Dusic

Would have been hard to imagine this a year ago, but he has been really good and clearly with one year left on his contract we will be open to selling, whether to Spurs or someone else. I am totally on board with being a development club and having a transfer policy in accordance but we keep being shafted by letting our more saleable players get to one year remaining and therefore having a very poor negotiating position. That seems a big issue if you are a sell to buy club as you are generally going to be quoted higher fees for inferior players than the fee we get for selling our better players. So very likely to need to replace Ings and Vestergaard, Bertrand possibly, before we start adding the depth that we need at full back and in central midfield. Noy beyond needing: 1 x CB to replace JV 2 x striker to replace Ings and Long (N'Lundulunsurely will go out on loan) 1 x CM 1 x RB 1 x LB (or 2 if Bertrand leaves on a free) Thats without looking at GKs. Will have to be a busy summer.

Hojbjerg was statistically excellent at recovering the ball and passing forward, perhaps his departure is related to that, as its either pointing to a lack of creativity (don't see that has drastically changed from last season this) or a lack of ball wins followed by a forward pass within our own half (Hojberg the clear difference personnel wise here).

If you actually watch the video of the press conference Hasenhuttl is asked about the players out on loan and essentially says what any Manager would say. Yes we monitor them. If they play really well on loan then we will consider if we can use them in the squad next season. Obvious and correct answer to give and none of the loan players seem to have played really well anyway. Does he see any of those you listed being part of the squad next season? No, probably not. The good thing is he was very clear on needing 2x RB and 2x LB next season. I doubt Valery or Vokins will be included in that somehow. Re Elyounoussi, Ralph clearly (and rightly IMO) decided he didnt rate him after his first half season, hence 2 years out on loan. We don't have space for him as already have enough #10s, so fully expect another loan.

Duckhunter - out of interest, what team would you have picked last night, assuming KWP and Diallo were to be reated which seemed sensible? I didn't have an issue with the selection aside from the GK part. I just saw it as a Manager juggling with some optioms severely lacking, like only having one full back and senior CM available (again given we were being rightly careful with KWP and Diallo). I know people on here having suggested Ramsay and Jankewitz, but after the Utd game its clear he doesn't trust Jankewitz, and IMO Ramsay isn't up to it (yet?) and RH seems to see it the same.

Forster has done ok, but I still feel like he hasn't been hugely tested in those games. Not a slight on him, but I was hoping he played yesterday to give him a more thorough test.

Whats the gamble Ralph did that keeps being referred to?

Sorry but this is a bad take. For a start he hasnt had constant first team football because he has quite regularly been a sub, starting about half the league games this season. Not sure many Celtic fans would agree his has come out of the season with any credit. Watching him for Saints and Celtic it is totally clear to me that he isn't better than Redmond, Armstrong, Djenepo and Walcott in a Hasenhuttl system and you can probably add Tella to that list. Had he gone to Celtic, become a key player and hit 20 goals in a shit league then maybe we could have thought about taking another look. But he hasn't. He has been average in a shit league. But he just isn't good enough/suited to the PL, of that I am absolutely certain.

Bielsa uses a translator, like Pochettino did at Saints and maybe that helps as both could still get their ideas across. Puel couldn't explain anything to supporters because he chose, or was told, to speak limited English instead. Eventually when things start going badly, that becomes a problem. You have to be a special leader to take people on a journey when you cannot effectively communicate anything to those you are trying to influence. Personality and communication are a massive aspect of being a PL manager. Regardless, I don't see the value of comparisons between Ralph and Puel. Most Saints fans are happy with the job Ralph is doing and liking him probably helps with that - is there anything wrong with that? I don't see many suggesting he is some sort of genius - just recognising that he has been dealt some tough cards during his time here and there have been some big lows, but that we are better off with him rather than without.

Surely KWP gets rested, especially after he got injured in the first place by playing two games quickly after coming back from a muscle injury. Must be a temptation to leave Diallo out for the same reason. Interesting selection for what is a thankless task ahead of a big game vs Brighton.

The biggest difference between Ralph Hasenhuttl and Claude Puel is that one has brought fans with him during his tenure whilst the other pushed them away, because he could not communicate. That is leadership in evidence, and shows why results clearly matter but also how you get them and frame them is equally as important, especially in this age of social media and wall to wall coverage of the PL. In the tough moments, fans will ask themselves whether they can identify with the Manager and understand (if not agree with) his decisions and overall approach. For Hasenhuttl you can, you can feel his joy during the highs and his pain during the lows and feel like you know him a little because he is honest and explains himself well. Puel was distant, joyless and decisions like never playing Fonte in the Europa League just showed he didn't get it, or at least couldn't explain himself enough to persuade otherwise.

Because he has 5 goals now, with 13 (maybe a couple more) games to come so its possible he may score 3 more goals this season. Certainly not out of the question, and 8 goals for a PL striker who is the secondary striker in a lower mid table team would be quite adequate I think.

Aside from Bergman, I think Martian at Man Utd seems to have a decent record against us, like a few Utd strikers. Giraldo at Chelsea, formerly of Arsenal is another. Also feel like Richardson at Everton is developing into one of them as well.

