qwertyell

They could sell one to Ralph as proof that you can defend quite competently and comfortably for long periods at Old Trafford in spite of injuries and being a man light (West Ham had to drag off some poor kid who'd come on an hour earlier and didn't touch the ball).

We'd have to pay a development fee to Arsenal as compensation - probably decided by tribunal. Won't be 15-20m, but for club without a pot to piss in, he might end up being too much for us.

McCarthy has conceded 18 of the last 33 shots he's faced. Wouldn't be a surprise if the manager took him out of the firing line.

https://www.southamptonfc.com/news/2021-02-08/southampton-football-club-b-team-coach-lee-skyrme This sounds promising. Say what you want about the England national team - their youth development in the last 8-10 years has become one of the best in the business. I assume Crocker has had a hand in this appointment, and probably worked with him at the FA in some capacity. Skyrme? How are we pronouncing that? Skur-me? Sky-urm? Skrime? These are the important issues.

Appalling. Worst result of the season. Indefensible. When we go down to ten men, there's a shrug of the shoulders by the manager and the players and a cowardly acceptance that it's game over, nothing we can do. 9-0 incoming. And our fans cringingly laud the manager and beg for him to stay - it can't possibly be his fault. No, it's Mike Dean. It's people being mean about us on Talksport. It's the chairman. It's the previous chairman. It's the return of that voodoo curse that we thought we'd gotten rid of when we first moved into St Mary's. And yet when we get to play AGAINST ten men (or even nine), mysteriously, teams are somehow able to not concede nine goals per game. Or even one. We've played a combined 80 minutes against Arsenal and Newcastle this season with at least a man extra and created absolutely fuck all. In fact, we've played even worse with a numeric advantage - slower, more aimless, more timid, uninspired. One sub, the manager threw on. One. He made about as little effort as possible to change the course of the game, tactically. Because that's what he always does, no matter the match situation. Hasenhuttl is curiously both a decent fit as manager for us, and simultaneously the most overrated manager we've ever had. He's plan A or bust. The puddles in centre circle today had more depth than Ralph's superficial approach to football. "They're tired - it's hard work, this high pressing lark." Sure. A proper manager would then adapt to the challenges of a cramped schedule. Pep Guardiola has transformed Man City's form by making them run less, making the ball do the work. It's the only way when you're playing every three days. You can't keep bashing away at the same failing plan as it yields ever diminishing returns and simply wash your hands of the consequences: "That's just how we play." It's patently obvious that the Ralph Way is not sustainable over the course of a whole season. We were in free-fall last year when Lockdown came and bailed us out, allowing our squad a long rest and reset. I wonder what Djenepo thinks, stuck on the bench as a creative wildcard, but can't even get on the park against nine men, while we keep two holding midfielders in place. What a fucking farce. Five defeats in a row. Chelsea next, so that'll be six. I've said it before - where are the next points coming from? I'm already keeping an eye on Fulham and West Brom's results to make sure they're not clawing back ground. I think we'll probably be okay on 36 points, but who are we getting 7 points from and when? How many players would they have to be down to? Eight? Indefensible. One of the shittest performances, individually and collectively, you'll ever see. And we've got no-one to blame. The ref was okay. The luck was on our side. I suppose there was a female co-commentator, so she'll absorb some of the deflected opprobrium. We might scrape to a survival total this season, but the future looks horrific. We'll potentially lose Ings, Vestergaard, Bertrand, Prowse and still not cover our huge debts enough to afford to replace any of them. Time to start ringing the alarm bells, folks. This is a sick club.

Fuck me, the irony of us desperately trying to get Bednarek's ban overturned only for him to almost single handedly lose us the next game with an absolute donkey display. How many of the last, say, 30 shots on target do you think McCarthy has actually saved? Since Forster came in for the one off game (clean sheet) against Arsenal, McCarthy's been rubbish. It was only a matter of time before his appalling decision making with the ball at his feet would kill us. Again. What a clown show. At least when we go out of the cup on Thursday we'll free up a bit of time between games to recover and prepare - might be the difference between us dropping like a stone or eking out the 6-8 points we need to survive.

