Pre-Season Part 2 - Preparing for the Race for 17th

Pre-season games started with a nice friendly neighbourhood trip to take on our only local rivals worth a shit – Eastleigh, which saw Saints take a large squad to the Silverlake to take on Kelvin Davis’ side. More of a fitness exercise than anything but with first half goals from Adam Armstrong twice and Will Smallbone, then second half efforts from Sekou Mara, Ryan Manning, Yuki Sugawara and Charly Alcaraz, we strolled to a 7-1 victory.  Because it was a fitness exercise, Adam Lallana and Ross Stewart didn’t play.

With the squad getting off to Spain for a training camp and a couple of behind closed doors friendlies, news came through that Che Adams was signing for Torino in Italy. There seemed to be this train of thought that he might be a Saints player next season despite the fact that he officially left the club three weeks ago. To me, his situation was no different to Stuart Armstrong’s in that he was in the last year of his contract and had never indicated an intention to sign a new one. Good luck to Che and it’s a brave move for him and I hope it works out.

A lot has been made of the fact that after we got relegated, he posted that he would stick around to put things right and get us back to where we belong but let’s not kid ourselves here or rewrite history - he would’ve been off last summer if anyone ever wanted to pay £15 million quid for him, which no one did.   There’s no point in being cynical though and he did prove to be pretty useful in the Championship but as the season wore on, I formed an opinion that I wouldn’t be that bothered if he left given that he has never exactly said the Premier League alight before, though we do of course have to replace him.

Che was always maddeningly inconsistent, quite often within the context of one game where he could look like the best player in the league one minute and then the next, look like someone who had never kicked a football before, wearing his Adidas Trampolino boots.  If he could play it at his best level for 80% of the time, instead of the 20% he currently manages, there is no way that someone wouldn’t have paid for him last summer.  Che was often given the thankless task of playing up front for us on his own, making up for a lack of height and pace with a physicality which often battered bigger defenders around.  When he played well, Saints tended to play well and his partnerships with Danny Ings and then Armando Broja brought some decent reward.

The Legend of Che

It’s a bit of a strange move from Torino‘s point of view because they can’t have been too impressed by him doing shuttle runs for Scotland in the summer. As I said though, good luck to him. He has provided us with some brilliant moments in his Saints career – the long-range goal against Manchester City and the chip against Watford being two of the most memorable. The catalogue of misses from ridiculously close to the goal also stick in the mind and the handball header against Wolves from six inches out with no goalkeeper in the goal, will always be legendary.

Moving on and the Spanish training camp and friendlies against Bordeaux and Montpellier. The Bordeaux friendly was against the backdrop of the French club going into administration. If you remember back a couple of years, we paid the transfer fee for Sekou Mara upfront to give them a stay of execution but it seems that years of mismanagement of caught up with them and it did look for a while at the friendly was not going to go ahead but go ahead it did, with Saints running out 3-2 winners. There was some bright attacking play along with some shambolic passing across the back but Tyler Dibling forced an own goal before Sam Amo-Ameyaw curled in a brilliant effort from the edge of the box and Mara himself got the third with it having been put n a plate by Dibling . We got our first real look at Mateuz Lis in goal and he started well and made a couple of decent saves before inexplicably turning into a complete shambles in the second half, fumbling one simple save onto the roof for the net and eventually conceding a shocker with a flappy punch and then getting beaten at the near post. Not great and the goalkeeping department still needs upgrading. The very next day however, Bordeaux officially went out of business which is fucking sad whatever way you look at it.

