Being blunt there have been too many mistakes made in the transfer windows since we have returned to the Premier League, will this forthcoming period be better.
Back in November with Saints flying high, Mauricio Pochettino made the bold statement that he didnt feel he would need to spend in the January transfer window, that he had enough in his squad to be able to get through the season without paying any money, perhaps that was just a bit of kidology to make other think that as we didnt need to spend, then we wouldnt be held to ransom by the selling club for inflated prices, however since he made his statement it hs come up and bit him in the behind with a vengeance and after an 8 game run that has seen us pick up only 5 points it is clear that the squad needs strengthening and fast.
But the problem is our past transfer dealings have been hit and miss since we returned to the Premier league and a pattern has emerged which we cannot keep on repeating.
Since the summer of 2012 the incoming players have been
Jay Rodriguez £7.5 million - Success
Steve Davis £1 million estimated - Success value for money
Nathaniel Clyne £2 million estimated - Success
Paulo Gazzaniga £1.5 Million Estimated - Jury's out although this was one for the future
Mayuka £3.5Million - Failure, barely played
Yoshida £2 million - So so odd game but prone to error so not a good signing for the money
Ramirez £12 million - Failure and big money wasted on a player who is worth perhaps half that much
Boruc - Free - great value Success
January 2013
Vegard Forren £3.5 million - failure never played a game and although we got some money back after signing on fees and wages etc this would have cost us a million or two
Summer 2013
Dejan Lovren £8.5 million - Success
Wanyama £12 million - Success although with question marks
Osvaldo £15 million - Jury well and truly out and big big questions at this moment in time
If you look at the signings above then a clear pattern has emerged, when we have gone for British players or those that have played over here at reasonable prices who are hungry to prove themselves we have done well, however when it comes to shopping abroad only Lovren could be said to be a total success.
It seems we have not done our homework enough on certain players and have possibly panic bought after spending too much time talking about "Marque" signings and chasing targets that we cannot hope to get.
In the last 18 months we have spent approximately £68.5 ,million pounds on players, of that outlay £7 million was totally wasted on two players who barely played (Mayuka & Forren) & £27 million has been spent on two players (Ramirez & Osvaldo) who have had sporadic moments of genius but overall havent contributed anything like they should have for the fee's spent out.
That is over half the total outlay and this is something that should ring warning bells, we do our business by transfer committee and i have no problem with this, in fact I welcome it it is a forward way of thinking, however questions have to be asked of that committee when so many players arent up to the standard and so much money is wasted.
The pattern is quite clear here and i dont need to spell it out, too often we have signed unknown quantity's who have not been anywhere near the standard required or we have splashed out big to make a statement on players who to be blunt have eventually only arrived after long negotiations because they have been dangled too big a carrot to say no and that is not a reason to sign a player.
In fairness to Ramirez and Osvaldo I dont think its all their fault, Ramirez was signed as a vanity statement, but whoever was responsible didnt seem to think about whether he would fit into our style of play, Osvaldo again hasnt been played as he should be, we have tried too hard to squeeze him in with Lambert and hedged our bets too much.
So what we need to do in this transfer window is look at those players that we know can do a job in this League rather than take the advice from essentially football estate agents who market players wholesale, Im not saying this is something confined only too us, other clubs do the same, Liverpool perhaps is pertinent to mention as they seem to be linked to the same players as us all the time, Ramirez and Forren we reportably snatched from under their noses, whilst they got Coutinho, is this co incidence or are we just both going to the same agency who are playing both of us off ?
So where do Saints need to strengthen, the recent Daily Echo poll revealed that more than half of Saints fans thought we needed to strengthen up front, this surprised me, we have more than enough attacking options with Lambert, Osvaldo & Rodriguez all able to play in Pochettino's preferred lone striker formation, add to that Gallagher and even Tadanari Lee and on paper we have enough firepower.
What we dont have though is enough options in getting the ball forward to them, too often we pass it around in the centre of midfield but cant get any sort of penetration, this is because we dont have the right balance, Lambert cant run channels so that isnt an option, but we dont have any wingers so we cant play to his real strengths, Osvaldo has not been played enough on his own up front so I cant really tell you who he would be suited to and Rodriguez can run channels but we dont have anyone who can really hit the killer ball apart from JWP who has often found himself out wide too much, its all too much of a mis match and a mis mash.
So in midfield I think we truly need a wide man to offer us a plan B and different options, go to Man Utd and get either one time Saints target Alexander Buttner who would offer either a wide left solution as well as cover to Shaw or Wilfred Saha who has genuine pace.
But perhaps the place we truly need to get in a quality signing is at centre back, Fonte is having an ok season but the truth is if we hanker after a top ten place and higher he should really be the back up pushing for a place rather than the unarguable first choice.
So in some respects Mauricio Pochettino is quite right, we dont need to go out and spend in the transfer window, the January one is always overpriced, what I would hope that we have done though is identify certain targets who we can get and look to try and sign them at a reasonable price, any squad should be about improvement, but not improvement for improvements sake.
The pattern from the last three windows is clear, there are plenty of players available at reasonable prices if we do our homework and they can improve the squad, however when we start to try and prove points by splashing the cash, we seem to do so without real regard as to where the squad really needs that improvement.
The last window back in the summer did see us only make 3 signings, one of which Lovren was not only needed but has turned out to be a great buy, however Wanyama as good as he has been was perhaps not needed as much as we paid and Osvaldo who cost nearly as much as both put together has not been a success for the reasons already mentioned.
This window is crucial in that if we make a good signing it could put our faltering top 7 bid back on course, if we make a bad signing or indeed none at all then we could see ourselves drop out of the top 10 altogether.
But perhaps the main problem is going to be that the Club has set Saints fans expectations too high, all the recent talk about top four finishes etc has turned some peoples heads, a good start to the season has blurred the actual situation, good squads are not built over night, essentially we are just last seasons squad with two additions, take out Wanyama who is long term injured as well as Boruc and it could be said that we are in no stronger position in putting out a team than we were a year ago, certainly the team at Cardiff with Lovren joining the injury list saw us perhaps weaker than this time last year.
So we need to refocus, we have the leeway to do so in that we are nudging 30 points, however we would not be the first team to slide down the table from a great start and what we do in the next month is going to be crucial to where we end up this season.