Gordon Mockles

Indeed it was and I got shot down for mentioning it as we apparently have a top 10 team. Clearly not. The defence has been abysmal for ages and ignoring the full back situation was nothing short or negligence. Danso should have been bought to be an improvement to the squad & therefore walked straight into the starting lineup not sit behind Vestergaard. Otherwise, what was the point of buying him? We need a box to box midfielder and two new full backs (Targett should not have been sold with no replacement) and a new centre back which will cost. Can’t see Gao spending that but maybe he will when faced with what he will lose. As mentioned, this was obvious already if he had done his homework. Talking about it now it’s ludicrous as many of us saw this at the start of the season but nothing was done which was after negligent and we deserve all we get, quite frankly. Our board are clueless. Ralph definitely needs a solid number 2 as it appears Röhl was the brains tactically. We need to stop losing quality staff and not replacing them. If we lose someone key, buy in someone equally good. Slowly but surely, all the good work Markus & Cortese our in place has been washed away through underinvestment and negligence. This is the result.

WTAF? Calling a Chinaman, a ”Chinaman” is not racist you moron. Not anymore than calling a man from India an Indian. FFS. Unbelievable. In this country, people are looking to take offence from anything. Man up princess. You can say anything in a derogatory tone but it doesn’t make it racist, per se. Just a strange & bizarre attempt to create a qualifier to racism which it is clearly not. Pointless debate anyway. Ralph so needs a decent number 2. Couldn’t quite believe that Kelvin Davis is first team coach. What has he got to offer? We need an overhaul but everyone knew about the defence ages back. In fact, I got shot down for suggesting we needed new defenders & will be low in the table because apparently we have a top class, top 10 team. Some people aren't unnecessarily negative, some people are just realistic and don’t like living in a deluded bubble. Learn the lesson

I’ve wanted him out for ages. Total waster. GAO OUT!! Boycott the games then he’ll have to pay attention. I refused to purchase tickets under Gao as he doesn’t invest nor have the respect to address the fans. 2 relegation battles and same defence. Why buy Danso? If he wasn’t good enough to walk straight into the squad & displace Vestergaard, then why did we buy him if he isn’t an improvement?! 3rd time lucky. We will be relegated this season and we will deserve it. The board couldn’t see this happening? They couldn’t care less.

Absolutely. Kat has ruined so much good work. Gao is a charlatan and the worst type of owner. Stereotypically, the Chinese like to make money & not spend it which is not a good recipe in an industry which is a billionaire’s playground and you do need to speculate to accumulate despite people often citing sustainability. It’s very difficult to make a sustainable and competitive club in this league, especially with the smaller grounds outside the top 6. Gao has brought nothing to the club other than a media blackout and not even had a mission statement, such is the contempt he seems to hold for the fans. All I see is him using our club for his own benefit, to our detriment, to promote football back home with little interest in our actual city or club. As you say, he’s rarely at matches and never engages with the fan base and hasn’t invested at all. Move on if you can’t help us Gao. We need a conscientious owner, not a parasite, making us weaker at each transfer window.

I can. The club have blagged their way through 3 transfer windows, changing the parameters & dangling the carrot to to the fans to maintain ticket sales. The Echo club mouthpiece now saying that we used up our budgets last season (on one freakingly negligent & risky last minute loan with Danso) which is absolutely laughable. Gao is in charge and he will lead us to relegation. The squad is thread bear in quality & depth.

There’s not really much room to chop and change as the squad lacks strength, depth and quality. The first choices have to play and there’s not really any competition for places in midfield as we need all our first choice starters. I don’t think Hojbjerg should start every match as I feel he’s been poor recently but who do we replace him with? I’m not sure why we ever bought Armstrong as he never plays. I haven’t been overly impressed by him with touch and control but he’s played so little, it’s hard to be overly harsh but I’m beginning to question this apparent burning desire of Ralph to play youngsters ahead of all else, including more experienced pros as they surely offer a touch more quality and experience which is needed in some matches plus the mental boost across the squad. Constantly favouring youngsters must drain the confidence and motivation of seemingly loyal players like Long, Armstrong & occasionally Ings. I’d start Ings and Long ahead of Adams. He needs dropping and see if that motivates him. He tries hard but perhaps a break and a sub appearance could suit him better but Ralph dogmatically persists in starting most league games with him & Vestergaard and I hope that changes. I don’t see why Long doesn’t deserve a run.

