goodymatt

Break from the league as we travel to Watford to see if we can keep this unbeaten run going. I’d expect to see good minutes/starts for the players on the fringes like Alcaraz, Charles, Stephens, Holgate, Rothwell. I wonder if any of our injured players might be back with a few due to return the end of this month? I think this will be a tough game, but going for a 2-1 win. We definitely don’t want a replay given the fixture schedule in February!

He cost Plymouth just £1.2m and we employed his former manager. If only they had a good relationship, he would have been a great signing, over risking £8m (rising to £10m) on a long term injured player.

Martin’s post match press conference for those interested in watching: https://x.com/justinallen1976/status/1748735395162980781?s=46&t=7raSKCMt6LV8RJ1C2d39WQ

Feeling nervous, lots riding on this game: unbeaten record, taking 2nd for the weekend and putting all the pressure on Ipswich. Come on Saints!🤞😇🙏

On the bench today. Did he drive straight from Sheffield to Swansea?

Fabio Carvalho got their winner 👀

Pretty sure Charles was £10m rising to £15m with add ons? £10m is still a high fee for this league mind. I expected him to be a starter fairly quickly but still think he’s going to be a decent signing for us over time and likely make us a tidy profit as our model requires.

I think we will see a record breaking points haul from Leicester and 2nd place will be higher than usual too. Would be just typical for us to get relegated the season before the bottom 3 in the PL are so much weaker, combined with getting enough points to go up normally this season but ending up in the playoff lottery. There are no free hits, we are going to need to be relentless. Normal champions points may be needed just to get that 2nd place. So keep it up Saints, starting with tomorrow and breaking that unbeaten football league record. We have the momentum over this amazing run but harder fixtures are to be faced. Go to Leicester in March and win for example and it will really feel like we have got this.

Free transfer/low risk is a fair point. He’s still our weak link though IMO, although his performances are improving of late. This a player brought in to hit the ground running and be well versed in Martin-Ball but I still see huge gaps being left when he plays that Bree doesn’t seem to leave when he plays. He’s also not contributing anything like the goals or assists for us that he did at Swansea. Creating our most goal scoring opportunities though to be fair to him, helped by how spread out across the team that is due to our style. Is the defensive side that I remain unconvinced on. I’m a bit underwhelmed overall and pretty sure on promotion he will need to be replaced. Therefore ‘beating’ Leeds to his signature doesn’t feel like the win it did when we signed him.

Still trying to work out if Manning was a ‘win’ for us. Lavia was a nice profit for us at least.

We continue to be linked with Ben Johnson of WHU, whose contract expires this summer. I think he will be our KWP replacement, whether that’s this window or most likely in the summer. Leeds interest in Benson is interesting. I think this is our most likely RW signing now and it would be a shame to lose out to Leeds. I’m sure Burnley would rather he went there if they are truly holding a grudge over nothing. Brooks is apparently needed to cover for Bournemouth’s AFCON players/injuries so I don’t think this is dead, just would be a late window move if it does happen when they have options back. Diallo would have been my first pick at RW and Carvalho for the Rothwell role. Diallo has confirmed himself it’s Sunderland only in the championship but perhaps unlikely he even makes that move. Rothwell was clearly happier with the game time limitations than Carvalho who was straight in Hulls starting 11 last time out.

Well that’s a shame, he would have been perfect. Manuel Benson seems to be the main target then #FreeBenson, unless there is still a chance with David Brooks.

Boro apparently winning the race for Amad Diallo loan as they are offering to pay a higher amount of his wages. We are still interested (Alan Nixon)

https://theanalyst.com/eu/2024/01/southampton-russell-martin-club-record/

FAQ section on the OS article suggests away fans will be moving to the family stand.

He mentioned in his interview that we have been talking to him for a few weeks, so good to know it’s not a ‘who else is available?’ after the Carvalho pursuit. Actually think his experience and relationship with a few of our players makes him a decent fit. Sounds like his playing style will help break the lines too. More sensible than exciting but you can understand the logic here.

I thought the entire team got a 40% reduction, still £42k/week is high for this league. Aribo cost us €7m apparently so a relatively low fee, but his wages are what you might have expected on a free transfer, definitely inflated.

His first game in charge was 6/1 vs Morecambe in FA Cup (2-0 win). This weekend’s 2-2 draw at Birmingham was his first Championship game.

So basically lumped too much info on at the start, took a step back and focused on key elements and went at a pace the players could learn from thereafter to make his information into a feeling for instinctive play? That sounds like he just changed the speed/order he taught the players, rather than what he was teaching. i guess we will never know if the changes in play we have seen over time, long passes, more direct at times etc is what he always intended or a response to the 4 defeats on the trot. Either way, I like what I’ve been seeing since September, we look great. Still need to see how we do away at all the other teams chasing those top 5 spots to know how good we really are.

Seems Rothwell is more of a Carvalho alternative than anything to do with the RW search. I reckon we will keep Che and it will be Rothwell plus a RW and that will complete our business.

I think Leicester are still on track for a record points haul. The chance of them not finishing top 2 must be an extremely low probability. For that reason I hope they beat Ipswich. If Vestergaard could avoid any last minute deflections this time please.

Leicester do have the best team in the league and to have a 10 point lead on us given how well we are playing and that we have now lost the same amount of games is a credit to them. From a Saints perspective it’s frustrating when you think of draws like Rotherham, Watford, Norwich and Huddersfield. all 4 of those game we were by far the better team and that is the difference, killing off games, especially away from home.

Russell Martin returns to his old club with the target of breaking our football league undefeated record. 5-0 winners vs Swansea at St. Mary’s should give us confidence. Swansea now managed by one of Martin’s former assistants. We have the momentum with us and I fully expect another win, even though managers going back to previous teams can add a bit of extra pressure. Saints would go back to 2nd with a win and stay there until at least Monday night, when Ipswich travel to Leicester. Leicester will be without Maresca in their dugout and Fatawu due to suspension.

Che with another left footed finish, that’s 2 in a row!