S-Clarke

What game did you watch if you've come to the opinion that Man City didn't even have to try?

Very flattering score in my opinion, we more than held our own. The quality is what does it, we had no answer to their subs really (Mahrez and Foden). Stephens, in a technical sense, is absolutely horrific. But you can never fault his commitment or his application to the game, he is just incredibly limited. I still don't think he's a bad 4th choice to have around the place, we do need a better 2nd centre back though. Cash in on Bednarek is what I'd do as there's more value in him, but the chances are slim to none I'd have thought. Tino was quality,although tired as the game went on. Armstrong and Long ran around a bit, but lacked any real quality. I'd have started Broja, he struggled to get into the game when he came on and would have been more useful from the start. That chance is what you get from Adams, that's why it's bog average. I don't have a problem with him at all, but that finish summed up the limitations to his game. Overall I kinda enjoyed watching us today, as weird as that sounds. We just need to make sure we get ourselves 15 or so points over the rest of the season so we can end up in the 50's and I'd say that would be a decent effort all told. New GK, CB and number 10 needed in the summer for us to progress to anything other than a bit of a nothing team though.

For a club that has a single FA Cup to it's name, which is so depressing, we should take every cup game seriously. To give ourselves the best possible shot we need to play our best players, we're not exactly blessed with world beaters. I can understand the loyalty Ralph has to players such as Long etc, seeing as he got us through against Swansea, but this time last year he was away at Bournemouth and pretty much done as a PL player. We didn't care too much for him then. You need to be ruthless, not just play players because they're good lads. I had the same complaint about Poch when he pissed up the league cup against Sunderland, that season was a huge chance for us too. I want to see a core of Forster, Broja, KWP, JWP, Romeu, Adams, Salisu etc all starting. Otherwise what's the point. You can't even use the 'Resting for PL' argument here, as we don't have another fricking game until April.

That's a new one. I prefer 'the cult'.

If last night was bad for the bottom 3, you'd have to say tonight is a first nail in the coffin!

I think it'll be changed around from what I can see, certainly no need to go 'weak' given that we have no PL game, but I think Ralph is keen to reward those who are patient in the background. Lots and lots of media this week from Willy, Stephen's has done a piece and some gumf about Moussa as well kind of suggests where we are going imo.

They were pretty dreadful, agreed. Terrible game all in. Not a great advert for the 'best league in the world'.

That's a big blow for the current bottom 3 in my opinion. I haven't seen a way out for the 3 of them for months.

Do you know who was also on our short-list as an alternative at that point? This made me weep. Raul Jimenez. But we thought Carillo was a better choice. The whole point of a 'Transfer Guru' is that he can stop a manager buying a dud or just buying his mate, he was as guilty as anyone in pushing it through.

It will be an interesting watch tonight, I thought they'd shuffle themselves away from it, I didn't expect them to lose to Wolves. So, if they also lose this one it does look pretty tough for them. They do still have better players than Watford and Burnley though, that isn't always enough...but having Richarlison or DCL does make it a tiny bit more likely that they'll grab the odd win here and there when you least expect it.

Brighton are so similar to us, not so much in style of play, but just how they 'are'. They do things in a 'different' way and follow a modern/progressive approach with their coach, but they also go on crazy runs of polar opposites. Little bit more quality/investment in both clubs and we'd be laughing, as we both do it the right way I think. We just don't have enough quality to sustain anything over a season.

Calm down Monk! This isn't a club appointment anyway, it's someone who joins the Sport Republic Brand. He may have an input, but he's nothing to do with us day to day.

The big clubs will be laughing, this will give them lots of opportunities to put their mega bucks players on the pitch. Our stance may be a bit different now that we have a bigger squad, but I still think it generally favors the big clubs. All of a sudden those 'Top 6' games become a degree harder.

I think that's our model though, on the understanding that we wouldn't be able to attract some of those 'prospects' should we not give them a route out of the club before they sign. It's not great I agree, it doesn't scream ambition but we just have to accept where we are as a club. I'm not expecting the new ownership to bankroll us to the Top 6, far from it, but the biggest change I'm looking forward to will be the ability to add to the squad without having to generate the money first. It'll certainly be much more satisfying when we achieve success doing it our way, as opposed to spending £500m and being in a relegation battle.

I had a feeling this thread would be bounced again. We are an extreme team, we drift from highs to lows very quickly and without better players that's how it will be as consistency will drift, we are the description of a mid-table team. I'm not sure what the expectations are, because we were never going to get anywhere near Europe. Overall this season has been good so far, for the squad and level of players we have. We don't have any world beaters. I'm looking forward to the summer because I'm hoping that we'll have a bit more flexibility to move in on additions without having to plot what we sell first, and that will hopefully lead to an extra bit of quality coming into the building to enhance what we have. I think you can see that Ralph has benefited from having more of 'his players' in the building this year, but let's not kid ourselves we're all of a sudden a top 6 team as we are absolutely light years away quality wise.

