DRAGONZ_RULE

On 11/10/2022 at 20:44, saintwbu said:

He might not be our best player but the drop off in quality in his position is definitely a problem, and i’m sure we’d have had more control in that Villa game if he’d been playing, and the first half against Everton. So it will be a boost to have him back.

Four months later, but I would say it is odds on that he definitely is the best player in the squad.

This kid is going right to the top of world football, be it in England or overseas for Madrid or some other club of that calibre.

Main thing standing in his way at the moment is his manager 🤪

1 hour ago, S-Clarke said:

He's got that little bit of star quality about him, the ability to make space with his touch when there is no space around him to start with. Not many can do that, only the elite guys.

I think we'll be looking back in a few years a little bit proud that he was once at Southampton, because he will go right to the top as long as he stays fully fit. It somewhat makes a mockery of City that they didn't feel he was ready, so they went and splurged £60m on Kalvin Phillips who Lavia just roasted all game.

The last player to come through Southampton and do that was Sadio Mane. Lavia has the ability to reach the same heights of Mane's fabulous career, perhaps even greater as he is just technically faultless.

Overall Perraud did a pretty good job on Salah, all things considered - no game time, playing against the form player in the league, and he kept him pretty much chance-less ... KWP comes on, and within a minute Salah had burned him on the inside and took that shot (which hit the corner flag to be fair😁).

Ralph needs to pick one and stick with him at left back for a while. Tino's performances are noticeably regressing, little surprise given such young legs not used to playing EPL intensity week in, week out - perhaps KWP should shift over to the right for a few games as a starting point?

16 hours ago, igsey said:

Only big decision to be made for me is who plays LB against Traore - Perraud or KWP? I would guess KWP will get the nod there.

Traore plays left wing, Wolves right wing is Trincao.

Thanks a lot guys - again, apologies if I haven't put the question on the right sub-forum!

Hi guys, my apologies upfront, as this may not be in the right section of the website but I am not sure where to ask it.

Is there a way to search the forum for specific words or phrases? I can't seem to locate a search bar anywhere!

On 21/07/2020 at 19:16, DRAGONZ_RULE said:

It's an interesting phenomenon.

Last season, Southampton were struggling, Hojbjerg came into the side and completely transformed it, and was arguably Saints player of the season in 2018/19. He scored some crucial goals and generally had an excellent season.

He then gets made Club Captain for 2019/20, his performances have not quite been at the level they were last season, even before the season started there were rumblings about his unwillingness to sign a new contract. It seems his head had already been turned before the season began and it has probably impacted on his form. Certainly it has impacted on the fans' perception of him, as he is now fairly roundly disliked around these parts.

Throughout all that, Hassenhuttl built the whole team around him, Guardiola has been very vocal over the years about how good he believes Hojbjerg is, and now two of the most successful managers in recent history in Mourinho and Ancelotti both want to sign him for their teams, with both of those clubs holding European ambitions.

So what is going on here? Do the Saints fans who watch him week in, week out have it right, or do 3 of the world's leading managers, plus the current Saints manager, have it right? Or is it somewhere in the middle?

It will be interesting to see what happens over the coming weeks and months.  

Coming back to this a few months later, and it looks as if this has been a move which has worked out well for all parties.

Saints have started the season well, JWP and Romeu have been excellent and KWP was a critical purchase and has made the spot his own.

Spurs are one of the form teams in the league, and whilst he's not getting the headlines Kane and Son are, PEH has become one of Mourinho's most vital players and is putting in top class performances as a defensive midfielder.

One of those deals where everyone walks away a winner - so far at least!

It's an interesting phenomenon.

Last season, Southampton were struggling, Hojbjerg came into the side and completely transformed it, and was arguably Saints player of the season in 2018/19. He scored some crucial goals and generally had an excellent season.

He then gets made Club Captain for 2019/20, his performances have not quite been at the level they were last season, even before the season started there were rumblings about his unwillingness to sign a new contract. It seems his head had already been turned before the season began and it has probably impacted on his form. Certainly it has impacted on the fans' perception of him, as he is now fairly roundly disliked around these parts.

Throughout all that, Hassenhuttl built the whole team around him, Guardiola has been very vocal over the years about how good he believes Hojbjerg is, and now two of the most successful managers in recent history in Mourinho and Ancelotti both want to sign him for their teams, with both of those clubs holding European ambitions.

So what is going on here? Do the Saints fans who watch him week in, week out have it right, or do 3 of the world's leading managers, plus the current Saints manager, have it right? Or is it somewhere in the middle?

