It has been a strange season so far and despite the team being 7th going into Xmas and in a semi final, Saints supporters are not as happy as they should be and feel the team needs strengthening.

Claude Puel should be a hero in Southampton after taking over a squad once again depleted through outgoing transfers and forging it into a competitive outfit, indeed he sits 3 points and 5 places higher than his predecessor Ronald Koeman did at the same stage last year and after Everton's defeat to Liverpool last night Saints fans have the satisfaction of looking down on Koeman and his new team in the Premier League.

But Puel has a big mountain to climb before he can win the affection of the Saints fans en masse, many are very disillusioned with the club after the nature of the exit from the Europa League, many thought that Puel went a little far in his rotation policy and that the exit was entirely of our own making.

That is little unfair on the French manager, yes I like many are bitterly disappointed at going out of Europe, but we have to put it behind us and move on.

That is going to be very hard to do for a large chunk of the supporter base, football is sometimes about perception and despite the fact that this season is shaping up to have the potential to be another great one, perhaps the greatest given that we are in only our second semi final in 30 years, the perception amongst supporters is that we are boring to watch and are not a good side.

Whilst the league position dispels the latter perception and asks the question "if this is what we can achieve struggling to score goals and playing badly what can we do when we play well ?" It cannot be denied that we have struggled to put the ball in the net for a large chunk of the season, the 3 goal salvo at Bournemouth showed what we can do and moved us up the goalscoring charts, but some would say that is merely papering over the cracks.

So the supporters want to see new signings in the squad, they want to see that the club still has ambition.

The ambition of the club is being questioned because in the summer window the club spent far less than it brought in, the sale of Mane, Wanyama & Pelle brought in a total of around £57 million and you can add to that the £5 million compensation received from Everton for Koeman and his brother.

But in turn the purchase of Nathan Redmond, Pierre Emile Hojbjerg, Sofiane Boufal and to a lesser extent Alex McCarthy for around £47 million meant that Saints failed to spend around £15 million of the funds received.

Now Saints fans want to see it spent and most would agree for one reason or another that there are two areas that need strengthening.

The most popular area for improvement is up front most Saints fans feel that the only answer to our goalscoring woes is to bring in a striker, however I think the type of player that the fans want in will differ from what Puel himself will want, the fans want another Pelle/Lambert, Puel does not play with that type of striker and if he is looking for a striker it will be someone smaller and quicker, think Daniel Sturridge as an example.

However the key to whether we need to go for a striker is if Jay Rodriguez can keep up the form he showed at Bournemouth, if he keeps scoring and Redmond, Boufal, Tadic and Long start chipping in then perhaps the manager will feel that he has a decent strike force, certainly on paper he has, but so far it has underperformed.

The second position the fans want to see a signing in is in the centre of defence, there is something going on with Jose Fonte that has yet to emerge and there are Saints fans who will champion both sides of the story, but all agree that the club need to be looking to strengthen in this area, Fonte is 33 on Thursday and that is old for a central defender.

With not many people willing to put money on Virgil Van Dyke being here in the medium to long term it is an area that needs to be addressed sooner than later.

But the main thing a signing or two will do is help restore the faith of a large chunk of the Saints support, whilst I would suggest that the sale of players and replacing them over the past few years has been the main reason we have been competitive and is the only way we can compete with the big six who have unlimited funds compared to us, it is soul destroying and has affected the morale of the Saints support.

That morale needs to be refreshed, Saints fans need to be reminded that actually this season is better than the last so far and could get much better, but it needs to be shown that the club still has ambition.

So this January transfer window is crucial for Southampton Football Club for more reasons than just adding bodies to the squad, it is about hope, it is about perception and more importantly it is about keeping the club moving forward.

So do we need to be active in the January window and if so where ? Vote in the poll using the link below and give your opinions.

http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/forum/185195/do-we-need-to-str

Photo: Action Images

schatfield added 11:13 - Dec 20 I haven't enjoyed this season so much, this far, and despite getting to a semi and playing in the Europa, it's been an underwhelming year thus far.....I think in the main, its mostly due to Saints being more boring to watch! Yes we have an excellent defense record, but it is so dull compared to Koeman and Poch football. The sideways, hardly ever shooting football, coupled with our incredibly low shot count make games painful to watch.

