SNSUN

Arse

I was thinking Everton could win today but then I looked at their form - they have only amassed 15 points since gameweek EIGHT! And I thought we were bad... I think Burnley have possibly done enough to stay up, looking at their fixtures (they have to play Villa twice - they'll get something out of one of those at least). 37 points should be the safety mark this season. That's one more win for Leeds and Burnley but 8 points for Everton. For me it's Leeds or Everton - but I'd rather have the points on the board right now, even though Leeds have the toughest fixtures left. It will probably go down to the last day.

My thoughts exactly. I would love us to keep JWP for the rest of his career and he's dug us out of a lot of crap this season with his goal/assist contributions, but if we could get £80 odd million for him, I think the club have to sell him to rebuild a poor first XI. Yes we'd need another CM but it would enable us to sign 4 x £20 million players (or say 3 if we include wages) and that would transform the first team. We were recently told the owners aren't rich and not much would change, so I'd be surprised if they put much in the transfer kitty - hence why we need to sell a jewel. Life after JWP is a horrible thought but it may better us as a team. 1st choice (not back up) IMO - we need a GK, CB, AM x 2 and Str (without sales) and then a goalkeeper and striker back up (or renewal of Broja loan). Valery can be back up to KWP while Tino recovers so I don't think we need a RB, but KWP on the right means we either need more faith in Thierry Small next season as back up to Perraud or we need to be looking at another FB. IMO our squad should look something like (excluding sales and any youngsters): GK: New 1st choice GK/McCarthy/3rd choice back up RB: KWP/Tino/Valery LB: Perraud/Small (possibly loanee back up if Small not favoured) CB: New CB/Salisu/Bednarek/Lyanco/Stephens CM: JWP, Romeu, Diallo, Smallbone AM: New 1st choice/New 1st choice/Armstrong/Redmond/Djenepo/Elyounoussi STR: New 1st choice/Adams/New back up (or loanee..Broja?)/Armstrong/Walcott. As a Long replacement back up for one season sure, but he'd probably want first team football. He's 32 so he hasn't got much life left. Had Burnley gone down (can't see it now, I'd have taken a punt on Weghorst. Ok, 29 and not started brilliantly but his stats speak for themselves at previous clubs and he works hard and is tall. Leads the line well Pelle-style.

I can't see any points from Liverpool or Leicester (unless Leicester's European exploits mean they put out a crappy team but even that would probably beat us right now) so Brentford marks the last chance to score some points. However unlikely that seems right now, I'd take a draw if you offered it to me. We need to mix the team up. Forster, KWP, Lyanco, Salisu, Perraud, JWP, Romeu, Diallo, Smallbone, Armstrong, Adams. I'd try that. More solid in midfield (JWP could even push forward with Romeu and Diallo holding) and I'd like to see the Lyanco/Salisu partnership. Adams up top still as, really, we have very little else with AA out of favour, Long shyte, Broja out of form and Walcott...reminiscing of days gone by. More of the same though I fear. 2-0 Brentford.

I’d take Broja on another year's loan if his attitude was right but we’d need an immediate first choice striker too. The problem is, with Long on his way out and Walcott unlikely to play next season, if we do sell Armstrong we’re only left with Adams up front. That’s why I think we’ll keep Armstrong and Adams, sign one striker and loan one striker.

Of course they care about results. The difference between 9th (where we could have finished had we not been shit) and 16th (where we could finish as I don’t see us getting another point) is nigh on £15 million. That’s an entire player’s transfer fee and close to our record signing transfer fee. For a club with owners that aren’t expected to put much of their money in this summer to a club that traditionally sells to buy, £15 million is a hell of a lot of money to miss out on for have a whimpering end to the season. Yes we won’t go down but our recent form is woeful.

I don't think he knows what it is. On top of that our first XI is still poor. A top GK and CB would at least sort the back 7 out but the attacking 4 player choices we have are rubbish. Championship strikers, youngsters under pressure and fricking Shane Long. There's so much surgery to be done and we don't have a pot to piss in apparently. Short of selling JWP and spending the money I fail to see us improve next season and think we will be in for a long, bad season. I like Ralph but I'd still like to see fresh ideas.

16th beckons the way we're sliding. Hard to see another point. Might beat Liverpool though. 😏

No surely...

Come on Saints. Need this win or I think we could kiss goodbye to top ten. This is perhaps our easiest fixture left. UTS

We winning? My daughter has decided Paw Patrol is more important than SSN.

I heard Zaha was on the bench and I thought... he's bottled it. Shit scared of our JWP is that Wilf. I still think draw but depends on how Redmond and Tella get on.

Just seen an article that Spurs want £6 million for him. The last defender we got from them was decent. 😜

Ah I thought he was 6'4'' for some reason. I must be thinking of someone else! Not that 6'1'' is teeny. The trouble is to sign a complete CB would cost us £30 million plus. We're shopping in the £10 to £20 million bracket which probably gets us a 'prospect' that 'can be improved upon'. (i.e Salisu) Unless our scouting is bang on and we find a gem...

