Chez

We beat QPR, Sheffield United, Leicester and Burnley away that season.

In terms of talent at our disposal, we are a top level championship side, however it's not just about individual talent. As a unit we are currently quite disjointed, it's difficult to know what the tactic is to create chances and confidence must be at an all time low. If you throw in the possibility that we might put out an eleven that has not played together, then the chances of them gelling instantly and playing a team off the park become quite slim. If we can lose against Grimsby, as we did two seasons ago with a similarly makeshift and low on confidence side, we can lose to pretty much anyone.

Apart from CBs not really knowing what they are doing, the fullbacks are either too deep and not helping attacks or too far forward and caught out of position. If you are better than your opponent it can work, but if you are using it to try and compete with a better side I think it hinders.

don't all CBs basically look like that when played in a three? I can understand playing 5 at the back against Man City in their prime and just park the bus, but against everyone else I bloody hate it. Koeman used it to great effect to stop the rot one season, but it was a short term thing and he returned back to four soon after. Other than that, I don't recall it ever being effective.

I've never been a big fan and considering he was on our bench a lot in the championship, I didn't think we should be signing him when stepping up a division. However, I watched him very closely against WBA at SMS last season (league game, not the play offs) and his movement off the ball was terrific. He was constantly on the move, looking to get behind the fullback or in between full back and CBs. A lot of his runs were missed, but he kept doing it and was a great outlet. He doesn't have real pace, but that didn't prevent him being a threat. On the ball he was less impressive. He didn't have the pace or skills to beat a man, but that is not always required and the likes of BBD and Sulemana aren't doing that either - in fact they are doing very little, especially in terms of movement and defensively. Players often seem better when not in the side, and that might the case here, but I have to say, getting him and his workrate down that left hand side (perhaps in a 4-4-2) wouldn't do us any harm. Slightly surprised Juric hasn't looked at him. With the last few league defeats basically relegating us, maybe he will.

Seeing as your username is as it is, I feel no shame in moaning about posters like yourself using initials for players names. I saw CT used the other day. Not a fucking clue. The same with TD here - I had to google our squad. Help an ageing poster out here and refrain from this practice... 😉

He lacks pace and doesn't dominate in the air (he seems much smaller than 6'2") which is a bad start for a top class CB. However, the lad can certainly play with the ball at his feet, which, RM or not, is essential in modern day football. I think he reads the game pretty well, makes a lot of good decisions and there is no shortage of heart and commitment. He's only 22, so has time on his side. CBs often take longer to really show the best, so I am hopeful we have yet to see his best. Sometimes what you see at 22 is what you will get and no more though. I'm slightly disappointed Edwards hasn't turned out to be better than THB, immediately. I had a feeling he might usurp THB or Bednarek, but looks like he and Wood also still have a lot to learn.

Great that we are looking to sign young talent. I thought SR had abandoned the policy of spending big on academy/U21 guys after Shields departed. A little worrying that, although young, he is struggling to play 3rd division football. That said, I am mindful of just how much of a pussy Morgan Schneiderlin was when he first joined us (bottling tackles at Bristol City almost caused me a takotsubo cardiomyopathy), but he obviously developed into one the best players I have ever seen in a Saints midfield. Let's hope this fella follows a similar trajectory. Finding good young CBs is far from easy.

Interesting, but why can't SR be credited for the Lavia signing, it followed their policy of investing in young talent and happened 8 months after they took over. Joe Shield (brought in by SR) officially joined in July, Saints signed Lavia in August. Maybe that was just a coincidence, but I'd wager he was involved in the move. I honestly didn't think Ralph was heavily involved in transfers. The fact we didn't sign a batch of players from Germany using his inside knowledge seemed strange to me. I guess I could be well wide of the mark there. The Ramsdale signing was nothing short of miraculous IMO. I'm still amazed he came he. It was a brilliant signing and exactly what we needed. I dont give a fuck if he leaves. All top players do. He wont leave for buttons either. If anything his value may have increased. If we redid the summer, I'd spend the £20m on him again, without question. You make a very good point though - is that what you were saying in the summer - loan a keeper use the money elsewhere - I do recall that being said on here.

