Patches O Houlihan

Plus JWP can do a job at RB too. There won't be many wingers trickier than Zaha in the Championship and he is safely in James' Pocket Saudi

Maybe he's sick of the cold and rain - if that's the case Cardiff wouldn't be your first choice!

Tonda might make errors for a couple of games, but it doesn't seem to take him forever to work out what seems to work well. For me Schlotterbeck and Stephens have the experience and 'nouse' - but surely the German is superior in this regard. They both also have the ability to play a pass. Again based on admittedly limited evidence Schlotterbeck could be stronger. Wood provides the muscle and pace, but at the expense of passing ability and decision making - he needs a skilled passer and a talker alongside him (THB or Schlotterbeck) Abbott seems to be tall, capable of passing and winning headers. I'll reserve judgement until we've seen him play a few times, but I would imagine we'd be in a tight spot if we were pairing him with Wood. This reasoning is why I shortened the options. Would Captain Jack willingly take defensive direction from Schlotterbeck? (even if we as fans think he needs it)

We have Mubama, Akachukwu, Dobbin, and one of Matsuki/Fellows who likely wouldn't be starting. Plus JWP could perhaps do a job at 10 for a game to allow others to cover elsewhere. I agree it's not ideal.

For me the question is which is the stronger pairing: THB & Stephens or Schlotterbeck & Abbott / Schlotterbeck & Wood There's a possibility it is not the first.

This is worth a read. To save others doing the legwork he Captained England Under 19 at the 2025 Euros in Romania. England played three group games; two draws to Germany and Norway, and a loss to the Netherlands so they finished third in the group and didn't progress. Abbott scored a goal in the 5-5 thriller with Germany.

Did you hear Tonda on the last question of the Birmingham pre-game press conference? He was trying to say that the EFL and FA have fucked the Championship clubs over with an evening kick off on transfer deadline day. You could see he wanted to call them cunts; had about three goes at trying to phrase it so we understood he wasn't impressed, but might avoid a ban from the worthless thin skinned bureaucrats.

Thank you for that - that's made my morning!

https://insidefutbol.com/2026/09/01/southampton-star-cuts-delighted-figure-as-he-arrives-for-exit-medical/726157/ Sugawara's loan includes an obligation to buy. Not sure if this was already known.

If it all goes to shit up front we can at least have Romeu Akachukwu playing off Princewill Ehibhatiomhan just to make Adam Blackmore's life hard 😁

Compared to where we were a year ago less a day we are in better shape. We had an unproven potentially still crocked Stewart as first choice, no Larin. Scienza was also an unknown. We have just beaten Millwall 5-1 on Schlotterbecks & JWPs debut, without Jander or Downes for the second half. Millwall were the class of the league on Saturday morning and fourth favourites for promotion, having been 3rd last season - hence the strongest team not to be promoted - this year's Coventry if you like. The nature of a second year out of the prem comes with financial hurdles. That's why we were all so gutted about getting booted out of the playoffs.

🎶 We loan spys when we want, We loan you spys when we want,🎶 🎶We are Southampton, you guys are media manipulating dirty cheating scum of the worst possible kind and we are going to take you down to China Town at the end of November! 🎶

After the late arrival of so many players that turned out to be rock stars this time last year I'm sure most of us have that feeling that Spors is going to unexpectedly pull a rabbit of of the hat. Plenty on here bemoan us not getting replacements lined up or brought in before selling a big name. What if that is what we did this time? - What if Scholotterbeck was the THB replacement all along? - I'd be happy with that - What if that nipper Abbott from Forest was the Quashie replacement? - I'd be happy with that - particularly if he offers good cover for Bree together with JWP; so we can shift Sugawara and Roeslev. Keeping Archer in case Larin gets injured would require us to completely change how we play in order to make it work, which Tonda could probably do but would take a while to bed in, so having him head off I can see. Plus Downs looks like a fish up a tree so he is best of playing in the USA. Mubama as good as he may be doesn't look like he has proper hold up skills yet. Are we hoping that: a) Larin is happy to train him how to do this (by all accounts he is very good with the young players). Mubama's not a man mountain but he is a big talented lad who is likely eager to learn so it could be a thing. b) If he does end up in that full time role for a bit, they are hoping his body will survive repeated 90 minute efforts Tuesday-Saturday. This seems a big ask to me. c) Does that mean that for the sake of better looking finances and a smaller squad (that might give us a chance to build a proper PL team if required) that we are willing to take the risk of needing to get a free agent striker in to cover if the worst happens? d) Or is Spors going to pull a rabbit from his hat and just wants to operate below the radar? e) OR the worst case scenario Dragan's finances are toast after the shenanigans with his company. He's just sold £60m worth of assets and replaced them for £800k plus Abbott's loan fee... I'm hoping for d) Thoughts?

He's been loaned to Portsmouth and gone willingly - wash your mouth out!

Looks like we figured we'd lose out to Fulham on that Austrian monkey bloke. https://insidefutbol.com/2026/09/01/in-advanced-talks-fulham-look-to-hijack-southamptons-swoop/726163/

Bearing in mind THB’s history of captaining ‘England Under’ teams, England fans could really do with Emery bringing him to the next level. If I was a Villa fan I’d be worried. If I was THB I’d be thinking “well at least I’ll get a proper chance”. Villa don’t have time or funds to sign big names above him in the pecking order. Best of luck THB. One of the most gutting things about being booted out of the playoffs was knowing that the team we’d loved watching for six months would be broken up.

MoM for me today, virtually untouchable in the second half

Every German I've ever met has a dog and knows the way to the stadium

I watched that Martin bloke's post match video on youtube - according to him JWP was talking constantly to Bragg in that second half. It could be like having a coach for him on the pitch. Maybe this will help get you up to speed on the match 😉

And you loved seeing JWP running things in a composed way as well I'm sure 😁

I watched that Martin bloke's post match video on youtube - according to him JWP was talking constantly to Bragg in that second half. It could be like having a coach for him on the pitch. So Bragg would have had the best part of a year of Romeu advising him off the pitch, and then a year of playing with JWP who has the capacity to coach him on the pitch. I think he should stay as our 4th choice, and will continue to grow with the team. Bragg joined us aged 8 as a Saints fan - which will no doubt please franniesTasche. Adam Blackmore described him as JWP's 'Minime' - would be great to see him bossing it for us in the PL in a few years and knowing that as a fan he wouldn't 'want away' to nearly the same extent as most players.

Millwall fans a bit salty about the first half refereeing - I felt he was equally shit for against both sides. Apparently their first choice keeper has suffered a broken leg and is out for six months. They've started a thread wondering if they could get Ramsdale 😁 https://millwallonline.com/forum/threads/the-saints-v-the-mighty-lions-match-thread-saturday-3pm.59084/page-10

JWP sat back and kept things ticking over with no mistakes - gave Bragg licence to be creative and go forward which turned Cam's game around (he'd had a crap first half, much improved second half) Prowesy had a shot from outside the area towards the end. Hit it really well and looked like it might creep inside the far post, but blocked by a defender and just wide.

Azaz has been playing so well this week - that break during the summer and preseason has really helped him. Cyle Larin - currently meeting Tonda's claim Scienza seems enthused that with JWP imminent that he won't need to be bashed all over the park every week. I'm happy for Bragg to stay in the squad. He played some really solid games against PL teams last year. COYS

We are so back!! COYS!