gio1saints

I don’t think Saints will be splashing any cash this window either. I don’t think we need another wide player or AM because they are already in the building. I don’t think we need another CF because he is already in the building albeit injured. I don’t think we need another CB as they are already in the building. Ditto CM. Ditto GK. The only possibly actionable vulnerability is at FB where we are one short. This is where we may be forced to put a kid in ( unlikely) or play a CB out of position ( Holgate) but even this is tenuous. I think we only spend or get in a loan if there’s an outgoing. If that’s Che then we may see an interesting incoming in his position that’s all.

Absolutely right. It’s vital and healthy to have reservations and debate criticism even when we seem to be doing well, especially when we seem to be doing well. Having spent five decades + as a Saints supporter my feelings on match day are 100% apprehensive and often fairly pessimistic. But I cannot remember 14 unbeaten in a row (though I know it was probably last time we were in this league). And @Dark Munster you’ve got an extremely valid point - but, honestly, I don’t care which league it’s done in. That’s not the point, for me anyway. Saints, the team Ive supported all my life, just don’t do this. Ever (almost). I may never see it again (especially if we go up) so I’m trying my best to enjoy it. It’s kind of a little promise I gave to all my friends and family after I survived a Big C attack. Enjoy today more, worry less about tomorrow. And Saints have given me 14 good reasons to do so- long may that run continue!

Wow. 14 games unbeaten not applauded but rather begrudged and termed “Propaganda football”. Years of being rubbish and yet when we go 14 unbeaten - joyless criticism damned by faint praise. That’s a hell of a luxury. Saints are delivering a once in decades run of unbeaten results. Our Average points per game on this run is ridiculous. Instead of insisting on changes we should be insisting on more of the same!

KWP first easily. AA second. Flynn third. Honourable mentions : Baz most improved player, THB solid solid, Stu best season for ages.

I’m not his agent or anything! I meant His goal scoring credentials from when we bought him I forgot to say - see below - which were highly impressive. That he played in a really bad EPL team under multi managers who all needed instant results last year is not his fault and all of about 45 minutes this year is not proper to judge him on either. Just saying if he was available now I reckon we’d be interested. Not trying to say he IS Thierry Henry either but he could be given the chance , that’s all, sorry to have offended so many of you by my trying to give a different take on Sekou than the current “ he’s had his chances at age 21” that seems prevalent atm. We are not going down and automatic looks v v hard- this is surely best time to test him out? https://www.tournoimauricerevello.com/en/smartphone/festival/detail_actualite.php?id=5273

If there was a 21 year old French u21 international with his goal scoring credentials and potential available on a loan from any big club we’d be delighted to snap him up and give him some minutes. Im glad he got on instead of Che. He got his goal and got us a penalty in his 15 minute cameo plus missed a good chance. Ok against ten men but I dont care - he still did what he was supposed to do- have an impact. If we want him to grow and add value to the team - and to SR bank balance, he needs minutes. You cannot pay big money for him atm but if he scores ten goals between now and end of season I bet there will be very big money offers for him..the next Thierry Henry perhaps…

I know what you mean about the older ones being the worst. Refereed a City of Soton vets league match a few weeks back and it was a horrible experience. Nasty niggly trying to cheat all over the park like it was their livelihood instead of amateur football. Did a Soton U18’s match on the next day (Sunday) and the players and staff couldn’t have been nicer.

And we get Bella Kotchap back in the summer ( or more likely we get a big fee for him) which could well end up funding the THB permanent move and possibly part of getting Mason here on a perm also. IF BK stays fit he is a £30m player. I think the THB fee is set at c£20m ( I think!) and best guess is Mason might be c £10m from Everton so it could be a net neutral centre back thing in the summer for Saints if we are up with Jack, Mason, Jan and THB as our EPL centre backs ( with Shea as back up). Seems sound enough to me.

We go up,Flynn joins, Flynn starts every week. We go up, Flynn leaves, Flynn warms the bench at West Ham or somewhere else. As long as the wage money offered is decent I’d like to think we could convince Flynn to join Saints if we got promoted. And he is as integral to this team now as JWP ever was imo.

Oh I did not realise that. Could that contract be activated day before he becomes free agent then as a workaround? If he’s sent out on loan it means we basically save his wages but lose out on any kind of fee apart from a one off loan fee I guess? Balancing the books says whatever we save in his wages and get as a fee we will probably spend on his replacement. I doubt Danny Ings is on same money as a Che Adams though - probably double or treble I’d guess.

This season Jan does seem ( to me anyway) to be the leader of the defence. He is the one who takes the first ball from Gav more often than not and determines the play from there. He’s often got ball possession on half way line and deciding what’s going to happen and his interplay with Flynn in particular is v good. THB seems to be a brilliant foil. They have developed a very good telepathic understanding of how to back each other up - which earlier in season was absent and it shows in more clean sheets. That understanding is worth milliseconds of thought and movement and has undoubtedly saved us goals already this season from where we were earlier. That all says to me JS can only start in the FA cup or if there is injury or suspensions or poor form in training - for now. And if he does I suspect it would be THB to give way. As for Mason - if Everton want him back I’m ok with that as I actually trust in Shea as a back up option also. Incidentally how is Salisu getting on?