It will be interesting to see what happens over the coming weeks and months.  

Absolutely head and shoulders above everyone tonight, possibly out of both teams. He plays CM on his own, Hoj is the biggest myth in history, he is nothing without Romeu, and not much with him either.

Were you saying this about PEH last season when he was pretty much single handedly keeping the team from being relegated?

Or do you just change your opinion every other month based on a player's current form?

What will you say when Romeu has a bad few games? Or do you expect his career-best form of the opening month to simply continue for the rest of the season and into following years?

Agree that he was Saints best last night and has been the most impressive of the squad this season so far.

Did Big Vic ever manage that incredible feat?

His last season with Saints he got suspended 4 times (I think all 4 were red cards as well).

Out of interest...based on what?

 

Off the top of my head, here's a list of RB's I'd say are better than him.

 

Azpilicueta

Walker

Trippier

Valencia

Moses

Zabaleta

Bellerin

Aurier

Clyne

Alexander-Arnold

Leichtsteiner

Coleman

Periera

Zappacosta

Danilo

Young

 

 

Possibly:

 

Janmaat

Montoya

Femenia

Smith

The only players on that list who are definitely better than a fit and in-form Cedric are Azpilicueta, Walker and Trippier. Throw a blanket over Bellerin, Alexander-Arnold (and Gomez who wasn't on your list, perhaps because he also plays centre half).

The rest he comfortably comes out on top of.

Of course, comparing an out-of-form and disinterested Cedric to that list yields different results.

However, what horse are you going to back here? Will you choose to place your faith in a proven quality international player with a European Cup rediscovering his mojo under a good new manager, or will you choose to believe that the malaise of the past 2 years under useless coaches and literally zero competition for his spot will continue for the foreseeable future?

Cedric Bednarek Stephens Bertrand

Romeu Hojbjerg

Lemina Armstrong

Ings Austin

I'm thinking he'll go straight for his 4-2-2-2 formation, Cedric and Bertrand asked to provide the width.

That said, hope Hoj has a better game than yesterday, guilty of bad mistake for the 2nd goal and overall had a poor game, not sure he is really the right man to be captain.

Not the right man? There is literally no other player in the lineup who is a better choice for captain, he is the only one out there who tries to lead by example.

Apologies lads, didn't mean for it to come across that way. More that there are so many threads at the moment where there is just consistently abusive / negative comments towards players and it made sense to me to put it all in one place haha. Happy for it to be removed if required.

For the record though, I'm not a Southampton fan - I'm a Leeds fan from Australia who likes Southampton because of how they (used to) do their business and perform so well for a club without the financial backing of the "big" clubs. Seeing what's been happening the last couple of seasons is very frustrating for me, because the EPL should be about more than just big clubs spending big money.

Anyway as above, happy for the thread to be removed it it's in poor taste.

I can't seem to create a poll, but nevertheless, who is your most disliked current Saints player? I'll list out the most likely candidates below, if someone else who and why?!

- Fraser Forster

- Cedric Soares

- Wesley Hoedt

- Ryan Bertrand

- Mohamed Elyounoussi

- Charlie Austin

- Shane Long

- Manolo Gabbiadini

- Other?

For mine:

- Cedric is up there for just how badly he has declined year-on-year since his arrival, but arguably you could put this down to terrible coaching the last 2 years and no viable competition for his spot.

- Hoedt is up there for how bad he has been since the day he's turned up, bar one or two games. There are about forty five centre halves in the joint and he is the only one that continually gets a free pass from Hughes.

- Austin and Long are up there because they are stealing a salary, they get paid to score goals and neither of them do. Ever.

- Ultimately though, I would go with Bertrand at this moment, he has been picked as Captain but has shown a sum total of ZERO leadership to help dig the team out of its current mire.

I have watched very little football this season, but the dropping of Romeu was one of the few managerial decisions that went along with what people on here were saying at the time. For several matches people said he was poor and needed dropping and then that happened. I honestly have no personal opinion on the matter as I haven't seen enough, but this time MH actually followed the overwhelming calls for a player to be dropped. Maybe we're spelling or pronouncing Hoedt wrongly for him...

You are correct - Romeu was playing poorly and was deservedly dropped. People should simply go back and read match threads from the first month of the season.

As is always the case when a team is struggling, though, any player not in the lineup immediately is thought to have improved or is better than the current players, because they aren't the ones currently losing the games.

