I lowered myself into my office chair, nursing my painful knee, looking around my new office. This was all so surreal being seated in the managers office that I visited so frequently during my time here, only on the other side of the desk. Where on earth do I begin?
First things first I decided that I needed to lay down a set of principles that I wanted to stick too during my time at the club, but what did I actually want? which direction did I want to take the club down?
- Firstly I would be doing my absolute best to fulfil the boards request to play attacking football. With such wonderful attacking players at the club like Sadio Mane, Graziano Pelle, Dusan Tadic, Jay Rodriguez and Shane Long, the emphasis was going to be on scoring one more than the opposition.
- Secondly I would not be overspending on big players. I want players at the club who want to be here and are not just here for a quick pay-day.
- To go along with my second point I am going to be trying to buy young players for the first team. Players with resale value to keep the club in a very safe financial position.
- Lastly I would be taking a very long look at the academy players and trying to integrate them into the first team as quickly as possible to try and unearth the next star.
Right, good. Glad thats sorted. I suppose the next logical step after that is to take a look at my first team squad.
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So that looks to me like a very solid start to a squad. A couple of points to note are Fraser Forster and Florin Gardos' injuries that will see them both out for most of the season. Thankfully Koeman had already sorted out replacements for both with Stekelenburg and Caulker in on a seasons loan. The next step before looking at any transfers is to look at the U21 squad and see if anybody is capable of filling the gaps.
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Sam Gallagher seems to be an excellent prospect, very much reminding me of myself in my early days but he has been loaned out to MK Dons for the season so we will re-evaluate next season. Ryan Seager again looks like an excellent prospect and I can see a Gallagher/Seager strike partnership being successful in the future. Perhaps he is not quite ready for the first team yet so a loan move might be the right option for him. Jason McCarthy is a young man that I have been very impressed with, he will be moving straight into the first team squad for next season along with Jack Stephens who has been a prospect at Southampton for a while now, this will be his make or break season. A close eye will also be kept on George Mells and Jake Hesketh who have the potential to go all the way but are nowhere near ready for first team competition.
As I mentioned earlier I have taken the decision to play a very attacking game and will be playing with a 4231 tactic to make the most of our attacking midfield threat, perhaps lining up something like this, we will have to see how pre-season goes.
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So are there any weaknesses in the squad? I have a big call to make on the CB position. Jose Fonte is a nailed on starter and our captain so it was simply a case of who would play next to him. Steven Caulker has had a bad couple of seasons and is only in on loan and Maya Yoshida is the only other established first team CB. Add in the youth prospects of Jack Stephens and Jason McCarthy and will this be enough to see us through the season, especially with the prospect of Europa League football.
We also look slightly weak in Central Midfield. Clasie looks set to pick up right where Schneiderlin left off and Wanyama will be the crucial destroyer in the midfield. While that is a very capable starting pairing I worry about our depth. Steven Davis can offer some experience in midfield but youngster Harrison Reed will have a lot of responsibility on his shoulders if I dont strengthen. James Ward-Prowse can play at centre mid as well but I would prefer he is further up the pitch.
Right wing could be a potential issue. We have lots of players capable of playing there such as Jay Rodriguez, Shane Long, Dusan Tadic, Sadio Mane and Juanmi but all of them are better used in other positions. Perhaps a real specialist is required here to drive us forward?
The striker role is the final piece of the puzzle. If I am planning to play with a target man then Graziano Pelle is the main man. The big Italian striker has been in lethal form over the last few years and is up there with the best of them in terms of goals over the past few seasons. Shane Long's hold up play is fantastic but his size counts against him in terms of being alone up front. Jay Rodriguez is an intriguing option in the lone striker role with size, strength and pace all in his favour. But again will it be enough to get us through the season?
I think I had better have a word with my scouting team.
