Patches O Houlihan

It would appear that Ronnie Edwards is kicking ass at QPR. Their fans are all now closet Saints fans on the basis they might get to keep him, if we miraculously stayed up. They can't believe we loaned him out. Read the replies

I think it might be a case of 'be careful what you wish for'. Dragan has put more money into Saints than anyone ever has. Yes there have been some poor choices/decisions, but also there have been some unfortunate circumstances. He has had two well respected Directors of Football sign for Saints, and then get poached to a huge job very quickly. We were in the conversation for Gakpo. Yes there has been some crap recruitment but also some wins both on the pitch and financially: Lavia, Fernandes, Ramsdale, Downes, THB, financial benefit of the sale of Meghoma/SAA, sale of Livramento. Dragan's money with the assistance of a replacement Paul Mitchell would be great for us.

Is anyone else already bored of seeing this?

Or maybe it was actually because she was secretly a transfer deadline day Sky reporter tormentor over an extended period 🤔 🍆🤏

Eggsaccally!!

I suspect he has been signed to improve our defensive high press, and catch opponents offside

RM knew that it was important to try to keep SAA onside. But he also made considerable noise in the media about the immense physical pace, power and size of PL players compared to the Championship. We all knew that Will Smallbone would struggle with the step up - partly because he is not combative, but also due to his relatively slight build. Now compare SAA to Will in terms of physical stature. Sam is quick and has good skills with the ball at his feet undoubtedly, and I have loved watching him play, and would hope that he would sign a new contract and stake a claim for a solid first team place in the Championship next year. BUT He and Megahoma arrived with a wiff of ABK style FIGJAM* about them, and likely would only sign for one contract. He got pushed off the ball plenty in the Championship. Right now he's just not built to stop Mo Salah or a similarly powerful PL winger/LWB in full flight, and may never be. Maybe we don't want to gamble on him having the required growth spurt AND be willing to sign a new contract AND deliver on that early promise. Maybe that is just too many risks. Plus if that ~£7m of profit allows us to keep Fernandes next season (or Ramsdale) then for me it will be worth it. F**k I'm Good Just Ask Me

Ramsdale is contracted until 2028, and understandably doesn't have amazing stats this year. If we could somehow keep him, he would almost be a cheat code in the Championship if we played the right style. Would love to be able to hold on to one of Dibling or Fernandes

This got me thinking! Should be easy for an AI to work out right?! Nope - well not the ones I normally use anyway. I'm not frustrated enough yet to crunch all the numbers myself but here are few nuggets to be getting on with. Note I haven't looked at cup games. From 20/21 through to today Saints fans have witnessed 54 League Wins. But 26 of them were last year. We got 12, 9 and 6 wins in our previous 3 PL seasons, and 1 this season for a total of 28 League Wins. If you had been a 'super loser' plastic fan who changed allegiances every season, and supported the least winning team in each of the top 4 leagues over the same period then you would have seen these figures: League 2: 37 League 1: 34 Championship: 36 PL: 20 Looking at this I suspect your lowest win rate would be a super survivor in the PL. Everton have 54 wins in that period. Wolves have 55. If you discount teams relegated from League 2 and thus not having all the seasons in the top 4 English leagues there is a strong argument that we would be joint bottom, or if not in the worst 5. It feels even worse of course because our record winning streak in the Champ was topped and tailed by a losing spell with some embarrassing humpings.

We'll score 5 easily - how many VAR allow to stand is a different matter entirely

So to confirm you want the executive team that recruited Cornet, BBD and Archer as our strikeforce to build a brand new 23 man squad from scratch that will win the Championship. You, know I have this bridge you might be interested in buying... 🤔

He set up our goal... ... agree he should be a last 5 mins 5th sub at best

Who are you playing instead? Surely we have a choice of Downes/Les, Aribo/Les, Aribo/Downes. I would rather Downes be playing, but I would suggest Downes/Les is stronger than Downes/Aribo. (Have assumed that one of Dibling/Fernandes or our new Dane would be playing the attacking midfield role)

That is a fucking outrageous decision - really poor from the VAR team. "We are Southampton, we can't have nice things"

Watch it back on BBC iPlayer. Shite questions delivered to a teenage player who really couldn't be arsed to answer them, and delivered the bare minimum his media coach has taught him to give. On the plus side he didn't describe even the most mundane obvious thing as "unbelievable"... Even to the most jaded Saints fan us beating Swansea 3-0 at home, when they are playing makeshift defenders and a pretend goalie isn't 'unbelievable'.

Our talisman is Wee Man I'll get my coat...

F**k that

You never see Jennifer Lawrence's muff and Ben Bereton Diaz in the same room do you... 🤔

I'm glad you guys seem to share the same opinion of Vardy that I have. Absolute cock socket It's a toss up between him and Bruno Fernandes for who is the most hateful player in the PL.

IF we could somehow hold on to Fernandes he could be a very handy Stu Armstrong replacement in the Championship, and more than likely cut it in the PL the following year.

😁 Thanks for that! Great start to the morning Merry Christmas!

No Napoleon is our new set piece coach

Wellington commended by Leopold the 2nd. Is this a Premier League relegation battle or a colonial expedition?!