Insofar as the overall outfield makeup goes this season, Hojbjerg has been the player of the season, Redmond perhaps just behind him in those stakes, and Lemina probably next best ... so unless the formation changes and Romeu plays in a 3 man central midfield, there doesn't seem to be a valid argument for breaking up what has been the only decent part of the Saints lineup so far this season.

All that said, I would probably favour a 4-3-3 lineup anyway:

RB - Cedric?! Train wreck this season

CB - Bednarek / Yoshida

CB - Vestergaard

LB - Bertrand? Pretty much a train wreck this season too

DM - Romeu

CM - Hojbjerg

CM - Lemina

RW - Armstrong

ST - Ings

LW - Redmond

Very distressing footage of the helicopter losing control has emerged on social media. Seems like a staff member filmed it, and somehow (either through their doing or otherwise) it's made its way to the tabloids and YouTube. You don't see the actual crash, but you can hear it.

Such a horrible moment for all five people, their families, and everyone connected.

I read on the Leicester forum that apparently the Southampton squad drove up to the KP Stadium to pay their respects - very classy move by the club.

Easily been Saints best player to start the season. Hopefully he keeps this form up and the rest of the team comes along for the journey.

Good spirit from Hoj. ‘It’s not good enough...I want to win ‘ Says may still be nerves from last season

Hojbjerg is more of a captain and leader than Bertrand will ever be. A serious failing on behalf of the manager to make this timid bottler the club captain.

For Duffy to be marked by Long and then JWP at set pieces shows it was the actual plan by the coaching staff. If someone could ask Hughes why he believed their biggest set piece threat should be marked by Saints' smallest players, that would be great. The blubbering fool has no idea how to manage the 90 minutes of a football game.

He just needs to look at Klopp for an example - one of the best teams in Europe, and when they are under some pressure late on they bring on a 3rd CB quite regularly.

But Hughes? When under pressure, he replaces his front 3 with another striker, a guy trying to play 10 and a wide man.

The right subs were either not selected in the match day squad, or haven't been given a minute of league action. Romeu should have been on for Mo, Yoshida for Ings ... Gabbiadini for Long was OK.

Castrated using a fruit knife at Walsall away. We laugh about it now

Hahahaha tell me you're kidding.

PEH best player on the pitch. What a way to redeem himself after last week.

Yellow cards no longer apply to separate competitions, whereas straight reds do. But no-one seems to know if a sending off for 2 yellows crosses competitions or not. On the Total Saints podcast Adam Leitch thought he would've served it tonight, but he didn't sound totally convinced.

http://sport.bt.com/football/pierre-emile-hojbjerg-banned-for-southampton-S11364291643484

Suggests his 1 match ban was served in the Carabao Cup, and he'll be available this weekend if the manager wants to pick him.

3-5-2

McCarthy

Stephens Yoshida Hoedt

JWP Hojbjerg Romeu Bertrand

Lemina

Austin Long

Cedric doesn't work, bin. Tadic doesn't work, bin. Redmond is just...bin.

Gabbiadini doesn't work, Arsenal is not the game for him. Long can run around and press their centre halves, Mustafi is prone to errors and so is Chambers (Koscielny will probably be rested for Europa League).

The one thing in Saints' favour here is that Arsenal's players will care even less about the result of this game than Southampton's.

Arsenal will probably rest players in preparation for Europa second leg, and play something like:

Bellerin Mustafi Chambers Kolasinac

Xhaka Elneny Ramsey

Iwobi Lacazette Welbeck

With Ozil, Aubameyang, Mkhitaryan and Wilshere kept on the bench (as well as Koscielny and Monreal).

Mario is a doubt with a back problem according to Solent.

Excuse my ignorance, but what or whom is Solent?

The positives:

- Hojbjerg best player on the pitch again ... although it's a negative that he's only played 10 games and is already the unbackable favourite for Player of the Season.

- Defenders are scoring goals ... although it's a negative that nobody else is

- JWP had a good game

- Carillo showed some good signs and nice touches

The negatives:

- Lemina sitting on the pine whilst Davis spends 90 minutes literally not doing a single constructive thing?

- Pellegrino has turned Cedric into a slow player (both of foot and mind) whose crosses never seem to beat the first defender. What happened to the dashing fullback who overlapped and provided real threat down the right? Such poor coaching.

- Pellegrino is still the manager

- Pellegrino is still the manager

- Pellegrino is still the manager

I could go on but it might be repetitive.