He needs a season away on loan somewhere to 1) toughen up, and 2) work out where he's going to play in his career. I don't know what he is to be honest, CM, number 6, number 10? I don't think he does either. I wouldn't give up on him, but he needs regular football to grow.

Their next game is probably the biggest game in their recent history. Lose that and it's bleak.

We are certainly in need for a new first choice keeper, I'm sure the club see that. New CB for sure, Stephens being sold makes sense then demote Bednarek to third choice etc. I think Lyanco was our CB signing for a 'few years' though, we missed the boat to upgrade on Bednarek last summer in my opinion. Number 10 area's need a total overhaul and I really, really hope the club see that. Moussa, Theo, Redmond can go. Smallbone needs a loan to toughen up and work out his position. We're not far away, probably 3 or 4 players, but if we don't fill those spots then we'll just continue being a bit of a nothing mid-table team.

This was the problem today, Watford closed the gaps between the lines very well. They played with a 3 in the middle from what I saw, which made it very difficult and Armstrong himself struggled to find any sort of space. The problem then comes when they have the ball....neither Elyonoussi or Armstrong have the pace to then go on a bit further, they have to recycle backwards and thus we're at the same spot again. We are crying out for a quick, nippy number 10 - someone who can stretch along the front 3, and in the hole if required. We need to get shot of Redmond and Moussa and invest in someone with pace who will make our attack immediately quicker in games like this. We have a lot of number 10's, the likes of Armstrong and Elyonoussi are good in the 'counter' press type of games when we find space on the break, but we don't have the right sort of player for the other types of games - those 'sit in, 2 banks of 4' kind of teams.

Weirdly this kind of game might suit us, we're not expected to go and win and we'll have a clear game plain to suffocate and contain the opposition. We're better on the break, so it'll probably be better than the last two. We don't do as well in games when teams sit 2 banks of 4 in front and expect us to play around them, we don't have the level of players to do that in those '10' roles. We do have the players to dig in, press and break though.

This is all a bit tedious isn't it. Broja is clearly a good player, he's a young player going through a tough patch of form. It happens and will always happen. I like to think Saints fans are pretty well adapt at spotting 'potential higher level players' and my opinion is that Broja, along with Tino, are 'potential higher level players'. They will finish their careers at a higher level than Southampton, whereas Adams and Armstrong will probably still be drifting around the same sort of level for most of their careers. Happy to bump this thread in 5 or 6 years to see what's what.

Why single him out? Stop trying to prove a point, you've called Broja out as not being good enough as x or y (that was wrong) and you are frantically trying to justify it so you don't have to say you were wrong. I don't often get involved in the tit for tat bollocks, but it's so irritating watching your posts at the moment.

Absolutley abysmal from min 1 to the end to be honest. Salisu looked like he was hung over or something, really rubbish. Worse than the Newcaslte game, and he was shit then as well. He was slow in his mind, headers not directed well enough, passing and decision of passing atrocious. If that is his level then we'd struggle to get 2 quid for him. Its not his level though, so my take is that we've rushed him back too soon and he's not fit. Bednarek is Bednarek, when he doesn't have Salisu to bail him out he is pretty inept. He can pass as an average CB from time to time, but when he has his poor runs he cannot defend at all. We might as well put Adam Armstrong back there, it wouldn't make us any weaker. Stu Armstrong was awful, his passing was dreadful. He was marked quite heavily and struggled to find space, but he wasn't careful enough in possession when he did have the ball. Midfield was ok...they passed the ball back and sideways, but there was zero penetration in there. Less said about Smallbone the better. KWP probably the best player on the pitch, only one providing us any real threat to be honest. Broja gave us some legs when he came on as Adams struggled massively to impose himself as a lone striker, but both struggled to get a head of steam as the side was just devoid of anything at all. Worst performance of the season in my opinion. We really are an extreme team, there's no denying it. From highs which are great highs, to lows for prolonged periods of time. That seems to stop us ever really doing anything of note. A proper mid-table team, probably 3 or so players from making the 'next' step.

Nah, i think he'll always be a bit flawed. He's gone through many managers and clubs and is a bit of a journeyman because of his personality/mentality, not because he's been mismanaged. Wasted talent really as he had all the tools.

He's been a bit of a disastrous signing for Brighton all told. Similar to Theo with us really, just over the hill now.