WALK DMC

I can't defend his performance last night, it was awful. I do think that he is a better player than the one we saw yesterday, but he needs to be dropped (for his own good) and somehow to try and get his confidence back. In my view he will never be a top player, but he can make a contribution when he is on song - but I do recognise that has been a while since that has consistently happened.

I assume that Smallbone would have been viewed as the 4th centre-midfielder. He has certainly played there before (e.g. starting v West Ham away last year, when he was preferred to Romeu). The fact that his appearances have been fairly anonymous in centre mid doesn't mean that he wouldn't have been considered as an emergency for that position. So there is a fair argument for saying we went into the season with 4 potential CMs. It's just very unlucky that two of them suffered season stopping injuries. The best game that I have seen Smallbone play was in the first half away at Leicester before he got injured. Rather than CM he played in one of the attacking mid positions, wide on the left, if I recall. I feel that is where is future career may lie, rather than in a defensive role.

My feeling is that for whatever reason Ralph just doesn't trust Jankewitz - and I mean that from before Man U. He didn't get selected for Shrewsbury when "less senior" reserves played in midfield. I haven't seen enough of Jankewitz to know why, but there does appear to be a reason why Ralph is worried about using him. As I mentioned previously we were desperate against Man U just to get 11 players so there just wasn't any other real option. I agree with your assessment of Stephens abilities, but I suspect that in a one-off game (hopefully Diallo will be back soon), Ralph may decide to go with an individual with premier experience rather than a complete novice who he doesn't trust. I don't think either option is particularly palatable, but I guess Ralph gets well paid for making difficult decisions. I believe that Jack has played as defensive midfielder when he was on loan (Swindon ?), but I'm not sure that it was particularly successful, as I've only ever seen him the back line over the recent past. I think its a no-win decision; I don't feel confident of any sort of a result whoever is played, my hope is focused on the return of Diallo and KWP. But sometimes football turns up some strange surprises, so you never know, maybe Jack or Jankewitz will have a stormer on Monday. Fingers crossed.

You make a good point, but it should also be remembered that Salisu and Vest were both injured for the 9-0, so playing Stephens in centre midfield instead of Jankewitz wasn't an option for Man U. We really were down to our bare bones so it was almost a case of "who is fit?".

I notice that neither of our on loan LB & RB backups have failed again to make the first 11 of teams in League 1 and struggling in the championship. They are both on the bench again.

Of course, the danger of making decisions based on a short term period is that it can lead to knee-jerk reactions and mistakes. There are clearly mitigating reasons why we have performed poorly in the last 6 weeks, mostly key injuries. Even the 9-0 can be explained (I was more annoyed by the Newcastle game). However, you're right that at some point there has be a time when a change needs to be made, my argument is that it is too early to do that because of a (very) bad run. If Man United or Saints hadn't stood by Ferguson or Lawrie, history could have been very different. Be brave, but also think back and use the statistics over a much longer period: Look at the 2020 calendar year: 34 games, 5th ranking in the Premier league. above Spurs, Everton etc. Doesn't that count for something ? Clearly that was over achieving, but I'm not aware of any of the other Manager who could have achieved the same with so little investment. So yes, you're right - results are key, but don't judge Ralph on the last 6 weeks - Consider both our results and our performances in the previous 12 months. They are outstanding. That's why I will continue to keep the faith and not support knee jerk reactions for changing our Manager.

Ralph does make selection and tactical errors. He can be rigid in his formation and there isn't a clear plan B when things go wrong. But I haven't lost my faith in him or believing that he is the best Manager that we can get. We've been unlucky in recent weeks, but the biggest issue is that our squad isn't strong enough to lessen the blows from multiple injuries. The limited depth of his squad in key positions means he is managing at a disadvantage against virtually every other Premier team. But he has demonstrated previously that he can recover from the depths of despair. I don't believe any other available Manager (who we could attract and afford) would do any better. The situation with the squad is awful and it will take 1-2 more years to correct it. It might even get worse (Ings/Bertrand) before it gets better. We could get relegated this year, but that still wouldn't make me believe that we'd find a better Manager, just that the unbalanced squad coupled with unfortunate injuries preventing us achieving what we are capable of under Ralph. Sometimes you just have to ride the storm and keep the faith. Let's get behind him and the team - he has a long term plan for the club. I for one hope that he is here to deliver it.

