Patches O Houlihan

Stephens as a false nine. He'd probably do better than Mara is at present, and with Arma and BBD either side of him he'd just need to lay it off to them... 🤔🤣

I'm loving the fact that one of the dirtiest games played at St Mary's in the last few years was contested by teams wearing bright yellow and hot pink 😁 That early first half tackle on Ronnie Edwards down in the RB position was a nasty one. There had already been a bit of a midfield tussle, and from then on it seemed likely that it would kick off at some point; particularly bearing in mind the minimal consequences. I seem to remember Russell Martin in an interview being pleased after the team were standing up for each other, so Alcaraz wouldn't normally have got into too much bother, but on this occasion he definitely saw red in more ways than one. Mara was trying harder than usual but just always seems to be second to every ball. There were some lovely forward balls cut through the midfield from central defence in the second half and a couple of nice breaks too. I suspect Dibling will get 15-20 mins vs Newcastle. He's earned it. I thought Shea Charles had a good evening. McCarthy was hopeless at times, and we could have let in 3 or 4 in the second half had it been a contested PL game. In fairness though there are definitely times when he gets passed the ball unnecessarily, by a defender who really ought to be taking more responsibility for playing the only fractionally harder ball to a local outfield player (Like we saw in the playoffs and at Wembley) BBD's goal was lovely, and great for him to score early at St Mary's so hopefully he doesn't get the first season goal drought that Che had. If BBD had been in some of the positions Edozie had the ball second half I feel sure he would have scored a 2nd. We really need a target man up front. Things might be so different if Ross Stewart had been able to play the second half of the Championship...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0jgp36d Whole thing is worth a listen. ABK chat from 2:10

I'm sure some of what you're saying is worth reading. The trouble is that without any capitals or punctuation it is too much of a ball ache to bother reading. Plus I immediately dismiss the opinion of anyone who after 26 months and 73 appearances cannot spell the name of our first choice keeper (even if that choice is questionable) Meant as constructive criticism, but no doubt given your username I will now get an earful back.

Bearing in mind that statistical analysis above: touches in the box by a midfielder (oh er missus! etc) Do you really think we were the only club that had spotted MoR's potential? Do you think that if we had offered £25m off the bat Celtic would have said "No worries, carry on nipper."

But in fairness we already had the downward momentum from Feb 2022, and arguably after Koeman left. BUT if they had moved on Ralph in the summer of 2022 things might have been different. (Or not hired mad Nate or promoted Selles)

I think this might leave our team in better shape than loaning Shea Charles. Dibling could be our stand in 10, whereas we'd have to buy/loan a stand in 6 and they tend to be pricey nowadays.

I think maybe we as fans have got the BBD transfer wrong. I think Russell Martin sees him as a replacement for Stu: "He's got great hair. He's clever. You can see that already, he gets it quickly. He's got a good football brain. He's a good character and I think he's going to help us a lot." RM

⬆️ Read the last 10 posts. He has a contract until June 2026. If Dusic is correct we have an option of another year, which surely we would exercise.

I went looking for info on NUFC sniffing for transfer info. Callum Wilson: Has missed 84 of the last 152 games Newcastle have played. "Hamstring made of wet paper". Apparently has just hit the injury list again as needs a back operation so won't be fit for our game. Now 33. Really don't see him being sensible for us. Wee Man: Found this video from March 2022 of him discussing Newcastle v Brighton. Firstly it's a coherent interesting post match interview which lasts 6 minutes! (unheard of!). But secondly apparently he was nominated for Premier League Player of the Month Feb 2022 after ASM got injured and he was moved from right wing to left wing. For those saying Fraser isn't a PL standard player this might be an eye opener, although saying that maybe it was an odd month as there was another familiar face in the running. Ryan is still only 30 and has played 173 Premier League games. Eddie Howe turned RF's career around when he took over from Steve Bruce, but clearly there has been another fall out, and has him training with the under 21s...

And I'm saying we have 3 experienced centre backs; Stephens (on a new contract), Taylor (on a new contract), THB (on a new contract) & Bednarek. Yes Jan only has a 1 yr contract. But RM is one of the key recruitment team, and he seems confident that he will stay, otherwise why would he have been straight back into the team for the Spanish friendlies? (unlike KWP who is in the same position)

This guy looks handy, has all the attributes you state. BUT he still looks slow to get down to his left; which we know is a problem traditionally suffered by Saints keepers...

