Simon3737

I’d go for one big guy and one quick guy in a back 4: Big guy choice: 1st Vestergaard 2nd Bednarek 3rd Hoedt Quick guy choice: 1st Yoshida 2nd Stephens I wouldn’t write any of them off yet. Everyone seems to accept that Badnarek at 22 is a young talent who will improve. Stephens is 23 and Hoedt is 24 - all still young for defenders.

Like most fans, I support our business model of investing in the Academy and buying young players who will develop (and earn us a profit). However, sticking too dogmatically to ‘the Southampton Way’ led to Les and Ralph not trying that hard to stop Koeman leaving (because he played 3 at the back a few times) and then appointing Puel and Pellegrino. Overall, I’m delighted that Les and Ralph have been pressured (by nearly getting us relegated) into being a bit more pragmatic and giving our manager more freedom. I don’t think it means we’re about to start selling off the Academy and buying 32 year olds on big wages. I was worried in the summer that Les would persuade Ralph to let Hughes leave and appoint a new Pellegrino type. Fortunately, Les and Ralph decided to make the sensible choice. I think it was the right one and I think we'll have a decent season.

I agree with that team. If Moi isn’t fit, I’d go with JWP on the right (instead of Gabbi) as we need someone to take free kicks/corners. Redmond or McQueen as back-up choice for the left side.

Am I right in understanding we now have 30 players who aren’t under 21 so 5 won’t make the first team squad? When do we have to confirm our 25 man squad? Thanks

Last season’s lesson plan: - Football is all about efficiency - Losing every week is a sign of progress - 4 record signings sat together on the bench is a sign of strength in depth - Our Academy is going from strength to strength as demonstrated by relegation followed by a mid table finish - Nathan Redmond is really good at running in a straight line towards opposing players then losing the ball. Undroppable! - No reasonable chairman could possibly have noticed Pellegrino was a rabbit in the headlights until March. To answer the OP, yes I think we’ve learned quite a lot from last season. Don’t repeat any of the above!

IMHO: ---------------------------McCarthy----------------------- Stephens-----Vestergaard-----Yoshida---------Bertrand (Targett) (Stephens) -----------------Romeu---------Hojbjerg----------------- --Ward-Prowse--------Armstrong--------Elyounoussi-- ------------------------Gabbiadini----------------------- I’m assuming Cedric won’t be available (although I notice he’s now got his photo in the new kit on the OS so I’m hoping the rumours are unfounded). If Yoshida isn’t ready to start yet, I’d pick Stephens as we need one centre half with some pace (big guy/quick guy combo). Otherwise, I’d like to Stephens tried at right back. I think he could be decent there. I think we need a midfield to create chances and I’m hoping this is it. JWP is a hard worker defensively too. Saints 3 - 0 Burnley. Easy!

I’m not qualified to know whether Sims is First Team level or not, but FWIW I think it’s very difficult to develop an Academy Player who’s at exactly the right level/standard for our first team. In an ideal world, they’ll be too good (like Walcott, Bale) etc. They’ll play for a year or two then “move to the next level” and earn us a big transfer fee. The only Academy player I can think of who was exactly at our level was Adam Lallana. Maybe Callum Chambers too (who seems to have disappeared at Arsenal) If one of our Academy players isn’t quite at our level and we sell him to Bristol City for £4 million for example, surely we could count that as a modest success for our Academy. It will give us funds to develop the next generation and keep progressing.

I only watch when a man brings an antique in. I kick in my TV whenever they let a woman on.

I think Lewes are a small provincial southern club! Now we have to overtake Lewis, Brighton & Reading Women’s teams and Brighton & Bournemouth Men’s teams to be the undisputed top football team in the south again.

Fraser Forster sounds perfect for them! He’s got Champions League experience and has won one of Europe’s “premier” leagues. Let’s start touting him for £85 million and let them think they’re getting a bargain when we finally settle for £45 million.

100% agree!

