There can be no doubt that the loss of five players of the calibre of the likes of Shaw and Lovren is a big loss, but overall it could be the case that we are now stronger as a squad than we were last season.

There has been much made of the departures of the players who have left for the big five clubs, however as much as it will be hard to replace the likes of Lovren and Shaw who undoubtably were players of the top calibre, the actual real loss might not be as big as many would perceive, Callum Chambers will be a great player, but last season he only played around half the games in the League and he was not part of the team that stormed up to fourth in the League, Rickie Lambert is a Saints legend but his contribution was wexcellent in some games but non existent in others, chances are that if he had stayed he would have been used more sparingly. Adam Lallana again made a telling contribution, but he couldnt seem to complete a full 90 minutes and was substituted a lot more times with about an hour gone than he should have been.

Under Mauriccio Pochettino they were all key elements of the team, but we had a team and not a squad, Pochettino used a core of around 14/15 outfield players last term and the rest of the squad was just makeweight, indeed by the last quarter of the season with Osvaldo gone and Rodriguez out injured that core was down to 13 and two of them were right backs.

This shows tha lack of depth that we had in the squad, it also highlights that as much as our youth players were touted Pochettino was loathe to use any of them unless in an absolute emergency, people forget Chambers was completely ignored by the Argentinian for a full three months not even bringing him off the bench.

Now however we seem to have a manager who likes to use a squad, more to the point we also have youngsters who with a year's more experience and knowing that they could be something more than making up the squad numbers this year are ready to step up to the plate.

But its more than just youngsters, Koeman is putting together a squad that can be adaptable, already he seems to be looking at players who are versatile, Ryan Bertrand or instance can operate at left back or in a more forward position, Taider can play out wide or centrally, Gardos is able to play in central midfield or as a holding player, you feel that Koeman will be much more about using the squad and being able to change tactics than his predecessor was.

Last season as mentioned was all about that core of 15, now we have in terms of outfield players a core of 15/16 proven players, but we also have a group of youngsters who have had a fine pre season and are ready to step up to the plate, you have a feeling that Koeman will want and use a squad of 20 plus, especially if he brings in another player or two before the end of the window.

Last season saw us beat the sides at the bottom but struggle against those in the top half of the table, in fact if we go down to 15th in the table, if we take those 7 clubs & 14 games, we won only 5 times, (2 against Palace & Swansea plus home to Newcastle) it was the bottom five where we made hay winning 8 out of 10 games.

What this tells us is that our first XI was good but in truth was firstly punching above its weight and secondly once injuries or suspension hit we did not have the quality in reserve to turn games against the middle table sides into wins, the third issue is perhaps just that, we could not and did not change tactics when our plan A was sussed, of those aforementioned 14 games we drew 7 and lost only 2, we just didnt have the squad.

So I would suggest that after all this upheaval we are better equipped to take on a Premier league season, we hve a squad not a team and we have a manager able to switch tactics and use that squad, something we did not have last season, of course ideally we would have kept the players we sold and bought in new players, but even Nicola Cortese's motto was "we achieve success through change" and we have done some good business that overall should stand us in good stead.

The only real concern is the time it has taken to make key signings meaning that we go into the Liverpool game a little under prepared, but in the long run I think we will be far better equipped and we now have options, hopefully this will mean that there is no reason why we cannot match last seasons achievements and go on to better them.

Photo: Action Images

thegeneral added 13:04 - Aug 15 I think our team (core 11-13 players) was better than our manager last season, MP was flattered by the talent he had available to him and i think pretty much any manager could have done well with them. Had this squad stayed together with 2-3 additions we could have got 7th this season with a half decent MP replacement. Sadly there are too many new faces and third choices, squad rotation and depth may have been improved but we have a fragmented team that lost against the only decent pre season team we met. Time may improve us as the players gel, but we need to pick up points before Christmas when fixtures get tricky and i feel we will take too long to hit form which could really do for us. I at this moment would far prefer to have the same squad as we did on the last day of the season than what we have now, the youngsters will have been knocking even harder on the door thus making us stronger. For me our biggest problem last season was MP not the squad, good coach poor manager. So to answer your question i would say we are weaker but have a better manager.

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ItchenNorth added 13:07 - Aug 15 I would still like to see another centre back added. Top of my list would be Vlaar as we need players with Premier League experience. Gardos look good by all accounts but what happens if Fonte wobbles again !
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landsdownsaint added 13:21 - Aug 15 How anyone can slate MP after the season we had is beyond me ! He took us to another level and made players like Lallana into what looked like world beaters,The only thing the guts me about MP is he used us as a stepping stone and I think he could have started the exodus well before the end of the season
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slynch added 13:41 - Aug 15 Adkins had the team and they ran around like headless chickens and spent all their time in the bottom 3. MP took over and there was an obvious change in tactics and a deliberate plan of action and they ended up in the best position of all time. That surely shows that much of the quality of the team came from the manager not the players. All but Lovren, maybe, will become also rans in their new teams. Shaw might do better if he can learn to do useful things up front, but I doubt it. The influx of new players look better to me but it's early days, Koeman, it seems, is the real deal and that is better than having any player. I think when Spiderman stops sulking he might well find he struggles to get in the team. Second by Xmas! :-D