Aren't they further along in their pre-season?

Charlie Taylor is experienced and played LCB alongside THB for Burnley in their promotion season. Plus we have Jack Stephens of course. Megahoma looks to be on his way out, but that would still leave Larios and Manning as LB & LWB options (& KWP if finances allow 🤞) . Also maybe Wee Man if Eddie Howe pulls his head out of his arse.

So I take it you must be one of those fans who is happy for us to drop to the lower half of the Championship, as our funding dwindles relative to other clubs? No need to increase the stadium capacity because the population of Southampton isn’t growing significantly quicker than the rate of inflation. So not enough new people to be able to afford a ticket. No need to grow the clubs finances by encouraging interest from abroad. Also it would appear you have never driven out of the city if you think Yeovil and Bournemouth are an easier drive from east Wiltshire. Not every fan grows up in a part of the world with a proper club, or with parents that will take them to one. Some adopt a club having developed an affinity; either by connections with the city, living there or working there, or maybe just a style of play or a particular player if they are based abroad. Markus Liebherr developed an affinity with Saints because he sold cranes to the docks: I bet you’d have been happy if he’d have invested in his local Swiss club instead? These clearly aren’t your view points - but maybe you can connect the dots and work out why some fans might feel your comments are unnecessarily divisive. COYR (wherever you hail from)

Thank you for this. Made my morning 🤣

Alfie House in The Echo: Why following Southampton on pre-season tour has given us belief Worth a read. It does feel like SR are starting to understand what's required to run a football club. Odd since Rasmus at least had been involved in two already. Also feels like we're building a team of likeable players - for a smaller PL club like us the impact this has on fan's mood could help us in the inevitably tough moments we will have at St Marys this season.

Rovers fan in that earlier video suggested that BBD's slow start there was because he wasn't being played on the left. Seems to have supported Alexi Sanchez playing for Chile, also from the left. So that's BBD on the left and Arma on the right - the Blackburn dream team reuinted. Do we play 3-5-2, or 4-2-2-2? or will we continue to play 4-3-3 and play Stewart or AN Other between them (or Dibling as a false 9!)

This is 16 minutes that every Saints fan needs to watch. This is a proper football fairy tale story. Looks like Saints might have also bought an entire country of potential Saints supporters, as well as a handy striker who can score all sorts of goals. Clearly a confidence player though, so lets not get on his back if he doesn't score in the first half of his debut 😉

BBD was part of the England U19 team that won the Euros in 2017 England: 1 Aaron Ramsdale (AFC Bournemouth), 2 Dujon Sterling (Chelsea), 3 Jay Dasilva (capt; Chelsea), 4 Tayo Edun (Fulham), 6 Easah Suliman (Aston Villa), 7 Isaac Buckley-Ricketts (Manchester City), 8 Andre Dozzell (Ipswich Town), 10 Mason Mount (Chelsea), 11 Ryan Sessegnon (Fulham), 12 Lukas Nmecha (Manchester City), 16 Darnell Johnson (Leicester City). Substitutes: 9 Ben Brereton (Nottingham Forest) for Nmecha 72, 15 Josh Dasilva (Arsenal) for Dozzell 77, 14 Marcus Edwards (Tottenham Hotspur), for Buckley-Ricketts 84. Put 2 past the Germans, and scored the winner against the Dutch. 3 goals made him a joint golden boot winner alongside Ryan Sessegnon, Joel Piroe & Viktor Gyökeres. Also was Chilean Footballer of the Year 2022 whilst playing for Blackburn. Perhaps @Matthew Le God can regale us with the full story of how Football Manager players picked up on his Chilean mother and created a campaign to get him capped.

Reading that article I see an 18yo winger from Celtic>Liverpool who has already had a serious knee injury. Unless he is a wunderkind I just don't see why we wouldn't work with Dibling & SAA and keep our powder dry for more experienced players. In order to keep good young talent you need to play it, and we'll be under so much pressure that it is likely to be tough to do so, unless they become immediate superstars.

Agreed. I think our new defenders all have good potential. Love watching Dibling and Sam Amo play too

Bree's goal saving tackle on the line worth the price of admission! 😁

Contrast between the quality of Sugawara's free kicks and Bree's...