Bernardo. First time I’ve heard him called that. Love it! ❤️

Apologies to England fans ( that’s me too though I’ve split loyalties of Italian parents!) but this is what Charlie was trying to do : https://youtu.be/gXFWmpB-cPQ?si=BSQ_Rw5OxMBEFNGm Im withDman on this. You got to be allowed to dream, to dare. Charlie’s dared and it did not work but the mark of the man is how he responds to that setback. This season I’ve seen Kamaldeen shrink on the pitch after a few mistakes. Charlie has lost his head a few times also.Even Sam got wooden legs at times. All three thrive on confidence. Of the three I think Charlie is the strongest mentally, KS the most talented and Sam the most prepared to work harder to get better. Any of those three fit and confident are / will be a handful in championship- and EPL so I’m all for letting them dare to try stuff. The rest of the team, especially older heads, must be intelligent enough to recognise raw talent and adapt accordingly.

Common sense says SR try to get at least a Million for Che in this window on a six month loan deal with right to buy for, say £5m-7m. Whether he would go to any the bottom three I doubt but there may be takers in bottom half. If that happens then a Danny Ings loan incoming might be cost neutral but might just get the temperature up in training and uptick in forwards taking chances! I have got a sneaky suspicion that won’t happen though and our new Scottish striker is already here and starts playing again in January maybe alongside Mara in the FA cup v Walsall. ( £10 tickets btw! Well done saints!)

Even though we seem to have have a striker sized hole in our squad right now I can see SR holding out to fill it until and if Che leaves. Besides, the argument goes, we have a top striker supposedly nearing fitness again which is essentially a new signing for us. Oh, and Mara looks like he can score as well. The fixture list looks fairly kind until mid Jan anyways so it may be manageable without. Dont forget the downside of new loan striker- current striker disaffected ruin ( especially those injured) and also having to learn the system. Both not fixed overnight. Interesting dilemma though!

Larios had another setback just as he was reintegrating into training. Not okayed for over a year now and won’t be back until late Jan earliest I understand. Source club website and online snippets.

Exactly. Effective teams can be boring to watch. Italy won two World Cups with super pragmatic teams beating “ better” teams en route. If a style is effective here in the Championship - which it clearly is - carry on. After years of being neither exciting and rather easy to beat I’ll take a season of boringly predictable pragmatic grind em down and stay unbeaten football. We are the Mark Selby of this League. Next season, if we go up, we assess what style will give us most chance of staying up - and play that way. Long ball possession hybrid who cares as long as it’s effective. Players have learned ( almost) this current difficult style, it’s taken a great deal of intelligence, courage and technical proficiency - they can learn another variation, if required.

Wow I’m splitting my sides with laughter. That’s a cracker. You have a terrific sense of humour.

Bizarre comments.😳 @Tommy MulgrewIf you go to home matches you would know Martin always salutes Northam at end when we win, so yes, obviously I’m his big brother AND his mum for pointing that out. Well spotted. @tdmickey3 your attempt at name calling humour is weak to put it mildly. Stick to your day job at Disneyland. 😇

RM always goes to the Northam and gives a shout out to support every time we win. It wasn’t anything g about blackburn - Though they would not know that so it could be seen as over celebrating. Im 100% confident he was not intending to be disrespectful to Blackburn and 100% confident he was just celebrating and acknowledging the support of our most vociferous home fans in yhe Northam. To be otherwise would be cheap and pathetic and he’s just not that person.

Apart from the one he chipped straight to their player on edge of the box first half - which looked like a pre planned move to find Smallbone - or the short corners he also tried. I saw KWP take over one corner LW side and shouted at Sam to come over for a short one at one point first half, also saw AA sprinting over for a short corner again LW side another time when Bree was taking. There seems to be a lot of variation and flexibility in our corner taking, including who takes them, short or long, lofted or driven. It used to be fairly predictable with JWP but not so now. Perhaps explains why we scored for first time in 27 years from a corner😂

Asking Saints to cut out the “ needless” passing and get it forward is like asking Nigella to cook up an omelette without eggs but keep licking her lips and flirting with the camera. It’s not the same omelette.

It just saves time everybody knows what you mean. Otherwise we are debating “possession based football” which is a mouthful and can represent a broad range of styles/teams. Also, saying “ we are trying to play a bit like like Man City but Saints style” does not exactly roll off the tongue.

Best solution I reckon!😄. If Saints were a current snooker player we’d be someone like Mark Selby I reckon. We are not a Ronnie or a Luca Brecel.

Forum has debated the Russball style all season but it’s never been claimed that it was always going to be a vivacious watch. And our players are still learning it. They don’t go out to deliberately look bad or look great. But both can happen in the same match, still. It can look like they’ve been given different instructions but the theme is invariably the same. Sometimes ( ofttimes actually ) it’s boring. Yes I know, boring. We keep the ball but don’t “seem” to be doing much apart from building up the ball possession stat. But I see it as in literally boring a hole in opponents mental, physical and tactical energy. We are attempting to grind teams into mental and physical despair with this style. It’s working. But also on our supporters! Goals reassure supporters so thankfully we banked four goals worth of that to prop up player and supporter trust and belief - but don’t expect the style to change anytime soon. Home or away.