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SaintNick added 11:15 - Dec 20 We have quite a high shot count, its the shots on target that have let us down
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steve73 added 11:46 - Dec 20 Can't disagree with any of this. It's been a puzzling season in many ways. The biggest mystery of all is how we're actually 7th. The manager deserves credit for that, all things considered, but I also think it's an indictment of the Premier League. More clubs are spending more money than ever before yet the overall quality seems to be going down. Proof that big spending is not the answer. Clever spending, however, is essential and we all know what we require. Sunday's win, although very welcome, really changes nothing in that respect. Resigned to Fonte leaving now. My main gripe about it is simply that it's happening in January, not a great time to be altering the cornerstone of our team. Defensive pairings need time to click and doing it on the fly while points are at stake is a bit unprofessional. A bit of forward planning and open communication could have saved a lot of grief. Who we bring in as a replacement will be an interesting test of the club's ambition though, as will who we sign up front. And it does need to be a dedicated centre forward, not a versatile type who can play anywhere. One of those greedy so and sos that just live to score goals the way Ian Rush and Clive Allen used to. I'm not sure they exist anymore though.

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ashley007 added 11:51 - Dec 20 I think if Saints don't spend any money in January and we lose to Liverpool and go out of the cup, and we also drop down the table too, then there will (understandably) be a lot of angry Saints fans in February!
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SonicBoom added 12:09 - Dec 20 "That is little unfair on the French manager, yes I like many are bitterly disappointed at going out of Europe, but we have to put it behind us and move on." Seems like you're glossing over things there Nick. Why is it a little unfair on Puel? We were generally poor in the EL and his huge rotation policy certainly could have been one of the key reasons. You suggest we "just forget it"? Secondly we need to be realistic. I like our forward players I really do, but they haven't just "under performed" - to the point where we were before Bournemouth, the lowest scorers in the division. So basically the worst. I'm not sure an expensive striker will sort it out because recently we haven't been making loads of chances. But we need to make some changes that's for sure because without goals, the rest of our play will be under additional pressure.

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SanMarco added 12:12 - Dec 20 I think we should forget stats - Disraeli coined a famous phrase about them - (and the stat I would like to see for Hojburg's shots is the per-centage that have gone within 20 feet of the goal). We should think instead about what the season so far has been like in terms of entertainment and excitement. I agree with schatfield that it has not been great. Our expectations are now a lot higher than they were and I don't think it is wrong, or whinging, or moaning to say that we want more enjoyable matches to watch. That said, I am absolutely delighted that after what has been an underwhelming season we are as high as 7th. This really is something to build on. There is no team below us we particularly need to fear and it is not totally out of the question that we could nip past one or two of the sides above us. To do so we do need to address the issues we've been on about all season. Teams and players do improve (Claisie at last is looking better and Redmond may become less erratic) but we do need to develop our attacking play and that does need new blood. Also if Puel does not like/rate certain players then we need to sell them. Personally I prefer Long to Redmond but if Puel doesnt then why not sell him? Same goes for Fonte I suppose. We need more defensive cover as there will come a time this season when we have a defensive crisis due to injuries/suspensions - so another centre-half (or 2 if Fonte goes) and another right-back please. The one thing we musn't be is complacent - one win at a poor Bournemouth does not make us world-beaters, of course if we put 5 past the Spuds....

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131153 added 12:39 - Dec 20 As the years of the Premier League pass it seems pretty clear to me we have become victims of our own relative success. Since returning to the PL it does appear we have managed to bring on our own youth players, and purchase better players than other clubs at our level. This has created a situation where the 6/7 bigger clubs have looked at our players and unsettled them and then bid for them. Principally Liverpool but others to a lesser degree. Whilst I have an interest in what is happening in our club I haven't heard of WBA or even Everton having there players approached as have our players. There is no doubt our success has caused big problems for ourselves. Despite his slow start due to injury I feel their is a good chance from the small amount I have seen that Simone Boufal could easily develop like Sadio Mane and after paying a record fee find us in a position having to fend off the bigger clubs. The reality is we are in this position now with VVD, I have no doubt the obvious UK clubs and probably Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern are weighing up the possibility of bidding. Sadly our only saving grace will be the size of the fee, Could any of us say hand on heart VVD would be foolish to turn the three European clubs down and stay with us. With January approaching I feel CP has done a very good job and feel his squad rotation has been vindicated virtually every time even in the Europa League. He has given games and therefore experience to not only our own youngsters but the fringe players. I think it would be wise to invest in a further centre back if possible and another forward/goal scorer in January but can't suggest anyone who immediately springs to mind who will greatly add to the pool of talent. This is where we have to trust the club and scouts etc to make the right decisions. The keyboard warriors who look at any piece of news or incident and slate Les Reed are frankly delusional. A well run and financially viable club will hopefully give us many years of good times ahead. They can't say the same down the M27, remember how they celebrated the last minute equalizer the last time we met. The equalizer cost us the championship but the draw guaranteed their relagation. I know whose position I would rather be in now!!