I’m surprised more comment hasn’t been made about 50% of our 6 coaches being goalkeepers. As long as it works, then great. Clearly, the way to stop our team playing such negative football was to get them coached by 3 goalkeepers, a left-back and a former Saints defensive midfielder (who admittedly played upfront for some of the world’s best teams before getting his dream move to Saints)

The Academy got relegated a year ago! If the Southampton Way means anything, it means Academy success. Don’t leave it to Les as a consolation prize. Les did great for a few years until Koeman left/was pushed, but 2 years of failure since then as he started believing his own hype (just like Wenger over the last 12 years). I actually think Les won’t be interested in staying on in a reduced role. He won’t want to work with Hughes and Hughes won’t work with Les. Les wants a European technical tracksuit manager who lets Les decide the squad and style of play. The Board clearly decided to reject that when they picked Hughes. I find it hard to believe Les was enthusiastic about the collective decision.

100% agree. Les and Ralph tried taking on player power and lost. Nice idea, but doomed from the start (it looks like PSG won’t be able to keep Neymar after a world record fee, so what chance do plucky little Saints ever have). They tried giving players big pay rises in exchange for committing to longer contracts. The millionaire prima-donna players happily took the extra money, but still expected to be able to move “to the next level” as soon as they chose. There are 4 bigger mistakes which I think have no excuse: 1) The shop window / stepping stone strategy was successful, both at attracting ambitious players (and managers) to sign and at getting “single digit” finishes. Why change it? 2) Why did we let Koeman go without much of a fight and allow Les to pick two yes men (Puel turned out less of a yes man than Les hoped). My guess is that Les had nothing to do with appointing Hughes (and thank goodness!). 3) Why did we stop our stategy of finding hidden gems like Mane from the Austrian league and start buying reserves from big clubs who look good on paper, but haven’t been used to playing regular first team football and gaining match toughness/fighting spirit. 4) Our U23 Team was relegated a year ago and no one seemed bothered. The Academy is surely a fundamental part of “The Southampton Way”. Les should lose his job for this failure alone!

Totally agree!

Totally agree. From listening to Pellegrino’s interviews I get the impression he massively over complicated his instructions and confused and demotivated the players. Back to basics is what we need.

Maybe sacking Pellegrino and appointing Hughes wasn’t Les’s decision! Maybe Les and Ralph are now being edged out my Mr Gao...

I expect he’ll say what we’ve all been crying out to hear.. “Football is all about efficiency” “Bournemouth are a very good side, it will be a very difficult game” “There’s only a few points between 12 or 13 sides” “When a player is running towards an open goal, his first thought should be to defend just in case the other team tries to counter attack” “The Team is improving every week and 17th is a great league position” “Let’s start with Nathan Redmond again. I love the way he runs fast with the ball directly towards opposing players and then gives the ball away”

Has he got any experience with millionaire prima donnas though?

We managed to get Sammy Lee after he’d agreed to go to Brighton, so don’t give up!

Thank goodness! The season starts now... We just need a manager to let Gabbi play. Give the rest of the team photos of Gabbi so they start to recognise him. Explain to them that all those great runs he keeps making are worth noticing and he won’t be offended if they try to pass to him once in a while. Drop Nathan Redmond and let him train with the under 23s where he may finally learn that running fast with the ball in a straight line towards opposing players and then giving it away isn’t such a good idea after all. Tell the players it’s ok to pass the ball forwards sometimes. 10 points from 8 games to stay up, then spend pre-season getting these players as fit again. Easy!!

It’s gettng to the point, I’d settle for the heroic return of Jim Smith!

Well done Gabbi! Sack the guy who won’t let him start a match!

Gabbi and Boufal for Redmond and Tadic please......

I think the main problem is playing 7 games in a month over Christmas. We could keep the tradition of matches on Boxing Day etc without having to squeeze a quarter of the season into 6 weeks. I assume the motivation for all the games over Christmas is because that’s when the Champions’ and Europa Leagues have their winter break. My solution is to bring the League Cup forward so the final is before Christmas (they already get as far as the quarter finals before then anyway). That would mean all teams except the semi finalists would have 2 less December matches. I think this would be a good idea anyway as it would mean the League Cup was over before the FA Cup 3rd Round games and it would be interesting to have a European place decided at the mid way point of the season.