S-Clarke

Doubt we'll ever see him again, should get £10-15m for him though.

If you think Lavia is the problem then you're a troll.

I think the players should donate any appearances fees from tonight to a local charity, it's the least they can do. Not to ignore Grimsby in this though as I want to be gracious about it. They gave it everything, so much effort and passion, played like a team and got the luck their efforts deserved. It didn't take much to defend against us, but they deserve their night and I hope they get a good draw in the next round that gets them a few quid.

Another player who has stunk this place out for a couple of years now. He is at the point of no return now, he will never make it here and he needs to go for everyone's sake. I never want to see him again.

There is nothing positive about him, he's a walking lunatic who shouldn't be playing football.

Or a bunch of absolutely useless players with shit attitudes, who are totally thick and unable to think for themselves? Do they need everything spoon-fed, are they unable to see what is happening in front of them on the football pitch, or do they need grownups to keep pointing the way? There's so much managers can do, these players have dropped their lot now for a year or more.

I don't think I've ever disliked a Saints player as much as I dislike Lyanco. Aribo comes close though it has to be said. Should be a good laugh with them stinking the place out in the Championship.

At what point do you guys start looking at the fucking players? 3 managers, different coaches, same absolute shit. Sack them all.

A hideous, hideous, hideous team of hideous individuals. New players come in and get taken over by the hideous rotten core which is prevailing so deep in this club right now. As much as I want to be positive about the Championship, it feels like we are on a one way trip to back to back relegations given the rot that is deep, deep in the club. Reminds me of Sunderland.

Yeah it worries me a bit as well, Elyonoussi I think/hope will go as he's out of contract. Moussa we gave a new deal to, for some bizarre reason. That decision will forever confuse me. We might get some random European clubs interested, I'd take them up on whatever they offer us - Ditto Diallo. I don't think any of those guys would cut it in the Champ either, they struggle with the physicality of the PL and the Championship is even more physical. Diallo for example would be eaten alive, need to put him out of his misery. I see this as an opportunity to start again with the spine of the team which in my eyes is rotten. 9-0's, losing runs, 30 home wins out of 170 or whatever it is. Just rotten and we need a radical refresh, not tweaks. Maybe relegation will afford us that opportunity, too much faith has been afforded to players who have continuously failed us - we have to be ruthless this summer.

Haven't heard anything, which is usually not a good sign. He's no longer in the training pics. He did have a set back, but I don't 'think' it was his knee. Whatever the outcome I'm fairly sure we won't see him this season.

I think that's fair, let's not forget the fact that we were a rabble before SR came in. We've been circling the drain for quite some time now and it's always inventible that clubs like us will get sucked down. In some ways I think SR underestimated what was needed here, Semmens painted a picture of serenity from the outside but it was far from that and I think SR went into it with their eyes half closed. Focused too much on young players on the assumption that the likes of Moi, Moussa, Adams etc can cut it for us. We needed better first team players and then added kids on the back of it. I have said all along that I believe SR have done everything with the right intention, but it's just how they've executed it all which is the problem. It's not inconceivable to me that a year in the Championship will enable them to settle down a bit and turn the tide, I don't think they realised how much of a sinking outfit we were.

I can't see any scenario in which he stays if we go down. The guy is on 100k p/w for starters, he's the player with the highest sale value we have - we're going to need that income to sort ourselves out for the Championship, so I think JWP will see it as a way to repay us by enabling us to get a decent $$$ for him. There is no way this guy plays in the NPC. He could rock up at any of the top 10 clubs. It feels like the right time for a clean break and a fresh look at the on-field captaincy as well. Don't get me wrong, JWP has been amazing for us over the last few years, one of our only shining lights really, but his on field leadership will always leave me wanting more. Never seeing any galvanising from him when things go bad.

This is where I think we fall down - when we keep players like him as a 'squad player', because it just bulks the squad out with absolute crap. If he's not good enough to start for us then he's not good enough as a squad player either. He's no where near Steven Davis, comparing those guys is like comparing Messi to Ali Dia. Light years apart. Davis could turn with the ball, run with the ball and most importantly pass it. All traits which are absent from Moi's game.

Don't think I've ever missed a comment from you, sorry if I did - not intentional if I have. I know what you mean, but there are still players in the core of the side who have been around (and part of the losers, as they can be called). Bednarek, Elyounoussi, Moussa, Salisu, JWP, Adams, Diallo etc. We've added some players to freshen it up, but we're still worryingly reliant on that contingent of so called experience, of which most have consistently failed us. It doesn't take much for young kids to get taken over by fear, especially when the so-called experience has been bogged down so much with it over the years.

We've had some depression-inducing footballers over the last 5 or 6 years, he's another one to add to the list.

