Chez

I was about to suggest Khvicha Kvaratskheli again, but when I googled him to get the spelling right, I can see has signed fo Napoli. Blast. I was going to harp on about him all summer.

that might be true, but he wasn't playing for us when he scored those goals though S_c

Ayew impressed me on Saturday playing on the wing. He was extremely quick and used that pace to gain a yard of space on both fullbacks. Perraud couldn't keep up. Not sure how much he does against other sides. Can we just buy Zaha as I suspect Adkins tried to do, back in the day?

I get the feeling his current wages are monstrous. I've seen £80k a week in The Times, but £100k a week elsewhere when he signed the original four year deal. I suspect he got a rise when it was extended by a year. After impressing at West Ham, I'd of thought he want at least that now, if not more. Doesn't feel like a Saints signing to me. I doubt his ego would permit a move to us either.

Regarding Stephens, his contract was supposedly signed in 2020, so it may have been confirmed as a transaction in the same way as McCarthy's was, but the year before, and possibly no one noticed or remarked on it. As with McCarthy, I just cant imagine the writer would write a story about a new contract if there wasn't one. No point.

Maybe just you. I've been wondering why players need an energy break 15 minutes after having a 15 minute energy break.

Certainly on here there are many that want him gone, but not sure thats the case at the game. As for saying he has lost the players, that's a bold statement. What makes you think that?

your own post seems quite emotional, which is fine. Passion about football is what its all about. I would say that he said he would "consider" retiring at the end of his contract. Not really a big deal IMO and I don't see why that has any affect on performances here and now. I'm English and my mentality would be to continue to train well, play hard and win games. I don't think our results are due to that statement. I didn't know honesty in interviews was an issue? I much prefer it to being bullshitted. I agree that he hung McCarthy out to dry. Not terribly smart, but perhaps done i the heat of the moment. I thought he apologised for it though? He admitted to his tactics at Anfield were shit. He doesn't tend to take the plaudits when he gets his tactics spot on, so I am not sure I expect him to do himself down when they are wrong. I thought that his substitutions have been OK this season. I certainly don't agree with all of them, but most make sense and he has acted a bit quicker in previous years. You might be right about hi being stubborn, but he seems to have been far more flexible this season than previous in terms of starting formations and changing formations during games.

According to The Athletic, Stephens signed a new contract some time ago https://theathletic.com/news/exclusive-jack-stephens-agrees-new-long-term-southampton-contract/bo8LfBeiblPj/

some of that is down to the fact we don't have top class attacking players. Players with genuine ability on the ball, and effortless and amazing first touches that allow them to exploit weaknesses in opponents. We have far too many players that are OK, like Ely and Redmond, who can keep the ball, but they don't have the combination of pace, skills and touch to do more. It's all about player quality. Ours are OK. But the slight mis control, the slightly underweighted pass, the lack of electric pace, the slow thought process... those fractions add up. We have to acquire more quality, on the pitch and then, whoever is the manager, must do more with it.

Napoli need to bring in funds this summer, either by selling striker Osimhen or finally cashing in on Koulibaly, or maybe both. Assuming Tuanzebe returns to United, they may need two CBs this summer.

was never gonna happen. Even if we finished 7th or 8th this season, they weren't gonna go for him. Not a chance.

same players, same tactics, but different results. Weird. You can't even say that a few of those results could have gone our way. So what are the reasons? He changed a wining formula after one defeat. He dropped Broja after two poor games and he never got `it' back. Romeu form/fitness seemed to drop off a cliff, which left our defence very exposed. The fluidity and link up play between midfield and forwards seemed to go. Was that due to selection or simply down to a loss of confidence?

You can read too much into quotes and interviews, but from earlier in the month https://www.hampshirelive.news/sport/football/football-news/ralph-hasenhuttl-southampton-transfer-hint-6911133 (so this may have been discussed already) it sounds like our transfer targets won't be restricted to the `Chelsea youth team'. Perhaps someone like Johnstone fits that narrative. Hard to say from those few quotes, but feels like there will be `some' funds available or at least the intention to bring a few new players in.

Ralph is going nowhere. A manager that repeatedly keeps a lower mid table side in the league is all an owner wants. Stay in the league, get the Prem money and the wheels keep turning.

which is exactly what the owners said from day 1. Any Saints fan that thought otherwise just wasn't listening. The timing of his departure is not horrendous. I am pretty sure clubs don't wait until May before they contact agents about signing in the summer, and this scouting reports will have been presented to management already.

Sure, I'm certainly not talking about corners and possession. But if someone like City run us ragged for 90 minutes, creates a shed load of chances, we barely get out of our own half, create absolutely nothing, yet somehow come out of the game with a 0-0 draw, part by poor finishing, part by good defending, part by luck, I come away from that game thinking we got a bit lucky and got a bit more than we deserved.

is that our average or the league average?

so basically, we are not really worse, creativity wise, than the other mid table (and worse) sides. We certainly were Saturday, and have been in recent weeks, but not over the course of the season. When I look at Brighton, failing to score in 9 home games and scoring only 34 goals all season, maybe our problems are not that bad. Wolves have only scored 33 goals all season. Only conceded 32 mind.

I understand the argument, but I don't agree that teams and performances get what they deserve 99% of the time.

I thought the Wolves defeat at home was harsh and Norwich away too. How we didn't win against Brighton at home I will never know. Not sure we deserved to lose to Newcastle at home either. The flip side to that coin is games like Arsenal, City and Brighton that could easily have gone the other way. Creativity is the issue for more. I think the one game that really should have scored a hat full was Watford away, which somehow ended 0-1 to us, but having not taken our chances we might have let that win slip. We deserved the win for sure. Oh and Spurs and United away. Created a lot in both those games. Maybe both Norwich games too. All over them and quite a few decent chances. Leeds at home is another, but they were on their knees. Not too many games where we created decent chances.

Agreed. There wont be money, we have some holes to fill and our low-cost transfers will need to be very smart.

we certainly didn't on Saturday. Zero creativity. Has that been the case all season? Trying to think back.

Younger and cheaper doesn't mean shitter. Besides, if McCarthy is as bad as you make out, then the new keeper, whoever he is, will most likely be better than him.

I think SG was referring to Armstrong not settling, rather than Broja.