woodsaint1

Just wait for the Sky Sports love-in next week. Their coverage of their QF game was pathetic, a whole hour of build up interviewing everybody in the club worth interviewing, videos about their history and why winning cups means so much to a 'huge club'. Would love for us to spoil that

Willy for Baz and AA for Edozie but like the rest of the team. We need a lead going to St James' so would abandon the two DM with Diallo beside Lavia and go with Alcaraz more advanced

I know, we're in the midst of a relegation fight but hell we need to play wee Jimmy in case his parents throw a huff and advertise his services to other teams. If he doesnt want to be here after what the club have done for him, then he can do one

Hope they still release the signing video and photos of him holding the shirt 😂

That is the general consensus. The worry is how long we've been linked with Jackson and how much effort went into getting a deal done, whether he was our striker target (hes played there), and what it says about our other targets if he was top of the list. Personally I dont think we were overly sold by Jackson, given the fact we pushed for a loan deal first. He has raw talent no doubt but it seems we werent willing to go above 20m. Still holding out hope for an actual striker and a DM before the deadline next week

40 points hasnt been needed since 1998 (except for a freak season in 02/03) and it wont be needed this season either. Based on recent seasons 36 points might be enough, or even less which seems about right given where clubs are sitting after 20 games. That would be 1.16 points per game which is very achievable, but only if we get the last week of the window correct

I take comfort in the fact that the last player to choose Bournemouth over us - Chris Mepham, turned out to be a fantastic waste of 15m for them

But 20m also gets us Hjulmand, who plays in a position we need to strengthen, is a young captain and a ever present in a mid table Serie A side. That would be good business imo

If we piss around and lose out on Hjulmand I'll be fuming. Jackson not so much. Hes not worth 20m let alone 25m

The boos will be good when Bednarek gets his first touch. They'll be even louder when his second touch is a backpass to the keeper as is his standard

Other stories suggested we already bid €11m and it was rejected. They wanted closer to €20m. Not sure this guy is as informed as he would make you believe

We were covered at LB. KWP is at his best there even tho hes right footed, and we've able cover in Perraud. Its clear Larios was brought in for the future, he was just thrust into games at the start of the season due to an unfortunate series of injuries. He didnt disgrace himself either. We'll see how pointless it was when we need him next season in the championship

I think you're referring to the recruitment support team who compile the database of clips of players from videos of games. They dont do the scouting. The scouts still go out and do the scouting and then they supplement their reviews with clips from the database. Our scouting network isnt huge so we need to review videos of games the scouts cant get to.

Alcaraz isnt really a midfield enforcer who gets stuck in and breaks up play. Hes about 8 stone soaking wet aswell. He plays more advanced like JWPs current role. Hence why we've been linked with Hjulmand at Lecce. If we can get him in then that would give us more depth at DM/CM

I've no issue with the Bazunu signing, but it shouldnt have been to come in as our no1. There is clearly potential there as not everybody becomes a regular international at the age of 19, but he should have been given the time to develop by playing cup games and learning as an understudy to a decent no1. I think you would struggle to find more than a handful of GKs across the top 5 european leagues who are under 21 and starting regularly for their club. Our GK problem really started when we gave McCarthy a new contract in late-2021 (the club not even announcing it was equally bizarre). He hadnt warranted an extension in my opinion and really we should have been going into summer 2022 with a clean slate with both McCarthy and Forster leaving. I look at Fulham's signing of Bernd Leno and think of what could have been. A former German international who has played for a number of top sides, at the peak age and would have cost only £8m. He is making a massive difference already. Nick Pope was another piece of fantastic business, although I'm not convinced that he would have been a realistic target.

Certainly think theres massive differences between the state the club/team were in when we went down in 2005 and what state we would be in if we went down this season. The ownership is day/night. While SR have warranted some criticism, they are making money available and have big ambitions. We've also got a DoF coming in who would probably thrive with a mini rebuild. We had a team of journeymen/mercenaries when we went down in 2005. It was a mass rebuild the following season. I think we have the makings of a good young squad - yes we will lose some of the assets but we'll also retain some good players who are better than Championship level and also have the likes of Ballard, JJM, Pearce, Doyle Finnigan coming through

Personally, I'm fed up with the PL - the coverage/interest/punditry is geared towards the top sides and it couldnt give a shit about teams like us, VAR as proven today is a shambles at times, and each season its becoming more and more of a slog to stay in the league. There is a big risk that we go down and dont return to the PL for a while, but theres also the potential for a reality check/reset which can serve us better in the long term - Burnley are showing whats possible with a new manager/largely new team. This is largely dependent on how invested Dragan and SR remain in the 'project'. If they want to sell then we're probably buggered. If relegation is looking more likely as the weeks go on, it would be good to look at a retention list. I think we would be in a decent spot minus the likely sales of KWP, Lavia, ABK, Salisu and those who may sign in this window with relegation release clsuses - which would bring us some decent funds to rebuild. Not convinced that JWP would leave. We also have an exciting crop of u18/u21 players who will get more game time. Some of my favourite times following Saints were the Championship and L1 days under Adkins. Winning more games, new away days, might even get a proper league derby again.

At times we held a ridiculously high line under Ralph, but you're right it did work very well. With the addition of VAR, the game is very much in favour of the defence for set plays as you might have got away with being slightly offside before. What I would say though is that you can drill it to death on the training pitch, but it only takes one player to drop an extra yard or so and the whole line unravels - could be a lack of confidence in your defending, bad matchups etc. Until we resolve it, teams will contain to target that weak area

He has been poor most of the season, but hes not the only one and its not his fault that we're relying so much on him. We should have a better striker starting ahead of him and it also doesnt help that the likes of Edozie, Moi, AA, Mara etc dont look like chipping in with many goals themselves

Whats the fixation on Edozie? My original post didnt mention Edozie. Let me explain it to you. Go and look at the hysterical posts in the Everton build up and at HT last week - you dont change a winning team, we've just beat City etc etc (which came back to bite them). So when we do keep a winning team for this game except for taking Moi out (which most people would have been delighted with), you still get complaints about making signings in this window and not starting them. Yes I would like Alcaraz and Orsic to start as well, but that was a starting lineup today who've earned their spots due to recent results. No doubt Alcaraz and Orsic will get their chances in the cup games and I hope they do well

Edozie did start you wab

They know who they are, just love a moan for the sake of it. Alcaraz was never starting that game as JWP is in that central AM spot and yes Orsic could have started, but you can understand why NJ opted for Edozie

The same folk who have been shouting from the rooftops that you dont change a winning team, are now demanding to know why Orsic and Alcaraz arent starting 😂. Make your mind up fs

Typical extreme reactions on here. If we win its delerium, if we lose its devastation. We didnt deserve to lose the game, but ultimately didnt do enough to win it. Happy to take a tirade of abuse, but I can see why the goal has been ruled out. Its not the nudge, Moi has put his foot down the back of the defenders achilles and he cant get off the ground to contest the cross. Its an accident but also a foul. Thought we defended well but another set piece, another goal conceded. This cant keep happening. We need to create a good foundation, which starts by winning home games, otherwise we're down by April. How many left, 9? We need to win 5 of them and hope to pick up the occasional points away as well. Get Hjulmand in to replace Diallo, a RB and most crucially a startng striker too

All this talk of how much we need to spend etc, yet there hasnt been much talk about using our remaining loan option (apart from Jackson which Villareal turned down). Chelsea are bound to be open to a loan come the windows end