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LordDZLucan added 12:40 - Dec 20 My calculations make the shortfall in expenditure on players at something in excess of £20m and not £15m. That is a big disinvestment in the team especially in an era of huge tv income. But putting that to one side the team is a lot less interesting to watch than last season which is not a problem as long as we get the results. The results are starting to come so I will reserve my final judgment for a bit longer. If we are going to spend money we need to get players in that are Premier League ready and by that I mean they've got to be able to work their socks off for the entire game. Sturridge is not a worker so I wouldn't want to see him signed. As for Puel getting the affection of the Saints fans, we gave our undying love immediately to both Pochettino and then Koeman and we were let down by both of them. We won't make that mistake again so it's going to take longer for Puel to work his way into our hearts.

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SaintGeorge added 12:47 - Dec 20 A lot of it's in the style of play Nick - the "tippy tappy outside the box bullshit" as Boris rightly put it. I'm used to Saints losing and getting relegated or nearly gettting relegated - I'm not used to seeing them play negative football.
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petesmaterob added 14:02 - Dec 20 I accept it is a new manager. We must therefore give him time particularly if he continues to blood young players. I also think based on the progress of other players over the last few years we are likely to see the best of the new players such as Redmond, Hojburg and Boufal next year. However although this is a transitional season I cannot accept such a boring style of football that we seem to serve up on some games but not so much in others. In fact when we end up passing it back and sideways so ofter I end up hoping the other side will score in the hope that we abandon that way of playing. Also one of our favourite tactics for putting ourselves under pressure is for Forster or one of the central defenders to pass out to a full back who has a player on his back so straight away we put ourselves under pressure.

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BoondockSaint added 14:43 - Dec 20 I have no satisfaction looking down on Koeman as he was beaten by a team made up of our old players! It would be nice if someone from the team addressed these issues that losing the confidence of the supporters. And please don't give me the "Southampton always works quietly behind the scenes.." line as it just makes the club look smug and could care less as long as the money is coming in.,

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Jesus_02 added 23:58 - Dec 20 If we don't qualify for Europa then, I for one would prefer to watch entertaining football and come 14th than a poor imitation of Arsenal reserves and come 8th. Having said that its a bit daft to say that CP doesn't play with a Lambert/Pelle type of striker when we simply don't have that sort of player at the club. Its got to the point that I'm going to be proper p***ed off if we don't do something positive in Jan ATM my expectation is that we will sell Fonte and get an average midfielder in (but maybe that's just a fear of the Lowe years resurfacing!)

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TeamCortese added 08:55 - Dec 21 These are the players I think we should target Jan: Upfront: Saido Berahino (Not the finished article but definitely worth a punt on the cheap and is a long term prospect. Is also a good team mate of Redmond & JWP from England U21) Michy Batshuayi (He'll probably consider a loan to get more game time) Alexandre Lacazette (Expensive but will definitely get you goals. Puel also has good links with him from Lyon days) Daniel Sturridge (Proven premier league scorer. Not much else to say) Jermaine Defoe (Good for rotation. Natural finisher) Moussa Dembele (Really exciting prospect. I think we've left this one too late as there's a lot of interest now. We probably should have gone in for him last summer. Also he plays for Celtic and we have a history of poaching their players ;) ) Lucas Perez (He'll probably consider a loan to get more game time) Javier Hernandez (Wasn't keen a couple of years but still worth a punt) Defence: Kevin Wimmer Kurt Zouma (Very keen on this one. Just recovered from a knee injury. Unlikely to get into the team because of David Luiz and Cahill--not to mention John Terry. May need more game time to get confidence back up). Sven van Beek If we can't get any of the three above then we should just stick with Jack Stephens and Yoshida. Welcome to other options though.

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SaintBrock added 20:09 - Dec 21 "The biggest mystery of all is how we're actually 7th..." Once again Steve73 nails it first time and Nick trips over his own superlatives to score an own goal... "We have quite a high shot count, its the shots on target that have let us down..." Doh!
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