Dusic

I don't blame Jones for this as he has pretty much just turned up, but so much feels like its lacking any clarity of thought and structure at the moment. Who is actually leading our recruitment? Presumably Ankersen but he is also the Chairman of another club, so can't have enough time to fully dedicate to it. Really hoped we would have had a few bits lined up and ready to go at the start of January but that is obviously not the case and isn't Jones' fault at all. Why does it always feel like the club doesn't realise juat what an awful position we are in? Comments about ending the window stronger than we currently are would be perfectly sensible if we were comfortably mid table. The reality is we need big reinforcement now, literally now. The end of January is too long to wait given the fixtures we have and the position we are in.

If we lose its going to be extremely difficult, not least as Forest would be 4 points ahead of us and possibly up to 7 if they were to beat Chelsea today. If that happens no way are we making up 7 points on them in the rest of the season. Equally, its going to be tough to persuade anyone decent to move to us anyway, let alone if we are a few points adrift at the bottom and have lost 4/4 under a new manager, 3 of which were reasonable to oick up points in. Its a must win. A bit like the game at Loftus Road in our first season back.

Clearly we have been the worst side in the PL up to this point. Even if we were to substantially improve, who is it realistic for us to finish above? IMO only Forest, Wolves, Bournemouth and possibly Everton or Leeds. It probably fair to say that unless we get a minimum of 3pts from the Forest & Everton games then its going to be almost impossible to stay up. The next two games are going to be huge, surely SR will have sorted some signings as a boost for the Everton game...

We know exactly what we want to do. Hopefully we have factored in this time whether the other clubs and players will enable it. Doubt we will have anyone in for Forest but beyond that surely we need to by the Everton game or its almost pointless?

Fulham aren't going to be relegated butbwe badly need something to have a bit of momentum going into the Forest game which is an absolutely massive game and pivotal for our season.

https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/coventry-city-camp-deal-wolves-leeds-united-southampton-more-early-january-blow/ Gyokores seems like a no. #januaryisatoughwindow

Do they tell him to hide in the bushes when they take pictures of the whole squad training and he isn't there?! If he was fit he would be involved, no question.

Don't get the Lavia stuff on here. He is clearly injured. We rushed him back for the Liverpool game, he limped off injured in the second half and wasn't in any of the early training pics when the players came back and in Spain was in some pictures but barely any of the videos of the actual training (same as Tino). He has only played 7 games and the decision to bring him in to start a game at Anfield before a month break for the WC looks to be an absolutely stupid one as he will probably end up missing most of this crucial run of fixtures we have.

Lyanco is exactly the opposite of what a struggling, repegation fighting team that concedes too many goals really needs. He is rash, inconsistent, overly emotional and erratic where we so badly need reliability, structure, simplicity and calm. In hindsight a player like Connor Coady or Ben Mee would have been ideal for us. ABK and Salisu both have the raw tools to be very good, they just need a leader alongside them to set the standard and organise.

Personally I would leave him where he is. We need to sign simeone who is more likely to make an immediate impact. I'm not convinced Tella has the first touch or composure needed at PL level and a few goals (notice only one assist) in the Championship playing in a dominant team doesnt change that and if he wasnt our playing and we signed him this window on the back of a failed PL stint and a handful of Champ goals people would be raging. For context, Armstrong scored 30 a couple of seasons ago... Leave him there, and then reasses his situation end of the season when we know where we will be playing (and also Burnley as assume they will try to sign him if they go up regardless of where we are). Of course, if we fail to get any of our targets and then we can always recall him later in the window. I think we probably will recall him though.

Whilst we have a chance to stay in the PL, which we currently do, then its surely a case of creating as good an atmosphere as possible. Booing and chanting about Jones or SR isnt going to help at all. These guys aren't stupid. For years the club has monitored social media etc, they will know exactly what the feeling is. Everton fans are amongst the most miserable, moany bastards on earth but when they realised the team really needed them they made Goodison loud and made a very big difference for their team who largely survived based on a run of unexpected home results. One ingedient that you really need in a relegation battle is good support. Whilst clearly its been a long period of under performance from Saints, I really don't think its the time to make things toxic or you basically do any opposition Manager's team talk for them...'start well and their fans will turn and their players who lack confidence anyway will become even more nervous and you will pick them off with ease.'

