chiknsmack

Also the fact that we want to keep him and have him be our captain in the Prem for the next decade.

The P&O logo is navy and gold (or near enough to it), but on the shirts looks more black and white. I'm a fan of gold on a shirt (the 2020/21 third shirt - white, red sash, gold LD Sports and Under Armor logos - is one of my favourites) and a navy logo would tie in nicely with navy shorts. Hummel had a couple of misses (in 2022/23 everything bar the third shirt) but Puma haven't had a hit yet bar maybe the GK shirts last year, which were a stock template.

There was one left; 21yo Souleymane Basse who was one of the better young prospects at the club IMO. He played most of the second half of the relegation season, and most of the second half of last season after being out injured for the first half. Two had been released; a solid but unspectacular 31yo and a 21yo picked up from Bordeaux's academy when they went into administration who was a good attacker but an awful defender. So now they have Basse, 25yo Wahib who looks good for this level and maybe beyond but with a major injury in his past, and 19yo Koum on loan.

A targetman who was never targeted, with a poacher's instinct for winning loose balls in the box on the rare occasion the team did anything progressive like taking a shot or putting in a low cross. With the right gameplan he's Chris Wood, but unfortunately during his whole time at Saints he was managed by retards.

Saints played in quarters (and halves, and the sash) in the first ten years or so. I wouldn't be averse to a red version of a Bristol Rovers kit personally. They even had one a few years ago which paid tribute to an old striped kit of theirs. But otherwise yeah, stripes. https://www.footballkitarchive.com/bristol-rovers-2019-20-home-kit/24763/

The stripes are great. The two different shades of red (which I'm still hoping aren't real) and the overdose of white (white sidepanels, no stripes on the back) aren't. These stripes, front and back, with red sidepanels is perfect. An identical away design with yellow and blue in place of white and red, and an identical third shirt with black and [insert colour here] and the job's done.

Along these lines, and a left-field idea predicated on both Bednarek and THB leaving (and Stephens finally being deemed not good enough), would we consider an experienced CB to help guide our otherwise young group at the position (Edwards, Wood, Quarshie, Sanda)? Ideally someone who is good enough for the Champ but old enough and with the right mentality to not get his nose out of joint if the youngsters he helps develop usurp him. Someone like Dunk/Tarkowski/Lindelof (all club captains in the Prem last season), or QPR captain Steve Cook (who played with Edwards last season). Possibly we already have the man for the job in Taylor (though he hasn't been rated highly by our past couple of managers and might want a return to Burnley), but Dunk or Cook in particular would add a lot.

That's Josh McNamara, who was behind Adli in the U21 pecking order (despite being a couple of years older). His contract is due to expire; don't know if it's been extended or anything. We'll trade Dibling for three might-be-Fernandeses. They even have their own M. Fernandes (19yo RB, Europa League experience, YHGTI, if Sugawara goes then - competent as Bree is - replacing him would be nice) who would be an obvious pick for one of the three.

Transfermarkt has Archer at 175cm, or 5'7.5". Less than an inch taller than Armstrong.

Sugawara vs Brentford. After gifting Newcastle the winner on opening day, then gifting Brentford two goals to go 3-0 down in the third match, Adam Lallana comes on in the 82nd minute and immediately looks a class above everyone else on the pitch. He combines with Tyler Dibling to set up the first goal of the season and give some hope that this side can score a few goals and maybe, if they stop gifting goals to the opposition, isn't entirely in over their heads. (Narrator: they were, in fact, in over their heads.)

The loan expires at the end of May.

Rickie Lambert?

Strasbourg are Chelsea's Valenciennes, so if he does realise his potential he probably ends up at Chelsea for a nominal fee.

Stephens Lyanco Bazunu is the solution to our defensive midfield woes.

Cameras usually make conditions look better than they are, but for most of the second half I had a hard time spotting the ball (and no chance of seeing P13A players) when play was on the far side of the pitch. The pitch didn't look too good but it played a lot better than it looked. Camblan looks a good addition.

Right-footed Sulemana and KWP on the left. Bree and left-footed Aribo or Dibling on the right. Players who found themselves consistently in the right position to go to the byline and curl a cross back for Onuachu and most of them were on the wrong side of the pitch to do so (and the other for whatever reason had zero interest in trying). Things have improved by having a clear, simple plan when in possession in the defensive third (don't tap it around and eventually pass it to the opposition to let them have a shot; just send it long). We're no longer the architects of our own demise at the back. Now we need a clear, simple plan in attack, something like "Get it wide, then get it forward, then get it in the box". If repeatedly playing the ball around our own box led to conceding goals, maybe repeatedly playing the ball into the opposition box could lead to scoring some.

