goodymatt

I very much much doubt Will Still leaves Lens to drop down from a top Euro league to come and work in an environment where he can’t even select the formation. The wingers we had were: Edozie - was leaving Sulemana - left straight away Dibling - knew he leaving throughout Fraser - redemption arc Robinson - kid breaking through Armstrong - inside forward BBD - inside forward and leaving. At the same time we had lots of CB options and full backs suited to WB roles. It’s clear to me that Will thought, there’s lots of change, lots of uncertainty, let’s play 5 and try and edge the games during this period. He’s tried to move on from those players not expected to be here, rather than rely on them. Frustratingly it didn’t prove as successful as we all want/expect and we have dropped some points. Now the window is closed and we have motivated wide players. Let’s see if he changes. If he plays a 5 tomorrow it’s because it’s a derby and the international break means we’ve not had enough time to get everyone on the same page. Not because Rasmus is picking the formation and lineup.

When asked about being favourites on Sunday, Will just said “we are Southampton and we are a big team, we will be favourites against most of the teams we play in this league and that’s just where we are and the way it is really”.

It’s encouraging that their head of football implied that it was strange some of their fans didn’t take to him, given the numbers he produced for them. He was clearly well rated internally but when a player wants to go, it’s usually best to allow it, as we know all too well. I’d much rather have a player that produces numbers consistently than someone who works incredibly hard but it doesn’t amount to anything. Very interested to see how Azaz does with so called better players around him. If he scores and/or assists on Sunday then he will be off to the best start possible with our fans. Watford was a free hit for him after 1 training session and he still went close to an assist and forced a good save. I think he will be a success here.

There’s a reason why Spertysan and Rudoni were higher up the list, but we can accommodate him drifting through some games if he hits double figures for goals and assists again. That could be the difference between autos and playoffs for us. The challenge is going to be balance as we could have a few players on the field that don’t work hard off the ball: Scienza, Azaz, Archer (sometimes he does press but mostly not).

Expect that’ll be the case for next season.

13 is an odd number for a winger #Sc13nza I had expected he would have taken Smallbone’s number 8, which was his number at Heidenheim. Im sure fellows would have had Aribo’s number 7 had he left.

This guy is unbelievable at free kicks! Only cost Watford €3m from Bayern but they did retain a 50% sell on clause.

So the Belgian window closed last night, Edozies move never materialised. What do we think happens now? Will he perhaps leave for Turkey by the 12th deadline or Saudi by 23rd? Or is his reintegration the most likely outcome from here? Aribo was always going to be one of those windows that is still open or run down his contract. I’d keep him as 4th choice at CM plus ability to cover elsewhere. Trouble is that we just don’t have enough spots in the match day squad for all of these players!

Not sure where to post this tbh, but wasn’t he considered when we appointed Juric? Wonder if we would have done any better with this guy?

Like with Brownhill, chasing one last pay day? Not sure he was ever under consideration for a return, even though it’s the profile we miss.

Derby week is here 😇

@Rivers very sorry for your loss. Sending best wishes to your family at this difficult time. I wanted to thank you for sharing your story, it was brilliantly worded and you and your dad are a credit to the Saints fan base. Like others, I hope your story is shared with the team before this huge game next Sunday. Let’s win this game for your Dad 😇

🆕 Sékou Mara loaned to AJA! 🔵⚪️ AJ Auxerre is pleased to announce the loan for one season, without a purchase option, of Sékou Mara, coming from @RCSA. Sékou, welcome to AJA! 🏡

My tickets arrived today.

People seem to agree Flynn is the one at risk of losing his spot. I did think Edwards at CDM was an option for the Watford game when Flynn dropped out ill.

The recent training video shows Caspar looking very good on the ball. Towards the ends he’s twisting and turning Jelert all over the place. i wonder how we keep Flynn, Charles and Jander all happy? Don’t expect any will be happy to sit on the bench.

Just one more thing to add on Jay, I really like how he always wants the ball, is happy to track back and seems to create space to have a shot. Plenty proven players have struggled to do all of those three in recent times for us.

Dibling is an unusual mix of pace, technical ability and power. He made international full backs at some of the biggest clubs in the world fall over themselves or just bounce off him. He has all the attributes to be a top player and that’s why he’s gone. Dibling’s physique after this summer looks bigger and stronger. Even in the championship he played a cup game vs Watford and powered through their entire left hand side, he’s always looked very hard to knock off the ball. Robinson has played a handful of games and looks able to dribble with both feet and get into the right positions. He is sometimes pushed off the ball but he is still filling out and adapting to the step up to men’s football. We’ve seen him snatch at a few shots and sometimes not get the power behind them. I get Lallana vibes how he twists and turns, he’s not weak at all. Remains to be seen how Robinson develops but he looks plenty capable for the championship already, which is encouraging. Much more raw than Tyler but he’s jumped the queue in front of some seasoned players already. Both are a fantastic advert for our academy and it’s great to see us producing players again that actually make the first team. It will be interesting to see how Jay is managed now we have Scienza and Fellows who will expect to start.

Last player to score from near the half way line Che Adams vs City, wasn’t inside his own half mind. Rickie Lambert at MK Dons with the chest and volley was pretty far out too. That effort and both goals scored were all decent technique, oppositions first game ever vs a Bundesliga team, so standard of opposition needs to be considered, same for a lot of his highlights which show him playing 3rd tier in Germany before Heidenheim.

We have the highest xG (9.3 goals) having only scored 6. In comparison Coventry are 2nd (7.7 xG) but have scored 14! They have been very clinical (not sustainable/swayed by the QPR game) and Rudoni has played a part. Shame we weren’t able to bring him here. Hopefully we start taking our chances after the international break. Only Wrexham are above us (9) for big chances missed, we have 8. We’ve conceded 6 goals but were expected to concede 5.4, so although Bazunu has only saved 45.5% of the shots on his goal, it’s pretty clear he’s not to blame for the goals conceded so far. Perhaps more of a coincidence he’s carrying on his low save percentage. Time will tell if backing him is a mistake.

Different gravy those three, what a time that was.

He was a €15m signing for Bournemouth from Lyon. Was quite an exciting talent at that time, I recall thinking how did they get him but they loaned him out immediately to their French club Lorient. Has only made 5 league apps for Bournemouth.

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/13419169/summer-transfer-spending-premier-league-efl-wsl-scottish-premiership-laliga-ligue-1-serie-a-and-bundesliga-breakdowns interesting read, scroll down to the Championship section to see us win the net spend trophy. I’d like to thank everyone else for playing.