CamSaint

Assistant Academy Director Tash Patel, and Under-21s Head Coach Adam Asghar both left the club earlier this month https://www.southamptonfc.com/en/news/article/academy-duo-to-depart-the-club. Perhaps he is being lined up for a role there, especially as he has been helping out with theEngland U-21s?

KWP is a great example of that.

If either they don't fancy giving AM an extension, or he doesn't want to accept it, my guess is that they'll bring someone in on loan for a year while Bazunu recovers. Who that someone is will depend on which division we're in, I guess.

Presumably we can't overtly field a weakened team (unless we have suddenly acquired some 'injuries' in training yesterday) as Leeds & Ipswich would no doubt complain to the league about it. I have no idea if the League can penalise us in any way if we did so?

Its not inconceivable that Norwich could overtake WBA and claim 5th place...........

Out of interest, where do we think AA would go if we don't get promoted? Would an EPL side come in for him on the back of 20+ goals for us this year despite his previous poor record in the PL? Surely we wouldn't sell him to a Championship rival? Or would we........?

And yet we've scored the same number of goals (74) as Leicester having played one less match than them (the two of us are the league's joint second top scorers). We've also scored 2 more goals than Leeds having played 2 games less. Only Ipswich (81) have scored more than us and they have played 2 more matches. Even in our last Championship promotion season after 37 games we had only scored 68 goals (6 goals less than currently) despite having Ricky Lambert Goal Machine supplemented by Billy Sharp. There is no question that we have often been profligate in front of goal this season and in some games it has cost us (like yesterday), but the number of chances created combined with the number of goals we have actually scored indicates a certain level of attacking prowess. It is also interesting that at this stage in our last Championship season we had lost the same number of games as this season and drawn one more than this season so had 72 points compared to the current 74. Just as well there weren't other teams performing to the same level as Ipswich, Leeds & Leicester are this season!

He played the first 45 minutes for the U-21s on Friday.

Unfortunately for Dibling and the other youngsters, I can't see any of them even making the bench if everyone stays fit and we have no suspensions. Perhaps they might for the Liverpool game if RM decides he doesn't want to really go for it

I believe that Bree is playing for the U-21s on Friday.

If/when everybody is fit and available you have Bree, Sulemana & Aribo to add to the squad. I guess Dibling and Meghoma drop out but it still leaves us with 1 extra so someone will have to drop out!

I think this has been very astute business by the club. The two new additions do not have to uproot their families or spend time away from them and both know some of our players already, so that should make integration into the squad a lot easier on the personal level. Of course both will have to adapt to our style of play (and Rothwell has already shown that might take a bit of time), but we have kept all of our first choice players and have Sulemana & Edozie back in training, so we may not need them to make an instant impact. It will be interesting to see how long it takes before Brooks becomes a first team starter.

RM suggested in one of the press conferences earlier this month that both Bree & Edozie could be fit again by the end of January. If they are, I guess it is possible one or both of them could at least be in the squad for Watford even if neither starts. Need to check out the training pictures during the week!

From the highlights reel it seems that one of Rothwell's strengths is making driving runs. It certainly seems that we are also looking to add a right-sided attacker. Maybe the plan is to try to compensate for losing KWP's attacking prowess if he is sold?

He strikes me as very much in the Downes mould. Not as a like for like player, but both have performed to a high level in the Championship and both earned their chances in the PL. However, it hasn't quite worked out for either of them at PL level. Downes has been superb for us on his return to the Championship, so I am really hoping that Rothwell can do the same. On the face of it it seems a very well thought-out move, especially as he has played with AA & THB at Blackburn and JS was at Bournemouth with him last season, so hopefully he should integrate into the group relatively easily.

I believe she's being saved for the 'cup' game........

Really? We created some excellent chances in the second half. Stuey's header just after the break. Sulemana's run & shot that the keeper made a good save from, Mara blazing wide when through on goal.... I think we actually created some better scoring opportunities last night than against Leeds - the finishing was just better against Leeds. In that game, Armstrong's first was a super finish from a very acute angle. His second was actually parried away by the keeper initially and wouldn't have gone in if it hadn't hit the defender and Smallbone's was another lovely finish from the edge of the area. Last night the finishing wasn't as clinical. Despite the naysayers on here, we actually broke at pace a number of times last night. Certainly not flowing football, but effective and the defending & commitment to the common cause was a million times better than in some of the previous matches.

I suspect it is even more deep-rooted than that. When Alcarez arrived Jones was manager and he spoke fluent Spanish and he was then replaced by Selles. So up until RM's arrival both managers had been able to easily communicate directly with him and RM can't. So it's hardly any surprise that Alcarez is struggling more than most even without his personal issues.

He is, but RM has said that Wilcox would never bring in anyone he wasn't happy with and that the two of them are perfectly aligned. I don't know what sort of pre-season Holgate had, but RM also said that Fraser couldn't start because he wasn't fit enough. Maybe the same should have applied to Holgate? Should we have stuck with the Charles/Bednarek pairing that did OK against QPR? You can bet your life if we had have done that and got a similar result then a lot of people on here would have been saying: 'Why didn't he play a 'proper' CH in Holgate'? We have potentially made a superb signing in THB and I really, really hope that he can make a major improvement to our defensive woes.

I think he bears some responsibility as he has recruited 2 of the back 4 (although I assume Holgate was brought in as back-up rather than a starter) and retained 'the best RB in the division'! I would have thought that the susceptibility we have to the fast break when we have a corner ought to be being addressed by the set-piece coach, as he should be setting up our shape for corners (and free kicks near the penalty area).

It wouldn't make sense for us to buy Wood now unless both ABK and Bednarek leave. Even if ABK goes, we'd still have Stephens, Bednarek, Holgate & THB plus Charles in an emergency and possibly even Awe as well ( depending on how he develops).

He did have that fantastic season for us in 19/20 with 22 PL goals in 38 games, but in the last 2 seasons he has got 7 in 30 for Villa (Adams got 7 in 30 for us) and 8 in 35 for Villa/WHU (Adams got 5 in 28 for us). I'm sure he would do well in the Championship, but his recent form in the PL has hardly been exceptional.

Miovski has scored for Aberdeen tonight (1-2 atm).

What about Charles?

Don't forget we have also effectively added Stephens & Smallbone as they returned from loans along with Tella at the beginning of the season, and SA-A seems to have been fully promoted to the first team squad.