I'll take you word for it on Les - he was widely slated for his performance on Saturday (I didn't watch the game so can't comment). We will never know if Charles would have looked better last year with a different manager. All that matters now is how he does for us when he returns. Let's hope he is as good as the folks at Wednesday have bene suggesting. Great to hear a loan that is going well. We had it with Tella, but by and large when we loan players out they are woeful.

Understood. Isn't that pretty standard though? Do many teams sell a guy for £50m and then buy another guy for £50m? Or did you mean sell a guy for £50m and buy just one replacement player for say £30m and use the remaining £20m to pay off debts/running costs - essential for football clubs trying to balance the books? That makes sense, but there is usually another position, where you are weak (perhaps the last signing didn't work out), that also needed strengthening. If you take the 2023/24 season, we sold Lavia et al and by and large we used the funds to balance the books - we'd spent money we hadn't really got in the previous January window. We therefore hardly brought anyone in: Charles £10m Stewart £8m Manning free Lumley free So, I am not sure we went for a quantity over quality that summer, but I guess relegation created a very different scenario to the norm. How about this season? Well, we didn't sell anyone (we may need to balance the books there come the summer), but we spent about £100m. £20m we were obligated to spend on THB. I am pretty sure the £20m we spent on Ramsdale you and everyone else would do again. That leaves £60m. I am pretty sure most would have spent the £16m on Downes too, although perhaps it hasn't worked out quite as well as we hoped. So, that is £44m left. How would you have spent that - all on one player? What position - it would have to have been a striker, right? All on Delap maybe? We went Archer £16m, Fernandes £13m, BBD £7m, Sugarawa £6m, Edwards £3m and Wood £3m. Hindsight helps, but with the limited funds available, what options were there? We really needed an extra £40m and then we could really have upgraded at both striker and attacking midfielder which was essential (Fernandes who was probably third choice behind O'Reily and Carvalho and has worked out thankfully). Not sure we needed Edwards and Wood (but both will work out well in the long run).

Lavia and Ramsdale are good signings. Brooks was a good loan IMO. Many will argue Fraser was too. Yeah, not a great haul considering we have spent almost €300m on transfer fees since they bought the club.

SR wont sell Dibling just because they can. They won't sell unless someone offers them top dollar. That's what happened with Lavia.

I've stuck for him in a few recent posts, as not everything he did was shit or everything shit was his fault, but he was given a reasonable amount of time to find a solution and he failed, so had to be sacked. Not getting a new manager bounce and our past history of sacking a manager and employing an even worse one has us wondering if we have repeated the trick.

I am not sure I agree with that. Their job is to get the ball and move it and protect the back four. No matter what Prem side you are at, that is the same task all CMs are faced with. Does RM get the blame for everything now? I've not seen much of Les - he looked OK in one game, but most on here seem to have been unimpressed by him. The task he faces is much harder as we are struggling and the opponents strong. I watched all of Charles' games in the championship and he was poor IMO in a lot of them. He looked lethargic and his touch and passing was not good and to be honest he looked a bit out of his depth. I thought defensively he wasn't great either. That was last season, and quite rightly as a young player he should be given time to find his feet and a long run of games. I think Kenwyne Jones was the last fella we loaned to Wednesday and he came back and was `superstar' for us. Hope Charles is the same.

Hardly ever. We did it with Carillo, but you are not going to do it early as there is every chance someone takes a punt on them - thus saving you money. You might even have an injury crisis and need to play them, or a new manager gives them a second or third chance. There has to be pretty much no hope that you can get a return or use out of them. Anyway, as I said, I think Ken meant look to sell unwanted players, which by and large we will all agree on. Let's hope Juric or whoever picks the right ones to keep, although there probably wont be much choice. The offer you get will dictate that.

