Dusic

Other teams are obviously going to pick up points. For me, West Ham and Watford will very likely be fine on 30 points, and Bmth on 31 obviously. Palace have a tough run now and no Zaha. All the teams from Brighton downwarss are in massive trouble but Swansea have momentum and its hard to see them dropping. For us, Burnley until the end of March is huge. Get 10pts from those games (Burnley, Stoke, Swansea, WH, Newcastle) and we should be fine. Any less and it will be bloody tight.

Some of the more hyped players (Slattery, Valery) need a reality check. Most of that U23 group are not going to make it. U18s better.

Weird situation with Olomola. Out of contract at the end of the season, doing well on loan but seemingly not wanting to join Yeovil permanently. Now back at Saints but can't even get a start for the U23s because we obviously see Obafemi as a longer bet for us. Olomola could be released end of season but surely mad for him to be at Saints instead of either Yeovil or somewhere else on loan getting regular league football? Maybe his Agent turned down Yeovil thinking a better offer would come along and it didn't.

Seems like Sam Northeast could be on his way to Hants. Would be a very tidy signing. George Bailey unlikely to return for year 2 of his contract. Overseas options being assessee but if they get Northeast it might not be a batter. Wonder what would happen re captaincy with Vince availability uncertain. Dawson?

He isn't good enough. Seems like a nice guy but our backup full backs are amongst the weakest in the PL.

- Early adopter of the tattoo sleeve - Dreamy left peg - One paced - Part of the "Hooiveld corridor" ruthlessly exploited by PL attackers - Ditched by post-Saints Lallana for the more useful Hendo Games: 69 Goals: 1

Good job for him, I think he will do well. Good man manager and clever tactically. Jordy Clasie will be happy.

6 pts and a better GD than the drop though which is a lot at this stage. Watford won't be getting relegated from here. They also have a few decent players.

Watford virtually safe now? Probably only need 7 or 8 points from 12 games. Likewise Bournemouth and Everton.

If we are in the PL then this shows a clearout is needed. Could happily let the following go/sell for suitable bids: Taylor Forster (?) Gardos Pied Yoshida (too similar to Stephens) McQueen Reed Clasie Davis (?) Redmond Long Austin Seager Barnes Olomola

There is an argument to go unchanged and build some familarity. There is also an argument to swap an attacking player out for Hojbjerg and look to keep it tight. Tough decision.

If you were a scout for an upcoming opponent you would watch Saints and quickly identify Stephens as a big weakness defensively: from crosses in open play and from set pieces. If he wants a long career as a CB he will have to work on that. (On the WBA forum he got a few mentions as being an obvious weakness that they failed to exploit enough).

I would sell Long and Austin this summer, assuming we are PL. Not reliable enough, for different reasons. Carrillo appears far more mobile than Austin thus far. Crux will be if he can finish. Austin overall is a poor signing for me as spends far too much time unavailable. Long is just ****e, obviously.

MP got that just about right, hopefully he starts learning as they will obviously not be sacking him now (for a couple of games anyway). Good character from a goal down as well. 1. When Tadic plays well, the team plays well. Need to get the best out of him like today 2. Good to see Redmond back, albeit briefly. He gives an option none of our other attackers do. 3. We are utterly ****e at defending set plays and crosses and its because we just don't have a physically strong side. Stating the obvious but we need to avoid conceding them where possible. Oh, and start Lemina every week.

He put in a couple of absolutely fantastic crosses first half. Definite starter, but with Tadic on the other side I would put JWP middle and some pace out right, be that Redmond, Sims or possibly even Long.

He has made some bad decisions but is nowhere nearly Lowe and doesn't warrant death chants.

Absolutely paceless lineup though. Thats the problem. Redmond or Long might neither be excellent but I think one has to play otherwise there is zero threat in behind.

1. Carrillo has to start 2. Because of 1, Tadic has to start 3. Because of 1 and 2 there has to be a player with a vague amount of pace on the other side (return for Redmond perhaps?)

Pellegrino said in todays presser re the Promes fiasco: "Next time we have to plan better." Essentially saying we didnt give Spartak enough time to source a replacement. It got me thinking: 1.Have we had a good window since Lil Ross took over from Paul Mitchell? 2. Surely they learned something from last January's Fonte/Caceres fiasco? Pretty damning of the job the wee man is doing!

McCarthy Cedric---Stephens----Hoedt-----Bertrand ------------Lemina-------Hojbjerg------------ ----------------------JWP-------------------------- Redmond-----------------------------Tadic -----------------------Carrillo------------------

Strange to bring on Carrillo - who thrives on crosses - and take off Tadic who put a few good ones in first half. Also how does Shane Long still start every game despite being utterly ****e? We have lots of problems.

2/10 - pathetic. Sold our best player, hinted through favoured Journalists at various targets and got nowhere near any of them. Delusional leadership. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/12/28/southampton-keen-daniel-sturridge-ready-make-audacious-move/ "After selling Virgil van Dijk to Liverpool for £75 million on Wednesday, Southampton want to reinvest quickly and add quality to their squad, with the attacking positions and centre-back their two priorities. A list of targets are being considered or actively worked upon and, with manager Mauricio Pellegrino desperate to add pace, power and goals to his team, one of the most intriguing names is Liverpool’s Sturridge." End result: Sturridge went to a relegation rival and we didn'!t really address the other bits. If we get relegated, the club deserve it. Shambolic management in various forms over the last 2 years.

If ever a team, club and fanbase needed a boost it is now. Working on this deal for least 3 weeks so if it doesn't get done then its tin hat time for Reed as this would have been a very, very poor window. Over to you, Les...

Spartak have a game tomorrow apparently in Marbella so if he plays in that then there is zero chance. If we are to get him then there needs to be developments by tomorrow morning at the latest I would have thought. "We pushed until the end but the market is difficult."

Summary here: http://sportwitness.co.uk/southampton-need-pay-close-e35m-want-transfer-done-wednesday/ So his release clause is €30m but an additional €4.5m is to the player, so €34.5m before wages are taken into effect. We want to pay no more than €27m, nearly €8m short of what it will take. If this is true, then surely its obvious we won't be suddenly adding a whole €8m to what we are offering until now before the end of tomorrow? Unless it changes very quickly then even logistically it will be nigh on impossible to complete such a big deal within a day. Virtually all the other big deals that have been talked about for a while, Aubameyang, Laporte, Moura etc are at much more advanced stages than still being millions of Euros apart. Massively unlikely.