Hard to believe but there are only three days to go before the start of the new season, but are we ready for the big kick off.
I think its fair to say that most Saints supporters would have imagined that this close to the season we would have perhaps made a signing or two more during the summer deadline, especially when we have been linked to so many players, but inadvertently perhaps we have actually made slow steady progress rather than change for change's sake.
That was certainly partly the case last year when several players were brought in who turned out to be no better than players we already had at the club, how much that affected team morale no body knows, however on a word of caution as mentioned this years gradual change has seemingly not been of choice and that could be a worry.
There can be no doubt though that we are stronger than last year, we desperately needed a quality central defender, Lovren looks on paper to be that man, but then again we said the same about Forren and look where that got us, Wanyama is a quality player and will do a good job in the centre of midfield, my point would be though that we have strengthened an area that was already strong, so the influence of a major signing in that area will not have the same impact as say a good wide man would have had, having said that though, if Mauricio Pochettino tweaks his midfield to include 3 holding players in the centre thus giving the wide players more licence to roam, then it could be a stroke of tactical genius.
One thing that has surprised me about the summer though has been the constant clamour to sign a striker, ironically coming at a time when our main forward has been called into the England squad and would be replaced if we landed our man, I would say that there are many areas that need to be covered before we sign another striker, playing only one up front means that you don't need that much cover, Jay Rodriguez is capable of the role and we have others of a different nature who could play it, Mayuka would probably not be one of them and it now remains to be seen if the powers that be on the transfer committee will effectively cut of their nose to spite their face by not letting Billy Sharp or Tadanari Lee have a chance to show they can do a job, yes perhaps neither of them is up to the job, but the blunt truth of the matter is from last season;s showing they are better than Mayuka, if we don't make any more signings then there are spare places in the squad, surely better to fill them than see them empty, in the Premier you need every possible advantageous you can get.
The day of reckoning however is nearly here, although as we know form is temporary, class is permanent, a few defeats at the start of the season are body blows, but can be covered over the course of it, however as was shown last year the line between staying up and going down is very thin and its not just about winning games its about not losing to certain teams.
At the start of the summer we were serenaded by talk about stepping up to the next level and looking to challenge for Europe etc, in the world of mathematics 2 + 2 always equals 4, in the world of football its not that easy, just bidding for players and telling them you have ambition is not enough, they want to see that the foundations are there, last season we struggled in the transfer market because we constantly chased players who were at a level above us, they therefore went to clubs at that level, this season we have done the same, but it could in the long run work out.
So with three days to go my hopes for the season are simple, I want to see us consolidate our position in the Premier, that doesn't mean a top ten finish, it means improving on this year, Newcastle showed that unless you have foundations, signing big name players doesn't neccesarily take you to another level and keep you there as there 5th from top in 2011/12 followed by 5th from bottom last season when they lost key players, no the knack is to build a strong team and keep slowly tweaking it as Everton have showed over the past decade, that should perhaps be our role model rather than the likes of Newcastle who seem to be in a boom and bust cycle.
So I don't think Saints will be troubled by relegation, at least not in the long term of the season, but like a dozen other teams, it will be a spectre that will haunt them and never truly be far behind over the course of the season, but I feel we can build up and perhaps this time next year be considered at the level of Swansea, Everton or West Brom, ie solidly mid table and not flirting with relegation, that might not be the next level those running the club would be happy with, but for me its about building one step at a time sometimes and not taking big bounds, as Newcastle found, when you do that its just as easy to trip up as leap three steps up.