S-Clarke

There was a little bit of unrest at HT and I wasn't sure why, I didn't think it was as bad as people were suggesting. It was fairly even, with maybe Leeds shading it a touch. We did lack attacking threat for sure, but generally in the first half it wasn't as bad as some were keen to make out. The start of the second half was a different can of worms though. The first goal we conceded summed Southampton up from the last 5 years. Panicked clearances, no composure and defenders switching off and losing their player. The panic that comes over some players when there is a tiny bit of pressure is quite frightening. The second goal was crap and it was a situation we'd been struggling with for most of the game, and equally at Spurs. Crosses into the box, and in the case of this - a corner. Adams missed his header, it found it's way to Rodrigo and that was that. I can't remember a more toxic atmosphere at that point, not for a long long time. It wasn't looking good and given previous experiences, I expected us to wilt further. But we didn't. We rallied. The subs we made after that goal (which we wanted to make before that) added some extra attacking impetuous. Aribo almost immediately showing his quality. The biggest change was when Mara came on though, not just through his input but what it did to the team shape. Automatically we looked more comfortable, ABK in particular looked a little more at ease. Those big gaps through the centre were no more, and it enabled us to get ourselves on the front foot and be much more active in our press in the attacking third. There was also an element of Leeds tiring, but we made the most of this and attacked them and made them panic. It was great to see for a change. The best players on the pitch for me were all the new lads. Aribo, Mara when they came on were excellent. Aribo's touch is on a different planet. ABK and Bazunu very accomplished for young players. But a special mention to who I think is going to be a very special player – Lavia. He shows so much composure in the middle, his timing in the tackle is outstanding and his use of the ball (forward) is very impressive. He’s 18, it’s insane. This guy is going to be a superstar.

Brighton's bank account is ready to burst. That'll be over £100m just sitting there to reinvest in the next couple of weeks, worryingly they'll now target a striker with more resources than we have, and we're going to be shopping in the same market.

We have wasted some crazy money, certainly in recent years. That VVD sale should have helped us evolve the team in a time when we were in the post-koeman dip, but they gave 20 fucking million of it to MP to sign Carrillo and then sacked him a few weeks later ffs. One of the worst transfer windows I can ever remember. The summer under Hughes wasn't much more of a success either. Wasted the rest of the VVD fortune on Vestergaard, Gunn, Elyounoussi. Shocking really, targeted the wrong sorts of player.

I wouldn't touch Willian with a barge pole. Absolute has been, needs to retire. Fulham are going to regret this one.

Interestingly the Leeds manager has said they won't change how they play, they will still press aggressively for the match. Jesse Marsch knows how to deal with playing in this heat from his time in America apparently....hope they fall flat on their arses at 60 mins in that case.

I think Martin talks sense a lot of the time but it's the negativity and the 'we're lucky to be here' stuff that must filter around the club. I don't know if this is a pre-contrived narrative that they're peddling to make us act/behave like underdogs in the hope it'll create success? It just seems a bit counter intuitive to me. I want to hear my club tell me that we're going to give it a crack, we're going to try and upset the pack. I know that probably won't happen and oppo may laugh at those statements from our owners, but I don't care - I just want to feel as if the club I support have those dreams, otherwise what's the point? Ralph adopts the same tone. The beating Liverpool 1-0 and then acting like we'd just performed the greatest act of giant killing known to man, or the admission before games that we can't compete with these teams. Fair enough think that internally, but surely you want to create more of a bullish look from the outside. We then had the ''stop the count' bollocks when we went top of the league for a couple of days? All of this feels like this is a club mantra that we're trying to put out there, plucky underdogs with 'little money' are upsetting the apple cart etc. It's not working so far.

I always go back to what Markus said when he took us over, he wanted to create a sustainable club and get us back in the 'Top 10' of the PL where we belong. I think that's where we need to be if i'm honest. the 90's weren't like that as we battled every year, but I like to think we have the potential to be a decent Top 10 team. Being in that group allows you the opportunity to break through one season, maybe, although it's getting harder. I get what Martin and co were saying in that it's tougher every year, but it brings back the old question we had on here a while back ''Is the PL too rich for us?''. If we're not prepared to join the riches or speculate to accumulate then ultimately we will slip down the leagues and face financial hardship. I think that was a risk under Gao, but we have new owners now who seem to be prepared to go for it a bit - but the end of the window will tell us the true picture I think. Martin said the above in that the drive is to be a top 10 team, but I was also irritated by the ''we should be pleased to be here'' narrative that was put out there too, it kind of makes us sound like a noddy club punching above it's weight. I don't think we should be.

Agreed, pretty dreadful debut. Hopefully just needs game time.

Tella on the bench for Burnley tonight.

Yeah that's true, but even Ward is a bit of a step down from the days of Kasper! The next few weeks are going to be interesting for a few teams I think, Leicester fans are getting quite restless.

I'm glad it's not just me who doesn't see the fuss around Dennis. All I saw from Dennis was 6 months of decent form, went to the AFCON, came back and was not really a threat for Watford for the remainder of the season. I wouldn't feel comfortable splurging £20m on him anyway, given that they'd bought him for £3.6m and he hasn't really done enough to warrant over a £15m valuation increase.

