Saints4Prem

To be fair this is from her Wiki page head coach of the United States women's national team. Highly considered as one of the best female football managers in the world[3], she was previously manager of Chelsea Women from 2012 to 2024, winning seven Women's Super League titles, including five consecutively from 2020 to 2024. In 2024, she led the United States to a gold medal at the Paris Olympics.

I do not blame the club waiting on the outcome of whether we would have been in the Championship or Premier next season. If we had been promoted, with the money that comes with it, I am sure we would have signed a Premier quality centre forward. With his injury record and only half of a season playing well in the Championship would he have been good enough for the premier ? and as Trousers has said (got in before me) it was taken out of the clubs hands. I would like him to sign again if he doesn't get a better offer? I suppose he is still insured until his contract ends with us and then will have a new club or his own insurance so hopefully any injuries will not have too drastic an effect.

I suspect that they have some other offers on the table as you are right if he gets injured?

I have a feeling the BBC have a habit of editing things out (so that Trump fella said). Is it possible that M'boro want Tonda sacked so that they can recruit him. It must have been amazing for them to see a manger talk for a few minutes without crying 😁

I think we were extremely naive and must have thought that the expulsion was a non starter. The choice of the tribunal though, was extremely poor as there were thousands of qualified persons but the EFL chose two of the three who had connections with Middlesborough. In my opinion if those two had integrity they would not had stood on the board. Our legal team should have done a lot better at the start but it beggars belief the EFL allowed themselves to be put under this scrutinity (unless of course they wanted a specific outcome?)

Oh no, I can see it now Gibson will sue us as Eckhart disclosed to Hull that Middlesbrough cannot hit the target and run out of steam after 75 minutes 😁

I think two of the three on the panel may have seen them all 😀

I have read that their photographer took a picture of the spy and they have CCTV. He has been identified as an analyst intern from our website. Not the brightest thing to do and hope we do not get hit too hard

12 when you count the ref

You are doing a good job Whitey 😇 however I was there with my son who is also a referee. He was knowhere near as forgiving with the referee's decisions. Of the fouls shown I am not sure many even resulted in free kicks. Regarding the kick in the head you could possibly? argue that the player ducked his head low but what I could not forgive is that he allowed the game to play on with the player down holding his head. I know some players cry wolf but the ref could see the boot hit the head and then should have stopped the game. I found it interesting that the Norwich no 25 made three tackles including the shirt pull back early in the first half without punishment but as the game progressed, especially towards the end, the referee was waving yellow cards like confetti. Even that referee would have given a foul when Edozie was pulled down if it wasn't in the box (I cannot agree that he dived at all, the referee obviously did not think so as he never gave him a yellow card 😜) He was just poor and about the worst referee I have seen.

Oh to have goal scoring full backs

Manning !!!

Not sure I mentioned Bazunu ? I just do not think the new keeper is much better and is the answer. His job is to make saves, I think he has too many mistakes in his locker. He was lucky today as the Watford player he put the ball out to should have scored and he was nearly closed down twice in his area. As most seem to agree here, the change in defence has made a difference and has really helped with clean sheets in my opinion. I am not comparing him to anyone but wish we had found a goalkeeper who could come out for crosses and command the box. I recall a double save he made when he was first here which was a shot he softly padded out to someone's head and then had to save that instead of a good clearance or catch from the first shot. Fair play if you and the others who responded think he is the answer but I hope we find someone better for next season as I suspect with our goalkeeping coaches he is unlikely to improve.

Do you mean the goalkeeper that fell over the ball last week to nearly give a goal away. Today, early in the game, he passed out to one of their players, who should of scored. He also dawdles on the ball and today was chased down by a forward twice and just about got the ball away. He also kicks the ball into touch a fair bit more than I would have expected when he kicks forward. He doesn't command the box and the only difference I can see is that going to a back four has made the defence more difficult to get through. I am not sure he is the answer going forward as it scares me every time the ball is crossed into the box.

