goodymatt

He could have an opportunity to play one of the 10s for us when our first choice fullbacks are fit. I think both positions in our system suit this player well. Hopefully we can assure him enough to choose us over WBA. He wants to stay in Southgate’s plans but I don’t see how playing for WBA would do that?!

My first game at The Dell was Saints 2-1 Newcastle (Premier League, February 1999) James Beattie, Jason Dodd pen and a late consolation from Hamann.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CKgIzFcMBPg/?igshid=1tcjms240pl03 Can we take anything from KWP being front and centre of the Southampton FC Matchday Instagram post? Normally injured players don’t feature in these but it is a late injury...

Fraser Forster was coming off his line much quicker than he used to last night. There were a few short back passes and sweeper keeper moments. It was good to see he’s improved that side of his game, as Ralph had mentioned in recent interviews. I really am liking the look of Diallo, he’s a classy player. Lots of potential there, will be interesting to watch him improve with us.

He doesn’t sign, he leaves this summer. He signs with a low release clause (only way he signs?), he leaves this summer. You could argue keeping him for the extra season and letting him go for nothing in 2022 would lose us a transfer fee but maintain our premier league status? In isolation though, I don’t see the club wanting to lose our best asset for nothing. In summary, he leaves this summer. Sigh.

We weren’t at our best last night but we played with a much changed side and the number of academy players forced to play were higher than we would have ideally liked. That said, I thought we won fairly comfortably and didn’t ever have to get out of second gear, which was welcome to avoid any further injuries and get the job done with the minimal effort needed. Good opportunity to see some academy players we hadn’t seen previously in the first team too. I have to echo the thoughts of others on Shane Long. I’m sure he is still capable of performing at a higher level than we witnessed last night... He looked ineffective against league one opposition, which just isn’t good enough.

Examples of Bednarek and Stephens both giving the ball away trying to play those progressive passes. Think people need to understand/accept this is how Ralph asks them to play. We are missing Vestergaard who is clearly the best at doing this of all our defenders. As many have mentioned, overall this risky approach has brought an excellent return for us this season, but we are going to make mistakes at times. I do wonder why we religiously stick to this is the dying moments of games though. We are 1 nil down and just need to go full Sean Dyche and get the ball into the box. Instead we carry on doing what we do, taking those risks in the 94th minute. We saw the same patient approach in the last period of the Arsenal away game and the crossbar came to our rescue. I would like to see us go more direct to try and salvage the point or get that winner against a team that has parked the bus with 10 men. We were in that game until the very end, with half our match day squad unavailable for selection. Hard to be overly critical of Saints at the moment.

No Ingsy, no party.

Depends if Carol looks like Shakira...

Hope it’s not too long before we get to see him play. Reports were so positive in the summer and I want to see what all the hype was about. We’ve had to wait a while to see the scorpion play, I’m sure it will be worth the wait 🤞

Gray would be a decent signing, especially for nothing. He’s very fast and has a good shot from distance too. Has been hot and cold for Leicester but that may be due to being in and out of the team in recent seasons. I do remember us being interested historically. Eze would have been perfect, another we were linked with but either failed to sign or decided not to pursue. If we do sign Gray we would be overly stocked in that department unless Theo is then seen as a forward.

Did Ralph say anything about Che Adams being available or not? He was rumoured to be a doubt as well as McCarthy?

Accident or not, Dawson endangered an opponent and that has to be a red card. He basically kicks Che’s head like a football with a decent amount of force. Che is fortunate to not be in a similar situation to Jiminez and I’m sure he was affected by it for the rest of the time he was on the pitch. Surprised how quickly he got up really.

I think you are right regarding Bertrand. Form of Redmond and Djenepo is affecting his game. He clearly has a better understanding with Redmond, who had a mare yesterday after coming on. I notice that he’s less likely to commit forwards and provide the overlap when Djenepo is facing up to beat a man. I think it’s because 9/10 Djenepo loses the ball and it would leave us completely exposed if Bertrand had gone for the overlap. Also Djenepo often doesn’t choose to pass when he does, preferring to try and dribble to the byline. City are a dangerous team on the counter and I don’t think a conservative approach from Bertrand means he’s starting to show signs he’s over the hill. I think it’s more experience or maybe even Ralph telling him to protect that space. From the start of the season I’ve noticed KWP has been given more freedom to get forward.

I’ve seen players feel their hamstring and because they stopped at the right time they come back fast. Maupay earlier this season walked off the game before playing Saints and made it into the pitch against us in the next match. Here’s hoping we are as lucky with Ings. He did seem relaxed about it waking off when speaking to team mates. Could miss a lot of games otherwise. Playing him 3 times in 6 days after only just coming back from a knee injury does seem nonsensical.

Really enjoy listening to the pod. Rickie Lambert special was another level. Thanks Ben, absolutely loved that trip down memory lane. Couldn’t agree more, what a legend Rickie is.

It’s just an app now on sky to watch Prime if you have a subscription to Prime. No cross platform sharing.

I see betting suspended on Poch with some bookies, would be a great fit!

It was career ending for Ryan Mason, but Alex Telles came back from the same injury. No timeframe on Jiminez in the public domain at the moment. Certainly no guarantees he can safely return, which would be a big shame, he’s a great player.

Totally agree re initial feelings when Bertrand and KWP were signed. Bertrand ended up being better for us than Shaw has been at United and is very consistent. KWP is showing a lot of promise and really suits Ralph’s system. Can’t help but think Targett will go on to be a player more than good enough to be our first choice LB, but we couldn’t expect him to keep sitting on the bench when he had the opportunity to be a first choice PL LB elsewhere. Our finances mean we needed to sell to buy Adams too, which is the reality of our current limitations. I’ve not seen enough of Vokins to be convinced yet. Like with Targett it would be a pleasure to see another academy graduate make the grade. Williams is right footed and can play both LB and RB, but I think I’d rather have Targett than Williams for his natural left foot and academy sentiment. Ultimately we could end up regretting selling Targett in hindsight but the fee for the time was a very good offer for us and we needed the money.

If Bertrand doesn’t sign, do we have any regrets in letting Matty Targett go? I know we used that money to bring in Che Adams who was a greater need at the time. I do wonder if Bertrand’s eventual replacement will be below Targett’s level.

Great news if true, fingers crossed!

Give him a blank cheque, we cannot afford to lose him. Sign da ting Danny!

Carragher on Monday Night Football just said Southampton can’t sustain their conversion rate as Danny Ings is out for a long time... He’s on the bench Jamie, you know for the game you are here to cover! Unbelievable.