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Austin Out For Two Months
Friday, 29th Dec 2017 10:58

Saints injury woes just got worse with the news that top scorer Charlie Austin will be out for two months with the hamstring injury picked up against Huddersfield.

Saints now desperately need a striker in the January transfer window after it was revealed that Charlie Austin is likely to be out till at least the end of February with the hamstring injury picked up just before Xmas against Huddersfield.

Mauricio Pellegrino said.

"Charlie I think he will be out more than normal, exactly now today or this evening he will have another test to analyse a little bit better his injury, the grade of his injury."

"We will see but I expect Charlie will be out for a couple of months minimum."

Saints striking options are now stretched to the limit, Manolo Gabbiadini does not suit the way that Pellegrino puts out his teams, he cannot play as a lone striker in Pellegrino's style because he does not have the physical presence of Austin, he thrives on through balls and Saints have few players that can put in this type of pass for him.

The only option would be to perhaps play Sofiane Boufal alongside him or Shane Long, who could get the ball hold it and then play it in, but that means a major change in tactics for Pellegrino, however if he wants to keep his job he may have no choice.

Long is of course another option, but he looked demotivated up at Spurs and seems to be hacked off with the manager ignoring him recently.

Other than that we need to be looking to buy a striker in the transfer window and all indications were that we would be looking to do that as well as offload at least one.

Now it looks like selling isn't n option all will have to stay, but we need another striker in and fast.

Photo: Action Images



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Slacker added 11:16 - Dec 29
Time to bring Sam Gallagher back as well as get one in?
-4

CCSFC added 11:17 - Dec 29
Mentioned it in another post......

Mitrovic - from Newcastle.

Has a good relationship with Tadic -
Big, strong and aggressive target man (similar to Pelle)
Not playing at Newcastle (Rafa isn't a fan) and wants out.
Been in Prem/ England for a few years now.
Still only 23 so fits the clubs Ethos of sell on value.

Could be the player (I think hes the type of player) we need especially to help bring the 3 behind him more into the game.
2

skiptonsaint added 11:43 - Dec 29
Very worrying. Not least because other clubs now know not only are we full of cash but desperate.

Got a horrible feeling Les won't want to be seen to pay what we will have cough up.

Why not go to Man U tomorrow and try Boufal or Long alongside Gabbi. What have we got to lose ?

And it might then be an entertaining trip for our brilliant hardcore away fans in the cold.
4

saintpp added 11:43 - Dec 29
We need anybody but if Mp is unable to get the best out of Gabbi,who is good enough to be regular for Italy what hope does any striker have for us.
MP is so tactically inept he cant work how to play Gabbi.
There ia talk of sturridge coming well normally id say no but the situation is getting desperate.I could even tolerate that stupid dance he does when he scpres..
7

highfield49 added 11:59 - Dec 29
Almost inevitable that Austin would pick up another long term injury, he's one ot those players that is always going to be a few games away from the treatment room. Lots of media speculation again about Walcott signing and I, for one, would be more than happy to have back at the club. Personally I'd unload Long and even Tadic and get another forward in who actually wants to give 100%. With Sturridge's injury woes I'm not sure he's ideal but certainly worth a punt on loan. Surely some of the money will be spent on competition for Forster?
6

kenis added 13:19 - Dec 29
Disagree that we don’t have players who can play through balls, Tadic, Davis, Redmond, Ward-Prowse, Hoijbjerg and Lemina all shown they can and Boufal and the full backs plus Hoedt I reckon could as well. Our problem is they all seem to have been told not to, time and again last season and this I’ve seen Gabbi / Long / Austin (Jay last season - we should have kept him) in space between defenders ready to make the run in behind and the ball is never played. It’s either tactical or fear / loss of confidence or both - is it an obsession with pass completion stats and not risking giving the ball away?

I assume we’ll play 5-4-1 Saturday with Long on his own running himself into the ground and that we’ll get beat after attempting a low possession definseive display. I’d love to see us play 5-3-2 with Long and Gabbi upfront and Tadic also in midfield with Romeu and Lemina and go on the attack a bit with some direct football - ie win it, give it to Tadic and his job is to try to find Long or Gabbi and their job is counter attack, shoot or win a set piece and generally give the, something to think about. Ward-Prowse and Target as wing backs have got the engines to bomb up and down and the discipline to defend - what we lose without Bertrand and Soares we gain a bit of pride in academy products and some WP deliveries.