I don't mean this in a negative way, he appears better without the ball than with it. We have lots of attackers who are nice on the ball but don't threaten the space so he is a good option with his pace and hopefully he doesn't lose that direct element. Whether he has the composure in front of goal or in the final pass will determine how good he is.

He knows that teams will always be interested in a player who has proven he can score goals in the PL, and is available for a low fee. He also knows that if nobody to his liking comes in for him in the summer then his offer from Saints will still be available, as for a team like ours he can be the difference between staying up or going down and replacing him will cost more than we can afford. The only group it suits for him to sign the contract now are Saints and Saints fans. Thats the truth. He is in the position of strength, groin strain or not.

I like him. Not because he is going to get 15 PL goals, but because he is one of those players who always gives his all, grafts, is robust and nearly always fit to play and who does have natural ability that keeps you feeling like there is more to come. There are some lazy comparisons with Shane Long on this thread, but Adams has much more on his locker technique wise than Long, the problem is he doesn't show it enough. He could easily have pushed for the Leeds move and accepted it just hadnt worked out at Saints but he didn't, worked hard and got himself back involved and I respect him for that. Our best spell of the season came when he was playing well, so hopefully he can keep playing on the level that he did 2nd half today and have a good end to the season. A good season for a player like Adams would be 8 PL goals and he could easily achieve that.

And Kelvin from the coaching staff, if the rumours about him taking over at BATE Borisov are true.

With the focus on Ings, its gone a little under the radar that Vestergaard's contract also expires at the end of next season, meaning that its most likely he either signs a new one or is sold this summer. He has been excellent this season, arguably one of the stand out CBs in the league given how much he has improved. Excellent on the ball and a massive threat at set plays, I would imagine a lot of teams in various leagues would be interested in him for a relatively low fee. Will be interesting to see what develops...perhaps the club might see him as a saleable asset who they can more easily replace than other players?

A 1.6% chance of finishing 10th despite being top of the league in November. What a mad season.

We would be priced out of anyone decent as imagine the relegated clubs will want to keep most of their good players to have a go at coming back up. Robinson has also impressed me, but we won't spend £15m on a back up LB and if Bertrand leaves on a free then where does the cash come from to replace him? #10 is probably our least needed position but Lookman is known to Ralph and has done well. Not our usual style of player but could do worse than Lundstram on a free?

He was quite firm in todays presser that the squad isn't strong enough to cope as soon as we have injuries and that to progress we need to spend more. I don't see how anyone can really argue with that, its true. But it will only change with new ownership. Maybe Hasenhuttl's tenure will be looked back upon as "right guy, wrong time".

He isn't a natural goalscorer at this level, and very few are, let alone a player signed for £15m from the Championship. It shows how fortunate we are to have Ings who is a natural goalscorer, albeit one we won't have for much longer. I don't really see the value of slagging Adams - he works hard, is rarely unavailable with injury and seems to be a professional guy. He isn't a natural goalscorer like Aguero or Harry Kane. Like most other strikers for non top 6 sides then. I am not sure what you expected him to be?

He is still very good one vs one, absolutely bossed Salah and dealt with Traore very well across both Wolves games. Yes he isn't quite as dynamic as he was a few years ago, but that is to be expected. I just think, like with a few of our players, he just looks a bit tired. He has played 90mins in almost every game of a very congested season. Why? Because our full back back up is crap/non-existant. Would be great to be able to give him a rest every so often but we can't.

Another scapegoat thread. Adams cost £15m, has had some good games, some bad. He works hard, has played a lot of minutes and when were better as a team he looked better than he does now when the team is struggling. He isn't a natural finisher but as others have suggested has created quite a few chances this season. He is one of the biggest issues we have? No.

Of course Matt Hale is going to say that. More interesting is that the quotes about a 20yo contract extension come from the Academy Manager and not the first team manager, which IMO shows how he is viewed. If you think Ramsay did ok against Man Utd then fair enough, but I saw a player who was poor positionally and lacking in composure, the same as when he played two years ago and presumably why he hasnt played since. I haven't seen anything to suggest he is a viable option to start PL games and its certainly not some kind of howler to not select him. I am absolutely certain that Ralph would love to find an academy RB who can cover KWP and prevent him from needing to play others OOP. But he obviously doesn't think Ramsay is that guy.

We give loads of young players contracts, it doesnt mean the Manager thinks they are all good enough to play in tough PL games. Part of it is to protect the asset as we might be able to sell him for 500k in future. If he was that highly rated they wouldn't have let his deal run down to less than 6mths left and would have given him 4 or 5 years. Ramsay played against Man City aged 18 and was poor, understandably. He then played against Derby in the cup and was poor and didn't play for the first team for two years until the Man Utd game when there was literally nobody else. He was poor. I get that people want Ralph to change it up, but its pretty obvious that he doesn't think Ramsay is the next TAA and that tallies with his performances when he has played. PL is ruthless and I can see why the Manager will go to experienced PL players rather than inexperienced players with 4 or 5 pro games to their name - especially if he doesn't especially rate that player. See also clamour for Jankewitz to play - why would Ralph trust him over a player like Armstrong?