goodymatt

It’s so important we stay up this season to let these youngsters develop and help us climb the table. It would be such a waste to go down and have to sell the best ones off. That’s the risk we take I suppose, Bazunu looks like a good one so far to me.

So how much % of the club does she now own? It’s decreased from 20% with this summer’s investment in the team but to what? Is there a minimum stake she will hold or does another window of investment buy her out fully? All a bit vague and leaving me with more questions!

We seem to have an annual habit of getting a result with a depleted team against a top 4 opponent. It’s frustrating that we can’t play like that second half every week, maybe confidence is building in that direction now. Really proud of that second half performance, all we ask for is for the players to give 100% and go for it. Well deserved point indeed. I particularly enjoyed Arteta’s reaction to our goal on Sky, he went full Tony Adams training session antics. DCC and Lyanco have great physical presence is the absence of ABK. They had great games yesterday. However, they do both give me that feeling that they could make a rash decision. Lyanco often put the ball out of play under no pressure, I wouldn’t agree that he can play CDM. Fair play to Moi, that second half performance is why he’s in the team, didn’t think he had that in him at all. Perraud is a terrier and is growing into the LB nicely, great to see.

Today feels like a day where the best we can ask for with our depleted squad and their form is a bit of pride in how we approach the game. Arsenal should be comfortable winners today but stranger things have happened. I miss the gung ho pressing monster tactics that can work so well against bigger opponents. Our identity is missing atm and it makes for low entertainment games. That being said a repeat of April’s 3 point robbery will do nicely under the circumstances.

Tella scored 1 goal in 33 apps for us in the PL. Hard to argue it wasn’t the right decision to let him go and get some game time at the next level down to see if he can develop into a player that can actually contribute for us in the PL, beyond speed in a straight line on the counter. 6 goals in 14 games for Burnley is encouraging. Let’s hope he keeps it up, stays injury free and is a more useful option for us next season. I wonder how Edozie would be doing in the Championship? I think he’s technically a better player than Tella based on what I’ve seen so far, albeit limited minutes.

This was supposedly the reason he didn’t join us on loan at the time, opting for WBA and relegation. However, I think he did say in his joining interview for Saints that he would be willing to play wherever needed to help the team. Think we were hoping he had matured a bit… I guess we will find out at Palace. We literally have nobody else so he has to play there!

Tino, KWP, ABK and Lavia. All defensive minded starters missing. AMN will obviously have to fill in at RB but he’s not available for the Arsenal game. We’ve been very unfortunate that all of our injuries are in defensive positions and are all long term.

He’s not going to move from City to be a first choice PL keeper to then go to Chelsea and take up the same role he had before, back up. Lazy journalism indeed.

Does this hint at a new deal?

£40m I think.

I think we just have to accept that buy back clauses are required to access the talent locked down at City and Chelsea’s huge academies. In many cases I don’t think the buy back clauses will be actioned, Lavia looks like he will develop into a player good enough for City (which from 4.5 games and at 18, is rather impressive!). The more of these players we bring in and develop the more we should see improvements on the pitch (if their development goes to plan - not all will of course), the more attractive we are to the next ones. I think Lavia may end up going for under market value but I’d say he’s going to be the next flagship example of why coming to Saints is a great option for young players. This in turn should hopefully increase our opportunities in the market to attract young talent. We had heavily relied on Joe Shields’ contacts this window We are going to be in a position where we are making good money on top quality young players, giving us funds to improve the squad and over time hopefully be at a level where the next tier down from the best ones might actually stay. Another good point raised above is that Joe Shields may help us get some of these players earlier going forward and that would then remove the buy back transfer sale ceiling. Buy back is just a necessary vehicle atm. In summary we have the right guy in place to identify talent to get the most out of our model, which truly does look sustainable. Surprisingly we are already seeing development of players ahead of schedule. Lavia and ABK look well ahead of my initial expectations, for example. It’s quite exciting and much preferred to the recent years model of limiting transfer funds to average players we overpay and can’t shift for nominal fees. We just need to stay up this season to keep the momentum going in the right direction.

Looks like we will have a bit of time to sort it out now

Quite an odd announcement video 😂

Interestingly no special mention for Ralph or any manager during his time here.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CiBAL8NMltf/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= Armando Broja has just signed a new long term contract at Chelsea. Looks like he’s 2nd choice behind Auba, imagine his salary is quite a bit higher now. Think this boat has now fully sailed.

For those that don’t have a subscription: Which three clubs now look most in danger of being relegated? Jack Lang: Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth, Everton James Horncastle: Bournemouth, Forest, Everton Sarah Shephard: Bournemouth, Leicester, Wolves Nick Miller: Bournemouth, Leicester and Fulham. Oliver Kay: Previously I said Bournemouth, Forest and Southampton. I’ll stick with Bournemouth, I’ll hesitantly stick with Forest and… if Southampton keep playing the way they have, it’s going to be bad news for someone else. Everton? Villa? Leicester? Wolves? So hard to predict. Carl Anka: I predicted Fulham and Bournemouth to go straight back down and Nottingham Forest to pip Leeds to 17th on the final day. I’ll tweak this now as Leeds looked good against Everton and should be OK if Patrick Bamford, Tyler Adams and Sinisterra are fit. Fulham will finish 18th, but I’m now asking the waiter if they have humble pie on the menu, as Aleksandar Mitrovic has turned out to be Premier League quality after all. Nancy Frostick: Bournemouth, Everton, Fulham. Liam Tharme: Leicester for their (lack of) window activity, Aston Villa tactically and Bournemouth for weirdly sacking Scott Parker (above) so early into the season. Pol Ballus: Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest, Southampton. Maram AlBaharna: Bournemouth, Southampton, Nottingham Forest.

https://theathletic.com/3558480/2022/09/02/transfer-window-rated/?source=user_shared_article

So with Lavia out of 6 weeks, do we bring AMN straight into the starting line up? It’s a shame that DCC isn’t going to be eligible for this game as Ralph said it looks like we signed him too late to register for this match. I know many think now was the ‘right time’ to sell Romeu, but with Lavia out for ‘minimum 6 weeks’, I’m starting to think January would have actually been the right time!

I’m inclined to agree, the only positive performances I’ve seen in recent years were during his Villa loan. Strange link given our model.

Yep, that’s a nightmare

Minimum 6 weeks according to Ralph in his presser just now.

I wonder if that Mail tweet last night saying we were favourites for Ross Barkley has any legs. He’s a free agent and so could still be signed. Not that I think he is at all a Saintsy signing but I wonder if there is any truth in that one…