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saintmark1976 added 14:05 - Aug 15 Simple answer to your question Nick. No.
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winchesterbob added 14:05 - Aug 15 When you look at the games we lost in the last 20 minutes last season, MP was a bit 1 dimensional, and for all the possession we had the goals from chances made ratio was very poor. Not sure if we are stronger, a lot has changed and everyone else has written us off. No one expected a 1-0 win at Anfield last season. We could be the suprise package again. But hey I'm a Saints supporter, of course we are going to win the Premier League, and if we don't I will still be a Saints supporter. COYR

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law101 added 14:34 - Aug 15 We are not in a bad position at all, but it can hardly be said we are stronger for these sales, particularly with the players we have brought in are an unknown quality. Going to be interesting to see how they adapt to the PL. In terms of the younger players I'm not sure they’re in the class of Shaw, Chambers, and Ward-Prowse. Targett isn’t physically anywhere near Luke Shaw and looks like he could struggle at present. Whilst Isgrove had an excellent pre season from what I've seen of him I'm not sure he is PL quality, and nor are the club just yet opting to give him just a one year deal.

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SanMarco added 15:34 - Aug 15 Surely the answer to the question is we don't know. I hadn't heard of several of the new players before we signed them. We are not really going to know for a little while yet. Last year's team had a 'togetherness' that will not be re-created straightaway. MoPo, a bit like Strachan before him, reaped the benefits of other people's work but the football was good and it is a great shame that we only got one season of it. My fear is of a slow start and that we will be playing 'catch-up' all season. 2015-16 might be very interesting though (if we can keep our players of course)...

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1teeminants added 16:28 - Aug 15 No we are not stronger we have lost some very good players and IMO have signed some average players and some good players which make us weaker . Let's keep this real.
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pintsizedsaint added 17:50 - Aug 15 Too soon to make assumptions. Yet the question is about Squad and it does feel as if there is plenty more room for competition for places and tactical flexibility. Yet you can't help but feel the first team is weaker because of the outgoings. But time will tell as there is potential there.
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abingdonsaint added 18:08 - Aug 15 Squad may be stronger.....team almost certainly weaker. Whether that is an advantage is highly debatable. We will soon find out.....
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aceofthebase added 21:57 - Aug 15 yes by a country mile!
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bstokesaint added 22:17 - Aug 15 I think it's too early to say for sure. I hate to say it but the biggest miss will be Lovren. I think his class (as a player only) was evident. His partnership with Fonte was key. We can live without both full backs. As you have stated Nick, Chambers was mostly second choice to Clyne and Shaw seems to be suitably replaced by a player fit enough to play! I know some fans were split in Shaw as a full back in that he has great defensive qualities, but is not so good going forward. Bertrand will offer something extra here. Plus he's more experienced. I'll miss Lallana because he WAS one of us, but up until last season he'd never really filled his potential, hence us looking at Coutino and bringing in Ramirez. Again, he's another skilful player, but replaceable. And then there's the manager. We all witnessed some awe inspiring football dominance, but he wasn't perfect and I found the last third of the season very frustrating with our lack of ruthlessness and a plan B. Koeman has his chance to improve on this. The only other thing I think we have lost is a great team spirit. I hope RoKo can rebuild this as it was created over some time.

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ElSanto added 10:18 - Aug 16 I think the squad does feel stronger. I wish Lovren hadn't been such a bombaclaad, but if we get Vlaar, and Gardin turns out to be good, then I'm very happy with Fonte, Gardin and Vlaar as centre back options. The idea of an injury in that position won't relax my bowels quite as much as it did last season. I'm also very excited about Ramirez this season! I'm genuinely excited he hasn't left. Wouldn't it be amazing if he finally fulfilled the potential we all know he is capable of? Maybe under RoKo he can blossom. Again, imagine him and Tadic on top form as our creative midfielders!!! Furthermore, I think Targett will turn out to be a gem; Bertand and Clyne are good players, capable of getting into most premier league 1st team squads; Wanyama could develop into an amazing player if he matures on the ball a bit; Ward-Prowse, I think, will have a great season and is ready to step up; Spiderman and Davis are quality - two internationals, one a captain of his country; Rodrigues could come back a mentally stronger player capable of 20 goals a season provided he plays in the right position and gets good delivery; and, finally, add to this all the unkowns like Pelle, Taider etc. I'm very excited this season!!!!!!!!!!!!

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davepid added 13:37 - Aug 16 2nd to bottom or top at Xmas? I haven't a clue. I suspect though we won't hit the ground running so perhaps the optimistc posts here won't be realised til the new year.
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slynch added 13:44 - Aug 16 Ha!
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aceofthebase added 20:56 - Aug 16 This time tomorrow we could be top of the premier league.
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bstokesaint added 23:11 - Aug 16 Fiver says we're not..
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BarnetSaint added 10:09 - Aug 17 Truth is we just don't know . I suspect that we have a much weaker squad and equally important team spirit which was excellent under pooch. I would love to be proved wrong and agree with others, that the vile rat lo£ren will be sorely missed. Badly want pool and spuds to fail this season but fear they will do well.
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