Up next after a few more days training were Montpellier, who were a step up in class and who were right bunch of arseholes. Playacting and leaving the foot in, in a preseason friendly is not what you want. 1-0 up early with Sulemana showing what he’s all about by grabbing the ball to take a penalty and rolling a pathetic effort straight at the keeper, who was so surprised he just threw it straight back out to him so in the stats it goes down as two shots on target for Suladjenepo.  Ronnie Edwards made another decent appearance at the back, partnering the returning Jan Bednarek and Edwards it was who played a beautifully flighted ball over the Montpellier defence for Dibling to run onto and cement his status as the star of pre-season season so far.  After conceding direct from a free kick to get Montpellier back into it, we saw the game out with Yuki Sugawara floating a free-kick onto the head of THB who couldn’t really miss. There was still time for Saints to win another penalty when Sam Amo got chopped down and Sekou Mara showed that anything Kamaldeen can do, he can do as well by rolling a shocking effort straight at the goalkeeper but this time there was no such luck with the rebound. Absolutely garbage. Honestly, it barely would’ve reached the goal even if the keeper hadn’t have been there.

Overall it was another good workout and positive results never do any harm and it reaffirm to my belief that if there were two players I would least like to take a penalty for my life, then Mara and Sulemana would be right up there.

Replacing Chele with Chile

At the end of the Spanish trip, Russell Martin gave an interview where he hinted that we were still looking for a midfield player a striker and a winger and upon our return, that one man transfer breaking news machine that is Fabrizio Romano, revealed that a deal had been agreed between Saints and Villareal for the signature of Stoke born Chilean international Ben Brereton Diaz, last seen in this country scoring a few goals for Sheffield United at the tail end of them getting relegated out of the Premier League. Prior to that he was at Blackburn and was prolific up front when replacing a certain Adam Armstrong. Brereton Diaz is a 6 foot 1 striker/left-winger and on the face of it seems a decent addition. As I said, he has a bit of pedigree at Premier League level and banged in goals fun at Championship level so it’s another striker who will be wanting to prove himself at a higher level. This looks like a good signing at £7 million quid. If it was £15 million then I would be questioning it a bit more but Brereton Diaz appears on the face of it to have what it takes to make an impact at Premier League level, having already proved this to a degree playing for a terrible Sheffield United team. Research has taken me to a few Sheffield United fan videos where they basically talk about how good he was.  Not sure that this should be our only recruit up front though.

Back home in a short trip up the A34 to play at the Kassam Stadium in Oxford and to be quite frank, the less said about this game the better. The team was largely second string with Alex McCarthy in goal and captain for the day. Now I get that Alex has been told that he has to pass the ball out short but Jesus Christ. Three times in the first half he just presented the ball straight to the Oxford attackers. We were already 1-0 down when he passed it straight to a guy who then rolled it wide of an open goal. Absolutely ridiculous for a player of his experience especially when he was the captain and he had two very inexperienced centre backs in front of him in Edwards and Wood.  Ronnie Edwards started the game okay whereas Nathan Wood was erratic but it was Ronnie who dropped a bollock for the second goal passing it across the top of the penalty area straight to Oxford striker Rodriguez who easily beat McCarthy. There was a complete lack of energy about the whole performance apart from Sam Amo who tried to make things happen but he couldn’t do it on his own. The second half was only marginally better when the first team players appeared and overall, it was one of those preseason games where you really wish you hadn’t bothered with the only consolation for the many who travelled, was another ground ticked off.

A few days later and a visit to the New Den to play Millwall and a 1-0 win with Adam Armstrong scoring at the second attempt after Millwall‘s goalkeeper had failed in an attempt to pull off a very simple catch from Will Smallbone’s cross. Arma went full Che Adams and tried to head into the net from one yard but missed the ball and still had enough time to hoik it into the roof of the net with his left foot from 2 yards. The most interesting thing about this game however was the fact that it was pretty much our first choice 11 from the start. With Jack Stephens on the team sheet I expected us to play three the back like we did in the playoff final but instead of that, Stephens looked almost permanently stationed in the centre of midfield.  Maybe it's because we were dominating that he didn't have to worry too much about defending but as we know, it’s one thing arriving in midfield from centre back and making an extra man but it’s another thing all together to for that be your actual position.  Ryan Manning had played there against Oxford so what exactly are we doing?  Maybe this is Russell’s way of showing Sport Republic that we desperately need a midfield player.