One of the best posts I've seen on here for a while, I can't really disagree with a lot of what you say really. I think everyone had the same questions over the selection, my main gripe though was the HT change and not actually bringing on Adams. I'm with you in that I like Ralph, I think players have improved under him and we've had some good times with him, but there is certainly this undertone of stubbornness and overthinking which is hurting him and us. I want to see him go back to basics somewhat, go back to his original principles and pick a balanced team. It's underestimated how much difference a 'balanced' team can make with players in their natural positions. I think my overriding emotion with Ralph is frustration, because I think we can all see the potential of what we could do…but too many own goals (both figuratively and literally) are being scored, and he is prone to creating his own problems. Tomorrow will tell a lot I think, not just for Ralph's immediate future but also the likes of Adams and other players in the squad in terms of where we see them in our plans. I'm looking forward to tomorrow but quite apprehensive about what it may bring if I’m totally honest. I think a change now is the wrong time, I’m also with you on the desire to give him a full transfer window and see how we look throughout September, but I feel a bad result tomorrow may hasten any decision.

He's got 2 years left on his contract, so maybe we can do a season long loan and then pick him up for a a smaller fee next summer? (negotiate a buy option into the deal or similar). I agree with what you say though, I know there are calls for defenders to have experience etc but like you said it's not just the number of games, it's what they can bring that's different to what we have. So he's certainly not another ball playing/technical centre back, he's more of your traditional organisor/communicator type who wouldn't venture too high. You'd argue he'd be perfect for a 3 as well, with the more agile/quick CB's flanking either side in ABK and Salisu. Mings is similar, but has a bit more about him physically I think. Lascellels is an option, but a little bit down my list now people have brought up the two above!

Another good shout...! I think he's decent, not the most spectacular technical ball playing CB - but do we need that? We need an organiser and communicator and he would be levels above who we have in that regard. He's a good age, not too old but lots of PL experience. He's probably not a CL centre half, but we don't need a CL centre half. He's still young enough to have England international aspirations as well, so the promise of first team football here could work. Arsenal have Saliba, Gabriel and White as their 3 CB's, you'd say with that crop he's 4th choice so he may want to leave to play games.

You need to post more, that was a great summary. I think there is an acceptance that we are signing players who aren't ready from day 1, but you do start to question what on earth is it we're getting them ready for. Salisu took a year, Broja a month or so. I accept that the pressing triggers in a 4-2-2-2 take some time to master, which is part of the point he was talking about, but maybe Ralph is just making it too over complicated.

We released Hoedt, but I think we got a small fee for Lemina (maybe 3-4m?)

Well, there are rumours Gerrard wants him out. Didn't play at the weekend, suggestions that Konsa and their new guy, Carlos are the two first choice. If we're looking for an experienced PL defender then there aren't many options to be honest, it'll be a case of capitalising on situations like this if there's something in it

They're giving it a go, but I'd feel a little uneasy with that approach. It's a real slap dash approach, and they looked all over the shop at the weekend - no real chemestry at all. One game and all that, but what they did last season is out of the window as this isn't the same team and they'll have to work out what's what with an unknown group of players. Isn't that going to make it 16 new additions?

This is what you'll start to see happening now. Teams in the champ will start to see their better players picked off, so clubs will be in the market for replacements and may get desperate towards the end of the window. Armstrong will probably be high in some clubs thoughts seeing what he did in the Champ previously. I think Watford are going for Villa's Davis though.

I get the right side, left-side argument, but I don't think we're in a position to get perfection at the mo! I'm sure we can deal with a left footer on the right side (i'd probably put mings right side). It can't be much worse than it is today, that's for sure. Don't forget we've got ABK as a right footer too, and if we do persist with 3 at the back that'll be Salisu - Mings - ABK, that is a pretty powerful and mobile 3 if we can do it.

That's actually an interesting shout and certainly not a bad one. He'd walk into our team tomorrow, no worries about that at all. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

I've always followed this view as well to be honest. Not just at Southampton in particular, but all football clubs. Man Utd are a great example of this. They've gone through so many managers, in some cases the players have downed tools to force the manager out/make his life harder. Those players stay and still perform shit under the next one. And rinse repeat. Managers are seen as the quick and easy fix and often it leads to a bit of a bounce, but if the divisive characters remain in the changing room then you’ll get groundhog day again. We've changed a few players in recent years, so there's more of Ralph's choices here than originally and this summer has certainly been a step in changing things up, but there is still a core of players who have failed under numerous managers - and some of that core are still part of match day squads.

A McCarthy suitor no longer in the race. That's some come down from Kasper though.

He's not been totally useless, not at all, but I can't say I've ever enjoyed watching him personally. One of the most infuriatingly frustrating players we've ever had in that attacking position. He had a bit of a golden spell in 2018, but apart from that he has been poor in my opinion. It probably hasn't helped that the team regressed as soon as he came into the door, it would have been interesting to see how he looked in a squad with Mane and co, but he just hasn't stepped up in my opinion.

Not sure that is the approach we should go down. The fact he's not in Palace's team, who are are competitors really, is quite telling. I don't want to saddle our squad with more squad players, who we bring in has to better than what we have in that position and I'm not sure Tomkins is really any better. Certainly not quick and has a fair amount of injuries. CB's with PL experience is quite a limited market for ourselves. I wonder if we could go for someone like Jamaal Lascelles? Was captain for newcastle, many years PL experience but still only 28. Down the pecking order at Newcastle now. I think he's better than Tomkins but probably not much in it.