you need a striker right.

There's always Pukki

Schalke 'legend'.

Art Morte wrote:I wonder what makes us think £10m would be enough to get Clyne. I also resent the fact we're looking to buy a fourth Southampton player in the space of one year. It just feels ridiculous.

He has one year left, so that was a pretty decent offer. Besides, they might be even trying to redeem themselves from the Lovren deal.. Who else is there???

Art Morte wrote:I wonder what makes us think £10m would be enough to get Clyne. I also resent the fact we're looking to buy a fourth Southampton player in the space of one year. It just feels ridiculous.

Last year of his contract and apparently he isn't going to re-up with them. From what I've read they want 15m though.


I think that is a good enough XI to get top 4 and unless there are some serious injuries I won't be making excuses for Rodgers if that's what they can put together.

Some nice depth too with guys like Balotelli, Ibe, Markovic, Lucas, Allen, Lovren, Manquillo, and then Flanagan, Sturridge and maybe even Sterling.

How goods benteke on his feet? How's his pace?

I like his pace, but he's not the fastest. He's not going to blaze by like a Sterling or Sturridge but he has good off the ball movement, and while he's not the most technical player he's very strong on the ball and good at playing in his teammates (so anyone like Lallana, Ibe, Coutinho or even Henderson will benefit with their runs into the box or Sterling if he stays).

He also has a nose for goal better than maybe anyone on our team. He's good at recognizing scoring opportunities and taking advantage of them. I know a big complaint that AV fans have had about him is that he gets caught offside a lot (probably because he's not the fastest, but does move a lot). I think he'll also give us an added threat on set pieces which we obviously need.

I don't think he's going to come in and be the next Suarez or anything like that, but I think he'll score at least a goal every other game when all is said and done.

mr-r34 wrote:How goods benteke on his feet? How's his pace?

63% Passing accuracy over 3 seasons.

Basically the only part in which he'll be useful in a build up will b with his head.

I can't think of a striker with which Coutinho would hate playing with , more.

El Cujo wrote:I like his pace, but he's not the fastest. He's not going to blaze by like a Sterling or Sturridge but he has good off the ball movement, and while he's not the most technical player he's very strong on the ball and good at playing in his teammates (so anyone like Lallana, Ibe, Coutinho or even Henderson will benefit with their runs into the box or Sterling if he stays).

He also has a nose for goal better than maybe anyone on our team. He's good at recognizing scoring opportunities and taking advantage of them. I know a big complaint that AV fans have had about him is that he gets caught offside a lot (probably because he's not the fastest, but does move a lot). I think he'll also give us an added threat on set pieces which we obviously need.

I don't think he's going to come in and be the next Suarez or anything like that, but I think he'll score at least a goal every other game when all is said and done.

He got outpaced by one of the slowest PL defenders in Phil Jagielka a few weeks ago.

He's in no way a "Play on shoulder of a last defender" striker.

But we cross like shit and he's one of the best headers of the ball. Benteke Weimann worked well, So assuming Sterling stays and puts in half a shift, He'll do well behind him. Coutinho behind them might work as Benteke will make defenders do more work than Lambert and Balotelli etc.

Its not worth it for 30m. Its just not.

It's sad that we're adjusting ourselves to get the best out of a striker whose and supporting case who teams finished 17th in the table.

Anyways....I won't be burying my head supporting every buys this summer like last.

I'll tell it as it is, because my expectations for next season are in an all-time low with Rodgers staying and our supposed "PREMIER LEAGUE PROVEN" transfer targets.

I've already made a bet on Rodgers to be first manager sacked next year.....because with 4-3-3 no DM coming, a 4 man defense, and bunch of mid-table players with mid-table mentality, it's gonna end in tears

p.s. I already say it that our best chance of reaching CL next season is through Europa League.

However, I wouldn't be surprised if Rodgers got eliminated against Krasnodar of Russia in 3rd qualifying round since I have more tactical Nous in Europe than him.

Agreed, I've always tweeted that EL has to be taken more seriously and will probably end up being the most prestigious trophy we will be fighting for come December.

Has there been any news about Konoplyanka? I know that cooled down recently, but if we're going to lose Sterling he would not be a bad option. He looked very good in the final of the Europa league and in general when I've seen him. I would prefer him over Milner if available.

Natalie Portman wrote:He got outpaced by one of the slowest PL defenders in Phil Jagielka a few weeks ago.

He's in no way a "Play on shoulder of a last defender" striker.

He definitely plays on the shoulder of the defender quite a bit. As far as getting outpaced by Jagielka...it's not about who has more pace but how it's used. I've seen Sterling beaten to balls by much slower players before, and the same can be said of Coutinho and many other fast players.

Benteke isn't a burner like I said, but he doesn't have bad pace, and he has a lot of movement for a big, strong striker.

