Dusic

Possibly. Might also be doubt about Boufal's fitness to start.

G'day Wayne.

Interesting from David Ornstein via The Athletic: - Several DoF interested candidates couldn't find anyone at the club to communicate their interest to, so ended up going via the Club Secretary. One translated his CV to mandarin and sent it to Gao instead. Unheard of for a PL setup, but the executive team lack football experience. - Steve Walsh helping as a recruitment consultant in the interim, presumably instigated by Martyn Glover as they worked together at Everton. Some in the game feel Glover should get the recruitment role.

Bednarek is such an odd player. Does quite well in duels and shows bravery when blocking shots but then as soon as the ball is near him he just becomes so timid. Watching him closely last night he is just so bad on the ball. He often plays teammates into trouble because he can't do anything other than a basic 10 yard pass and even then its usually underhit and behind someone. That really hampers our attacking game as its so laboured at the back. He us obviously talented and has done well for Poland and is our first choice CB, but if he could improve in possession and take a bit more responsibility it would totally transform him as a player.

No Manager would make this team look secure. The defenders just aren't good enough, and he isn't to blame for that.

All about the result tonight. Boufal class from the bench. I would play him instead of Obafemi and move Redmond back to playing off Ings where he was at his best last season. Bednarek's passing though....woeful.

When I go to watch Saints, home or away (almost always by train), the thought of which mode of transport other Saints fans took to the game has never crossed my mind. Likewise what clothes they are wearing. Funny what bothers people.

The easy thing would be to bring in Romeu for Armstrong. I hope he goes for Djenepo for Armstrong and sticks with four forward thinking players, but we may end up being quite open. Bit of a blow to lose Armatrong as we havent really got anyone else like him. Hopefully Boufal is back for Norwich as he is a great option from the bench, even if he doesn't start.

Newsflash: that is the stated approach...and it got us to 6th in the PL so can work well if executed correctly, which includes having the right expertise at the club.

To give ourselves a decent shot at staying up surely we need a minimum of 8 points from the next 5? Anything less and we will probably be cut away. Villa and Newcastle also have very tidy fixture runs by the way.

Pretty sure someone had a £25m+ bid turned down in the summer. So thats probably why we didnt go for him...

Really good appointment, especially as a Player Recruitment expert will also be appointed. Crocker did a great job at Saints, already knows the club really well as has overseen the best period in the FA of youth success. Excellent, a step in the right direction.

Spot on. Even the way that Wallce article reads is with certainty. "Will" and "Have" rather than "Should" or "Might". Ita no suprise fans are hacked off with it after the numerois examples of these tactics and often little to show for it. Also highlights why losing the likes of Adam Leitch from the local scene is a shame. Now is the time you want the media following up on these types of things but on Thursdays presser Ralph is more likely to be asked about Zlatan than a new Assistant or how he feels the clubs recruitment will work without key personnel.

CB is the clearest of all. 1. CB 2. RB 3. CM All IMHO of course, Morph

I still feel he could make us into a decent PL side. Liked that he went back to his principles yesterday: mobile, aggressive pacy (where possible) lineup. He has strayed away from that, I think after understandably losing faith in out defenders so good to see a bit of a reset. Massive games to come before Christmas, need min of 7 points from the next 4.

We don't need him. Its probably the position we need the least.

This. Sign a decent CB and we can stay up. Don't and we are down.

Coach/Assistant presumably.

Return of 4-2-2-2? Suprised re Djenepo and Boufal but both have had long Intl trips.

Surely the only way he sells is if we stay in the PL? More important now than ever to stay up given the state of the club.

Walsh fits to this spec of a "Player Trading Expert". https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/17965856.southampton-look-appoint-player-trading-expert-ross-wilson-leaves-club-rangers/ If it is Walsh then he is an experienced hand which would probably benefit us in that specific role. He is 66 though and I would have thought we may look for someone younger. He also recruited Martyn Glover at Everton, who is now our Chief Scout - so some synergies there There has been a couple of good interviews with him recently on The Athletic - but no hint he was set to get back into a permanent role.

He has probably been speaking to Bertrand.

Loss to local coverage of the club, and thats a shame for fans. Solent aside there isn't really anyone who follows Saints specifically that has a good insight into what happens at the club and watches all our matches and has the ability to hold the club to account on certain things. Local journalism as a whole is dying which is a shame. Definitely a loss to TSP as well. Adam's insight will be very hard to replace.

Not really like for likes those options. Ultimately JWP doesn't really have any competition and I don't see that is RH's fault but more that the Academy lads like Slattery have regressed and the squad is weak in certain areas, like centre mid. Hasenhuttl is hamstrung by a **** defence which means we cant be as expansive as he would like.

Granted he hasnt been great this season, but do people actually believe that picking JWP is one of the main reasons for our poor league position? Madness if so. For a start there are the 5/6 behind him who are all more of a problem. Ive been a big knocker of JWP at times in his Saints career but its obvious to me that we are massively hamstrung by our defence (both in terms of defending and on the ball in setting up our play). We nearly always concede the first goal, cannot keep most teams to less than 2 goals let alone a clean sheet. That makes it very hard for the rest of the team. Thats far, far more of a problem than JWP. And that problem is almost entirely down to recruitment. If you want one single on field factor that will be the biggest single factor in relegating us then its our defence, by an absolute country mile.