Forester

Pelle’s holding up of ball and link play was superb, none of which is reflected in these stats. He also excelled at a major international tournament. He was a gem

Agree with this, and assume Long and DND both go out it will be critical to get two strikers in if he goes. But I don’t think he will. Unless a mega £40 panic bid comes in, sufficiently early that we can replace, I think he will be told to honour his contract and I think he will without being a problem. He wants his England place back, he must know he is one more injury away from the end, and may well sign another contract after the window closes. If not we have another year out of him

This is another version of the bat shit crazy theory sometimes prevalent on here which sees the route to progress being by selling our best three players. In my view that would be madness. There are about ten players more deserving of being sold than JWP, Ings or Vest. It is clear that we need as a minimum a left back, a striker and a creative player. If we sell our three most lucrative assets we then have six gambles rather than three.

Good post and agree with much of this. However I do think we should more frequently play a 343 as our natural approach of full backs flying high is great to watch but inherently risky. KWP and a new similar left back would fit into this very well, two DMS and sacrifice one of our two 10s/9s I think would be better balance. Could still press well with wing backs and front three but would feel more like a 541 out of possession. Think this would also get the best OFFENSIVELY from our ball playing centre backs, who actually are as good as most teams in possession these days.

This is mad. On what planet do you look to improve the team by selling its best three players?

What a truly awful defensive team we have become. Our four top eight finishes were built on clean sheets, and we are incapable of getting clean sheets now. It will always be a struggle until the basics of tightening up are mastered.

Apart from queuing outside in the pouring rain, great to be back at St Mary’s. We were discussing transfer policy beforehand and this match backed up the view that we have lots of pace and energy in the number 10s, but badly lack creativity. Appreciate they don’t grow on trees, but Lallana in his prime, Tadic or, on his day, Boufal. Someone who can unlock a defence with a crafted pass. Our batch of tens rely primarily on pace, which can become one dimensional.

Perfect summary. One of our very best players from Premier League era, been one of the best in his position in the country over seven years and there aren’t many Saints players who have held those standards for so long with us without moving. Davis and Le Tisier I would put in that category, albeit Le Tiss some way out in front

Possibility of 11th but 12th more realistic. Be good to go into summer with some form and positivity. Helps with recruitment and retention.

Played well box to box, looked very good across the pitch with Redmond, Teller and Vest all impressing. But massive gap in finishing quality, with two clear chances for Adams and one Teller chance. KWP at fault for both goals, the second one admittedly when feeling the injury. We miss Ings’ conversion of chances big time.

Great character, felt like they were playing for Ralph. What an absolute farce VAR is. Anyone who thinks it is providing consistency needs to have a lie down

This is a very good post!

Pamplemousse please read my post earlier that included those names. I was really clear that my preference was that the club backs Ralph and supports a major transfer window overhaul of squad. However...... ......the names that I listed were explicitly tactically astute managers who would get better results FROM THIS SQUAD OF PLAYERS IF CLUB DOES NOT FUND OVERHAUL. That is a different question to “which manager excites you”? Back in the day you and I were two of the few posters who opposed sacking Puel. I still do, as it was followed by two appalling seasons where we survived by skin of teeth. What would we give now for a tactically cautious 8th place and a cup final! Puel would not be overseeing the run we are currently on, but that doesn’t mean he is a manger who excites me. Think people should focus on the fact that club may not give Ralph funds to change players sufficiently. I think Ralph managing an unchanged squad won’t finish well. Ralph backed to change things good finish very well

Per my comments earlier my preference is we back Ralph to change the squad. But if we won’t, or can’t, then the following who are, or probably will be, out of work I believe are more tactically astute managers who would get better results out of an unchanged squad in my opinion: Rafa, Hodgson, Lampard, Howe and Allardyce. And I think all of them would probably come here

I think this is a very fair summary. I retain admiration for the 2020 results, which was over a sustained period of time. Ultimately I think it will come down to whether as a club we are prepared to undertake the radical surgery needed on the squad to give him more of his type of players, or not. If not I have low confidence that next season will improve. My preferred outcome is that we do back him

Seems lots of people forgot Long! For my part the following are the players I would want to retain, including those I would consider loaning out. For absence of doubt, both inbound loans Theo and Minamino would be sent back to their clubs. Everyone else would be on the list to release or sell Forster, McCarthy KWP, Bednarek, Vest, Salisu, Stephens, Vokins Romeu, JWP, Diallo, Smallbone, Jank Redmond, Teller, Armstrong Ings, Adams, Obafemi This means selling, releasing or returning around 13 or 14 players which would free up substantial wage headroom. Look to bring in five or six players, specifically two fullbacks (one who can play either side), defensive midfielder, two strikers and a flair/creative ten (ideally someone like Lallana or Tadic five years ago).

Spot on. During the WHOLE of 2020 (not just a 10 or 15 game segment) he accumulated over 60 points from a 38 game period so it is not a case of proving his capability. It’s about supporting him to get back to somewhere near those levels.

This deserves preservation as the funniest attempt to belittle a semi-final appearance I have ever read! I am guessing you are one of our less experienced fans!

What an awful performance. Bednarek, Diallo and JWP awful today. Could not understand why at half time Ralph felt we needed two defensive midfielders when it was obvious Sam would park the bus and play on the counter attack. Probably would not have altered the result, but we needed an extra player ahead of the ball and fewer players behind the ball. Very much felt like “I don’t want to get injured and miss Wembley”....

Think you need to check dictionary definition of stark! As opposed to causality!

Excellent statistic. Very stark

This. I thought Bednarek was very poor against Burnley, but has probably only had two or three bad games this season and doesn’t deserve to be dropped as a knee jerk. As other have said, great chance for both starters and subs to show why they should play at Wembley.

First the negative, which for me was a lack of protection for Fraser from primarily Bednarek (who had a shocker) but also late on was disappointing that our front four amongst others didn’t work harder to cut out Burnley’s crosses and long balls that put us under pressure. That said lots of positives, the second consecutive enjoyable attacking performance, six goals in two games, and we look a real handful going forward. Great to get Theo and Ings back, and while Theo not at his best was a good assist for the third having started the attacking move too. Genuine options from the bench finally, with three subs used but Minamino, Stephens and Tella all unused which shows some more depth. Redmond back to the player that many of us see him to be when he has confidence. Clearly West Brom will be tougher match than we may have expected a few weeks back, but now it’s very credible that we could target an improvement on 11th from last season and we are in semi-final.

My preference would be for him to sign contract extension. Fully fit he is one of the best around. However, every player has his price and in the three seasons we have had him he has had injury problems in two of them. History suggests the closer to 30 players get, they rarely suffer fewer injuries. So this becomes a cold hard “every player has his price” situation. In my opinion we need to sign two strikers in the summer, assuming we will look to move Long on. This could provide useful funds to do so