Yeah Jones said he missed training the day before the game. He also hasn't been great for a while tbh. Certainly doesn't get enough goals or assists just like all the other non event attacking midfielders we have. (Would still pick him for the majority of games myself ahead of the current options).

He is usually pretty credible. Being objective, Lyanco isn't the answer and was a poor signing. Salisu is definitely not signing a new contract before the end of the season and quite possibly not after either even if we stay up. We keep conceding goals and lack leaders so perhaps they will feel its time to cash in on Salisu now and get someone a bit more experienced in.

Nobody wanted Jones but we have him and clearly aren't going to make another change anytime soon. Jones himself has said, this team hasnt won many games or kept any clean sheets for ages. He also has no Lavia, a returning KWP and all the other problems Ralph had because its exactly the same set of players that weren't playing well causing him to get fired. Yes I expected us to be miles better than we were yesterday but I certainly expected Brighton to beat us as they are just a much better team. He need to get an improvrment immediately if we are to have any chance of staying up, but equally the club need to pull their finger out and get us some better players if we really want to be a PL team next season. It might be a difficult window and a risk of overpaying etc. That is a fair comment if you are 11th and don't desperately need anything in particular. We are not in this situation and therefore will absolutely need to take the risk of doing major business in January. Its that simple.

If SR don't want to get relegated in their first full season then they need to smash this window. Only chance we have, and even then its a slim one unfortunately. If they don't act quickly then it will be too late. Dramatic but totally accurate.

According to Tanswell in the Athletic, Saints won't spend big in Jan despite being prepared to splaah £30m in the summer on Gakpo. January window seen as being more difficult and risky etc Gyokeres unlikely and someone else keen on him. Loans more likely. Targetting striker and possibly no 8 with Moi contract running down. Overall not a very inspiring message.

Surely 2023 will be an improvement on 2022...

No Lavia (or Walcott) in the training pics they just put on the OS. Rushing Lavia back to start the Liverpool game seems pretty foolish now.

Judging by the recent trainings pics, including todays, we won't see Lavia over the festive period.

Well yes. But as far as I'm aware rhe graph wasn't created specifically for Saints fans. It shows that XG, whatever people say, does give a fairly accurate reflection, over a number of games, of the attacking ouput of football teams in the PL. Its not perfect of course, but on balance is probably better than stuff like "Shots" or "Shots on target". Clearly any stats should be used alongside your own eyes and judgements of a game or season, but people saying its "bollox" presumably don't look at any football stats apart from the score?

Why? It shows what most of us think, we can defend in a manner that is similar to a lot of teams but in attack are poor at creating clear chances.

Wolves, bottom of the table, backing their manager with a big money new signing for 1st Jan. Over to you SR...

Its a token section the Daily Mirror lads.

Pretty obvious that this window is going to be massive if we are to have a chance of staying up. Whoever we sign will be under massive pressure to make a difference so hopefully they are ready for it. At least one of the new signings has to be a massive success and have an immediate impact. Others near the bottom will spend (Forest, Bmth, Everton), or already have done (Wolves), so it will be a telling reflection on Sport Republic as the current situation is certainly looking pretty bleak, especially as some of the teams down near the bottom like West Ham are extremely unlikely to go down and those we would want to suck into the fight probably have 3 or 4 points too many to be realistically troubled. Tick tock, and no Ryan Fraser.

Everyone putting Lavia in when it seems pretty obvious he isn't going to be fit for the next run of games. Imagine he will start with 3CBs and then change to a back four once it inevitably doesn't work. This is a massive one really, simply have to start winning or its going to look bleak.