Good point and perhaps I was a trifle harsh as Ralph has him playing great earlier on but I just felt he lacked that attacking impetus for me. I take back the premier league comment as in retrospect, that was ill thought as he’s clearly a staple PL player but I’d have been better served saying not my first choice of PL midfielder in my squad. More a squad player. I’d have preferred more of an attacking, box to box threat such as Lemina was at his best for us.

Not really. You just don’t agree. I class him as a good championship player. Some of the lower rated PL clubs may be happy with a signing like JWP as Villa were with Targett but everyone has different aspirations. I never thought JWP was bad and he’s a good set piece taker & has a decent engine but I think he lacks the attacking prowess (I won’t say shooting ability because that’s obviously a form thing) & forward, threaded attacking balls to have him first choice but, as the initial post intimated, we are thing in depth & quality.

The ability of our fans to recognise a point (or miss) is laughable at times. I was talking about the midfield. We have done the defence to death and this was a new topic which is valid. The low levels of expectation, realism and bewildering inability to accept contrary opinions on this message board is also laughable at times. I forgot Redmond so relax a little. Bednarek is a decent blocker but, in case you missed the point, I was talking about the midfield. Gotta assume you're about 5 by your level of comprehension but well done. Could do better. ;o)

Yes. Totally. Aside from Ings, Romeu, Djenepo, Bertrand & possibly Boufal, we don’t really have many PL calibre players. Commented similar on the Hojbjerg thread (who I think is poor). I think it is as simple as selling off players and loaning our flops & totally neglecting your squad development. In fact, our squad development & transfer policy seems to be based entirely on the academy and crossed fingers. Simple, basic, neglect. I am totally in the CB Fry camp (if memory serves me right) on the idiocy & the utterly incomprehensible stupidity of our management leaving the Danso transfer to the last min and not addressing full backs after selling Targett and not having back up for Bertrand, an arrogant tw*t of a player (but decent defender) whom we have had constant temper mental issues with. Hence the ludicrous staring line which lost us the Bournemouth match. I’m really pleased with Tuesday’s result but I genuinely fear the remaining season when injuries happen because we will really suffer the effects of our negligence. Whims and hopes are not ideal match winners.

I think he’s been poor recently and someone should start ahead of him. Him and Prowse seem to stall forward moving impetus despite one good bit of skill by JWP on the left flank. I took in comments on here and that of friends and really scrutinised the midfield Tuesday night and we really have some issues there. It’s swapped totally from us having no attacking threat for years to having all the thrust from defence and attacking play from midfield, stale and flaccid. JWP doesn’t have the temerity to go past people usually and Hojbjerg hasn’t been performing but we have little strength & depth. I’d actually like to see Long integrated back in. Ralph needs to address some balance. This culture of pushing up the kids could, possibly, have a detrimental effect on players like Long, Armstrong, etc. I’d have felt Long was more suited to a derby than Obafemi who I’m still not sure about. He has pace and did a great assist for the goal but he’s not naturally gifted on the ball. I wonder how long before Romello Mitchell or the big Austrian, Klarer, start, if successful, to emerge. We definitely need some new defensive options but we knew that last season and left it to the last min. CB & full back cover...but ideally if we have any ambition, we need to buy 2 first team starters in central defence and full back. Does no-one else have concerns about our defensive coaching? Or general, total disarray in defence?! So lacking in player tracking and zonal marking works better when you at least close down the attacker inside the 18 yard box. Certainly approaching the 6 yard box. Not continually backing off until they have a shooting opportunity. Unbelievably poor defending throughout the Skate match, particularly the first half. Our issue is, our squad is so thread bare on quality, there is no competition for places as there is no decent quality back up. Not even mediocre.

