pimpin4rizeal

Seems russ is adamant on getting him in the team now . In ways you can see why, he’s always been pretty good when roaming forward and pretty decent passer for a centre back. Also he’s very vocal and passionate and has some good leadership qualities I think it’s also possible he’s improved quite a lot since we last saw a lot of him. Seemed to have s great spell with Bournemouth. its a brave decision by Russ though and one that be up for a lot of criticism if it doesn’t work instantly. most people will want the thb/bed combo after it worked so well big decision but I think he’s kinda earned enough trust to make this call

If anyone’s being naive here though I don’t think it’s juventus .. they have admitted they where in a rush and want to renegotiate. We must have put the buy option there for s reason ? can see where you are coming from with the tella comparison ..but what the player wants here might be a bigger factor tella in the end got a better offer then Burnley .. but it’s super unlikely alcaraz will get a better offer then juve and he could want them like van dijk wanted Liverpool. not sure I can see us saying no you can’t join the biggest club in Italy when here you are behind smallbone and Armstrong, doesn’t seem the Southampton way

Just sounds to me like they are being very clever here agree a deal they won’t pay to get him there and then renegotiate.. i think when you loan a player to a club the size of juventus you are allowing him to be tapped up to the max .. it can only strengthen their hand that he’s already there and they can talk him into the move as much as they like if they want him he will be gone

He had 2 or 3 chances he just smashed wide with no technique.. nearly fell over before scoring . But this is what he does and we all know this by now .. the goals he does score are usually close range efforts of no quality anyway. Do u ever see che have any awareness in the box when finishing ? He’s just so frustrating in front of goal

Yeah it was a clever run tbf. Saying that though if Brooks doesn’t do the hard part of cutting in and scoring with a great strike no one would give a shit about smallbones pass here .. he’s just played a fairly streight forward pass to brooks and followed it with a run .. surely this wouldn’t be counted as a big chance created ?

I know he scored yesterday but it still amazes me that we are still starting wth this absolutely shocking player after years of his dogshit finishing . Another bunch of scuffed shots yesterday. Rose Stewart with one leg would probably finish better .. It’s just shocking that he’s been allowed to prove he’s terrible for this long, you just know he’s gonna end up signing a new deal and starting next year as well 🤮

It’s a stretch to credit smallbone for brooks goal .. sure he played it to him but brooks still had a ton to do .. he had to cut inside and unleash a great strike .. hardly like smallbone set him up

Crazy that smallbone starts over aribo.. I don’t hate smallbone but he’s just a tidy passer and not much else .. Aribo can take the ball on turn so more press resistant, better dribbler, stronger more creative .. he’s just so much clearly better it’s not even close 😕

You don’t think these stats might be skewed by the way he’s had over 3 times the amount of games .. and arribo coming of the bench’?

Needs to start every game now .fantastic again last night.. receive’s the ball on the turn. Holds off players with his strength,, has the ability to hold the ball long enough to open space for others and sees the passes too . is there anything will smallbone does better then him ? i think he’s maybe better then downes too personally .. just absolutely should be one of the first names of the team sheet

Frustrating game .. we done a lot of good things in the first half. Created loads of chances and if scoring one of them it’s probably a different game .. Neutrals I think would love russ style of play he had us playing last night but it did also demonstrate how soft we can be ..a lot of needless errors passing out from the back. Again thought Aribo was quality and probably our best player, some great taking the ball on the turn, holding off players with his strength and also is vary aware and holds off players before playing incisive passes .. surely Aribo has to be in our first 11 every week now ? sulemana looked a constant threat especially when used to break the press but nothing quite coming off in the end, but sake goes for the rest of the attack really. in the end we looked a bit powder puff, just wasn’t clinical enough but this could have been a very different game

One thing I’d say that’s really positive for him at the moment is that he seems to work very well with our passing out of defence tactics .. especially against teams like Liverpool last night, a few passes and we break the press by hitting it down the line to him ..it turned defence into attack very fast .. he was a constant threat but also frustrating .. seems to always like slowing down instead of just using his pace . Also doesn’t look quite as confident as edozie imo .. still think there’s a lot to work with here and we can maybe drill some of these things into him

Attitude wise I think Fraser is maybe the most likeable at the club, his comments show a real desire to stay and he also seems like he doesn’t mind being a team player or having to be on the Bench at times . its a blow but I think we have 3 potentially fantastic wingers that all offer different things . Door now opens for sulemana and edozie to show what they got id really love to keep all three of them next season no matter which league we are in

Its a real shame about the Fraser injury and he’s been a model pro, but still feel kinda excited that this may open the door for sule to shine now All the talk of no end product but he absolute destroyed the millwall defender and put in a beautiful cross for the Arma header

I think playing downes in this would be way too risky .. could you imagine if he started the cup game and got injured again? As much as I’d like to beat the scouse,league has to be priority

