BARCELONASAINT

5 of us travelled up yesterday to make a long weekend off it and celebrate a birthday. Got to say we had a brilliant night and the city was absolutely buzzing. Got some weird looks when a group started singing Mo Salah, Mo salah and i responded with SOUTHAMPTON in full voice. Don't expect us to get anything today but we are determined to have a great weekend whatever happens.

Feel sorry for him, Barca have financially been in a real mess for years and COVID was the straw that broke the camels back. He had had to cope with losing a host of stars and bringing the youngsters through earlier than he would have wanted. That said the results have still been shocking with the quality Barca have. No i wouldn't want him back at Saints and i'm quite glad he's gone from Barca. Good luck to the poor sod who replaces him though!

so so pleased for the guy, he wears his heart on his sleeve and he left everything out there on the pitch. His first half was good, his second half was excellent. He must be challenging Bednarek for his place!

Elyounoussi may have come back from Celtic a better player but my god he is not a premiership player and if anyone thinks he has been doing ok then it is a very sad reflection on the alternatives we currently have at Saints.

remember that guy Salisu who almost didn't feature for an entire season after we bought him so that he could be slowly integrated and learn exactly what was needed of him, didn't work out too badly did it. I've not written off Lyanco just yet.

Is there anyone out there in the know that can explain the Nathan Tella situation??? Why is he not getting game time? He miles better than Theo and Elynousi, why does he appear to has been almost completely frozen out.....yes i know he's in the match day squad but he may as well not be. What the hell is going on?

I have lived practically all my life in Southampton apart from when i was very young and spent my first few years in Spain. I am lucky enough to have travelled extensively both in the UK and abroad which has given me a good feel for other parts of the UK and abroad. I love Southampton and always will, it is home, it is where i was moulded and where i became who i am now. It has some nice places as other people have mentioned before, we are lucky to have very mild weather, the New Forest on our doorsteps, Ocean Village is a very nice place to live and socialise, Oxford Street is one of my favourite haunts and the City is loaded with history. It also like any other big cities has absolute shit holes which i won't name because someone has to live there and often not by choice. Are we better than some other cities, yes of course we are, are we better than every other city and obviously the answer is a resounding NO! Personally i've had my fill of Southampton and cannot wait to leave the city, i hate what it has become over the years and a sunny climate and glorious tranquil setting hopefully is not to far away. None of this changes my love for SFC and Southampton will always be my home.....but sometimes we could do with removing those rose tinted glasses and admit on the whole this country has absolutely gone to the dogs and no matter where you are living it is a shit place to live!

absolutely NOT. He barely speaks the language, it was his first game in English football and it was a very much changed side out there last night. I actually have high hope for "Gorilla". He will no doubt be very disappointed by his performance last night and the part he played in the goals, i'm sure it was not the debut he would have wished for. He appears a great character and i trust we have seen something in him that we believe we can turn into a quality premiership defender....given time.

That is awful new for Stephens and potentially seriously bad news for Saints given "Gorilla's" nightmare debut last night. We are now desperately hoping Salisu and Bednarek stay fit and form a great partnership.

no sensible fan is going to write off Gorilla after his first game in England. Tonight will be a good learning experience for him and i'm sure he will be massively disappointed to have made such blunders and that will hopefully spur him on to not make those mistakes again.

A good and upcoming goalkeeper unlikely to cost much from abroad.....step forward Wuilker Farinez the Venezuelan keeper currently playing for Lens. I've watched a lot of Venezuelas games and he is very athletic and a great shop stopper. Really commands his box well.

All this is very interesting when we have one of our own players who calls himself "Gorilla". God only knows what is going to happen when he plays!

Maitland -Niles staying at Arsenal after clear the air talks!

I am prepared to give Ely another chance if Ralph honestly thinks he could offer something this season. However he needs to do a lot of convincing for me to change my stance that he is NOT Premiership level. I watched all the preseason games and therefore saw all the minutes he was included and i saw nothing that convinced me that he will cut it in the Premiership. He had a good game against a very poor Newport and scored 3 goals that apart from McCarthy most Premiership keepers would never have conceded. I really hope he can step up this season because it will be like a new signing......but i honestly believe he found his level in Scotland. Hopefully i'm proved wrong.

Even in such a one sided game Long can't score.....now that's saying something. Professional performance from the lads tonight.

Jesus we have a bunch of miserable bastards on here. Spending £20 million plus sure as hell does not instantly buy you success, at best it % wise might give you a slightly better chance. Many top players came from absolutely nowhere for very little money but were recognised as having that potential. Give the lad a chance, our transfer business so far in this window has been decent.

Please God NO! What the hell did Ralph see in those preseason games that i did not??? I rarely slate our own players but even i have got fed up with some of Ralphs weird selections. Elyounoussi should be nowhere near a Premiership team and the same goes for Stephens and bless him Theo who offers bugger all ON THE PITCH.

Looks like Obi one is off to Blackburn for a small fee. The lad needs to knuckle down if he wants a proper career.

There is a lot of interest in this lad who i would put in the category as Livramento. He has turned down a very good offer from Everton who don't want to lose him because he wants to be playing first team football or at least see there is a possibility of it. He sounds like he would be perfect cover for Perraud. It's being quoted that we are the first club to have actually made a firm enquiry. If we could pull this one off and he's anything like Livramento then we would have done some very good business!

I love Ralph to bits but i honestly think he has lost the plot if he thinks Ely can cut it in the Premiership. I watched every preseason game and Ely was shit in all the ones he featured in. He's too slow, he is not physical enough and he should bugger off back to Scotland where he found his level.

Personally think we should give RH 10 games, time to get maybe 2 players in and get all the new players up to speed. The first half yesterday was good and for 15 minutes once we had survived Everton equalising we were again on top. RH signing of a new CB is collosal for his future, it needs to be a hard bastard who will lead. Get this purchase wrong Ralph and i'm afraid your time will be up.

Is there any chance that with a new season about to kick off and us all being Saints fans on here that we could just discuss football without the need to act like children and chuck petty insults around. Lets have a great season supporting our team.

i VE been out wearing the top this afternoon/evening and proud of it. No negative responses from anyone.

I think it has been plainly obvious to most people that Ralph has been preparing for a Bednarek/Salisu partnership as his first choice CB pairing. Stephens on his day is an adequate backup. What we are looking for i suggest is someone that can challenge Bednarek/Salisu for a starting place and is a better option than Stephens. I get why some don't fancy Bednarek but he is much better than some would suggest. Salisu is the future and that was made very clear when we signed him how much they rated him, this is his season to prove that trust put in him.

this lad looks absolute quality!!