The attacking play in this game was incredibly half arsed, only livened up when Sam Amo and Tyler Dibling came on with Dibling doing more in his 15 minutes than any other attacking player had done in the whole game.  Ben Brereton Diaz made his debut and didn’t really have time to contribute anything much which is not a cause for concern at this point. More signings still needed.

We're Running Out of 3rd Kit Colours, so ....

The home friendly against Lazio saw the full debut of Ben Brereton Diaz and also saw the debut of this year‘s third kit which is pink. Not one for the traditionalist but I’m sure it will prove very popular. To be fair, we are running out of colours to use as the third kit. I will repeat my old man moan that I have every year in that there seems absolutely no need to have a third kit when nothing is going to really clash with both our predominantly red home kit and yellow away kit. We are not playing away from home against Galatasaray this season, nor rocking up to play Roy Race and Melchester Rovers any time soon (Note: Cultural reference that will be lost on many young people).

Anyway, a largely fringe line-up took on Lazio and took an early lead when Brereton Diaz scored what is, judging by his YouTube compilations, a trademark goal, cutting in from the left along the top of the penalty area and then smashing into the far corner of the net with his right foot. Saints maintained the lead despite some dubious decision-making and passing from the goalkeeper and back five but could do nothing about the spectacular overhead kick that made it 1-1. In the second half both teams had chances, with Lazio’s coming exclusively from the chaos caused by Alex McCarthy with his ground passing and Saints nearly won in the last minute with Sam Edozie wriggling past two players and bringing an excellent save from the goalkeeper.  The story of the game though was the big punch up on the hour mark win some Lazio players took exception to a Shea Charles robust challenge and then Charly Alcaraz piled into redress the balance and ended up sparking a brawl involving nearly all the players and the benches of both teams.  All good stuff for a friendly and I would suggest all triggered by the fact that Lazio were being wankers from the first minute. It’s a shame for Alcaraz because he was playing well.  The move to Lazio that was being rumoured before the game may now be a little bit further away from the truth than it probably was anyway.

The last friendly the season was against Getafe at St Marys and Saints lined up with exactly what I would expect to be the team against Newcastle. The only slight surprise was that KWP was making his first appearance of pre-season, playing at left wing back with Sugawara on the right. Brereton Diaz was up front with Armstrong and the rest of it was as per the play-off final. The game itself was pretty tedious with Getafe proving to be an even bigger bunch of arseholes than Lazio were. Mind you, what can you expect from a team that were happy to give Mason Greenwood a game last season. From a Saints point of view, what screamed at me was a complete lack of creativity and attack and 0-0 was nailed on for pretty much the whole game.

Tactically, it was strange in that the two strikers seemed to be playing very wide so at times it resembled a 5-5-0 formation with absolutely no one in the middle.  It all went very surreal in the last 15 minutes when Tall Paul was thrown on but instead of playing to his one strength, we played him in a false nine position and expected him to link play up. Not that really matters but once again, we are worrying about the things he can’t do rather than focus on the thing that he can do. Sam Edozie offered a bit of life in the second half because he can actually take on and beat a player but when he gets in front of goal it all goes to shit.

So, where are we?

With the friendlies now finished it’s time to take stock before the trip to St James’s Park in Newcastle next week. I cannot imagine for a second that we are done with incomings but whether they will be done quickly enough to make the starting line-up for Newcastle is another question altogether. As it stands, the team and formation that played against Getafe will play at Newcastle.  We are still several signings away from what would be ideal going into the first game with a Number 9 striker, a creative midfielder, a goalkeeper and a winger being the positions in question.   If Russell Martin does spring a surprise and go with a back four then one of the centre backs will drop out and either Tyler Dibling or Charly Alcaraz will play as a false 9, in my opinion.

