Dusic

Adams isn't really a problem, in fact he is a strength we have. The problem is that he is relied upon as the single source of goals.

This just never works for us, does it? None of the CBs aside from possibly Lyanco are good enough with the ball at their feet. Most of them prefer defending the box rather than being dragged out wide. KWP and Perraud are better arriving from deep as full backs rather than starting high, and they don't have a wide player to combine with which is where most of our better play tends to come from. We haven't got a no10 with enough quality to be relied upon to create chances in that role behind the striker and in a team with few goals it essentially adds one extra player who isnt likely to score (the 3rd CB) at the expense of another attacker (2nd 10/winger) who has a higher chance to. Seems Jones like this formation, but surely he will have realised that a back four is the way to go with this lot?

Do we need to add a defensive midfielder to our list of required signings? Lavia is obviously class but if he can't handle a few days of training without getting niggles then he isnt going to be much use in a relegation battle. AMN and Diallo not up to it, and we will likely need to use AMN as a starting full back at some stage in the next month too. The decision to let Romeu go seems at this moment to be a poor one.

Relegation rivals dropping some cash (potentially depending on clauses).

Armstrong yes but would say he is of a similar level to Adams. Also, if we are going to play a front two then we need someone to compliment Adams rather than try to do the same type of job. I think Adams as a physical outlet is pretty decent, and he has shown with Ings and Broja that he can combine well with a finisher who looks to run in behind or who can beat defenders 1v1. Personally hope we target someone of that type rather than a target man like Wood as don't think that would result in a good combination. Our forward line is often quite static and one paced so we need a dynamic player.

Jones seemed pretty confident on a couple of signings judging by the written section of today's press conference. Sounds like Ankersen is essentially leading it. From about 19mins here.

The Shields thing absolutely has to be a distraction. Would be odd if it wasn't! Even though there has been a good bit of time since he left lots of transfers are 6-12 months prep work at least. Doubtless our situation is also made more complex by a change of Manager who many targets won't know of and a league position that rightly suggests we may not be able to offer PL football next season. Will probably need to overpay to get players of the right quality.

Sounds like Walcott and Mara scored. If so, perhaps suggests it was for the players who are unlikely to start the upcoming games, to give them minutes - unless most players got 45mins but not sure how useful that really is.

Imagine we will go pretty strong for this, essentially first choice team - leading into the Brighton game. No real issue with fixture spacing over the end of Dec period.

Perhaps Crocker will turn up at Newcastle? They are looking to revamp their academy setup and he has worked under Ashworth at The FA. Statement makes it sound more like Crocker's choice than SR's.

New owners wanting to bring in their own people I would assume. As is their right.

Probably makes sense not to give too much away in terms of likely formation and style ahead of our upcoming games. Will be interesting to see if the Lincoln team is essentially the same that faces Brighton or if he decides to share minutes around.

Wood hasn't been linked I don't think. Not sure why Newcastle would loan him out anyway as Wilson is so injury prone. No way we would buy an expensive player at his age. Ryan Fraser still the strongest link we have seen. Not a fan myself but clear we need something in that kind of position. Whether he is any better than Armstrong, Elyounoussi etc, I am not convinced. Has to be a question on who is actually leading recruitment now Shields has gone and obviously Glover too, plus Ralph who clearly had an input. Rasmus is the Chairman of Goztepe so wouldn't have time to do it to the level needed. As much as Ralph played down Shields' role its clearly bad to go into a massive transfer window without a head of first team recruitment.

All do what? Its not exactly a hot-take that football fans are happier when their team wins more often. The last few years we haven't won very often but the few years before that in the PL we did and to my knowledge most people loved it. As we are all well aware as Saints fans, there are cycles and we are currently in a bad one, but those make the highs feel better than for the top clubs who can't even be arsed to watch an FA Cup trophy presentation these days because it happens so often. I'm sure if we were to start winning a few more games then people would enjoy it more and thats the challenge the club has to try and be more competitive at this level. We and others have had spells doing it before, like someone like Brighton are now. Our spell under Adkins was quite a specific combination of circumstances. If we went down this season there would certainly be a big difference to the atmosphere around the club, squad and fanbase next year than the season we got promoted under Adkins when it felt like the team and the whole club were on the up. In some ways it comes down to your view of what is more important, the feeling of winning which isn't guarenteed at any level or the overall health, wealth and context of the club. Personally I wouldn't see too many positives coming from relegation - there are more impacts than just playing a different league and having a better chance of winning games.

Guessing you found it enjoyable when we were winning more often in the PL, and were pushing for European places?

I think a lot of it comes down to semantics and most of us not really knowing how the mechanics of a transfer work. There is clearly a difference between personal terms being agreed (usually done by the agent and could occur with multiple teams) and then a player finally agreeing to move to a particular club. The decision for the latter may not be due to being unhappy with the terms offered, it might be to move to a different/better/bigger club, to decide to wait before leaving a club incase of better future offers or to specifically stay somewhere. For the kind of players we go for I'm sure financial terms arent that much of an issue. We are usually buying from poorer leagues and often from non-top clubs in those leagues, so financially we are powerful in comparison. Equally we seem quite happy to be open that we will let players leave when bigger clubs come in for them, which is likely a factor for our transfer targets. That said, the hardest bit is getting someone to actually sign, when likely they have multiple offers and we are nearly always under threat of relegation. Our biggest selling points are i.) Giving players a chance to play first team PL football and ii.) Letting them go once better things are available. Sometimes that won't be enough.

https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/23168818.southampton-keen-deal-newcastle-united-midfielder-ryan-fraser/ Early Jan move mentioned here. Seeing as he moved on a free his wages must be ridiculous and at 28 isnt really a player with huge sell on. Hopefully if he did move for him it would be a loan with an option and not an expensive permanent move.

Considering ABK and Sali to come back in its a decent looking squad until you get to the attacking section. Not sure Ryan Fraser would change my mind on that either!

This is stupid. Adams especially is a good player. If we are going to escape relegation he will be massively key. Perhaps Ballard or Morgan will have a cameo role to play but to suddenly place any actual expectation on them would be ridiculous. The PL is a huge step up from what they are used to. They might get sub minutes in the Lincoln game but would expect Jones will start his league team or as close to it as possible. Certainly if either of them is thought about for the league it will be with the "waste of space" Adams rather than in place of him.

Will be interesting to see if Lavia is in the squad that goes to Spain. Whilst they said it was cramp when he went off at Anfield I reckon it was injury. He hasnt been in any training pics/videos and has just put up a back soon style IG post. If he is out then its critical KWP is back for the late Dec games as AMN will be needed in midfield.

The best young players were playing the youth cup yesterday hence the B team being so young. Therefore everything suggests it would have been our available first team squad.

Losing 1-0. From the Cov Twitter it sounds like they have battered us. Edit: equalised! Presume would go to ET and pens?

Maybe on loan he would be ok but not overly convinced he is much better than what we have. Definitely a need in that position but would hope for something better, a player who is a certain starter. Has done nothing at Newcastle and was spineless in the way he left Bournemouth, after what they gave him.

Still no sign of Lavia in any of the pictures. Wonder if it was more than just cramp he was suffering from at Liverpool. At the time it looked more like a recurrence of his injury.

He was going to pick Leeds ahead of us anyway.