The number of times Bednarek completely sells himself and is late trying to nick the ball in front of the attacker is a joke. Has no-one ever pointed out to him that he's slow as shit?

You're right - the pandemic has disrupted so much and for so long, you start to blank out all the ways. My bad.

You'll never see or hear from him again after this season. He only got five games out on loan at bloody Shrewsbury. Too slow to be a full back, not big enough to be a centre back. Put it this way, Hasenhuttl would rather play Walker-Peters, Valery, Ward-Prowse or Djenepo at right back before he'd pick Ramsey. Fifth choice! Doesn't suggest a player with a huge future. Good luck to the kid - I hope he storms it in the next few games. But our academy doesn't produce players of any consequence anymore, and Ramsey's not even among the most promising of a barely mediocre batch.

Can't say I listen to that shite, but are they not reasonable questions to ask? (Aside from the weird fixation with white knighting Big Sam and Steve Bruce.) I mean, isn't it standard practice for teams to train for various scenarios where they're a man down? How the fuck have we managed to lose TWICE 9-0? What kind of clown show are they putting on at Staplewood? Has anyone else in the entire football league managed to lose 9-0 even once in the time we've absolutely, humiliatingly, pathetically, unprofessionally capitulated twice? It's insane to me that people are just trying to shrug it off as one of those things instead of asking serious questions of the manager, squad and hierarchy that has presided over this nonsense TWICE. Any other club would be getting hammered and ridiculed - and rightly so.

Losing 9-0 to Leicester was a freak result. Losing 9-0 again within 18 months is symptomatic of a club with some serious, deep set issues. Lots of teams end up playing for prolonged periods with 10 men. None of them completely implode and lose 9-0. TWICE. Everyone needs to take a hard look at themselves. The manager being unable or unwilling to adapt his tactical approach to the unexpected challenges a game throws up has been a consistent theme of Hasenhuttl's tenure. Normally, it's merely a frustrating trend as the team robotically sleepwalks to a draw or narrow defeat without ever threatening to change course. But twice now it's led to a humiliating disaster. Yes, it's not easy to play with one man less. But every side other than us seems able to find a way to hunker down, keep the wheels on as best they can, and try and get away from the game with some dignity intact. Some even sneak a result. We couldn't even muster a shot against Arsenal's 10 men. Do you think the same would've happened if the roles had been reversed. I forget who it was against - maybe Fulham (0-0) - where the manager said afterwards that he was happy with the point because if we'd conceded first we would have no chance to come back. No chance! Game over! That set the alarm bells ringing for me. Are our tactics so rigid and dependant on everything playing out predictably that we've basically got "no chance" if the match situation requires a rethink? It's a mad result. Twice. Under the same manager. Same regime. Same squad. Same coaches. Players coming through the same system. Something is seriously wrong beneath the surface of this club.

Jesus Christ - what is marking? Unless United go easy on us in the second half, this is another 9-0. And there's their predictable penalty.

9-0 vibes here. Early red, depleted side, pissing down... Can't argue about the red. Got it all wrong. Yikes.

Up top with Ings, doing the Adams role, but less like a baby elephant. Can do a job in the 10s too. Handy.

Ah, so the plan all along was to promote a left winger who had never played left back in his life until a few months ago for the B team. Makes perfect sense. To be fair, Wayne Bridge was a bang average left winger who was converted into a more than decent full back.

Vokins is going to be recalled at 22:59, isn't he? What's Jeremy Pied up to these days? Edit: Cuco Martina is without a club. Call off the search. We're getting the band back together.

If they don't go up this season, we should be all over Reading winger Michael Olise (rumoured release clause £11m) and left back Omar Richards (out of contract, but will have to pay some compensation). Probably bag the pair for around £15m. Obviously we don't even have fifteen quid at the moment, but maybe we can rustle up a few pennies from down the back of the sofa (and moving out some deadwood).

