John Souttar

He was outstanding today, he must be beaming inside knowing he is coming to us next season. Easily the Wateries best outfield player today,
 
The boy is a very good footballer and his positioning sense is excellent
And will play plenty for us next season.
 
In domestic football he is a no-brainer and that is our main goal going into each season.

Has a bit of everything about him and if we can improve him even just a few percent he will do a grand job for us.
 
Hes been playing like that for most of the season, fine defender very good footballer he is going to be a terrific signing im sure of it.
 
Easily Hearts best player and playing with better players on his side he will flourish. A good bit of business assuming he stays injury free.
 
His injury record worries me. More than decent player, but can we rely on him not to be on the treatment table?
 
Easily Hearts best player and playing with better players on his side he will flourish. A good bit of business assuming he stays injury free.
That's my thinking as well. He can perform domestically and internationally so let's see what he can do in Europe.
 
I think a few will be pleasantly surprised by him. If (and it’s a massive if) we can keep him fit, he’ll be outstanding for us.
Where have we heard that before.. Ryan Jack. I didn’t think much of Jack signing but was pleasantly surprised at how good he became. Souttar looks quality.
 
I don’t think many doubt how good a player he is, his quality is very clear, I think many, myself included, doubt his ability to stay fit for a decent period of time.
 
I think he will be a good addition to the squad.

Solid commanding and excellent with the ball especially what I saw yesterday.

Can play in a back three which GVB likes to use.

Keep him fit and he will play his part imo.
 
He did okay yesterday, and I suppose he might be decent back up for some SPL games. However, I think we will need a far higher standard of defender going to replace Goldson.
 
The boy is a very good footballer and his positioning sense is excellent
And will play plenty for us next season.
This is a very important point.
It was our weakness this season, costing us far too many goals and, ultimately, a lot more.
For anybody thinking this, it isn’t a dig at Goldson.
Goldson is still a superior defender.
 
More company for Roofe, Jack & Helander on the treatment table. At least he won’t cost us anything other than wages but anyone thinking he’ll be able to play twice a week for the majority of the season is demented.
 
More company for Roofe, Jack & Helander on the treatment table. At least he won’t cost us anything other than wages but anyone thinking he’ll be able to play twice a week for the majority of the season is demented.
if goldson goes and balogun stays we will have: balogun, helander, souttar who wont be able to play twice a week and with roofe the same i find it risky transfer policy.
 
Souttar is more than good enough to replace Goldson. The big issue is obviously his injury record. He's a fantastic centre half.
 
This is an interesting post, many divergent opinions, here are my views:
1 John is clearly a competent defender.
2 He is comfortable in possession and is capable of carrying the ball out of defence.
3 I think that he looks slightly overweight and was blowing heavily during extra time.

When he comes to us and undergoes proper fitness training, nutrition and weight management (think of Scott Wright) then we could well have a seriously good international centre half on our books for no outlay.
 
if goldson goes and balogun stays we will have: balogun, helander, souttar who wont be able to play twice a week and with roofe the same i find it risky transfer policy.
Goldson aside everyone else mentioned can't play 2/3 demanding games a week I feel.

If Souttar is coming in to play a part I'd let Balogun and Helander go and bring in a quality Goldson replacement I can see us bringing in two CBS this summer.

CB x 2 Souttar, Bassey, King that gives us 5 options plus flexibility as Bassey can play LB/LWB.

If we go to a back three in Europe options will ne needed.
 
Who are the options to replace Goldson?

Heard Cedric Kipre being rumoured.
Bazoer who is off to Ajax
Doekhi who's off to Germany
Maybe go back in for Jake Cooper?

Use the top of the Championship, bottom of the EPL market, or further afield?

Hoping for further afield.
 
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This is an interesting post, many divergent opinions, here are my views:
1 John is clearly a competent defender.
2 He is comfortable in possession and is capable of carrying the ball out of defence.
3 I think that he looks slightly overweight and was blowing heavily during extra time.

When he comes to us and undergoes proper fitness training, nutrition and weight management (think of Scott Wright) then we could well have a seriously good international centre half on our books for no outlay.
Final paragraph 100%
 
Souttar was their best player and looks like he will be a decent addition.

Think he might surprise a few people. But still fills me with fear thinking of him, helander, balogun and the amount of time out they all seem to have.