Bringing back Gallagher isn’t a bad shout, he’s been playing out wide and Cotterill says he’s not s target man which is what we need, not convinced on Mitrovic and with Pellegrino a student of Benitez can’t see us taking him. Giroud would be amazing on loan, but won’t happen. Need a euro league discovery like Pelle or Mane that a top six/seven won’t take a chance on and a best of the rest aren’t aware of for some reason!
-2

SanMarco added 13:41 - Dec 29
Interesting times. At least Austin went early so a surely new striker will be seen as essential (though we said that about a CB when VVD hobbled off last Jan). I think we need a new keeper, a new CB, a new attacking MF and a new man up front who can play alongside Gabbi. Possibly even another reserve forward as well. To make way for the newcomers why not sell dead wood such as Redmond, JWP, Tadic and Long?

I share Skipton's fears that Les (fecken hell he's still here) will not spend and I also fear that MP (fecken hell he's still here) will have no idea what to do with whoever he is given.

As we are in such trouble I would replace Redmond with Walcott (the latter is a far better player) and might even risk a loan for Sturridge - although I would worry he might be the equivalent of the 2005 Jamie Rednapp: Only fit to play when there's an 'M' in the month....
3

SaintPaulVW added 14:09 - Dec 29
If only we had some money we could spend to sort this long standing problem out.
0

Ali_Diarea added 14:28 - Dec 29
Can we not just buy a midfielder that can provide the kind of service Gabbi needs? Seems obvious to me, but what do I know.
4

BarnetSaint added 14:28 - Dec 29
For all of the justified critisms of reed, i would imagine its the last owner and the current one who actually dictate what we can and can’t spend on new players.
Agree with others, Walcott would be decent, though not suited to our system, but desoerate times call for desperate measures.
0

A1079 added 15:15 - Dec 29
It seems on the surface that whenever any of our players get an injury, it is rarely short term and just a couple of games but several. Austin has a poor record anyway, and you always felt he was a game away from another spell.

Having got this money, you now sense that it will be used on panic buys to shore up a desperate squad and situation rather than long term investment on building the team.

It would be nice to hear some good news about Saints this season for a change, but there appears to be very little light at the end of the tunnel so far.

What I hope is, that those that do play, do so with spirit and determination. It probably won't be enough, but it may encourage others and potential new additions.
1

CCSFC added 15:52 - Dec 29
Surely here should be no such thing as 'panic buy' anymore - we have enough scouts out there and theres enough well scouted players we would have reports on that we would have been doing our scouting on for quite a while.

Panic buy - a term that shouldn't really be used in this day and age.
0

CCSFC added 15:52 - Dec 29
Surely here should be no such thing as 'panic buy' anymore - we have enough scouts out there and theres enough well scouted players we would have reports on that we would have been doing our scouting on for quite a while.

Panic buy - a term that shouldn't really be used in this day and age.
0

AmericanSaint added 18:01 - Dec 29
Well I think that it all depends on how much of the 75M will be allowed to be spent. I think Walcott would be a good buy and we should sell Redmond. I do not think we need another midfielder. Hojlberg, Lemina can play the through ball to Babs and partner well Oriel. I think Davis should only be on the bench and come in when we need to solidify the midfield. Tadic can play the throughball as well but he seems more comfortable on the wing sending in crosses. If you played Tadic in the cnter and boufal and walcott on the wings, then you could have a real threat I think. Problem is that I dont think MP will think like that. I like the Gllaggher return and I think Sims should be on the too. I think JWP has not produced and should be moved too. If you can get a buyer for Long, sell him too as he is not a striker (sorry but no goals in how many games is proof enough). Not sure what the black box may have in store but we need to buy some players who are proven in the PL. Also, PLEASE dont wait until the last day of the transfer season to buy people.
4

SaintBrock added 19:35 - Dec 29
Hopefully, the last we'll see of this lumbering 'oaf, thank goodness.
-4

underweststand added 08:51 - Dec 30
I'd go along with American Saint on this (maybe we have a long distance perspective).
but IMO Ward-Prowse has never found his true position (whatever that is) . Few would deny he has creative talents, and now looks to be getting a bit of grit into his game.
The main problem with buying new players (regardless of fee) is ..are they a panic stop gap, or are you creating a new team?. Right now we need stability and experience in the starting line-up, before people strat using the "R" word too much. Another CB -yes, but we surely have enough bodies in midfield shirts to find a good combination. Our biggest problem is / has been for two years..scoring goals. Austin DAJFU -when fit, and Long runs his heart out , but to no avail. Can't believe Gabbiadini is the same player we signed last season.? So a revamped Walcott and aloan Sturridge maybe a short term answer.
Koeman got praise, but started by buying in 6-7 new players - and then got VvD. If MP is to stay - longer term - we neeed to plan for the future properly.
-2

larry12 added 13:42 - Dec 30
Austin will probably be thankful he will miss the shambles for two months.
0


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