trousers

Yep, would be great to play Portsmouth Community Football Club for the first time ever in a league game

Good point... If there's a degree of certainty that West Ham want to offload Ings in the January window then a top team in the Championship is probably his most likley destination.

Whilst I wouldn't want to see KWP go in the opposite direction, if there's a degree of inevitablity that KWP will leave in January, and if West Ham are his most likely suitors, then I would venture that we would hold the upper hand in any negotiatons IF we want Ings...

Ings thrived for us in the 2019/20 season without us having (m)any truly creative players (as per appearances table below). Maybe that suggests a striker of Ings' calibre doesn't need to rely too much on the creativity of other players? Don't get me wrong, I'd welcome more 'creative' players with welcome arms, but wouldn't rule out someone like Ings succeeding, especially in this league, without further additions in the creativity department.

It feels like our season is now well and truly back on the high-speed track and, having dismissed our prospects of auto-promotion only a few weeks ago, I'm now starting to feel that it's not beyond the realms of reeasonable possibility! Great to have the good old optimistic Trousers of yore back just in time for the season of goodwill! Same starting line up as vs Blackburn please Mr Martin QPR 1 Saints 3 Merry Christmas one and all!

This likelihood probably trumps any other reasoning (in my humble opinion). Yes, Ings wouldn't be the 'perfect' signing but there's no such thing in the January transfer window for a club in the Championship. Ings on loan for half a season seems like a reasonable risk to me.

Cheers for the update. Do we know if its the same injury that keeps recurring (and if so, what is the nature of the injury?) or has he just been unlucky with back-to-back different injuries? The latest update I could find was back in September, but no details in this one-sentence article: https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/23824221.martin-confirms-injury-setback-sideline-southampton-defender/

Likewise! 🎄👍🎅

I guess you could've applied the same concerns to Bednarek, given his attitude when he left on loan (yes, I appreciate it's not a complete like-for-like, but it shows that players can redeem themselves after leaving on less than friendly terms)

Fair enough. Always happy to share differing opinions with my fellow Saintsweb chums Merry Christmas! #bahhumbug

2021/22 2022/23

Except that that didn't happen in his last two full seasons... #neverletthefactsgetintheway...

Sounds very familiar to what the forum pessimists were saying before he joined last time... He's been largely injury free the last 2.5 seasons (yes, I know he hasn't played much recently, thus reducing the chance of acquiring an in-game injury this season, but one assumes he's still being put through the paces in training, practice matches, etc.)

(As per link posted by @davefizzy14on the transfer window thread... Thought it might be worth highlighting here too... Mods: probably worth tweaking the thread title though... )

Stop moaning FFS!

Yeah, I hope so too... Would love to see him dink it under the bar next time...

I'm not an Alcaraz flag waver by any stretch of the imagination so, yes I probably would have said the same... my thoughts on the penalty have no particular bearing on who the player was. Anyway, good as always to see a range of opinions on the Saintsweb forum and everyone respecting everyone else's viewpoint...

Get him on the first team bench!

Indeed, and I seem to recall Russell alluding to this in a recent press conference too

Yeah, fair point. Makes sense on reflection 👍

If we played like we did yesterday I'd venture we'd come out on top if we played them now... (Yay, positive trousers is back! )

Saintsweb

If it's not a conscious decision of Russell's to approach each game differently (in terms of our levels of intensity and directness) then I guess that leads one to ponder why the players aren't playing "front-footed" in every game, if it's nothing to do with the manager.... Maybe it's just a simple case of the players not being physically capable of playing with that level of intensity and purpose each game... In which case I'll probably keep my trap shut on the matter from here on in... (Huzzah!)

I totally agree that it doesn't make sense why he *appears* (in my eyes) to alter his approach in this way, which is kinda my point... Maybe I'm totally wrong and seeing things that aren't there. Maybe I'm going slightly deranged in my old age (just ask Lady T...!) All I know is that in some games we *seem* to purposely be more "front footed" (to coin a phrase) whereas in others we *seem* to purposely be more conservative... As I say, and in true Saintsweb tradition, I'm "happy to be proven wrong"... If we played like we did yesterday every week I'd be the happiest bunny on planet Earth and 'worship' (chortle) Russell as much as I did Ralph back in the day (Footnote: maybe I should revert back to the ultra-positive / happy-clappy / benefit-of-the-doubt Trousers of old...? )