Stoke arrive at Southampton with a manager begging for signings
What Robins actually said
Losing at home on the opening Saturday is survivable. Telling BBC Radio Stoke that "we need reinforcements" in the same breath is a different sort of admission.
Southampton should be paying attention.
Swansea turned up and took the points, with Adam Idah doing the damage late on. It was a miserable way to open a season that Stoke had spent the summer talking up.
Robins wanted competition for Robert Bozenik and Sam Gallagher. He has spent every day since trying to get it.
George Hirst was having a medical on Wednesday after Ipswich accepted an offer of around £10m. Ben Johnson is expected to follow him through the door. All of it is being pushed along with one eye on getting somebody registered in time for Saturday at St Mary's.
That is a manager assembling a forward line in the same week he has to pick one. Hirst has not kicked a ball for Stoke yet.
Ipswich have opened the door for him while they spend their promotion money elsewhere. Stoke want him on the pitch at St Mary's, which tells you plenty about what Robins makes of the forwards he already has.
Why that suits Southampton
Does any of it guarantee Saints three points?
Of course not. Southampton sit bottom of the Championship on minus four, gifted Watford both goals at Vicarage Road, and Saints Marching went through the wreckage on Monday.
There is a difference, though, between a side that played badly and a side that is still being built. Ben Pearson came in this summer, so did Ethan Galbraith, and by the time you add Svante Ingelsson, Djibril Soumare and Tomas Rigo that is five new central midfielders in one window. Robins has a lot of new voices to get talking to each other, and not much time to do it.
Saints do at least have a win on the board, that 2-0 evening victory at Colchester where Cyle Larin and Romeo Akachukwu shared the goals.
Stoke are also in the running for Will Smallbone, released by Southampton in June after eighteen years on the south coast, and he already knows the place from a loan spell there a few seasons back.
Saints supporters will recognise that one.
Verdict: Southampton were handed a tricky opening when the fixtures landed, and Saturday always looked like the game to steady things. Robins has just given Tonda Eckert a reason to fancy it.
Prediction:
Home win 3-0
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