We don’t usually stand in players way when they don’t want to be here do we ? juventus are openly admitting they did this deal to get him there and then will look about negotiating a price in the summer . at that stage (if they want him) he’s going to have his heart set on juventus. So we have a player who doesn’t want to be here or we negotiate with them . can you really see him coming back or juventus paying 49m euros ? I can’t

Well that’s exactly what they are gonna do .. what usually happens when a player doesn’t want to stay with us ? Hes gonna want to stay there, we won’t want to take a player back who doesn’t want to be here so will agree a much lower fee .. we thought we was being clever but it’s gonna totally unsettle alcaraz and you know what happens next Also you need to remember it was only a option to buy not obligation .. they are openly admitting they just agreed this deal to get him there

Quotes from juventus Juventus director Giuntoli: “We decided to sign Charly Alcaraz as we wanted a young talent and it was an opportunity”. “We didn’t have time to negotiate proper buy option clause, so in case we want to sign Alcaraz then we will negotiate with #SaintsFC way I see it juventus are totally playing us here . They agreed to a deal they where never gonna meet knowing that once they get alcaraz there he ain’t gonna want to come back. In the summer we will then be held over a barrel as he won’t want to come back to us and knowing us we will let juventus agree a price that they want to pay .. and every one claims how genius Jason Wilcox was for this 🤣 it’s not genius they have totally mugged us off

Don’t think this has much to do with training mate .. it’s to do with Fraser grabbing his opportunity with both hands when sulemana got injured .. Fraser deserves his spot and I’m not arguing against that in fact Fraser has shown himself to be the absolute model pro when he’s been out of the team or got dropped he hasn’t sulked and has just been a pillar of reliability from the start or from the bench Comments like this are so refreshing “ “I’ve said it before, if I don’t play - I don’t play.” Fraser told the Daily Echo. “I’m not going to complain about it, I’m just going to be trying to help the lads as much as possible.“If that’s shouting on from the sideline, giving them encouragement or celebrating when they score - that’s the kind of player I want to be. Obviously, I want to play and start every game, but that’s really hard to do in the Championship and at a big club like Southampton.

My main point was that Armstrong never really got a decent run in the side going . He lost his place to Broja and after that was pretty much behind che or out of position- but let’s not get into that again :). regarding sule off the bench .. what Fraser did this season is actually pretty rare I think.. when is the last time we had somebody that continuously delivered when coming off the bench like Fraser did? it’s not easy to make impact in 20 mins or so at the end of games .. many squad players have failed. aribo has also done well from the bench this season actually but it is hard and fans tend expect miracles in the 20 minutes and if they don’t deliver they get even more criticised by fans

He’s not gonna prove he’s above this level from the bench .hes only had like 9 starts this season and injuries either side . right now though promotion is priority not keeping him happy and Fraser deserves his spot.. we could maybe give him a run on the right if Armstrong’s form doesn’t pick up but there’s also brooks now .. we are just stacked in these positions at the moment.. dibling looks a great prospect also and it’s looking seriously hard for him to break through with this bunch in front of him i just don’t think it means sulemana isn’t good enough .. he’s just found himself in this position after the injury . And every time he gets 20 minutes and doesn’t make a impact the fans are turning against him more

I think that’s a bit unfair. Both of him and edozie have joined us to showcase themselves .. if either of them light up the premier league next season neither will show any loyalty . Think sulemana would be happy enough to stay next season if we are in the premiership and he’s part of the first team plan. Must be frustrating for him though at the moment, when he got injured he was first choice lw, since then Fraser grabbed his chance with both hands and we went on a 25 match unbeaten run. Now he finds himself 3rd choice on the left behind Fraser and edozie and third choice on the right behind Arma and brooks. If it stays this way you could see why him or his agent might be looking for somewhere else next season that injury just did his saints career no favours whatsoever and now he’s limited to cameos off the bench

https://x.com/JustSaints_/status/1759612253391761761?s=20 https://x.com/JustSaints_/status/1759612253391761761?s=20 just thought I’d highlight this as he seems too he getting a lot of hate lately .. still has the best successful dribbling stats in the league . He needs game time but think the potential is still high

For me Baz kwp. Thb. Bed. Stephens Downes arribo Brooks Arma. Mara. Fraser just cannot bring myself to hope for che up front, that moment in the second half where he miscontrolled the ball slipped over and in doing so blocked arribo from shooting was just che in a nutshell 😆 the guy is just a disaster in the box, yes he can hold the ball up better then Mara but I don’t think it’s worth the trade off.. the other tempting option is maybe to go with a midfield trio of downes smallbone and aribo with brooks on the right instead .. this one probably gives us our most solid midfield possible think aribo still provides some creativity too Aribo for me is a absolute must start at the moment looks to have a bit of everything and could be just as important as downes imo

He’s done s cracking job with us but last night was on russ! In games we have started rothwell that’s now 8 conceded in 3 isn’t it ? None of the trio of rothwell,smallbone and stuey offer much steel and to make it worse Stephens dropped for manning after a good clean sheet at West Brom hopefully it turns out a blessing as Martin should now be clear in never fielding such a weak midfield again .