I actually think that this is what we did against Chelsea, where we defended solidly for the first 70 minutes but started to get a more equal proportion of possession in the last 20 minutes. Of course, you could argue that our style was due to Chelsea having better players and dominating the ball but we did defend very well. I wouldn't want to play that way longer term, but getting a few points from dull 0-0 draws would be very appealing at the moment.

Jonjo will be 24 years old next month and while he has decent experience, it doesn't look as though Everton feel he will make it as a Premiership starter. As cover for KWP or emergency left back would make sense, particularly if we could get on loan and have a look at first. I don't sense that he has the potential to become another KWP, but I suspect that we don't have ANY cash, so it will probably need to be a band aid solution for next year. The obvious outgoings to generate decent cash are Ings & Vestergaard, but any incoming would probably need to be spent on replacements for them and possibly Bertrand too - or worse, paying off the 9% interest loan. It is all quite depressing, I really felt we were evolving into something that could challenge strongly in the top half each year and feel that the recent form can be rationally explained and a better balanced squad would have mitigated the poor results. Let's see - I am still of the view that as long as Ralph stays we'll do ok (not get relegated next year), but it does make you wonder what the potential of the team staying broadly the same with 1 or 2 smart additions could have been.

The service on Saturday was really limited due to the domination of possession that Chelsea had. Of course, you make your own chances and he didn't contribute much, other than the penalty. Regardless, he has still scored 2 in the last 3 games including a superb high quality volley. You're suggesting that we replace him with two players who haven't scored in the last 3-4 months. It hasn't been a great spell for Danny. His season has been disrupted by injury and Covid, plus the team haven't been great since the turn of the year. But ........................ he has more class than any of our other forward players (although Minamino also looks to have quality finishing) and will continue to get a few goals even when not playing at his best. Play your best players. They will come good.

That unstoppable goal scoring machine known as Shane Long has just scored for Bournemouth !!

This is true if the only reason for letting them go on loan is to develop them as players, but it is also a way of putting them in the shop window. Clearly we wouldn't get much for Vokins, but if Valery did well and combined with his age and premiership experience it would be possible to get a decent transfer fee which could go towards other players. Sam Gallagher is the obvious example of a player who didn't have a consistent run of games at Saints but did well on loan and we received multiple millions for him. I'm not suggesting either Vokins or Valery would generate as much cash, merely that this loan could be the first step in adding to their market value. I get the impression that we are pretty desperate to generate income at the moment so we'd bite the hand off any Championship team that offered any real money for Valery .......

Looks as though both Vokins and Valery are experiencing tough starts to their loans spells. The local Birmingham newspaper awarded Valery 4/10 for his performance today and commented "A pretty forgettable full debut for the Southampton loan man, looked edgy to start with and didn't really offer anything from wide positions". Maybe they just need a few games to settle in (he says optimistically but without any conviction)

3rd January 1970 - Beat Newcastle 3-0 in the FA Cup (Frank Saul x 2, Mick Channon). I was 8 years old and we stood in the Milton. In those days, kids could take a box to stand on. My dad had brought along a decent sized stool which he had already painted with red & white stipes. The turnstile guy immediately told us that the stool was too big and refused to let it through. I began to think that my first trip to The Dell would end in failure, but my Dad didn't give up and they eventually let us in (including the stool ). It was the beginning of a beautiful relationship with the Saints .......

I really don't think people are jumping on a few errors, they're just trying to give an objective and balanced view on a new player. Salisu demonstrated some good potential, but also made some match changing mistakes which we shouldn't brush under the carpet. He was clearly rusty and is only 21 years old (centre halves generally getter better with age), so I think these were understandable. But again balancing that out, Wolves are not a free scoring team at the best of times and removing their 3 best attackers meant that Salisu didn't have to face a genuine premier class attack for most of the match, so easier to impress. I liked what I saw, I want to see more, but Bednerek and Vestergaard remain the top two centre halves for me for a while yet. I'd actually have a similar view on Minamino who scored a wonderful goal on Saturday but his contribution in the 2nd half was abysmal - of course this could understandably be due to fitness, conditions, etc. But let's see a few more games before we declare them better (or worse) than we already have ....