I’d be a yes. Had a good season at Celtic, is a good age and is tall. I’d be surprised if he didn’t join Celtic full time but we’ve been known for pilfering their players so why not pilfer one that doesn’t belong to them instead! Apparently their young winger has been getting rave reviews this season. Abada. Only 20. Eye for goal. We may not be the most attractive club to play for but we can offer Premier League...

We sell to buy and luckily last season we were able to sell a few players that weren't particularly key to us (Vestergaard, Obafemi, Lemina, Gunn), got good money for (Ings) or saved quite a lot in wages (Bertrand, Hoedt et al). This summer I don't think we have the fringe players that people will be after. Moi maybe after his improvement? Armstrong after his stuttering season (but with previously good stats in the Championship)? Apart from saving wages (Forster) I struggle to see who we could sell that other teams would want (and that aren't key players like JWP/KWP or Salisu). It's definitely a summer where we need the owners to put some money into the transfer kitty or else we may struggle with incomings. That said, there are a few tasty Bosmans if we can persuade them.... https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/statistik/endendevertraege

Tricky. would Saints turn down, say, £80 million +? (Not that Spurs would pay that, the cheapskates would probably go in with a Villa-like £35 million bid) Say Newcastle did want to pay it (or one of the richer clubs) then it would, spent wisely (yes this bit is key), completely improve the first XI. But no good bids = no sale. As for JWP he seems happy to be here and has signed the long term contract, so he may not want to move up the other end of the country anyway. I hope he stays but he is our most saleable asset right now. As for saleable assets though, it's imperative we keep KWP. In the absence of Tino long term, we cannot be letting him go. Full stop.

On paper I think Palace are better than us in most areas of the pitch (I’d say our midfield is better), yet their results are as Jekyll and Hyde as ours are. Both of us have nothing to play for but money and they are definitely beatable, but I can’t see past a draw unless something magical happens like Adams has an ‘on’ day or Stu shows what he’s capable of. 1-1.

Adam Armstrong Blackburn £15.93m Romain Perraud Stade Brestois £10.80m Lyanco Torino £6.75m Tino Livramento Chelsea U23 £5.31m Theo Walcott Everton free transfer Armando Broja Chelsea U23 loan transfer Willy Caballero Knowing what we know now, was it that good? Tino was a good buy and Perraud seems to have improved but started slowly, but Armstrong flopped, Lyanco barely featured, Broja started well then faded, Walcott was, well, Walcott the cheer leader and we were desperate for Willy when we signed him. Or am I doing it a disservice? I'm hoping for a better window this summer.

Anyone with WP in their name -----------------> Romeu. That's my top 3. It's tough to split KWP and JWP - KWP showing he's versatile enough to play either full back position or RWB. JWP though - the dude is a machine and he gets my vote. Captain Fantastic. Most improved player of the season? Moi or Fraser gets that I reckon. Young'un? Tino over Broja. I'd like to have seen more of Tella this season but there's always next season...

That’s Leicester who despite spending vast sums of money more than us are only 2 points better off in the League. And the European competition they’re in is hardly the Champions League. I’ll give him Newcastle. They may want to splash the cash on the best players they can get. But I’m not sure JWP would fancy a move to the other side of the country... I get the feeling he’s comfortable here hence the new contract. Still, Nothing to do with Austin. I’m surprised he hasn’t been employed by TalkSport yet.

Ten Hag must have balls of steel for taking on that train wreck at United. Bringing in quality players is one thing but they need to ship out a crap load first, and there is only a limited amount of time to do it in. Pogba leaving on a free will help, as will Cavani, Lingard and Mata but there's so much work to be done.

We can only hope it's a number 2 that comes good and displaces the number 1 - Like Sanchez at Brighton replacing Ryan or similar. Harry Lewis is out of contract too so a third, experienced GK would be good - like Caballero. Someone who, like Boruc, could potentially save our season when McCarthy inevitably has his shit spell.

Terrible news for Tino. The only small silver lining to the cloud is we still have KWP and Valery for this position this season and it could have happened to a player more key to us, but still, terrible news.

You have to think he's on the list of some big boys shopping lists. He's now almost a regular pick for England, scores goals and is a set piece expert, versatile and fit as a butcher's dog and reliable, and entering his peak. I still think what we would want for him and what other teams would be prepared to pay may stump clubs but someone like Newcastle may want a marquee signing whilst weakening a rival. I want him to stay and the fact he signed a long term contract keeping him until he's nearly 32 shows he's happy here but I wonder if his head could be turned. Yes it would fund a squad overhaul, I reckon we'd get 60/70 million for him if someone wanted him enough, but I can't see anyone going that high. Our other jewels are KWP and probably Salisu based on his earlier season form, we need to be keeping them though and hope that the new owners can open the purse strings a bit.