Chez

my word they are five on three here. Two Rovers unmarked in the six yard box. Bloody hell. Good job THB cuts the cross out.

we have created two great chances. AA misses a tap in and Aribo hits the bar. That said, could easily be one down there. Great chance for Blackburn to lob Baz.

https://poscitesch.com/southampton-vs-blackburn/

great move from one end to the other and Aribo almost scoring. I get bored of people moaning about our overpassing, but that is exactly what the point of it is.

he may have his failings, but Baz really is good coming off his line and using his box to cover our back four.

in the prem that might br the only chance you get. i'd like to think he'll get a few today. Blackburn are tosh, but they still get an easy (unchallenged) opportunity to maraud down our right hand side. If the winger could pick a man out we might be behind. It's that kind of defending that keeps fucking us.

I'd argue Charles has been poor. £15m isn't buttons either. However, both are young and still developing their game so cutting both some slack might be an idea.

not having Bree on the pitch did impact the third goal a little. We were stretched, the ball went wide, there was no one near enough to stop the cross and then the rest you know - basically Brooks flinching rather than reacting to the guy falling over his own feet, which meant he got two bites at the cherry. Funnily enough though, after Bree got sent off, we were possibly marginally the better side and created a couple of chances. We weren't massively under the cosh, the game was still end to end.

Not in mine. Mvadidi continues to run rings round opponents. The next Zaha (championship talent that does it in the Prem too).

I chose to say it in 30 words, you chose a few more, but we basically agree. Not enough players in the squad that do the ugly things well. Smallbone doesn't and nor does Charles (holds a DCM position pretty well, but far too casual). The wide players are wingers/attackers, not midfielders. There simply is not enough hussle without the ball. The balance is not right. Lots of good passers, not enough workrate and bite when we don't have the ball. Charles is the answer by the way (he has the physical traits and the ball skills), but only if his game progresses quickly. There needs to be much more sharpness both when on the ball and when defending.

who you leaving out, Winks? Is the EFL team of the year voted for by the players

So you think a good coach could turn Smallbone into a ferocious tackler like Barry Horne then? It's not coaching that's needed there, it's hypnosis. Players are all different. Just as some have it in them to beat five men, tackle or bust a gut towards their own goal, some just don't. You need all sorts, but you need the correct blend. Perhaps we just don't have the right blend. Coaches obviously have value, but they are not magicians. They are not looking to turn a dribbler into a tackler or vise versa. They are helping players hone their established skillset, understand the nuisances of their position and motivate them. But even with motivation, I don't believe any coach is going to change Brooks into a guy that tracks his runner back hard every time. It's just not in him.

no I don't. Players either have that in them or they don't. Smallbone is 24. He ain't suddenly going to become Barry Horne in the tackle because we have a change in manager.

Not sure about keeper and centre backs, but suspect team of the year won't be far off this: O'Leary KWP Rodon Faes Leif Dewsbury-Hall Winks O'Hare Summerville Armstrong Mavadidi

This isn't down to poor coaching by RM in my opinion, it's due to the players we have at the club. The likes of Charles, Smallbone, Sulemana, Edozie, Brooks, Amstrong, Manning...the list goes on...are all fine with the ball (and need to be to play a possession based game), but without it, they are just not very good. They don't work hard enough, run hard enough, tackle hard enough, fight hard enough.

yeah, I meant all goals this season, not just the Ipswich game. Lack of pressure on the ball is a recurring theme for me. We don't have midfielders on top of opponents nearly enough. They have time to get their heads up and that allows them to create chances and goals. We need players to be busier, work harder and do the unseen dirty stuff far more. Players like Brooks, who is fantastic with the ball just don't do enough without it.

He's started 11 of 12 games for Argentinos against sides like River Plate.

Perraud can't get a game and has played just one full 90 minutes all season for Nice. Contract ends in 2025. He doesn't want to be at Saints but we will be lucky to loan him out unless we pay a large percentage of his wage. ABK has played in five games all season and for 1 minute since October. He's done nothing to attract a buyer. he doesn't want to be here, but we will be paying him in some form or another until 2026. His agent is going to have to work overtime. Charlie has played for 1, 1, 24, 61 and 90 minutes (a game in which he scored) and then missed the last three games through a hamstring injury. Juventus ain't spending €40m on him. Not a chance. We have him until 2028 and need to find a way/position to get the most out of him. Onuachu scored 9 in 17 games, but due to the ACN and a broken arm, he's only played 29 minutes in last 12 games. There is talk of Trabzonspor buying him, but he'll be back in the summer and then loaned out again, with us paying a chunk of his wages. His contract ends in 2026 - no one is going to match what we have to pay him. We'd need to sweeten the deal a lot so that the buying club could match his current wage. Lyanco missed 7 games due to injury, but has started the last 6 games at Qatar Stars. He may have found his level. One more year left on his Saints contract. He won't want to come back to Saints and we are probably happy for him to join the Stars, but we'll obviously have to do what is best to support our FFP requirements. Caleta-Car was dropped for eight games in autumn, but has started 16 of last 18 games (suspended for other two) at Lyon. They have won 13, drawn 2 and lost 1 during that time. He won't want to come back to Saints to complete his contact in 2026, but seeing as we signed him for buttons, I doubt Lyon are going to offer much. Another situation where we may need to sweeten a deal so that they can pay him what we have to. Lis has started every game for Goztepe bar one due to illness. You would think he would replace McCarthy as our third choice next season. Lis apart, none of them will want to be back at Saints, but you can bet we will be paying them all in July and August at the very least.

dunno, but he's just got himself another contract at Saints, so I think it pretty safe to say it will be Baz, Lumley and probably Lis as our three keepers next season.

Interesting point. Not sure we needed more attacking prowess from fullback as we created enough opportunities simply by playing through their midfield. We played two `more defensive' (and taller) fullbacks, which for an away game with a big centre forward kinda makes sense, but we still conceded three. It would be very interesting to do a route-cause analysis of all our goals conceded. How many from losing the ball from overplaying, how many from set pieces, how many from being caught on the break, how many from from fullbacks out of position or outnumbered as they have no cover, how many when we have numbers back but don't press the man on the ball...

Exactly. When you have a football staff that no one at a higher level is interested in, that is not a good sign.

We saw it at Swansea. Flynn left and they struggled badly afterwards - they were in relegation trouble at one point. To play a passing game like his you need the best players. Without them and you have get murdered - very much like we did to Swansea this year.

That would mean we won our semi, which would be great...and despite them beating us twice, I would too. The way Hull took us apart worries me. Leicester get it right, and they can murder you on the break, as we found to our cost. The are best team in the league.

We certainly do, but to be fair, so did Ipswich. We kept up our 2 goals a game scoring record, but yet again it felt like we should have exploited our opportunities (the number of times we got beyond their midfield was ridiculous) and scored a couple more.

it's football. It happens. Doesn't mean the players don't believe in what they are doing.