The one other area where I think Forster has an advantage are savings shots from close range. Some of his best performances have been when he has saved attempts made from the 6 yard area. I recall the Arsenal away game as a good example. However, I would use the word "save" loosely. An alternative view would be that he is a big lump and quite difficult to avoid if you're only shooting from a few feet away and the ball regularly cannons off his body and diverts away. Perhaps not the biggest complement, but I do think that it is an advantage for certain types of chances over the likes of McCarthy who is less able to make himself big (and has been beaten at near post a few times lately).

It doesn't appear to have been an auspicious start to Vokins' loan at Sunderland. Two games in and the reports have been very negative: Sunderland: Vokins lets Johnson down again | FootballFanCast.com Of course, young players need time to settle into professional leagues, but it may go some way to explaining why Ralph seems so relaxed about letting him go.

We don't have a long list of quality experienced forwards to replace him with. Romeu played very well when given the chance and was subsequently in the team on merit. if Ings falls out totally with Saints on the contract extension, I just can't see Adams & N'Lundulu offering that level of replacement, so would expect him to continue to play until he leaves. It appears that Walcott is out for a while, so another alternative is no longer available either.

I totally agree. Bertrand still hasn't signed the new contract. Ralph doesn't rate Vokins/Valery. Ings could be off and today we have no strong deputy for Adams with Walcott injured. We're probably one short in central midfield although thankfully JWP/Romeu don't get too many injuries, but when they do we really only have Diallo as premier class (And I think Smallbone is better out wide). If Bertrand & Ings leave we could have £20m+ to spend on: Starting 11 replacement for Ings Starting 11 replacement for Bertrand Three squad players covering forward and full backs (probably youngish with potential) If Walcott doesn't sign (or we choose not to), then I think Ralph would consider Armstrong, Djenepo, Redmond & Smallbone as adequate in comparison to where his other priorities lie. I can't see the likes of Hoedt or Lemina generating much cash. If our policy is to only spend what we bring in, the shopping list above is fairly frightening ....

I certainly don't believe he isn't trying. I think he is just going through one of those periods when a goal just won't come. And the longer it goes on and the harder he tries the more difficult it will be. He could (should?) have had two yesterday. Forwards go through these spells; probably just needs 1 lucky one and more will follow. He went through the opposite phase post-lockdown last season when it felt like every shot he took was almost guaranteed to go in. The bigger issue is that both Ings and Adams are in the same cycle at the same time so neither of our forwards are scoring. Probably not helped by the whole team not playing well over the last 4-5 weeks.

It does beg the question why he wasn't substituted. It was obvious that he wasn't contributing anything in the 2nd half and Djenepo was on the bench, or we could have stuck Vestergaard up front for the final 20-30 minutes of the game (rather than as we did very briefly). I read a click bait article last week that indicated that we'd pay less for the loan the more Minamino plays. Probably nonsense, but it will be interesting to see if he plays every match (although not a lot of competition with both Walcott and Armstrong probably out for a while).

The trouble is that when you lose 9-0 it just looks like sour grapes to complain about 1 or 2 decisions that unfairly went against us. The best thing we can do is dust ourselves off, get some of the battered troops back in the team (hopefully KWP & Romeu) are possible and the red card for Bednarek rescinded. This is not a bad team and the best response we can give instead of complaining about that idiot Dean is to win at Newcastle on Saturday.

I've always had the impression that Ferry is marked for greater things and perhaps they felt Vokins could get in the way of his development. Ferry suffered a bad injury just after being voted youth team player of the season while Vokins has only had a handful of games more, so we're not really losing a lot of experience. I still suspect that Stephens will be the short term preferred deputy for Bertrand once Vest & Salisu are back.

Why ? It could work for both parties. We would get premiership experience to support Ings & Adams, loan out Shane Long, King would get back to the Premiership, remind people what he could do (and get a bigger contract in 6 months) or if he liked being with Saints, actually stay for longer. I don't think the transfer will happen, but if we exceed our loan limit something like the suggestion would seem to make practical sense. Unless you have some insight that we're not aware of ?

Jack Stephens played left back earlier in the season against Newcastle. With Vestergaard and Salisu supposedly close to returning he could be available to cover either full back position. I'm not suggesting that he is an adequate replacement, just that if the transfer window doesn't bring us respite, we may see him covering those positions until the end of the season. The Man U game is probably too early for Vest to return, but Ralph may view Jack as a full back an option going forward (in the absence of anything else!).