The main good news from pre-season has been emergence of Tyler Dibling as a genuine first team option and Sam Amo will be a useful bench option alongside him. Ronnie Edwards looks to be a decent player and I would suggest he is ahead of Nathan Wood in the pecking order to step in the defence should it be needed.  Wood passes the ball well but seems very lightweight when it comes to actual defending and gets pushed around too easily.  Yuki Sugawara looks like he’s got a decent shout of being a very good player this season.  When McCarthy is not giving the ball away at the back, the back half of the team looks solid and decent and we knock the ball about nicely but everything in front of Flynn Downes is a cause for concern. 

Lallana - "A little tightness"... 4 weeks out.

The bad news has been that Adam Lallana (rolls eyes into back of head) picked up an injury on that long coach trip from Staplewood to Eastleigh before the first friendly and Ross Stewart has not been anywhere near making an appearance. This is a major disappointment to me because I held out hope that Ross was going to be the striker we needed and we wouldn’t have to pay through the nose to get him as he was already here.  One can only assume there was yet another setback after his brief appearance in the play-off semi-finals.  He may get fit one day and he may contribute but it’s getting on for two years since he played regularly and it’s a major reach to hope he scores goals in the Premier League.

The main worries are the goalkeeper and the attacking play.  The McCarthy issue is obvious regarding his passing but for me the biggest concern is that we don’t look like we’ve got a goal in us against decent opposition with a lack of cutting edge and a lack of creativity in midfield. The midfield balance is going to be crucial in the Premier League and I cannot see Aribo and Smallbone functioning in the same midfield three as they are both very similar.  Both good players, tidy on the ball, average defensively, neither plays with any pace and there’s not much creativity.  The four most attacking players in the line-up and the four that have to produce are Smallbone, Aribo, Brereton Diaz and Armstrong and you'd have to be very optimistic to expect enough creativity and goals at Premier League level from those four.

Other questions remain over KWP, who has still not moved anywhere and his options of a Premier League move elsewhere are gradually disappearing with West Ham looking elsewhere, so its beginning to look more and more like he will still be here. ABK has been linked with a move to Hoffenheim and Tall Paul to Trabzonspor of course.  As said, Charly was linked to Lazio before he punched one of them.

Russell Martin has changed his tune over transfers recently and has sounded a note of caution to control expectation, suggesting that we need to sell before we can buy.  If this is true I see a certain amount of brinkmanship coming our way with regards to foreign clubs bidding for our players and trying to get a last minute knockdown price, which of course does not help us in our quest to sign players of the calibre of Matt O’Riley for over £20 million quid.  PRS compliance will also be playing a big part in determining our recruitment, as it seems to be doing with every club this year bar Chelsea.  It was always hard enough anyway to come from the Championship to the Premier League and be competitive but now it’s even more so.

If you think about our last Premier League season and where we were at this stage of the season, we had a difficult opening fixture at Tottenham.  The goalkeeper situation is similar with Bazunu then and McCarthy now.  Defensively, we are better now, with the Spurs game featuring KWP, Valery, Bednarek, Salisu and Djenepo as the back five.  Our midfield against Spurs was Romeu, JWP and Lavia, which I would suggest is stronger than Downes, Smallbone and Aribo though it has a similar lack of creativity.  Up front against Spurs we had Aribo and Adam Armstrong so probably slightly stronger now though not much.  For me, this illustrates that as it stands, we are struggling.  The ‘as it stands’ is important through because there is still time to rectify the situation, which is what we didn’t do two seasons ago – in fact we made it worse by letting the experienced Romeu, Forster and Stephens all leave.  We have to get the end of the transfer window right this time.  One thing we do have over two years ago is a better team spirit and I have more faith in Russell Martin than I did in Ralph at that time because he was a busted flush by then.

So, here comes the Premier League and The Race for 17^th.  It’s going to be ridiculously tough and ‘as it stands’ you'd be hard pressed to be optimistic.  It’s important we as fans stay behind the team and remember that these are the players that gave us that day at Wembley a couple of months ago.  We have to be realistic and know there are going to many bumps in the road.  Staying up this season will be an even bigger achievement than going up last season.

Up the fucking Saints.