benali-shorts

Whatever the kit is, and I’m going out on a limb here, I bet the ones that don’t like it are more vociferous than those that do.

I completely agree. It baffles me we have seen a pairing of JV as right-sided centre back and MS as left-sided centre back, which potentially seems our strongest pairing.

Hmmm, the shared game time thing is reminiscent of Terry Gennoe and Peter Wells.....neither of whom were very good either.

I suspect Lopez's contribution to Lille can only be fairly judged once the impact of the debt repayments eventuates - God knows how they'll repay the remaining £120m debt with deflated player values and French football in a disastrous financial crisis, and how Lille will look in a couple of seasons' time after JP Morgan and Elliott Mgt have reviewed budgets . Campos did v well with lower-value player recruitment, but post Covid, that's going much more competitive in the Premier league, and particularly where traditionally richer / bigger clubs will be fishing in cheaper ponds (where Santos has traditionally excelled), with greater competition for lower priced players (who may previously have moved to eg French league by way of stepping stone). Santos would be an interesting consideration for the recruitment role, but no doubt his Lille role was linked to profits on player trading, which I'm not sure Gao would be quite so keen to share! I'm not a big fan of the rolling dice of player trading profit to fund a club (pretty much what we've had for the last few seasons, only now with deflated player values, but player wages failing to decline accordingly), and Lopez's model seems to be that. Sadly, I'm not sure there will be any significantly different alternatives out there, despite how they'll market themselves. They'll all be gambling on increased TV revenues, with player trading to plug the shortfall.

Yes. Low net worth individual who ‘stepped down’ as CEO of Lille when JP Morgan lost faith that he’d be able to manage the repayment of their £200m loan.

It's reasonable to claim that the higher frequency of games this season has had a particularly adverse affect on us, having one of the smallest squads in the Prem. I think the consensus would be that our first XI with a normal 1 game/week schedule is decent (top half arguably), and that Ralph prepares the team well when given sufficient time between matches. Our 2nd XI quality is very poor comparatively, which has led to overusing the first team players, with inevitable higher rate of injuries mid season. It'll be interesting to see how we go next season, with a normal frequency of games, and presumably resolving the obvious squad weaknesses which have been apparent this season (full backs). Hard to have a definitive position on Ralph from the extreme fluctuations during the season, but overall I would very much back him for next season to prepare the team competently when given sufficient time. I'm much more worried about the prospects of squad ability minus Ings and Jannik, than I am the quality of coaching under Ralph.

About £20m more than we'd be willing to pay?

Quite surprised he hasn't been linked with a move away. Probably our most valuable asset given contract length? £30m+? Not implausible that any of the top 6 would see him as a viable squad option, albeit not first XI.

He'll be a big loss, our best defender, a threat from set pieces; and his diagonal passing was a vital tool during our good run. I'm sure they'll want to cash in with only a year left (£15m?). Leicester will come in again you'd think? I'd imagine we need to recoup £20m to cover loan and operating losses, so he and Danny (also £15m?) might give us a £10m budget. very difficult summer ahead....

loses concentration, caught on the wrong side, desperate chase and lunge, big protest about it not being his fault. All strangely familiar.....

The issue for PL being that if they deem Bednarek not to have made a foul, it also would mean Martial dived / cheated (there having been no contact), a complication which won't help our cause. Do they then have to cite Martial? I suspect they'll back Dean's interpretation, because....well, it's just easier that way.

I wondered if not being sacked by us, and therefore not being unemployed, somehow helped him get a work visa for the US, so it was an agreement which suited all parties

Mental health issue, hence no defined return date & general sense of wanting to keep under wraps?

I must admit I hadn't particularly noticed Tella's pace during any of his brief appearances to date, but notable on the list below from BBC. Good asset, will be interesting to see if we can develop him effectively. Fastest Premier League players this season Player Top speed (km/h) Tariq Lamptey (Brighton) 36.6 Kyle Walker (Man City) 36.6 Nathan Tella (Southampton) 35.6 Oliver Burke (Sheff Utd) 35.2 Aboubakar Kamara (Fulham) 35.2 Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton) 35.1 Jack Grealish (Aston Villa) 35.1 Jamal Lewis (Newcastle) 35.1 Harvey Barnes (Leicester) 35.1 Kenny Tete (Fulham) 35.1

The Times reporting Everton have made a bid of around £14m for him (not the £25m mooted previously). I'd be surprised if we got anything near £20m in reality, probably nearer £15m (or KWP plus £5m). The salient bit in the article reads: "Everton have bid about £14 million for Southampton’s Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, who has hankered for a move to Tottenham Hotspur". https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/sport/beautiful-relationship-between-carlo-ancelotti-and-marcel-brands-has-the-say-on-everton-signings-prjs05dvd

Impressive form over decent sample period of 20 games. Huge credit to Ralph for this.

Worth noting that article goes on to say: "Saints manager Ralph Hasenhuttl is set to look at Forster in pre-season as he assesses his goalkeeping options, with Alex McCarthy now ahead of Angus Gunn in the pecking order but guilty of an error this week against Arsenal".

Reims centre back Axel Disasi linked https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8278775/Southampton-confident-winning-race-sign-13m-rated-Reims-centre-Axel-Disasi-summer.html

I think it's right to say he might not be top 8 material, but also history tells us we'll replace him with something a whole lot worse....

This makes me think of Egil Ostenstad.

V good performance really. Lost momentum when Boufal went off. Gunn’s distribution is terrible, and slow coming out for the third which gave Son the chance to get there first and cheat. We’re good to watch again. Hope JWP not too long term.

Agree JWP could be sought after now he's demonstrated the ability to add bite and dynamism to his game, as well as being English and brilliant at set pieces. Wonder what sort of value on him now? £30m+? It would leave the club without an academy poster boy in the first team, so maybe we'll be reluctant to sell - it's a big ask to potentially replace JWP, PEH and Oriel so I would think (assuming there's some rationality left in the transfer committee) that only one would leave, plus Lemina.

Oh dear. This won’t end well.

Thank Christ for that.

I saw both. He's trying to force round pegs into square holes because we have such poor defensive options. RH isn't blameless to any degree, but the mediocrity of our CBs is in turn loading pressure on to the rest of the team, and as per Dusic's post, I think this is a much more pressing issue than whether JWP plays or not.