Patches O Houlihan

Our front four; Arma, Scienza, Azaz, Fellows. That has to be one of the strongest attacking groups in the league right now, possibly in the last few years if they can keep the pace of the last seven games. There is a massive drop off currently behind these guys. The more they tire, and the more of them you take off, the less of a threat we present, and the more pressure gets put on the defence. I think it's that simple. If you ask Scienza and Fellows to pace themselves for a whole match I don't think you see the first half play we've been seeing.

I think when we need to take Scienza and another attacker off we need to be able to switch to a different formation that accepts that we will play in a different style. Arma's deep runs to collect the ball and set up breaks were clearly communicated to WBA players at half time. Besides Fellows and Scienza being heavily marked, there seemed to always be someone muscling Arma from behind as he dropped back for the ball in the second half. Cam Archer hasn't learned to do the Arma drop deep yet, and is generally not as good at pressing or reading back passes to put pressure on their defence. We should stick with Robinson, but there is clearly a drop off in quality when he comes on which is fair enough being in mind his age/experience/ current value. Hopefully in a week or two with a couple of key players returning we could have a few more options First half same as usual: Baz THB. Wood Stephens/Quashie Fellows Downes Jander Manning Azaz Scienza Arma From 65 mins after establishing a lead start moving towards this: Baz THB Wood Stephens/Quashie Mads Downes Jander. Welington Charles Archer Stewart Also: Robinson, Romeu, Matski, Bragg, New Striker in Jan This formation has our two more defensive minded FBs, plus a different type of attack to keep their defenders thinking, and a more solid central midfield. Of course we wouldn't always finish the game like this, they'd be variations. But you'd like to hope we could keep Ross fit if he's only playing 25-30 mins per match. Jander and Charles are capable of playing clever through balls for Archer who can play off the shoulder effectively. THB would need to continue to roam forward to offer support, and has been known to play a good long ball forward for Stewart. Wellington and Mads are both much better at stopping crosses coming in. Whilst I could see a benefit in going 433 I suspect we'd end up confusing our centre backs more than shoring things up.

Can I ask which app you use?

Leo's free kick record in 2025 is better than Manning's never mind Armas. Someone at the club needs to go and look at his history or maybe just have a chat with him!

If Jelert goes then maybe a PL loan of an attacking right wing back so that Fellows could be AMR cover and can also get a break from pegging it up and down our right wing. Have a look for a striker but keep our powder dry if there isn't a clear win (assuming Ross is back properly fit) If he isn't then maybe loan a target man so we can keep opponents guessing in crucial end of season games or in the playoffs. In the last week of the transfer window get an answer from Ramsdale out as to whether he would come back if we were PL again based on the latest circumstances. If not then definitely get a keeper. See if there are any PL loan keepers available.

Big Vesty looks ruined 😁😁😁

Reminiscent of our Swiss nipper at Man U...

To the tune of Rio by Duran Duran. His name is Leo - and he’s dancing past your man He’ll twist, and turn, and shoot - and take apart your plan And when he plays, he’ll really show the Saints - ‘we can’ Leo Leo, celebrate with the Northam Stand [repeat] Note: Northam can be swapped for which ever stand the singer is sat in, or we can use Away when we're not at home

I guarantee you that at least one of the four will be 😉

That was only the second game they have lost at The Valley in 2025. We had only seen that many home wins in the same period. I suspect that might have an influence on the halftime vibe 😉

Playing around at the back to beat the press was the key to most of the goals - Jander's particularly. Clearly there is some residual memory of Russball for our defensive unit, and he did get them to be on average pretty good at that playing style in the Championship. The problem was when it didn't go well. What makes it better than under Russ is that the players now seem to be allowed to play it long, or chip it forward if they feel under pressure and want to play it safe - it felt like they knew they would get a bollocking for doing that under Russ. It's not going to be very helpful against teams that will play a low block against us - as most teams in the league now will after that performance. After a dispiriting 13 minutes with so many gilt edged chances missed that was a lovely 20 minute spell of total football. More please.

