goodymatt

The only player I thought looked poor in the first half was Redmond. He just kept giving the ball away. Good determination from him for our first goal though. Overall a very encouraging performance, much more like it.

I think that JWP, Hojbjerg, KWP and Ings all became notably better players under Ralph. I think they all reached levels that we didn’t expect. Salisu started last season really well and fell off a cliff second half of the season, not sure what happened there. I don’t think you can say players like Tino went backwards. He burst into the scene and just showed the inconsistencies of a young player. Perhaps that’s what we saw with Salisu too, to a degree. Broja would also be in that category for me too. Ralph isn’t perfect but he has shown he can develop players, he’s also not scared to play them which fits in well with our transfer model.

So the questions that come to mind are: 1. Are we going sign another CB? 2. If so, having had various links to this guy and Colwill, who was truly our first choice? Have Palace beaten us to this guy or has Colwill turned them down?

He played just 45 mins against RB Leipzig and I’m already feeling confident he’s going to be a big signing for us. Am I getting well ahead of myself?

Think we are trying to avoid another Broja situation where we loan and then can’t afford to buy, or the player then has his sights on a bigger team. Trouble for us now is that Broja and Delap look to have been our top 2 choices, and we look to be getting neither. I hope we do have other targets that can improve us! I’m starting to feel quite nervous about the attacking positions. We may have to wait until later in the window like we did with Mane and Toby to get a higher calibre of player? Trying to remain optimistic as the signings so far look to be decent. Lavia and Bazunu in particular have made strong first impressions in the pre season games.

That one didn’t last long…

He made a poor backpass which he underhit and lost possession in a dangerous area once but was solid the rest of the time. Looks strong and dominant. I guess as a young player he’s going to have areas to improve but not a bad first run out. He only played the first hour and the first half especially was quite slow paced and cagey due to players fitness and the heat.

His shots on target conceded are easily the worst of the PL keepers. He’s continued that today, don’t think he has made a single save. Absolutely woeful. I’m hoping that’s obvious and Bazunu will be our first choice keeper this season.

McCarthy on, immediately kicking straight into touch.

Early signs from Bazunu look good. Impressive save early on and commanded his box well. Also looked composed on the ball when pressed. Lavia looks a little raw but not scared to have the ball in dangerous areas and tenacious when looking to regain possession. Aribo has been very quiet, not really noticed him much during that first half.

Daily Mail linking us once again to Harry Winks and Dembele. Sun linking us with Delap and saying City are willing to sell, but really just a re hash on Fabrizio Romano ‘decision in a few days’. Colwill seems to have interest from Saints, Palace, Leicester, Brighton and Arsenal. Might be hard to secure him unless being from the area and our willingness to play youth sways it?

I’m going with Aribo Starmix for this season

I think an add free site is now a benefit of the £5 annual membership fee.

KWP still has potential to realise. He still has 3 years left on his contract. I would wager he will be worth more this time next year and is worth keeping hold of for that reason and also because he’s our 2nd best player, playing in a position where his current competition is seriously injured. It looks like the City academy RB is coming in on loan but we just cannot afford to sell an asset that still has growth to realise in the same position we have a major injury in. I see plenty of examples where players who haven’t proven it in the PL yet, like Neco Williams, end up going for £20m from big club academies. The AWB and White examples show KWP is closer to £40m than £20m. Agree he’s only worth what clubs are willing to pay, but £15m reported by Alan Nixon is Matt Targett back up FB pricing. Not England international, one of our best players pricing. I really hope we keep him for another season, when we may need to sell to realise his value.

I think Everton made a move to sign him at the end of the window last summer too? With Tino’s serious injury, 3 years left on his deal. Surely there’s no chance we would entertain selling him? Along with Prowsey he’s our best player for me.

Interesting re the training ground locations, good detective work! Opinion does seem split on whether Broja is the best use of £30m. Maybe it’s the Saints fan pessimism in me but I just don’t see us signing him permanently, unfortunately.

Agreed. They will also pay more wages. The only selling points we have are that we are closer to home than Everton and Sandcastle (not WHU though). Tino is one of his best mates and maybe it’s better the devil you know from his perspective. We have an existing relationship with him (unless rumours of Ralph issues are true), although Frank may also? His family seemed to be keen on him moving to us, according to Ralph. Perhaps the biggest selling point is that we are far more likely to sell to a top 6 team when he’s proven he’s ready for them than the other 3. In that time with Sandcastle have got there themselves? Saints position as a stepping stone club and now a team for the best academy products is a great fit. I’d be both surprised and very impressed if SR were to spend such a fee. Right position and player type to do so though, think he would make us some money. Just don’t see us spending that money based on our current perceived budget. Would love him here permanently!

Time will tell if our new signings are more Tino/Broja than Brewster/Solanke/Ibe. Transfer fees have increased since then though, we are paying £10-12m initial fees for these new youngsters and I’d expect any add ons would kick in if they are doing the business for us. Neco at Liverpool does seem overpriced and with the FBs we have, like other posters, I’m glad we haven’t signed him. You’d also hope Joe Shields inside track on these City youngsters mitigates the risk somewhat. I’d assume he’s had a big say, despite not yet being announced.

Maybe a result of the season being brought forward to accommodate the World Cup? Pre season fixture dates are as follows: SK Austria Klagenfurt (a) - July 18 Watford (at Wealdstone) - July 23 AS Monaco (h) - July 27 Villarreal (h) - July 30 It’ll soon be 6th August away at Spurs.

Would makes sense, shame we won’t get to play them but still a competitive fixture list for pre-season compared to previous years.

So after the Austria trip we are playing Watford, Monaco, Villarreal and Leipzig (TBC) - decent tests!

Zero football brain might be a little harsh, but agree with his decision making being too slow to be a decent PL starter for us. We have seen flashes, against big teams even, where he’s not had time to think and scored a decent goal. City and Liverpool come to mind. Agree that he has looked class against championship opposition, maybe we should keep him as an insurance policy in case we do get relegated… Jokes aside, that is probably the level of player we can afford to have on our bench. So many times though, we’ve been chasing games or need to break through a low block and he just can’t figure out the next move. We are desperate for a player in those number 10 positions that can do that, is Aribo the answer?

Given the game time we afforded Broja, it will be very disappointing if he goes to someone like Everton (I know they are a ‘bigger’ club, but they are a mess atm). It’s a shame we weren’t able to take advantage in January and sign him up. I’m sure the £15m we spent on Armstrong would have been better spent on Broja but he was a bit of a unknown risk comparatively at the time. it’s good to see us snapping up the top talents from City’s academy now to avoid history repeating. Our new owners are really supporting this model and if (big if) these players can hit the ground running like Tino/Broja, we will be in for a very exciting season.

Redmond is a frustrating player, he’s clearly very talented but confidence seems to massively affect his performances. Technical ability wise he’s got it. You do wonder, as mentioned above, if the quality of our team has hindered his progress over the years (leading to dips in confidence) but I think his issues are not down to his ability. On the rare occasion he’s on it, he looks very good. His dribbling ability and acceleration is better than most in our squad. Hasn’t really fulfilled his potential and has left me wanting more from him. Perhaps a change would do him good, but we would struggle to get a squad player in of his ability to replace him.

It’s nice to have a Saints fan covering us and a journalist that goes deep into the tactical aspects to give us more that the usual stuff from elsewhere. Dan was good enough but didn’t delve into tactical aspects the same way Carl and Jacob do. Always found it interesting that Dan, who came from Portsmouth, just happened to not support any team… guess there’s not much worth supporting round there? 😉😇