gio1saints

Kinhell. Didn’t take long for the Southampton effect to cut off his International career!

JWP only works, for me, if we are loaning out or selling some current MF and even attacking squad. His wages are high. But his quality is higher than our average quality for sure. And he can do things from set pieces we will benefit from too. The most likely would be Will or Joe, Kameldeen, Sam Edozie or SAA. These sacrifices would release space and wages for him. We should, however, probably prioritise a goal scorer first.

Yeah - pleased with Mateus and he is closer to an RM player than Tyler so you may be right and it’s him gets the nod. Both good players but Tyler seems more direct and perhaps I’m biased!😁 As for Les- well putting him in alongside Flynn plus Mateus feels good too but I think that may be a “risk” too many. Though I’d be happy with that starting line up also bringing in Tyler if we need more of a goal threat - which I marginally think we would without Tyler in team.

Caveat: he came on against tired Cardiff second team kids who would probably be queuing to get his autograph after match and too much in awe to get too near him. In EPL he would not get that space and time., However: I was delighted ( despite my previous small reservation that he may be psychologically blunted by his injuries) by his performance. He did immediately bring a sense of calm and direction and understanding of what it was Saints were supposed to do from c 60 minute onwards. He brought instant, confident, leadership. His regular vocal and sign language instructions to ABK in particular of when to advance who to pass to etc plus also obvious instructions to our kids of positions and where the ball must go is almost unheard of at Saints. Not seen that amount of vocal obvious confident ownership / leadership in a while at Saints - for all Captain Jacks qualities. And the less said of AM as skipper the better. He may not make 90 but it was pretty obvious ( to me) thats a genuine class above player out there with a unique experiential attribute we do not have elsewhere in squad. When you consider our go-to midfielder from the bench last season was Joe Rothwell I think AL’s impact will be a LOT more and in a LOT more ways, on and off pitch, this season. Great signing.

Yes good observation. IF TD has recovered sufficiently I’d give him 60 next match as a starter. He is a front foot attacking player and you know he is going to be direct and aggressive and try make a goal or goal chance happen. Unlike how we played Forest. Bluntly, in that regard, he can do that more effectively, more often, on his recent showings than anyone else in our team. IF we are in the lead by 60 ( due to his impact) then he may well have drained himself by then and by all means put on Joe or Will or Mateus even Les but I believe in risk reward - the lad put it out there last night. Give him his reward- starts the next EPL match.

RM said he had to play well tonight. Two assists plus his all round performance says he did. Just think he’s taken Will or Joes position for the next match.

Archer turns and scores!

2-2 of Joe Lumley palms it into our cb legs and it goes in. Shit goal.

RM gone back from the changing rooms well early. Wonder what that means.

SAA > SE on the first half showing if yiu want to do direct left winger v right winger comparison. SAA covered a lot more ground and I suspect he’s been given licence to do so- but SE has not - just hugs the touch line as usual.

71.6% possession. Getting nearer to that all important 96% ( that’s from a 4-0 win and four kick offs by opposing team). 😂

Mateus does not pass the ball. He strokes it.

A

Brilliant goal from Sam amo!!! Superb team goal

1-1. Long range fuck off goal.

Amo needs to score from that position..

9 minutes. Goat- Mateus scores! We have most of the ball. No shots bar Tyler’s early effort on target then bang! 😁

Seems to me that Kostic is > Wee Man- on paper at least. And it’s one ir the other for that left winger / back slot. A year older (31v 30) but Kostic played at much higher levels, for longer. Funnily enough wee man probably on higher wages than Kostic ( c£70k pw v c £55k pw) but that’s British leagues inflation for you I guess. Only real uncertainty is the fee - and his attitude about playing for Saints. Which are critical for RM. We know Wee Man desperate to play for us ( but not that desperate to reduce his financial demands with nufc) but we don’t know about Kostic. Would he consider Saints as a downgrade? IMOalmost certainly. UnlessDusan put in a word. I’m Pretty certain wee man is a free transfer or nominal whereas transfermkt have kostic down as a €6.5m player. So it could be a coin flip in terms of what they cost. In terms of class Kistic wins but in terms of instant “ feeling ” with the team Wee man is hugely popular and with supporters too. Wee Man Would be a crowd pleaser whereas Kostic is a cold blooded assessment of quality first and foremost. Neither have resale value. Cannot see the kostic move happening tbh. Smokescreen if anything.