No one gives a fuck if a player was part of a relegated side anyway. Dibling gets relegated, scouts are not marking him down for that.

he wasn't last year - he played like Les is doing this year. Aribo came into the side and our central midfield looked a lot better. If Charles has blossomed, then that is great, but looking good in the championship doesn't mean he will cut in in the Prem in a struggling side.

I thought we were pretty entertaining most of the time. If I understand the term correctly, we were expansive too. We conceded a lot of goals, which was worrying, especially knowing it would be harder to keep clean sheets this season, but we scored a lot too. Some of the goals were fabulous one end to the other passing moves. For the most part we were a good side. Perhaps flat track bullies, but better than I thought we would be. And that's important in assessing RM. What were your expectations at the start of the season? Over the course of the season expectations grew very quickly, so any poor performances really had fans moaning. The way Hull and Leicester murdered us not only destroyed straight promotion hopes but really hit home that we weren't a great side. Over the course of the season fans quickly forgot that the manager inherited a fucking nightmare situation of talent leaving right left and centre, unhappy players remaining and having to get a disjointed side with no pattern of play galvanised and winning quick sharp. No easy task. RM did a bloody good job there. The idea we were promoted despite RM rather than because of him is disingenuous. Don't get me wrong, I recognise his failings. To be honest I was never a fan or really convinced by him, but after seeing us in the championship with Baguss (then Burley) at the helm, I wasn't expecting us to go straight back up, so was happy that we did it, even if it was through the play offs. None of this has anything to do with the transfer window of course, but in this vacuum (a real shame as I love discussing potential targets) there is not much to talk about. I started to look at talented Championship players that wont be promoted that we can sign in the summer, but it's folly to even discuss them as Sheff United or whoever are more likely to get them.

When Ken Tone says "offload" he is probably talking about trying to sell our players (or allow them to leave for free) not paying up their contracts. No club ever wants to pay up a player contract, but they will do so as a last resort when they player won't leave or no one wants them (and perhaps they are stinking up the place) and you can agree a deal that possibly saves the club a few quid.

Not everyone. Some explained that their promotion winning squad was full of loans, they had a keeper fucking off and lots out of contract players, so they had no choice but to sign a shed load as they had many many gaps to fill. Inevitably, as we well know, quite a few signings didn't work out, and they only just survived, so, using the Brendon Johnson money they attacked the transfer window again with another batch of players but also getting players that didn't work out of the club. Again, they only just survived, but it was more down to poor results than poor performances and players, so recruitment could (and due to FFP had to) be just of a few key players...and here we are. Crazy that they are title challengers, but not a crazy transfer policy. We signed 18 players ourselves this summer and have 6 points to show for it. Now that is a basket case of a club.

Not sure we would be in a better position. The parachute payment for year 2 in the championship would have been about £36m. Instead we will get about £120m for being in the Prem for one season - plus another four years of parachute payments. That extra money (not to mention extra money from commercial) has allowed us to buy THB, Downes, Ramsdale and Fernandes which would probably have been out of our reach if we have stayed in the championship. They may now go, but right now they are assets which we wouldn't have. If they do go, the funds can be reinvested to help create another promotion challenging side. We have no idea how we would have fared in the championship this season. We may have thrived, but the likes of Burnley and Sheffield United would have made it hard to get promoted. The budget would have needed to be cut by about £9m (due to smaller parachute payment in year 2), so we may have been a worse team than the previous season. Promotion was a godsend not a burden.

I care. We are woeful. Still like to see us win...and have a cup run. Wigan won it while being relegated.

Yes, that's exactly how it works. Hence Callum O'Hare moving from Coventry to Sheffield United last summer despite them being similarly shit in the Prem. Money talks.

I hear you and understand where you are coming from, but if these are my choices: a) sign a player on loan that is better than Onuachu and we win three games but still go down b) sign no one in this window and go down winning one more league game, but the extra couple of million saved enables us to outbid Leicester in the summer for a striker we both want and we go on to get promotion ...I go for b).