Especially with Gio being flexible enough to go into a back 3 at times, we might need 5 CBs.
 
Who are the options to replace Goldson?

Heard Cedric Kipre being rumoured.
Bazoer who is off to Ajax
Doekhi who's off to Germany

Use the top of the Championship, bottom of the EPL market, or further afield?

Hoping for further afield.
Doekhi was the prime option imo was a bit gutted that he was off to Germany was really hoping we could have got him.

They'll be targets in mind but probably ones that won't reach the media especially with the way we do our business these days.
 
First things first, he’s a central defender who didn’t have a centre forward to play against the whole match. He won loads of balls in the air when he didn’t have a centre forward challenging. He did it very well, tbf, and I was really impressed when he managed to match Sakala for pac, at one point.

He definitely has it in him to be our 4th choice central defender, and if he improves the maybe our 3rd choice. Not good enough for the starting 11 on a weekly basis.

He can be the defensive equivalent of Scott Wright - an important squad player who’ll usually on the bench.

And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
 
How many times did John Souttar block low crosses from the wing by taking up a good position by the near post inside the six-yard box. He applied the first rule of defending. Don’t let the ball past you! Had he been our defender in Seville we might have lost other goals but we would not have lost the one we did.
 
First things first, he’s a central defender who didn’t have a centre forward to play against the whole match. He won loads of balls in the air when he didn’t have a centre forward challenging. He did it very well, tbf, and I was really impressed when he managed to match Sakala for pac, at one point.

He definitely has it in him to be our 4th choice central defender, and if he improves the maybe our 3rd choice. Not good enough for the starting 11 on a weekly basis.

He can be the defensive equivalent of Scott Wright - an important squad player who’ll usually on the bench.

And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
He wins balls in the air whether he's playing against a centre-forward or not. His aerial duel win % is almost identical to Goldson's (67.79% Souttar, 68.18% Goldson). Both are top-five players in the league at winning aerial balls.

Souttar is a complete defender. He has very few holes in his game. Strong in the air, strong in the tackle, great positioning, and his passing is very, very good (better than Goldson's for my money). Can also step into the midfield and carry the ball, which Goldson never does.

If we can keep him fit, then we've upgraded over Goldson. That's a big if, but it's easy to see why Wilson made this deal. I'd trust our medical staff to get 50 games a season out of him.
 
This is an interesting post, many divergent opinions, here are my views:
1 John is clearly a competent defender.
2 He is comfortable in possession and is capable of carrying the ball out of defence.
3 I think that he looks slightly overweight and was blowing heavily during extra time.

When he comes to us and undergoes proper fitness training, nutrition and weight management (think of Scott Wright) then we could well have a seriously good international centre half on our books for no outlay.
Not 100% sure but he is back from injury and hasn't been starting all games since being back, so that with added extra time is why he was probably buggered.

Totally agree a shrewd signing, he's Scottish, fills a quota and if he can have a good injury free run, he'll prove to many that he's more than good enough.
 
He's a better defender than Goldson for me. Goldson is probably the better footballer but if we're looking to keep more clean sheets Souttar is not a bad signing. Thought he was excellent yesterday for Hearts.
 
Tough audience in here today.

I thought Souttar was very good today. Considering how much space they left down the flanks and the way their back three were pulled all over the place, particularly second half and ET, I though Souttar’s reading of the game, covering and use of the ball was excellent. Definitely not his fault we ripped them to pieces first half ET.

I’ll take the Pepsi challenge on this one and predict that Souttar will be a big fans favourite within his first half season with us, maybe less.
 
He wins balls in the air whether he's playing against a centre-forward or not. His aerial duel win % is almost identical to Goldson's (67.79% Souttar, 68.18% Goldson). Both are top-five players in the league at winning aerial balls.

Souttar is a complete defender. He has very few holes in his game. Strong in the air, strong in the tackle, great positioning, and his passing is very, very good (better than Goldson's for my money). Can also step into the midfield and carry the ball, which Goldson never does.

If we can keep him fit, then we've upgraded over Goldson. That's a big if, but it's easy to see why Wilson made this deal. I'd trust our medical staff to get 50 games a season out of him.
Complete defender, my arse.

He might be one day, but that's fantasy patter, at the moment.
 
He’ll be the balogun replacement for next season and he looked very good yesterday. His ability on the ball is also very good.
 
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