Yep you are right. But those other two positions - FB and CB we already got multiple players in the system can play that. We have not practised playing to a front man at all far as I can tell. Obvious reasons but all the same I feel it may have unnecessarily limited our options for how to score a goal if Plan A and B has not worked. Im not bashing RM and do not suggest we change our default style and approach. I am saying though if you got a Tall Paul then if we are losing and everything else not worked- then use him. And if that’s the theory then try him out a bit more than he has so far. Practising using him late in losing EPL matches in September is the next best I guess if he’s not sold …

100% agree. Playing Jack Stephens versus Forest was one defensively minded player too many, one attacking minded player too few. By all means play the five at the back in those tough matches but in the “ winnable” we have to try get the first goal at least before playing that way and that’s in the 433 as MLG notes. Cardiff away is interesting because my head would say play the five to start with and weather any early Cardiff storm then switch up - but my frustrations from first two matches say go 433 and more offensive from the start and see how that pans out. The latter is my preference.

If we cannot find a way to play TP is there an argument to suggest we are going to find it hard to play RS also? Last match I saw RM played him in the touchline hugging right wing… This not playing Paul him cos he’s leaving is an all preseason long unhelpful story. If he’s still here Friday we’ve potentially wasted thst preseason by not practising using him on the pitch. Even with RS fit if TP cannot get a kick I’m not sure we’ve played a formation yet that would optimise his or indeed any conventional #9 strengths. And THAT would be the negligent element of his transfer - not his unfortunate post purchase injury problem. For all the fan talk of getting a goalscoring #9 what if we do not and continually will not play in a way which complements one?Is it lots of Southampton Nil results incoming…or do we crack the false #9 code with Tyler or others? It’s the gamble if our season imo. It's a massive ideological issue - and maybe the hill that RM chooses to die on - or achieves glory on. Or both!

Situations like Saturday where it was just not happening, RM putting Paul into the centre forward space and him competing in it by his presence alone was simply not an option - cos he was not on the bench. When he last played for us he got fouled a bunch of times in the last five minutes cos defenders rarely have to deal with that kind of attacker anymore. He could help generate Free kicks and positions which could be exploited. Let alone anything he does himself with the ball. He is a different kind of problem to that which most defences been dealing with. A very stark contrast. If we go into last five and it’s equal him coming in certainly gives opposition cause for concern - which makes them even less likely to score against us and it more likely we will create goal scoring opportunities. And who is to say if he is a success that he does not just be a last 5/10 mins impact player but plays more and more. Won’t know unless he’s given the chance. Which he will not my guess as he is 100% not on brand. My favourite brand of football for Saints is winning then next is not losing- then I may give you my style preferences further down that list - and the style IS important to me - but I know the first two always - as do most Saints fans…

I don’t think SR pay much attention to how hard you work to get the money to buy your ticket and merch. SR is a business designed to make profits not losses ( far as I can tell - though I’d bet that some club owners are simply money laundering..) . Whatever they do they are not thinking to lose money as the primary objective. Your feelings and how hard you work & how much you love saints is low to non existent on the list of their priorities - they attitude is not exclusive to Saints, of course, but frankly supporters are the bottom of a horrible system that’s rigged to the benefit of the wealthiest at the expense of everyone else - you me and every punter buys a £60 -£90 shirt that costs £1 to make in a sweatshop somewhere far away or pays £30+ at SMS to watch a bunch of young millionaires on 5 yr contracts get excited kicking a ball around.

Your ignorance is staggering.

Tyler.