We're Gonna Win the League - Here Comes the Summer - Part 1

Pre-Season Optimism Overdrive

So – what’s been happening since the season ended with that thrill-a-minute home game with Huddersfield.  Well….

Three weeks after the season ended we had the horrific event of the Champions League final which was one of the worst games I have seen in my lifetime and at the end of it, fucking Liverpool won.  This is relevant to us because we’ll be qualifying for this competition as Champions in approximately 10 months time – more on that later.  Oh yeah, Liverpool. I remember them winning it in 2005 and the world didn’t stop turning like it would if they win the Premier League so let’s just console ourselves with that thought. There were a few rumours kicking around that we might be in for a £10 million cash windfall because of all the “win the champions league“ clauses when we sold them all of those players. So, seeing Adam Lallana on the bench with absolutely zero chance of getting on the pitch might have been annoying but at the end of the day, he has a Champions League medal around his neck so we should be thankful to the thick twat if he indeed does earn us few quid.  Talking of thick twats, Charlie Austin put down his pint long enough to squeeze into a Liverpool shirt for a photo-op.  It's quite funny in a way - he knows he's going and he doesn't give a fuck.  

So proud of this thick twat

As clubs release player players, so the question gets asked if *insert players name here* could do a good job for Saints. I refer you to my previous blog on speculation and the fact that if a player isn’t quick, fit and young then we will not be interested. Daniel Sturridge for example…. was at his best six years ago, he’s not young, he’s not quick anymore and is completely injury prone and that’s before we get to the huge signing on fee and £100k a week plus wages he will be demanding. There is no evidence that he can even play football anymore. 18 months ago he joined West Brom on loan and actually had a chance to play football and what happened? Injured after two games and out for the rest of the season.

We then had a good reminder of why I hate the transfer window when we got heavily linked with the goalkeeper, Bartolome Dragowski who has had half a good season on loan at Empoli in Serie A. Initially there seem to be rightful disbelief that we were chasing a goalkeeper when we already have three senior goalkeepers and then there was outrage when it emerged that there was some speculation that we had been outbid by Bournemouth for the goalkeeper we don’t need.  As it stands, parent club Fiorentina have sold last years Number 1 goalkeeper and Dragowski is the replacement so that was all bollocks then.

Wait for the pictures of the player in the kit says I… the first incoming signing happened in mid-June when we agreed a deal with Standard Liege to sign Moussa Djenepo, who is all of the necessary, being fast, young and fit. All that and an eye for goal and because you know that Ralph has been involved, the feeling is that he is more likely to be more Mane than Elyounoussi.  Djenepo has been playing for Mali in the African Cup of Nations and is exactly what it says on the tin.  Quick and tricky, not the finished article but masses of potential.

After the Djenepo deal happened there was a bit of a lull as there always is at the end of June – this is of course because all contracts run to July 1^st and all the wantaway players need to hot that date to get their loyalty bonuses for the moves they’ve probably been angling for, for 6 months.  Cynical but true. A few players had international commitments and a few others went on holiday. Social media always has to be taken with a pinch of salt but some themes emerged with Danny Ings seemingly taking a fitness coach around the world with him and Nathan Redmond posting some videos of him training in America. Charlie Austin however, just posted pictures and videos of him at horseracing meetings, parties and generally not training. I’m sure that he just doesn’t want to publicise the fact that he is now super-match fit and raring to go and won’t be throwing up in a bucket on the first day of pre-season training.  Mario Lemina was singing in the car, being a gangster and generally being the Rock Star Instagram Model we know and love.

So – July 1^st and what do you know, genuine transfer news.  One of our more trusted journalists, Sam Wallace, broke the story that Matt Targett was on his way to Aston Villa for £14 million quid and that Che Adams was joining from Birmingham for £16 million. As far as the Targett deal is concerned, I feel that it is the right move for everyone. Villa get a player who will improve with more game time, Saints get a decent fee and the player gets to play more often. If you look at the Saints squad as a whole, he is certainly a player that we can afford to lose because we still have Ryan Bertrand as undisputed first choice, we still have Sam McQueen kicking around and Jake Vokins is very highly thought of. In my view, Targett should be a lot better than he is by now. A strange, inconsistent player who sometimes looks like he is ready to kick on and then in the next match he is defending like an eight-year-old. He is 24 now so youth is not an excuse for his inconsistency. He has a great cross on him and doesn’t need to beat a player to get a good ball in either, which is just as well because he doesn’t have a pace to do so. I also feel that one of the reasons why Ralph has decided to let him go is because he wants intelligent footballers who are able to take a lot of information on board and to learn. I don’t think anyone could have seen Targett being interviewed and think that being intelligent was one of his assets – positively Lallana-esque.

It’s always a bit of a shame when a local lad moves on but as I said earlier, it is for the greater good and should benefit all parties concerned. Villa are a huge club and he should do well there. I’m sure there will be some of our more special fans who will boo him when he comes back with Villa but to be honest, there shouldn’t be any as he’s a good lad who has done his best for the club whenever he has been given the opportunity.

Che Adams arrives after a 22 goal season in the Championship for an average side in Birmingham City. It is quite exciting because there is no way of knowing whether he is going to be able to manage to step up and score goals in the Premier League. As Ralph legendarily said himself, “if you want guarantees, buy a washing machine”. I think that fans would be well advised not to expect him to score 20 goals this season but it’s another exciting addition to the squad which in Redmond, Djenepo, Adams, Ings and even good old Shane Long, has some serious pace about it.  Che caused a bit of a stir with his first interview in which he casually threw out that we were aiming to win the league.  Nothing like a bit of optimism lad.  Love it.  However, if Ralph Krueger had said that, bundled up in some Management Bollockspeak, then we'd have all cringed and died on our arses.

Danny Ings also completed his permanent signing which was inevitable from a year ago despite what a lot of people thought. Personally I’m really pleased because what last you did was made me realise how good a player he is. Of course there are the fitness issues and the man himself said that last year was a little bit stop start because he didn’t have a pre-season and as mentioned earlier, this season he has obviously been keeping fit throughout the summer and he will get that pre-season so fingers crossed, he will stay fit for longer this year.

As training restarted we got a glimpse of the issues facing Saints in the summer – Forster, Austin, Gallagher, Clasie, Hoedt, Reed and Carillo all back with Cedric, Elyounoussi and Boufal all imminently returning.  Put it this way, if you’re going to buy a new shirt, I’d avoid getting any of these players names put on the back.