S-Clarke

Good to see the U18's doing well, we've managed to sort that side out (our bigger squad has probably aided that level more than it has the first team).

I saw a player down on his luck today, he was involved and he was making the movements but he's just lacking that confidence he had. He gave up a bit in the 2nd half, but so did the rest of the team really. Imagine us without Broja, we wouldn't even carry a threat.

We were, but we weren't '2-0' bad at that stage.

He doesn't help himself with the daft selections. How many times does he need to see Diallo and JWP in a two before he realises it doesn't work at this level? They moved through the middle of us with ease today. We certainly don't have enough quality in the squad, no where near, but you can't suicidally go into a game leaving yourself so exposed to the obvious counter attacks. If he looked at the Brentford home game and selected Diallo based on that, then I'm at a loss. That game was a success for Diallo because he played in a 3, ahead of the two deeper lying midfielders offering protection. Really, really abject end to the season. Equally as bad as last season and you have to say that injuries aren't to blame this time either, bar Tino that's a full squad of albeit pretty abject players in the main, but it's still a full squad. I don't know where we go from here to be honest. Part of me is hoping that he will be afforded the backing to actually buy 'footballers' for this team to make his job easier, but then I don't know if I can deal with thrashings every week for much longer. And it's most weeks. 61 goals let in again this season. That sort of rate will eventually lead to relegation.

We actually had control of the game for large parts, certainly up until the start of the 2nd half at which point we gave up and threw the towels in. Defensively abject, Bednarek is just a hopeless footballer. A consistent factor under several managers is that useless oaf, bored watching him. I'm fairly sure a retired and overweight Fabrice Fernandes would give us more than Redmond, who is another who has been around under several managers and is equally abject. How he 'defended' that third goal is inexcusable, I never want to see him play for us again. Why did we start with Diallo in the two? Ralph doesn't have the best hand as he has to work with the likes of Bednarek and Redmond, but he doesn't half make it harder for himself. It's clear to anyone that Diallo and JWP cannot play in a two because they get over-run and overpowered, it's clear to everyone. What happened? They were over-run and overpowered. Play Diallo in a three, or play him with Romeu - that's the only way he fits into this team. Trying to shoehorn Diallo into the Romeu role does not work and it leaves us so, so, so exposed on the break. Absolute ridiculous decision from the manager and I have no idea what was going through his head when he picked that one. Overall it's not really much different from most weeks, groundhog day. We know we have a squad littered with absolutely abject footballers, but we also have a manager who has his qualities but seems intent on making an already difficult situation much harder for himself.

When we played Brentford at home, we tactically matched up with them with 3 at the back, Tella was actually wing back if I remember right. We caused them issues all evening down the wide area's and in behind, as their 3 stepped up too high on quite a few occasions. Our attack that night was just a little too quick and sharp. Diallo played more advanced and was excellent in joining it up as well. I reckon we might do the same again, because this game will be all about the break and exploiting their high line and full back areas. If we just piss around with the ball in front of them with no penetrative runs then it will be painful.

That's certainly been a criticism in recent years when we were trying to get rid of the 'un-sellables'. I think we overpriced Carillo, Lemina and Hoedt as 3 which spring to mind, we had to give them away in the end though. I'd keep Adams, JWP, Romeu, Diallo, Bednarek, Salisu, KWP, Perruad, Tino, Armstrong. Elyounossi, Lyanco - the rest need to go either for good or on loan for experience (Tella/Small/Smallbone). It leaves some massive opportunities to refresh GK and the attacking area's, arguably our weakest positions.

I can't say I'm surprised by that, i'm anticipating quite an overhaul if I'm honest as there are parts of this squad which aren't even PL level. Ralph knows our problems/limitations and how he wants us to play (which undeniably is the right way in modern football), so it makes sense for him to be involved in this overhaul and then judge him fully on the back of that (in my opinion). We keep being told that this takeover affords us flexibility, so I don't think we'll have the same issues with us needing to offload Redmond/Moussa/Theo etc before we can make any moves ourselves.

Isn't that always the clamor though, if the team is struggling field all the youth players etc. I'd say throwing young players into a struggling environment is counterproductive and can actually derail them entirely, you get the most out of talented young players when they are brought into a confident, fresh and stable team in my opinion. I'd argue the best time to blood some of these young players was during our run when we beat Brentford, Spurs, Norwich etc - but we are seemingly never comfortable enough in games (bar Brentford) to actually relax to give anyone a chance. Hopefully we'll have better players in the first team next year so we can have more comfortable wins, then we'd be able to bring on some of the kids for little cameos to expose them to the environment. There are some players who will just be ready straight away, but it's still risky throwing them into a really shit team.

Has he really been given the transfer windows in 'full' though? My argument is that we've always had to weaken in certain areas in order to strengthen in others. That is quite simply the formula to stand still, no matter who is in charge. My hope is that this takeover enables us to strengthen other areas without having to weaken our existing team to do it, that's the only way we really progress. We could have as many different managers as we want, but if we can't buy 'quality' and have to sell our existing 'quality' to add depth then it doesn't really serve as a breeding ground for success. Managers success in the main will be dictated by the quality of the players around them, my argument is that Ralph has never really had much quality or money to work with.

That xG suggests that with a Danny Ings we'd be finishing with similar stats to 2019/2020. The big change up is the draws, way up on any of Ralphs previous seasons (and defeats way down). That suggests we've become somewhat harder to beat, which is what I'd have said we looked like up until Feb - why we've decided to flop back into our old ways is beyond me though. Shaping up to be his worst season on win %, but when you look deeper like this there is much more to it. The summary I'd say to all of that is that we have been average as all hell for 6 years.