Play your best player & Ings is our best striker. Adams needs to be dropped. It may do him good to have a mental break but what message does it send to the more experienced pros & wider squad if they can hit form and not get picked yet if you’re young & playing poorly and missing multiple chances, you still have a starting place anyway?! It doesn’t set a good precedent for competition for places. Ings was up for it last night. Few others were and our defence and man marking was nothing short of abysmal. Sunday league at best against weak opposition. I’m getting highly concerned about the quality of our coaching set-up. Certainly our defensive mindset. It’s the worst I’ve seen it in years. Don’t get me wrong, I’m pleased about the result - massively happy today - but we played poorly with some worrying defending and the defence seems to be getting worse. That’s without Vestergaard. Bring back Danny.

CB & full back are 2 very different positions and I seem to remember Danso being sold to us as a centre back who can play defensive midfielder but CB his natural position. Centre backs operate very differently to full backs and it was clear before that Danso is not suited and extremely uncomfortable as a full back. Are we that poor a club and that hard up that we sign inferior players and force them into positions not suited? If so, that’s a recipe for disaster. I would try Danso and Bednarek & put some effort into nurturing Danso’s confidence which Ralph has done everything to shatter. Friday was a complete clusterf**k by Hasenhüttl. I hope this isn’t a sign of things to come now Röhl isn’t by Ralph’s side. Judging by the lack of composure & expression on the assistant manager’s face first half, he looked panicked and completely out of his comfort zone. Much like Vestergaard in a pair of football boots.

An accurate synopsis of the match. Vestergaarrd was a liability from the opening 3 minutes and continued to look out of his depth and panicked. He was awful. Danso, Ralph should have learned, is not a full back and couldn't look more uncomfortable in that position. It should have been Danso, Bednarey in the centre with Soares on the right and Bertrand on the left. Ings and Adams seem to simply lack the quality. Certainly the confidence. I had high hopes for Adams but, from what I have seen, I am torn between being patient and wanting to believe he will improve, confidence or not, or the realisation he just isn't PL quality. It's a shame we have lost Lemina as he is exactly what we need. Someone to break up the play like Romeu but also with the ability to surge forward, take players on and make incisive passes and create forward, attacking play. Something JWP rarely seems to do. Boufal, Redmond and Djenepo would really benefit hugely from that type of impetus. I am hoping Ralph has learnt from this. I am beginning to wonder if Rohl was the brains of the set up (certainly for tactics and analysis - Ralph seems a good man manager). This match was lost in the first half due to a crazy line up of players played out of position and some whom started who shouldn't have. A poor day for Ralph. Bournemouth weren't all that and second half, we should have done them down the flanks. If Djenepo was playing, I think it would have been a different story once the full back debacle was rectified. Hoping we rectify this Tuesday as the Skates are truly dire. I find it idiotic we sold Targett with no replacement or back up. Multi-tasking Danso to do so illustrates how naive, stupid and short-sighted the management have been. Negligent. IF Bertrand is injured, we have no adequate replacement and Soares is one footed and showed he can't adequately fill in. Soares can be decent going forwards on the right but isn't a crunching tackler or ball winner. Ralph was seemingly promised more but the management misled or didn't deliver or just took yet another high risk gamble. I think that's why Rohl walked. Cue the usual suspects (who run the club accounts) frothing at the mouth and abusing any poster daring to offer a critique of their beloved club with their inside knowledge that not a penny is spare in the transfer and wage budget and FFP prevents us doing anything despite clearing out a number of players. The Chinese like to make money but simply do not like to spend so blaming Reed was fair but also convenient. Let's hope we sort the tactics and line up better Tuesday.

Really sad about this. A kind hearted gentleman who did so much for the club, whilst other more self-serving ex Chairmen were more intent on profiting from and destroying the club in what seemed like a revenge move, undoing much of the good work Leon did. He was a true Saints fan and a great ambassador for the club. I will be forever grateful to Leon for rescuing us from humiliation with the laughable Jimmy Krankie/Milan M statue. What a debacle. Only at Southampton FC. May he rest in peace. Thoughts with Leon's daughter and family. Today would have been my Dad's birthday so the thought of another Dad leaving his family has particular poignancy today (but the sun is shining). RIP Leon.