26 minute interview with Leo by the club. Clearly they are trying to get onside with the fans. But at the same time this is a great story. Following Saints can grind you down, but hearing about the soap opera that has been his life might remind you that there are lots of reasons why we follow this club - not just for wins. Hearing the story in detail explains why we see him play how he does on the pitch. I'm hoping that his positive energy, and Oriel's steadying professional outlook will combine to improve the atmosphere in the dressing room. We have a few talented players. It would be crap if we ended up losing them before we had seen them shine properly. I've been a fan since the first time we were linked and I watched one of his videos. He will get bought by West Ham/Wolves/Leicester/Leeds at the end of the season unless we get promoted. So we ought to enjoy him while he is here. COYR

Maybe that's the plan?! They'll keep Tonda until he loses two consecutive matches. Then appoint Lallana as interim to get the new manager bounce again. We'll keep working through the staff roster, until we get to Doris the tea lady who it turns out is a rockstar at Football Manager.

AT QPR we had Downs on the pitch for the last half an hour. He was worse than useless because he spent the whole time camped out in our area so we had no 'out' ball with which to relieve the pressure - it just came straight back at us. Because we had no proper leader on the pitch and everyone was maxed just trying to keep the ball out of the net, there was no one to tell him to pull his head out of his arse and go and occupy two of their CBs so they couldn't;t press right up and create a pressure cooker. You might have expected the manager to have spotted it and had a word - but Tonda was likely maxed as well...

No wonder the betting odds on OGS have dropped: I listened to the whole of his recent Stick to Football podcast on the dog walk yesterday. It came across as one big “Come and get me Southampton” * I’m not a regular listener but I think Jill Scott said he was their first returning guest. * Roy Keane reiterated twice about half an hour apart that he would take a ‘mid Championship job’ and that he would want to work with top talent not cloggers. * OGS talked at length about how he likes turning the mentality of a club around (not something Middlesbrough need) * Has some history with young players * Bestiktas job sounds like he did ok and they are a bit mental * He has had big gaps between jobs and has a cushy number with UEFA so easy to be overlooked in a manager search unless his agent makes an overt approach - but he said he prefers to be approached (don’t we all!) * Sounds like OGS has had his Man U mates do him a favour. If I was a bookie I would be dropping the odds. He comes across reasonably well, we could do worse.

He looked good technically but did look like he would be muscled off the ball regularly in the Championship. Its like Sports Republic are size blind: They spot the technical ability, and assume that they've paid a bargain price, failing to realise it is because the player will struggle with the English game which must be a big driver of player pricing.

I see JWP has been linked again. We know that he can play alongside Oriel, but it would be a shame to squeeze Shea Charles & Casper Jander from playing time. That salary is probably better spent with a striker. We have Scienza for free kicks (and Manning bizarrely). But if we did get promoted it would be lovely to see him break Beckham's PL free kick record in a Saints shirt. Would he even come? Alongside Oriel he would definitely drive up professional standards in the dressing room. Thoughts?

Or maybe it was a response to Shea Charles' injury and a recognition that the 'new' team was on average too young and not streetwise enough. He might be a free transfer but he'll be on a good salary and we already have a big squad. Maybe the plan was to bring him in once we'd shifted Aribo & Edozie to keep numbers and the wage bill reasonable. They are consistently inconsistent at recruitment. We'd all be reasonably happy if they had spent that £7m on a different striker...

Fancied joining in with Gary O'Neill song to win hearts and minds with the fanbase

Glad we’ve got Ori back - we need someone in the middle of the park to bully the guys trashing Scienza every 3 mins

Scienza has been fouled that many times that he starts the second half with a shirt that makes him look like a rugby league player!

Watching back the half time highlights interesting to note that several start with loud very audible renditions of the Gary O'Neil song one would imagine the board have heard the Northam's opinion.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0mds4j7 Shane Long 8m interview on this weeks events

On the plus side that's Championship goal of the season sorted out 😁