Sorry as I attend games I do not look at the match threads and obviously I am totally wrong in everything I said before, as so many have pointed out. I now remember why I do not post much (been watching Saints for 65 years, season ticket holder but dont have a clue about football) when so many here find pleasure in attacking a fellow supporter they do not agree with.

I do not want to pick out names or go through it all, but the 120 page Gavin Bazunu thread on this forum has a large number who blame him. Totally may not have been the best word, but I do not see many of our poor defenders get picked out with as much critisism.

He seems to be the current scapegoat on here and getting the blame for our losses. The poor defence seem to get off very lightly. In my opinion he is not as poor as others make out and has earned us a few points this season starting with the save to stop Wrexham going two up at the start. Since Russell Martin came in and tried to play Pep Gaurdiola football, with players that were not good enough this club has gone downhill, again in my opinion.

Will people stop picking on the goalkeeper and totally blaming him for a very poor defence, a midfield that doesn't play forward and a lack of goalscorers. Also a poor ownership that keeps making the same mistakes on player recruitment, management and bringing the club down to a position where there is not a lot of hope of promotion this season.

Well his assessment and qualities detailed further up in this thread (or the transfer thread?) says that one of his weaknesses is commanding his box. Oops! Also if the team played forward instead of across the six yard box with many errors then Bazunu would not be the problem.

I thought that to win games you had to score more goals than the opposition? So what do SR do, get a goalkeeper in that has been on the bench and hasn't played. If I wanted to win games I would concentrate on getting an attacking goal scorer first? Secondly I would sort out the defence and if it is written in the gods that we have to have a certain quota of possession from tippy tappy backpasses, get some defenders with the quality to play that way. (Or perhaps get a quality Coach/manager that make them stop the tippy tappy and get rid of ones who can or will not change). With a defence and attacking mindset we may not have needed to replace Baz (yes I think he could do a good job if the confidence and stuffing had not been knocked out of him from the many defensive errors). We showed in the run of games/wins that the players bothered in, to get Eckhart the job, that there are some good players in the squad when they can be bothered. It needs a coach that can instil some discipline and get the best out of them. Lastly I would go and get another unproven goalkeeper from the bench somewhere else who can be thrown in front of a rubbish defence and become another target for the boo boys. It makes me wonder if SR just want to make mid table championship obscurity their own 😇

But are you injury prone ?? 😀😇

😇😀 Well, that will not catch on it is too sensible!! We haven't needed a new striker for 3 years of course. It looks to me that the priority at the moment is to bring in another poor sucker, oops meant goalkeeper to be the fall guy behind our crap defence. As for the so-called defence I am not sure Donnarumma would do much better as we tippy tappy our way mid table mediocrity. The owners do not seem to have the same priorities as most of the sensible fans on here and having been attending games for 65 years, only loyalty and hope (misguided at present) will keep me renewing my season ticket. As fans we deserve better and while on my rant it seems like player power has taken over. The players liked RM as he was all lovey dovey with them and they could play the tippy tappy stuff. I appreciate it may work with good players but ours are not Man City quality. I despair that RM was allowed to play the same way to relegation disaster after SR must have seen how it had not worked for Burnley the season before. When Will Still came in at the beginning of the season it was obvious that the players did not to change to his system and they got him out. Eckhart comes in, the players start trying and going forward. (the cheer around the ground at the first goalkick that went long showed what the fans think). Well that lasted until SR gave Eckhart the permanent job (I wonder if they had wished they waited until the New Year) then back to tippy tappy and trying, but mainly failing, to play out from the back. We need a strong manager in charge as I believe there is quality in the squad so come on Sports Republic sort out the mediocracy please.

Great save Bazuna

They cant get much shorter than 1-2 and only one bookie taking bets? https://www.oddschecker.com/football/football-specials/southampton/next-permanent-manager

I just looked on oddschecker (link below) and only betvictor look to be taking bets and they have Gary O'Neil at 2-1 on ?? https://www.oddschecker.com/football/football-specials/southampton/next-permanent-manager