Tonic isn't really like Lemonade though is it? Even in both contexts of the word "tonic", this slogan is a bit cr*p and doesn't really make sense or work on any level I can deduce. Stick to playing football and learning the benefits of humility. I used to really like Lemina. He started with a seemingly good attitude from afar. Not sure the catalyst and where it all went wrong. Another talented player blinded by the overwhelming urge to fast track his way to wealth and status without putting a shift in (eh Lovren? The King of self grandeur, ego and deluded sense of self worth. The worst player I have witnessed in terms of attitude over the last decade of world football). I appreciate many players have got away with little effort for large reward but surely it gives a better sense of satisfaction achieving success through sheer hard work and determination but I am judging him with my own standards which is my main mistake. Lemina is better off putting the effort in as many other footballers more successfully manage. It's still a pretty charmed life but that lazy and arrogant mindset which plagues so many footballers of undoubted talent ruins the modern game for me in a sense and that preoccupation with materialism has hamstrung his ability to leap like to higher peaks. I remember Saints had similar issues in the dressing room around the time of Carlton Palmer's arrival when CP and another senior commented and condemned the dressing room for the excessive focus on money and materialism rather than football. He'd never experienced a dressing room like it. Tedious conversations and an endemic preponderance for status and players with a sense of entitlement and the complete lack of sporting hunger and drive for success. We needed that Northern attitude at the time; much less materialism (as is common place on the South Coast and Southampton), and much more drive and determination with a sense of teamwork. Luckily, we have Ralph who is clearly a great man manager very much focused on the psychological as well as tactical side of the game which is half the battle in the modern game.

I remember travelling up many years ago away at Fulham only for the club to turn hordes of Saints fans away en mass due to some ticketing fiasco. Remember watching the match in some Thai bar in Fulham and the ground was half empty. Proper screwed us over that match. We played in white. Many years ago now. Least we won but injuries to key players at this early stage with a thread bare squad of quality aren’t good. Starting to seem fortunate we didn’t move on Boufal.

I hope you got sorted because the email was that of my friend whom I was posting for. He shifted the ticket and hopefully let the others know he had sold it. I’ve been busy this weekend & only just back online so apologies for lack of contact.

A friend has a couple of tickets going for the Saints match away at Fulham. League Cup. Tues 27th August. It is for one adult and one concession for Fulham (Saints end). £20 the pair, cash on collection from Bitterne Park on Sunday. He’s away after that time. Either DM me here or sent a direct email to - cavemanbiggles@gmail.com

This echoes my sentiments exactly. Spot on fella. I’m glad some of us still have high levels of expectation & ambition even if the club seemingly don’t. Everton had the perfect transfer window and whilst they clearly have more money available than us, we should be aiming to compete with teams such as these; Wolves, Watford, Newcastle, Palace & Leicester. Bournemouth should be looking up to us. Sadly, we seem to have swapped positions and the club appear just happy with us to finish above relegation rivals. If not in words, as our club don’t communicate, certainly in action. Look at Everton’s signings. That’s the level we should aim for. Maybe the Arsenal signing Iwobi a little too much for our current restrictive budget but - much like Royal Mail being sold to a group including the chancellor’s best man - he was undervalued and undersold will clearly move on for a much bigger prices in a season or 2. That’s what we should aspire to. Even if you can’t achieve it with a restricted budget while saddled with overpriced, p*ss poor & unmotivated players as a result of a negligent & incompetent board neglecting overseeing the club management, at least dream big.