VAR bullshit aside, we still should've won 2-1, but our two best chances fell to Adams whose lack of quality cost us again. The first chance, sent through by Ings, any half decent striker slots it in with his left foot. But Adams tried to flick it awkwardly with the outside of his right and gave the keeper an easier save than he should've faced. The second chance, he mistimes and scuffs a close range volley after Martinez had palmed out a corner. If he strikes it cleanly, it's in the back of the net. Can't fault his endeavour - and we do look a better side with him in it. But I think that's more an indictment of our alternatives than an endorsement of Adams' ability.

This is going to be a shitshow. Maybe play three in midfield to give Jankewitz a little protection and gunk up the middle of the park a bit. 4321: McCarthy; Valery, Bednarek, Stephens, Bertrand; Ward-Prowse, Jankewitz, Armstrong; Redmond, Djenepo; Ings Don't know where our next points are coming from.

Possibly the best we've played in a month - but still much the same outcome: loads of possession, no goal threat, and every promising opening ruined by a poor touch/pass/decision. And then hit with the classic sucker punch, defenders marking thin air. Given that we're always worse in the second half, this is probably game over already. Robbed of a penalty, of course, but we've been on the lucky side of those calls this season too. We can't blame that for our impotence going forward or inability to defend. Not sure how we turn this round - or the run we're on. Man United up next.

25 April 1987, Southampton 2-2 Charlton Athletic. Jim Melrose put Charlton one up in the first half. Saints hit back in the second half with a Kevin Bond header and a George Lawrence (who the old lags around me kept calling Chicken, for reasons I was unaware of at the time) goal which would be a Peter Shirtliff OG these days with the dubious goals committee. And then some 17 year old kid who would never be heard of again came off the bench and headed a late equaliser for Charlton. Robert Lee. It was the only goal I saw up close in the Milton Road Stand, as all the rest of the action took place at the other end. A fair result, and a nice day out - although Peter Shilton was my hero as a kid and I was disappointed he was injured and Tim Flowers played instead. And then he left that summer, so I never did get to see him play for Saints in the flesh. But I saw him play for Derby, so I guess it all worked out. Wasn't missing much...

That was literally Semmons' answer earlier in the week in that Radio Solent interview: when asked if Valery and Vokins' "emergence" (they'd both just started against the might of Shrewsbury) had changed the club's view on the need to bring in full back cover, he said it had. Straight talker, that guy. Refreshing...

Potentially a good move for him, if it happens. I think he's a decent all round player on the ball - confident touch, nice passer, puts in some searching crosses, and seeks out clever one twos around the box. But defensively his development has been disappointing. Not physical or aggressive enough, not proactive. He's just sort of there. Gets into position but has no real presence. He needs games. B team/u23 football is just not good enough to develop players, no matter how many ways they rebadge or repackage it. I assumed in the summer our interest in Williams was because the plan was to get Vokins a season loan under his belt. We must be confident of loaning in a full back in the next few days. Rumours of Maitland-Niles are a bit odd, though, as LB is by far his worst position (dragged at h/t in his last Arsenal start after a terrible outing on the left) and he wants more chances to play in midfield. Watch this space, I guess.

You'll have fun watching them turn out in League One in 18 months then. N'Lundulu has a horrific touch. Aged 21, that's ingrained now. Tella is substantially less gifted than Josh Sims, who has been allowed to leave on a free to the lower leagues. These guys have nowhere near the required quality to succeed. Nowhere near. Our "conveyor belt" of academy talent has long since dried up. The Prowse, Reed, Targett generation were the last batch of any worth.

Wesley having to issue a public apology for his performance... https://app.football-italia.net/?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.football-italia.net%2F165517%2Fhoedt-it-was-my-fault-lazio-lost#article/footballitalia-165517 We're never getting rid of him, are we?