Gloucester Saint

He has strengths and weaknesses like most players but because either the club hasn’t really invested in his physique or Will hasn’t followed advice to do so those are a bit more in focus than usual. What we can all see this season and last is that he can’t function in a central two which ties the new manager into using a formation which works with Will’s strengths or move him on for a low fee with 12 months left on his contract. Oakley and JWP were like this for their first few years but it needed WGS and Ralph respectively to give them a kick up the arse to get stronger, in Matt’s case eat breakfast and properly overall, and JWP to toughen up and compete properly, by leaving him out of the 18 initially. But there may be physical/mental reasons why that might not work with Will. Personally, if Martin pitches up at Norwich, that’s probably the solution. He can play at the top of a diamond, score 8-10 goals, create, and let the two bigger stronger lads behind him do the dirty work. If Saints want to finish top two, then that creative player needs to be more the 12-15 goal and dozen assists output. But that player will break the Wolves £15m Championship fee. Also, if Spors does want a pressing focussed manager, as hinted on here, then that’s not Will’s forte. Summary: good player if you use Will to his strengths but he needs to deliver a double figure goal return and more of what released AA at Wembley if others are doing the heavy lifting centrally.

He’s a good to very good Championship player as the most advanced as a central midfield three. But he can’t play in a two for toffee in any division as Stoke found, and then Saints found last season and this when Downes was out and Martin didn’t fancy Shea Charles.

Between 60 and 70, unless Baz hadn’t have gotten injured, we would never have won the playoffs. With McCarthy we were much harder to beat and score against in the play-offs. Martin’s style of play meant MK, Swansea and Saints all conceded far too many, but with a back line of KWP, Bednarek, THB who are exceptional players at Champ level, the tally conceded up to the injury was especially alarming.

Trump causing more economic chaos by having a public pop at his own Federal Bank Chair hire https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce92y3j9v34o MAGA have as much social refinement and social grace as Millwall’s F Troop of hooligans from the 1980s.

If Bazanu and McCarthy are competing for GK then top half would be a brilliant achievement by Rohl or whoever comes in. Gavin has just conceded a whopping 15 goals in just 8 games at one of Belgium’s biggest and most successful clubs before getting injured. You don’t get automatic promotion or any promotion conceding 2 goals a game in the Champ. Loan him out and sell him for a nominal fee in the final year of his contract. Another SR folly to go in the bin if the club is to recover.

The folly of Martinball further exposed at PL level https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c20xd10z6gvo

Norwich are nosediving almost as badly as Sheff Weds - Angus Gunn not offered a new contract according to their forum. Thorup their Danish possession-focused manager very unpopular with their fans. But parachute payments running out and Leicester/Rangers potentially more attractive to Russell even given the emotional ties to Norwich. Even if Martin doesn’t go there, although I have a feeling that he might, that would be a very good loan move for Baz to a decent sized club. He’d have to perform a million times better than he has for us, Standard or even Pompey though. Possible he could compete with one of Leicester’s remaining keepers (IIRC Danny Ward is out of contract) if Martin goes there (Rudkin and their owner like Russell apparently) or Rangers could be another good move. Gavin needs to move on though from Saints regardless of Russell Martin’s destination this summer and make a clean start (maybe even the odd clean sheet).

No, but he was very poor, and should’ve been booked for taking a Burnley player out clumsily in the air. Looks a bit chunky to me as well. Good finish by AA at WBA v Derby by contrast, similar to many of his goals for us last season.

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/25103367.southampton-assess-fresh-gavin-bazunu-injury-concern/ The biggest threat to Gavin’s career is not injury but those statistics again - 8 matches for one of Belgium’s biggest teams, 15 conceded and only one clean sheet. I thought he might be back up next season to a new first choice but a loan out to League 1 or League 2 seems far more likely.

Without the paywall, summarised https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/manager-talks-wage-cuts-player-10120485?int_source=nba Their decision to give Vestergaard a new 3 year contract is even worse than our McCarthy and Fraser extensions/signing.

Even by RFK’s standards, this is batshit crazy and thick as pig’s shit https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/19/health/autism-rfk-criticism/index.html

A style of play that wins matches would be a good idea. Because SR haven’t done a lot of that.

If he’d ever played let alone scored, that would have been an obvious chant 🎵 Gronbaek, baby Gronbaek 🎵 to the tune of Baby Come Back by Eddy Grant. But he didn’t, another of Rasmus’s fuck-ups. At least we aren’t stuck with this one.

If you do 10 Creme Eggs, you could outdo Bruce Patterson https://beezlystreet.wordpress.com/2015/04/05/turner-prize-for-man-that-stuffed-9-creme-eggs-up-bum/

In the Orange Man’s mind at least. Less so in Dr Evil’s judging by his response so far on Ukraine.

Leggie all-rounder - interesting. Whether that’s more of a Liam Livingstone or Will Jacks all-round I guess we will find out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewald_Brevis With Brett Hampton, my concern was that he’d reached 33 with no international honours in a country when the national team has had a great few years but the talent pool quite small https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Hampton

Shorter, quicker, in at the ribs. Line and length isn’t working where conditions are drying out.

Freedom of speech only when MAGA agrees with it https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20xq5nd8jeo Hopefully the UK can hoover up some of the overseas students headed for the Ivy League and get them spending in our cities and economies instead by unwinding Braverman’s crap.

Could be dangerous/messy for Mrs SNSUN if you fart afterwards.

Aribo has suitors, he’s in the 2026 expiry cohort, one of the big Turkish clubs, probably a £5-8m fee and one of our bigger earners. Similar for Onachu. Bazanu is a quandary as 2027, hasn’t pulled up any trees at Standard. If Rohl does the obvious thing and replaces Ramsdale, he is probably looking at another loan out as McCarthy inexcusably got a 2 year deal last summer and he will understandably see it through. If Baz had only one year left a mutual termination would have made sense to get a new club without them risking a fee and stay in RoI contention. Stewart might as well treat as a bonus David Connolly style (although yet to see any evidence Ross is anywhere near David’s calibre as a forward). Edozie is trickier to predict - year left, as with Bazanu not pulled up the Ardennes Forest in Belgium. Did alright last time in the Champ but might be happier moving to another Champ club, or Old Firm, on a 3 year deal if the fee is fairly low. Smallbone is another who had some success last time, but can only function and compete as most advanced in a central three. See below on Charlie Taylor if that doesn’t suit Rohl or whoever it is, or Bree if it does. Bree will stay with a 12 month extension I reckon, Taylor who knows? Maybe a free with Saints paying a % of wages. Full list https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/fc-southampton/vertragsende/verein/180/vertragsendeJahr/2026

Unless they do what Man City did, but very unlikely. Even less likely we score the last goal there and keep a clean sheet, as Michael Svensson accomplished.

We need a Danny on the Mike video to complete the PE teacher vibe ‘Wonderbar! Schon! Was fur ein schoner Morgen wir haben werden’

You pick other posters for that kind of thing all of the time - no way out on that one MLG 😀

Seems unlikely Wilder will buy him even if they win the play offs. Pity for all parties. However, part of me would like to see him in the Champ for Saints under a manager who uses him properly, although £10m to part re-invest in an actual centre forward which the club are so allergic to buying would be the best of all.

Absolutely what I expect, given we spent a lot on him by Champ standards and he’s done well at Weds, unless we appoint another SR tosspot who plays him out of position due to their ‘philosophy’, or there’s a buyer from the PL for Shea who will offer SR enough profit (unlikely yet to be regarded as another James Garner/Morgan Gibbs-White). If Rohl gets the gig, 100% he starts in August as DMC if fit.