Saint Albert

The thing to be wary of there, is Hughes’ role in Stoke’s poor recruitment. They’ve blamed him for Wimmer, Berahino and Imbula. The manager has input on player recruitment at Saints - even a lame duck manager: see Carrillo for a most recent example.

I hope this is not true. Not necessarily because I want him here, but because I hate watching talented young English players rotting away on the reserves or on the bench of the top English teams. Case in point from this season: Solanke.

Shaquiri’s name leaps out for me. I’m assuming there’ll be competition and it would take some convincing for him to come here. Not sure what his relationship was like with Hughes, assuming Hughes stays on. When’s the last time we nabbed a player off a relegated PL team?

West Ham have been looking at Dendoncker. His name came up on here during the last summer transfer window, if I remember correctly... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-5708757/West-Ham-mull-18m-rated-Anderlecht-midfielder-Leander-Dendoncker.html

It’s worryingly smug.

I hope the club see this season’s near-miss as a wake up call. I hope that complacency does not rear its head again.

The chances of Les screwing up a managerial appointment for the third summer in succession seem pretty good to me. Hughes has earned the chance to stay on.

+1 for the Jungle Book reference.

Now we’re virtually safe I’m more than willing to cheer for Scousehampton in the Champions League final. Get that reputed £10M bonus money into the transfer kitty. I usually cheer for the English clubs in Europe anyway. It can’t be that hard. Can it?

I didn’t take any pleasure in WBA getting relegated by last night’s result. They must be wondering what might have happened, if they just sacked Pardew a few weeks earlier.

The Mail thinks that talks for a long-term deal have already started... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-5709051/Southampton-open-talks-Mark-Hughes-new-long-term-deal.html

I’m looking forward to another PL transfer season. Hopefully it’s considerably better than last year’s dud.

Stoke supporters blame Hughes for all of their dud signings. It’s their most consistent complaint about him.

Zouma looked decent in the games I watched.

I can see Bertrand leaving. It was rumoured he wanted to go last summer. It would not surprise me if he stayed for one more year, like Wanyama, Morgan did and like VVD was supposed to. Perhaps Targett will be ready to step in at LB. Cedric should not go. He’s at his level with Southampton. A Top 6 team will soon get fed up of his inconsistent crosses - the one to set up Redmond against Everton was the exception rather than the rule. I’d love to see how Gabbiadini will perform under competent management but it would not surprise me if he ends up back in Italy at his own request. I can’t see a road back to redemption for Boufal. We’ll always have that goal against West Brom. Carrillo will be hard to shift because we paid too much for him. I would be happy for FF to go if we can find someone imaginative enough to take on both his shiny new contract, and his slower-than-molasses-in-January goalkeeping reflexes. I’d like to see Tadic stay, despite the rumours he wants to leave. He seems to enjoy Hughes. You never know. The rumours of Yoshi moving eastward seemed pretty strong. It would be a shame to see him go. It would be a mistake to clear out too many members of the first team squad, so I hope that we can limit outgoings rather than have an exodus. Can we limit first team outgoings to FF, Yoshi, Boufal, and Bertrand? We need a big CB to replace the aerial dominance once provided by VVD. We need more character and leadership. We need a reliable goal scoring striker, and we need attacking pace. We had all of these things once, not too long ago. I hope that Les, Ralph and Ross realise there’s a lot of work to be done with the playing staff.

As I drove to work this morning, basking in the glow of yesterday’s result, I had this sudden worry that Les, Ralph et al will look at the last few games, conclude that the problems were all manager-related after all and proceed into next season without making significant changes to the playing squad.

Les, Ralph et al courted disaster this season. They left sacking Pellegrino far too late, and were fortunate that Hughes was available and some other results went our way. Reminds me of an old Simpsons episode where the generally incompetent power plant employee Homer Simpson inadvertently averts a nuclear disaster. Doing a Homer became a synonym for accidental success thereafter. Les, it looks like you have at least managed to do a Homer.

Hoedt was the Beeb’s MOM... https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/43353971

It would be churlish to not offer him a deal, and risky because we never know who Les will produce as an alternative. Sign him up. Stoke supporters would love reading this thread.

Makes me wonder what Pellegrino would have done in the same situation.

The away supporters were magnificent. There were some wonderful sights and sounds at the end. Hopefully the squad can enjoy this tonight, and then refocus for the City game.

Yessssssssssssss!!!!!! Now I shall return to pacing anxiously until this nervous energy goes. It might take a while.

No surprises there. Come on Saints!!!

That was decent of Koeman.

Don’t hide your light under a bushel. Tell us what you really think about him.