They're all paralysed by fear. Stops them doing anything that may put them at risk. You have to take risks to win games, but we are too scared to take risks. Need an entirely new core to get that mentality out tbh. It's stunk us out for years.

You can go all the way back to 2017 to be honest, it's been pure misery most weeks. The worst way to spend your money in Southampton on a saturday.

I just wish we'd have bought him and an experienced GK in the summer. The guy Bournemouth have (Neto) would have been a good shout on a free, with Bazunu the young understudy. I just hope this experience hasn't totally ruined him as a player, there is a chance it has but we'll see.

This is true, and it really makes you question the people making the footballing decisions if they believed he deserved a new contract. How much evidence do they need to see he can't cut it? He's been here 5 years too long as it is, I just hope we don't do anything daft in the summer and get him to sign that extention. I'd lose all faith at that stage. He needs to go to a foreign league which is played at a much slower pace, just like you say. In english football he's dump.

Good Signing: Lavia £11m - Top player, this is an example of where age doesn't always matter. If you're good enough you're good enough, no matter how old. This kid is good enough. ABK £10m - Good player, great attributes. At the start of the season he was a beast, got a few niggles since. Bad Signing: Aribo £6m - Cannot deny that this guy has been a flop. Looks so out of place. He has a great touch, but his style means that he's so slow to do anything with it. Shows how utterly horrendous the SPL is, Elyounoussi adds weight to that as well. Bree - 750k - Cost wise, no drama there. But he was brought in as the managers mate and I wouldn't expect to see him again. Pointless signing. Jurys Out / too early to tell: Bazunu £12.3m - Jury is out for me. I don't think we can really categorise him as total dump yet, he's a young kid put into a raging inferno. I'd have had no problems signing him for the future – but not for now. Orsic £5m - Can't class him as a bad signing because he hasn't played. Need to see more of him before coming to any conclusion. Paul Onuachu £16m - Jury is out, need way more time. The guy is huge, that is clear, good strength and actually a decent touch. We just don't play to his strengths. If we did, we have a real weapon there. DCC £7m - Decent player with good pedigree, but he just hasn't played enough to conclusively say if he's good or bad. Larios £6m - No drama on this one - a punt on a young kid, could be good in the future. Edozie £7m - Ditto as above, huge potential IMO. Just not quite ready for regular PL football. Sulemana £22m - Can't come to any conclusions yet, not played enough. Mara £13.5m - Another kid thrust into the fire a bit too early, not quite ready, but clearly potential for the future. Conclusion: So the main takeout from all of the above is that we gambled on too many - Mara, Bazunu, Edozie. I'd argue in the summer those 3 positions were prime for upgrading with first team ready players, not kids. We needed a new experienced ST, we needed a new experienced GK, we needed a new experienced wide man. We filled those 3 holes with inexperienced kids who aren't yet ready, and is it no surprise we are where we are. I don't think it's fair to consign any of them to the dump, they're just young and we've hung them out to dry really. The club got all excited by the Tino experiment and thought they'd once again 'cracked football', but they haven't. You'll get the odd kid who is ready from day 1 (Tino, Lavia, Bale etc), but it's safe to assume the majority of young kids won't be ready straight away and you shouldn't base the spine of your team on youth players. I'm sure we still think we've cracked football though.

Yeah I don't see it going to the last game, it'll be over long before that. And the most infuriating thing about it all will be that we start winning once it’s confirmed and the pressure is off. That would sum up this weak as piss squad.

I make it maybe 1.5 goals from open play in the last 10 (up to Liverpool before the WC break). JWP at Everton just after HT, and Alcaraz in the first half against Wolves. (kind of open play) Shambolic really.

The only thing which made me raise my eyebrows and undone all of the other work they'd done was our failing to address the attack. That really should have been the first areas of focus, even more so given that we had become weaker in that area from last year as it was (Broja and Long leaving). That's why we are where we are, that's why our season has failed. I don't think we can spend time focusing on moments like not sacking Ralph earlier, or signing Bazunu, or not giving DCC more mins etc, our problems are because we didn't add quality to our attack so we have been incapable of scoring goals to turn those 1-goal margin situations into draws or wins. Give Ralph the tools in the summer (i.e a motivated Broja type) and we'd be midtable now.

I have too looked back at that huge swing in form under Ralph, but do you know what the difference really was? Ings. Danny ings. Goals. Armanda Broja. Goals. We don't have Ings or Broja anymore, we also don't have goals. I don't think we're playing badly in a defensive sense but we don't score goals and are seemingly incapable of doing so. So whilst our form did flip, and it shows it's possible, it's because we had a 20 goal striker in our side to bail us out when we gave away goals (which we were still doing by the way)