OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint

I've got to the stage where I know f**k all about tactics but genuinely think I could have done a better job of managing this mob than Juric (or RM!). Juric tries man-marking. Don't have a problem with that but it doesn't work so move on. Juric tries a back five but it doesn't work, so move on. He then goes for a back four at Liverpool and strengthens the midfield (like it) and for a while it looks ok so then he shouldn't move on. But he does....reverting to a back five! And all the stuff about him being the tough guy who would add metal to the team hasn't materialised either. In the situation we were in, there was no way we were going to bring in a Moyes, but once again, I feel we missed a trick with Juric. Yes, it was always going to be a tough ask to turn our fortunes around, but I was hoping for a fitter team with a more positive approach and have seen neither.

Appreciate this is going away from the Tyler Dibling thread but did like reading your views on the merits of going to lower league games. For me, it's no longer the football, so I couldn't necessarily follow a non-league team. I go to Saints for the day out and connecting with son, brother and nephews, so away games are still special and when you see a win like at Ipswich, it's just a bonus. Back to the TD, it looks like my £20-£25m is on the low side given the clubs £100m (hoping for £50m!) price tag, but that's just on old timer not keeping up with today's valuations!

And looking back over the last few years, isn't that what's happened? For years, this forum has been asking for money to be spent on a striker. For whatever reason, that's never happened. Now, I'm not so sure financial rules and the sale value of our players will allow us to spend the money needed to buy the required striker. What the betting on Toney coming back? Probably out of our price range but he may want to come back soon.

We won't have long to wait to see how much we get, CB. He'll be off in the summer.

My guess is £20-25m. Those 'getting off your seat' moments have been few and far between after a much-hyped first couple of games of the season. Not convinced about his touch, not convinced about his fitness and not convinced about his decision-making (shoot or pass). Yes, he can move on for £20m.

Yes, that's really annoying. It used to be KWP now Manning takes equally long. Watching Sheff Utd this afternoon, we could do a lot worse that train up a 'Robinson' - someone who can bullet a throw in to the penalty area, especially with TP there to nod them on.

Absolutely top post - but that's probably because I agree with all of it! 😀 There are quite a few that suggest we should keep AA, Bednarek, Stephens etc etc because they're good championship players and they'll get us promoted and then we can buy better next year. I don't agree. At best, we turn in to a yo-yo club and at worst, these players don't achieve and we turn in to a Stoke/West Brom/Coventry/Norwich. The main hope I have is that we are considerably more wealthy that a lot of clubs. SR were one of the top ten spenders in the premier league last summer and if they direct their spending in the right direction this summer, we can build a quality team.

If he has yesterday's formation again, there should be a chant of 4 - 4 - 2 at the start of the match. It is appreciated a lot of people say you can't polish a turd and this squad is particularly useless but ultimately we've missed a massive trick adopting awful tactics and having players that are noticeably unfit. The sad thing is, most of the fanbase/stadium can see it so why can't the people at the top? Juric won't be here beyond the summer so does it cost anything to lose him early?

What I don't understand is that it is obvious to us that you have to play with a striker and then we see a back four and a stacked midfield make a game of it an Anfield. So why return to this nonsense? Surely the players see it and can't the coaching staff put him right? Perhaps they don't care anymore or perhaps they're just scared they'll get duffed up in the car park!

It did because they were right at the bottom of the league at the time. There's something about Wolves. I was also there two years previous when Che managed to handball two inches off the line. That stopped our reasonable start to the season and after Wolves, we went in to freefall.

Wolves are seriously crap and with their talisman out and with Smallbone out, we should win - as long as we play 4 at the back. Hopefully Juric learned that lesson from Liverpool. 2-1 Saints

Maybe their players are a higher quality but I'm watching the Norwich players getting in a right muddle. I do hope, Lighthouse, that you're not harking back to us playing that style of football.

Watching Bristol City v Norwich tonight is just another example of how playing possession football and passing from the back is a disaster waiting to happen. And what's sad is watching a once regular premier league team languishing in the championship trying this sort of shit football. For one, I'm so pleased we've exorcised this crap playing style from our club.

So he says his lawyer told him that all allegations against him were unfounded, to which his lawyer says "I didn't say that". Really doesn't sound like a trustworthy character and I remember him as the person who bankrupted our club. That's probably not accurate but fuck him, he sounds a right arrogant knob.

Half watching the Man U Arsenal game, I'm thinking: Is this the most boring premier league season ever? It's more than we have runaway leaders (who really don't need the assistance they get from refs every game) and the bottom three sorted with 10 games to go. The football seems so sterile and there's something sad about the commentators trying to hype it all up. There's too many self-interests for things to change but when the main interest seems to be which team will come 4th and 5th in the league, there's something wrong.

My God Sugawara is shit too.

Yes, don't know what I was trying to ask. I was thinking if we get £25m for Dibling/Fernandes, does Spors then have that to spend on the rebuild because £25m goes a long way in the Championship. It becomes a bit like when we bought Ricky Lambert which I vaguely recall cost a lot more than other teams in that league could afford at the time.

Where are we with purchases this summer? Does Spors have to balance books/sell players to buy? In the Championship, money should go a little further, especially if you're buying players to get us promoted rather than proven premier league players. And I still think our scouts could do worse than spend time looking around the League 1 & 2.

In some respects, there's not much to be gained from harking back to 'if Ralph had been given a striker' type talk, but I genuinely believe he's the best manager fit I've ever seen at this club. With the right support, we could have been playing European football for years on end and he didn't seem to have the ambition to want to go to a bigger club - he wanted to make a smaller club big. Our club. The arrogant SR version 1 completely mismanaged him and made a series of monumental fuck ups. That stated, I do think we've hit our lowest ebb. SR are learning from their mistakes and we won't be doing a Luton.

The difference is that SR have had a bit of a clearout of the people at the top and with the DoF supporting Rohl's style of play, I'm expecting this to happen. There's even a thought that when they approached Rohl last year and he effectively said wait until the end of the season, Spors was recruited to support Rohl's style of football.

It's almost a question to be asked in another thread. Do you tinker with the current squad on the basis that in the main, they're good enough to get us promoted and then next year make the wholesale changes. Or do you make wholesale changes this year? Personally, I'd like to see the start of the rebuild this year with a clear out of a lot of players

Yes, that team would be perfectly competent as a Championship side but in 18 months time, if we get promoted and need to strengthen the squad, we'll be in the same situation as this season when we struggled to attract quality players to the club. We should be looking this summer to bring in players who can take us up and stay with us when we get promoted.

Blimey Woodsaint, I would call getting rid of 14 of the squad a mass clearout. I expect Fernandes to also leave. That said, I'm not disagreeing with you. I'd like to see a mass clearout and rebuild a squad on strength and speed. My son suggested getting the best league 1 and 2 players together, put them in a circle and throw balls at them. Keep the ones that can control the ball because they have an eye. All the rest of the skills required can be taught.

Agreed. Once the season is over, I'm hoping Spors goes in to turbo mode and makes his presence felt and wouldn't be surprised if one of the first things he does is to drive up to Sheffield and bring Rohl to Southampton.

If Fernandes stays, I'll be very happy but also very surprised. I'm struggling to think of anyone in our squad who could form the spine of a future team. This summer I'm hoping for a mass clearout