As far as money goes, like I said, it's irrelevant. We can either afford the players we're buying or we can't. I can tell you for sure that what we're paying for Benteke or whoever else isn't stopping us from buying other players -- attracting the players that we want is more of an issue than being able to afford them.

Pace is overrated.

Fk, I'll make a topic on that.

As Cruyff would put it:

What is speed? The sports press often confuses speed with insight. See, if I start running slightly earlier than someone else, I seem faster.

Art Morte wrote:Pace is overrated.

Fk, I'll make a topic on that.

Pace of brain is very under-rated however. That's what makes Coutinho such a special player.

P.s. you can't say Pace is over-rated. Messi/Ronaldo/Robben would have been HALF the players they are now, if they didn't have pace to go with their other obvious qualities.

Art, throwing a party soon now that basically all the players we're linked with are either target men or crossers ?? (Not to mention all PL proven )

p.s. Kovacic rumours...now that's a proper target. How come we're low-balling with 12M bid there, the one signing we desperately need to bolster our shocking midfield. I hope it's actually a strong link.

Bacca has 30M EUROS (22M pounds in today's market) release clause.

Has all Benteke attibutes, but also acceleration and more variety to his game.

most importantly, he is used to pressure of delivering in big games , has proven he can deliver when pressure is on and on highest stages and is a trophy winner.

I'm convinced our scouts and coaching staff haven't even heard of him or that Polish DM Sevilla have (who is also very good). Do they make up their transfer targets by watching MOTD ???

Do you guys think Salah, Shaqiri or even Konoplyanka would have made much of a difference last season???

On a separate note, since when did this PL-Proven thing become so important? If you disregard the T4 teams, there's barely 7-8 players in the remaining 15 teams who can be eligible for a CL-Chasing team.

Last season the issue was goal scoring, not wing play really. I wouldn't say any of those three would have drastically changed anything.

If we lose Sterling though one of those three would be nice to have. I would take Kono on a free regardless though.

El Cujo wrote:Last season the issue was goal scoring, not wing play really. I wouldn't say any of those three would have drastically changed anything.

If we lose Sterling though one of those three would be nice to have. I would take Kono on a free regardless though.

And the last 3 seasons, the bigger issue has been defending.

141 goals conceded in 3 seasons.

that's an average of 1.24 goals PG.

In Houllier's 6 seasons in charge, conceded an average of 1 goal/game . In Rafa's 6 season in charge, we conceded an average of .79goals/game.

There is zero indictment that Rodgers can coach a 4 men defense. The only time we've looked solid under him has been with a back 3 and it adversely affected our attack as we didn't win a single game with more than 2 goals.

"Attack wins you games, defense wins you championships"

We can buy strikers and goals and it will surely help us win more games...but to get past the last hurdle, to win trophies, to bring glory back to this drought-ridden club...we need to stop leaking 40+ goals every freaking season.

Craggier said Rodgers barely spends any time on defending shape and all in trainings and it's a massive concern. We have the second most expensive defense in the world after PSG (90% of buys in Rodgers era) yet are absolutely shambles when defending.

It has to stop sometime, don't you think ?

Kovacic might just be the drama of the summer it seems . .

Rodgers will be sacked regardless if it's this summer or next. He ain't taking us forward, of that I'm convinced.

So my personal wish for this transfer window is that we get players that would be useful under whatever manager that comes in after Rodgers.

Benteke, Ings, and Milner are certainly not that. Like Carroll, when the next manager comes and doesn't play with a target man he'll want to get rid of Benteke asap and we'll sell him for peanuts. Ings is a relegation fodder player. I don't know what we're even thinking there. Milner is 30 years old.

Kovacic is. He has all the talent to be world class. Remember how Modric destroyed the PL, well Kovacic has the talent to be that and then some. He's the kind of signing that will be useful under Klopp, Rafa, Ancelotti or whoever that comes in.

Oh god, just imagining Coutinho and Kovacic possibly being in their prime together playing for us. And Can to that as well if his future is in midfield. My gawd we'll be saved in midfield.

Of course non of it will matter if we don't have proper goalscorers.

Taking into count our sudden aggressiveness in the transfer market now, it seems that BR ain't leaving this summer. And also the man himself in vacation. Taking vacations in between getting sacked or in danger of losing your job doesn't sound right. So he seems to be cool about it all.

Well let's wait and see what happens in the supposed meeting on June 3rd.

Yes.

There would be changes for sure but at this moment of time really can't see significant ones.

If we just buy Kovacic and let the current group we have grow together and have a coach that can develop them all to reach their potentials in about 3 years this team


Bench: Hendo, Markovic, Lallana, Others + Academy

This team will be able to challenge for the title and be consistently in the top 4. But do we have the patience? I say no.