Yes. The Gakpo that almost came to us or Leeds until Dutch national team coach Louis Van Gaal told him to stay in the Netherlands until after the World Cup, where he scored three goals and caught the eye of Liverpool. And the Ramos that almost came to us until Benfica qualified for the Champions League group stages, decided to keep him, and he too scored three goals at the World Cup. It's not unthinkable that such players can end up at Saints. In fact that's SR's whole goal; find (and sign) players who within a window or two are wanted at Liverpool and PSG. As I said the scouting team are pretty good at the finding, but whoever does the signing part leaves a lot to be desired.

We didn't miss out on Gakpo and Ramos by much. If either of those had gotten across the line we'd never have heard of Onuachu/Sulemana/Orsic, and only possibly heard of BBD/Archer/Stewart after selling Gakpo or Ramos for big money (even then we probably would've aimed higher). There's not much wrong with the scouting, it's the final decision-makers who leave a lot to be desired.

Ramsdale Suga ABK THB KWP Lavia Fernandes Dibling Lallana Alcaraz Archer You can have Dibling and Lallana sharing a spot to shoehorn JWP or Stu in. We've learnt the hard way that DM is the most important position on the pitch (our performances when JWP was tasked with filling in for Romeu or Lavia) and that's the main thing for the new manager to figure out. Downes may - or may not - fall into that "too good for the Champ, not good enough for the Prem" void, and I still hold out hope that Ugochukwu is good enough. He, like Shea Charles, struggled under Martin's tippy-tappy strategy but could be better suited to making tackles and handing the ball off to someone more creative rather than rondos on the edge of his own box.

Your post translated to "Now it's on to the championship", but "the Championship" is the 2nd division (the one we're trying to avoid being relegated to).

New manager bounce, win three of four against Fulham/Wham/Palace/Brentford to get back into the fight, and then Levy offers half of what he's worth as per usual so he goes? I don't see it. £70m in the summer if we go down. If we stay up and keep improving in subsequent years he's here for life.

6th in the league in touches, 16th in the league in touches in the attacking penalty area. 3rd in the league in passes received, 15th in the league in progressive passes received (successful passes into the penalty area, or passes in the attacking 60% of the pitch which move the ball forward 10 yards or more from its furthest point in the prior six passes). 6th in the league in possession, 19th in the league in shot-creating actions, 20th in the league in shots.

There are a few players missing from those plans. Fernandes would be another big-money sale, though I'd hope for the possibility of PL loans for him, THB, and Dibling (and Ramsdale? Loan him to a promoted side in the hope he keeps them up at the expense of a more-established PL side, then take him back the next season to weaken the loanee side in 26/27? Maybe a loan swap for their top-of-the-Championship-quality keeper?) so they can return when we bounce straight back up to the Prem. If we return to the Prem in 2026/27 with a championship squad and have to buy new replacements for those three on top of what we need to do to improve on the current squad to become mid-table Prem at minimum, we won't have the money. If we return to the Prem, get those back for free and can add a few more of similar calibre we'll be competitive. I know we sold Lavia and JWP last time, but we loaned out ABK and TP and kept KWP. Something similar (sell two, loan two) would be better than selling all four. Whether the owners would agree, or would see the opportunity to get a profit in the books and take it, I don't know. BBD has largely been somewhere between shit and fucking shit this season, but there's a player there. He, Archer, and Armstrong are all capable of 20+ goals in the Champ. Fraser would be the experienced option alongside Edozie and SAA. As someone else has mentioned, Charles would be back and has impressed with consistent games at that level this season. I'm not convinced Taylor and Bednarek would stay, so there could be two more "NEW"s required there. Ramsdale was £25m this year and after an England recall wouldn't be much/any cheaper. Dibling is roughly Livramento/Lavia level already so there's most of £60m on its own. THB has an England callup and a Man City pedigree so wouldn't be far behind Ramsdale. As above I think we have the strikers to score for fun in the Champ, though as you say having a manager who actually wants to attack like mad and score for fun would help immensely.