Most of us were not happy with these signings. We were happy we had signed players in these positions. A big difference. They were unproven. Now they are proven but we had no idea that they would prove to be dogsh*t! I would rate the window 7 out of 10. That’s a kind rating as we have no idea on Denso & Djenepo but the winger sounds exciting but have said that before. Denso must be solid. I trust in Ralph more than our previous scouting in conjunction with Les. Some interesting football, technical conversations about our midfield protecting the back and I’m inclined to agree, without Ralph favouring Romeu & age & mobility now slowing a once good player for our club. I feel it’s time to be looking at replacing Romeu in DM. Everton have bought superbly and should surely be expecting a top 8 or higher finish with what they’ve spent but they’ve also done some seemingly excellent business. Possibly the best on the league. Gbamin is a direct replacement for Gueye & is exactly the type of player we should be looking at. 25 million a very good price too. Everton’s transfer policy is spot on but we would struggle to attract this type of player, sadly. We need to at least have some form of mission statement to inspire the club. Some target of ambition we can sell to young, prospective players. In the academy & from outside. Survival or the offer of a big money move to a bigger club is not a sign of intent. We need a new plan of attack and a dream to aspire to. Much like Markus’ 5 year plan. The spirit we so carefully instilled in the club has stagnated. It needs a fresh injection of passion, performance & pride and that can only be built from within. https://royalbluemersey.sbnation.com/2019/8/5/20751706/everton-transfer-news-what-will-jean-philippe-gbamin-bring-idrissa-gueye-psg-latest

Just heard the same. This will make me happy. CB or DM

Wind you neck in you complete bell! We need a couple of players in the real world of lateral thinking fans and I'm sure Gao can afford it. Hey, sign no-one else and see where we end up. We need defensive steel and unless we get that, we will throw more games away stupidly. Carry on being a Gao apologist but I am not a fan of him so accept it and get over it. Until he shows some intention and commitment, or even addresses the fans, I will remain a critic. He's brought nothing to the table so far but you climb back up his a*se where it's safe and warm. There is a possibility he brought the club as a bargaining chip for acquiring real estate judging by the dockside interest and land enquiries but no-one really knows his intentions. All I know is Kat decimated all the good work her father did in a year. Seems Gao has more interest in land acquisition than football or have I missed some reassuring mission statement he shared with the fan base as to his intentions to move the club forward?! Oh!!!!! Wait. No!!! Let's hope today isn't potless as we will have swapped one problem at one end of the pitch (lack of attacking prowess) for another, leaking goals at the other end and throwing away games. Sorry if that realisation scares you.

Just bring in a couple of players of quality. Kat decimated us but clearly sold us a lie. He’s no interest in the club. If he wanted to hold on to his investment you would think he would put some of the television money into the bloody club because you can’t say we don’t need it. I can only comment on how the media has been done since Gao’s arrival and the club has been very disingenuous and missed fans. He had a mess to sort out but he hasn’t done a great deal other than remove people. Recent management changes aren’t reported much. If he made some sort of statement to the fan it would be a bonus but I find the lack of communication contemptuous. Most fans I know aren’t overly happy with Gao so you’re contrary to the opinion of those regarding our ownership. Still, opinions vary.

This is the situation I sadly see happening tomorrow. I really do hope we are wrong & a little part of me will hold some form of optimism like many of our fans manage to muster in the most adverse of situations. Chez makes some good points about the squad so at least some people watch the same games as me. Faz seems surprised some aren’t overly impressed by the squad. Maybe there is another St Mary‘s in the upsidedown where the squad are world class. We are weak Faz. League positions tell you something. Djenepo is an unknown quantity but he could be exciting. Adams excites me. I hope Redmond improves further and I would love to see Boufal mprove under Ralph because there is definitely potential there. However, Romeu’s legs are gone and we desperately need some steel at the back. That has been clear for too long and we will continue to throw away games if this isn’t addressed. We need bulldozers in central defence and defensive midfield. In fact, the scouts should make it an obsession!! You can’t help but laugh at some of the chastising comments but more so when people lament “a site obsession with a centre back” which is pretty much our main, defensive frailty but don’t let reality get in the way of a barbed comment. lol We have a weak central defence. We do not have a single, strong CB partnership. Yosh has qualities, Bednarek has qualities but both have clear faults. As does Vestergaard. Or does Ralph use 3 at the back with 2 wingbacks because he thinks our defence is rock solid? Unbelievable f**kwittery!! LMAO