the saint in winchester

The above pretty much sums up my reading of the situation too. He now 'owns' some good tools but doesn't use them effectively - eg overuse of Redmond, underuse of KWP, poor team selection, baffling substitutions. And I share your concern that we have given Ralph too much power. Can we let him go? On what terms? What would be the effect? I'm also unsure who could replace him. We couldn't attract a top level manager right now. We'd be deciding between an aspiring championship manager or an overseas manager who would like to take his first steps in EPL management. Neither fill me with excitement. So I keep coming back to "better the devil the you know than the one you don't." I'm just hoping that we can get that first win soon and everything clicks into place.

He isn't barred from playing for the first team, or is he? We brought him in for reserve team football, but we could play him? At least he is match fit, albeit at a lower level.

i'm happy to see more of Kenzie

He's OUR player this season, and I am excited by him. And if he does well and tells Chelsea he wants to stay with Southampton, that may make a difference. So get excited, give him love.

I'm not defending Redmond, but I recall when he had that two goal salvo against Bournemouth, he said he was very much a confidence player. His confidence is clearly low at present, and having the fans back in the stadium barracking him is making him worse. That the case for his defence m'lud. Having said that, he wouldn't be making my team selection on a weekly basis.

Funnily enough, he is that. But I promised not to talk about it.

Same old Broja, always scoring - for Albania. Winning goal too.

I don't know anything on Sorla, but I take your point on goalkeepers. They tend to improve with age (to a tipping point, obviously) so a mature keeper should be considered. Not the role where you want to buy a kid and hope he comes good for you to sell on.

As we know that JwP WILL play 94 minutes of every match, so any of the others are likely to play. Isn't Seaborne lined up as matey's assistant for the B team? He could play, as he's registered, but hopefully Lyancu will get the shout before him.

I'm inclined to agree. I thought Tino and Small would be the backups/cup gamers this season, but Ralph has favoured Tino over KWP in opening games. Now, I don't mind if he wants to alternate them, either game by game, or run of games, but KWP cannot be sidelined. Similarly Small needs to get a few games this season to bring him on. LB had be resolved, and more than happy with the two guys there. RB didn't need to be changed. We just needed a backup (assuming Valery wasn't going to be that player).

Bernt Leno (Arsenal) also available next summer on contract expiry. I'd probably prefer Sam Johnstone too, but there may be options available.

Chalobah of Watford? Did we not want to make an offer? Ntcham of Celtic went to Swansea on a free! Grimes of Swansea? We let them have Obafemi on almost a giveaway, and we didn't try to get Grimes? Overall, good window, but we didn't grab a last minute deal.

Dave Stephens on Talksport gave the current betting on likely relegation candidates, and the 6 he named did NOT include Southampton. It must have irked him as a Pompey fan.

I know this is a statement of the bleedin' obvious, but .... As we are looking only for a backup #6 who won't be asked to play regularly or demand a huge salary (unlike that Martin Cacares deal), I guess we need to look at a young up'n'coming who will be grateful for any games they get, OR an experienced guy winding down their career and wouldn't want to play every week. I'm thinking that may be why we aren't pushing for Caleta-Car or AMN, as they are a different profile. I would have suggested a low wage offer for Drinkwater, but he went to Reading. Not sure who else would fit the profile.

"Duje Caleta Car's partner doesn't want to move to Birmingham after giving birth to their 1st child" Nor would I, and I'm not giving birth to anyone's child.

Ah I wondered why all these 2009 threads had risen to the top of the page. Dr Who has been time travelling? Welcome back. At time of writing this is August 2021.

I'm also a NO. It disappointed me his "what do I tell my son when he asks why no-one wants me?" Er, you tell him "because, son, I ask for £100k a week and I can't stop getting injured, so no-one can afford to hire me." He said he wants to play abroad, after Wigan made him an offer.

Proper unit NOW, yes. But back then he was a lithe winger. Played right side for us. Reading sent him out on loan, he became a favourite with us fans, the club made Reading a good offer, but they said they wanted to keep him. Blow me down, they sold him on not long after. He transformed his body shape and is now a proper CF.

Yes, that was basically the report I read. That he would be SA's deputy. We don't need a SA deputy. We want to keep the original SA. Apparently his deal ends 31/12 so he could join us 1/1/22, but do we need him?

Yep, agree with all said there. I thought Tino was bought to be the spare wheel, but he is getting in the team already. Yes, play both KWP at RB and Tino RW. I would also play FF on goal, but we do next week's team on another thread.

Sounds like we will be playing his look-a-like dad in the team : Mo Elynoussi. RH praising him up. He may be alternating with Tino for a place in the side.

He doesn't want to leave to the Championship, or else he can't pick himself in FPL. Sounds like he prefers to stay. But maybe Ralph can find him a club he'll want to go to.

Yeah the first one was on Salisu there. I think it was Perraud that had it covered and was then clattered by Salisu jumping on him and leaving Richarlie unmarked to lob in. Overall, 2nd half Everton stepped it up and we just let them. No effective change from the bench, just fresh legs.

yes, and that Saints are "looking at other options". Doesn't say what/who they are.

If WH come in for Vesty, I would also expect Leicester to renew their interest now that Fofana is injured. Hopefully they can give us an auction to watch until one party declares themselves OUT. £20M is fair, anything above £30M would be brilliant.