Category: Analysis

Current Southampton line up

Keeper: Forster

Defence: Bertrand, Yoshida, Van Dijk, Soares

Midfield: Hojberg, Romeu, Claise or Ward- Prowse

Attack: Redmond, Long, Tadic

Backup: Davis, Sims, McQueen, Rodriguez, Davis, McCarthy, Martina, Pied

With Southampton struggling after losing lots of their best players they need to do lots of business in the market, so here are some things that I think Southampton need to do in the market.

Keep their centre backs- Fonte and van Dijk.

With Fonte handing in a transfer request and van Dijk a main transfer priority for top clubs it may be hard to keep them both. However, Southampton have to convince them to stay because otherwise they will be conceding lots of goals for the rest of the season.

Buy Leonardo Ulloa from Leicester.

With Saints striker Charlie Austin expected to be out for still a few months Southampton need a temporary striker, so with Ulloa being unhappy at Leicester it’s a perfect fit.

Buy a new right back.

Soares had a wonderful Euros but I don’t think he’s good enough to be Southampton’s first choice right back. If Southampton agree with me then I’m sure they’ll be looking for a new right back.

Don’t buy in positions where players like Sims, McQueen and Targett play at.

Southampton have to develop their youngsters like the ones I’ve mentioned, so buying players who play in their positions will mean they won’t play very much and won’t develop.

Morgan Schneiderlin to Everton from Manchester United for £24m

With Schneiderlin not playing much under Mourinho, he had to move elsewhere in the market, so I think moving to Everton was the correct decision because he knows the manager through the time at Southampton and there’s positions up for grabs in the midfield.

Nathan Ake recalled from loan from Bournemouth to Chelsea

I think Bournemouth need him much more than Chelsea do because Chelsea already have lots of options at centre-back. However, maybe he will develop into a better player and be a regular in a few years.

Oscar to Shangai SIPG from Chelsea for an undisclosed fee

He’s still a young player so he could still return back to somewhere in Europe, but he probably won’t because the riches in China are so big.

Gabriel Jesus to Manchester City from Palmeiras for £27m

I think that City need a centre-forward to cover for Aguero or Iheanacho when they’re injured. However, I don’t think Jesus is the right man because he’s still young and also as many goals as he scored in the Brazilian league the standards are not very good there.

John Obi Mikel to Tianjin TEDA from Chelsea for an undisclosed fee

I think it was the right time in his Chelsea career to move because it was obvious that he was not going to play much under Conte especially as the other great options Chelsea have in midfield.

Jose Fonte from Southampton to Man City

With City having some major defensive problems this season. Guardiola needs to buy a new centre back. So Fonte would be a perfect defender to approach as he has requested a transfer.

Odion Ighalo from Watford to Stoke

With Ighalo having lost form massively since his incredible start of the 15/16 season. A fresh start at a new club is needed, and Stoke need a centre forward. So why don’t they buy him?

Kevin Wimmer from Spurs to Burnley

With Mee still young, Burnley should look for Wimmer in the market and then gradually Mee can take Wimmer’s place in the team.

Aaron Cresswell from West Ham to Crystal Palace

With Souare looking to be out for a long time Palace need a new left back. So someone like Cresswell is needed at the club.

Bob Bradley got a sacked last night after a short reign of 85 days, which he won two of his eleven games in charge. The main reason of the sack was because there seemed to be no sign of change under the way they were playing. Swansea are now nineteenth in the league, and are only not bottom because of goal difference. Some people may say that he should have had a transfer market, however it was obvious that whoever he got in the market there was just not a connection with the fans or the players. So overall, good decision from Huw Jenkins.

So, Swansea you say in the comments if you think it was the right decision to sack Bradley?

When Pardew got sacked, Sam Allardyce was the obvious option for the job, as he has shown his managerial quality by keeping teams in the Premier League. Which is exactly what Palace need after a poor run of form puts them in 17th position and one point off the relegation zone.

Some Palace fans may be saying that he shouldn’t be in this position after his corruption with the England job. However, I think that if he’s going to keep them up then they shouldn’t worry about his past; they should just worry about what he’s going to with the future of the club.

So Palace what do you think about the managerial change so quickly? Just comment on this page.

Alan Pardew has been lucky to stay so long at the club, and it was almost inevitable that he would get the sack at some point this season. Many people expected him to be dismissed when his team lost 5-4 Swansea, with some truly shambolic defending. However, it’s happened now after an awful run in 2016 were they had the worst points per game in the Football League. One of the main reasons he stayed at the club last season was because he got Palace to the FA Cup final – though, in the end he threw away the lead to lose 2-1.

The person heavily linked to the job right now is Sam Allardyce, who agreed to leave the position of England manager by mutual consent, just three months ago.

 

At the start of the season, many Chelsea fans were thinking that top four was their aim. However, Conte has got them to first, six points off both Arsenal and Liverpool. Conte has the edge to his rivals for backup with Willian, Ivanovic, Fabregas, Terry and Batshuayi, which is better than other title rivals especially Liverpool.

The defence, which was a big concern at the start of the season, has worked a treat for them since they have switched to a back three. One of the things which surprised me was th at Terry is being dropped. However, Azpilicueta has filled in beautifully for him as an un inexperienced centre back.

But, the real thing that has worked for most of this season is the new formation, 3-4-3. As I already said, the defence fits in beautifully to the formation. The two midfielders, Matic and Kante, have been transformed, and provide cover for their centre backs. Nevertheless, the secret weapon is the wing backs, Moses and Alonso, who attack a lot of the time, but put in their defensive shift too. Both players were expected to spend their time on the bench this season. However, after the formation change, they were more suited to the wing back position than their competitors.

Moving further up the field, you have Costa and Hazard, both in form, scoring most of the goals and providing the assists for the team.

So I just can’t see how they’re not going to win the league. Despite my reasons, do Chelsea fans agree with me? Or do fans of other teams think they’re going to win the league? You just need to comment on the page.

Optimism flew into the Arsenal players and fans when the full time whistle went at Stoke. They were top of the league for the day and they had only lost once this season. However, if Chelsea win tonight against Watford, they will be six points ahead of Arsenal. So, it was an important game to win last night. However, they lost; maybe they underestimated their opponent, as Everton coming into the match hadn’t won in five games.

Last week was an exceptionally good week as Arsenal won all three matches and scored twelve goals. However, the start of this week seems to have slumped as they got Bayern Munich in the Champions League draw and they’ve lost against Everton 2-1 now.

Everton fans, with that big win, where do you think your team will finish this season?

Draw

Arsenal vs Bayern Munich

Benfica vs Borussia Dortmund

Porto vs Juventus

Leverkusen vs Atletico

Sevilla vs Leicester

Real Madrid vs Napoli

Monaco vs Manchester City

PSG vs Barcelona

It’s happened again for Arsenal as once more they play a European superpower in the last 16. Arsenal have gone out in the last 16 stage for the last six competitions, and looked destined to be going out again this year. In those last six competitions they have met teams such as Barcelona twice and AC Milan once.

Leicester got a relatively nice draw, compared to the big teams they could have got. However, even if they go out this round, they would have still exceeded expectations.

Manchester City were very lucky to get Monaco, as they finished second in their group – meaning that they could only play group winners, such as Dortmund, Atletico Madrid and Juventus.

The draw that stands out with big oppositions is PSG vs Barcelona. With PSG starting to improve under Unai Emery, with some good players, it will be a tough match for Barcelona, but will their incredible strike force of MSN be too much for PSG? Predict the score in the comments.