My opinion is that we'd be a different proposition with some pace in the attack, the likes of Eze, Olisie, ASM etc in a counter pressing side would be great. Look at the impact that the pace of Broja had when he was on form. We do press well and the problem I see is that when we get it to the Ely/Armstrong/Redmond there's no vision, no creativity, no pace...it's just very predicable and slow. We looked better when Tella was fit and running at the oppo (he has a bit of pace) but he's 'ok' and not a world beater. Truth is that we can't rely on a young loan player to give us that thrust for the entire season. I would find it very hard to believe that Ralph sends the attackers out to do that, seeing as we are quite an aggressive side....so having more 'aggressive' attackers would make a huge difference imo. I think most managers would struggle with creativity with the bunch we've got.

I think that was a few seasons ago and I think that person was Matt Crocker, who was still under employment by the FA at the time. I think that's where these lines came from. Martyn Glover is our head scout/head of recruitment I believe. This summer will be an interesting one in relation to their intentions though. We can't stand still anymore and to compete in this level and improve you need to spend money. Even Brighton went out and spent £18m on their new LB without selling anyone, they were putting £30m bids in for Darwin Nunez too. We need to be playing at those sorts of levels, otherwise what's the point - we're just delaying the inevitable.

That's pretty much it in a nutshell. We're relying on set pieces, free kicks and defenders/defensive midfielders to score our goals. Our attack is blunt and most, if not all of our creativity in the attacking third comes through our full backs or a loan bit of work by Broja when he was on his game - says it all really. Ralph doesn't help himself by selecting the worst of the bunch in those positions I'd have to say, but....it's a toss of a coin really, they're all a much of a muchness in the main. If you have a look around us in the league most, if not all teams have what I'd consider to be 'star' attacking players who make a difference. Leeds have Raphinia. Everton have Richarlison, Burnley have McNeil and Cornet who I rate to be fair. Palace have Zaha, Eze, Olise, Newcastle have ASM, Villa have Buendia, Coutinho, Bailey, Brentford have Ericksen (who has changed their season tbf). Leicester have Maddison, Barnes. We have....Redmond, Moussa, Elyonoussi, Armstrong, Theo, Long. When you look at it like that we have no right to even be comfortable.

This is a fair and balanced view I think. Ultimately we could employ someone like Allardyce, Benitez etc and whilst we'll be harder to beat I bet you that we'll finish on pretty much exactly the same points as we will finish with under Ralph. The extremes are frustrating because you the good times get your expectations up, people talking about Europe - but that was never going to happen with this rabble. Ultimately there's not enough quality in the team, I'm sure the club know it. If we want to be a Top 10 club then we have to spend some money this summer and it's a real test of our new owners in my opinion. You can only stand still when you sell your 'best' players to strengthen in other positions, so let's hope this summer is the first opportunity we have to build on what we have first and foremost.

I think you've got to look at the bigger picture though. Those clubs who'd claim to have poor seasons I'd assume are Leicester and Villa, which undeniably they have - they have much more quality than us all over the pitch, so you'd expect them to be doing much better. I still think we're about where we should be, there's potential for a Top 10 finish if things go our way and everyone stays fit for 95% of the season - but that's not realistic. We're doing pretty much identically to last season, and that's without anyone scoring double figures and no real striker bar a loane. When you look at it like that, I don't think we can be expected to have done any better, it's just the extremes that infuriate.

This is something which wouldn't surprise me, as a 'development club' you'd imagine release clauses feature quite heavily in a lot of our contracts. £60m would be on the cheap side for me though, given he'd still have 4 years left, prime of his career. He's at his peak value right now, so I think we could easily get VVD numbers for him. I hope the club haven't short changed us by agreeing to a low clause.

We could lose every game by 9-0 and we'd still stay up. It's a bit like last seasons panic that Fulham were about to win every single game on a march to the Champions league.

Jose Fonte was a cracking captain, Dean Hammond was underrated in his role as well. Although that back to back team was full of 'leader' types like Butterfield, Davis, Fonte, Hammond, Lambert etc. There is always a debate about JWP and whether he is or isn't a good captain, I don't think he's a captain in a conventional sense in any way (not a shouty/organising type) he's more of a bust a gut/run himself into the ground to set an example sort of captain. I think players look up to him, but he doesn't lead in the way you see a lot of captains lead.

If we offer Long a contract it's as pointless as offering Theo a contract. I've had enough of players that 'work hard for the team' but offer absolutely fuck all in the way of quality or ability. It's like they're excused of criticism because they work hard, yet Long would struggle for goals at the bottom end of the Champ - and that's what we need, goals. Not someone who works hard by running into corners. We don't have enough quality as it is to fill the team up with these sort of bloating squad players.

It's either the players or the manager, maybe a combination of both. I say we focus on adding quality to the attack in the summer to freshen the team up and actually give us a cutting edge, keep Ralph and see what he can do without having to rely on Long, Redmond, Moussa, Elyonoussi, to provide the goals. He's onto a loser when you see the quality he has to work with in certain areas tbh.

If we look at the season as a whole, rather than just individual games or runs (both extremes) we are middle of the pile, in amongst the likes of Palace, Brentford, Brighton, Villa etc. We just get there differently than other clubs, I guess it's the 'Southampton way'. In comparison with last year, we are doing pretty much the same and this is without our best player and goal scorer (Ings). Not bad going if you look at it like that, as the investment we made to 'replace' him just hasn't cut it at all, so we haven't had anyone scoring goals on a regular basis yet we are still doing pretty much the same. Our lack of investment in recent years has meant we have to stand still, which is exactly what we've done. This summer is a crucial summer and it's not a summer to do the odd bit here and there, we need radical changes to the starting 11 with new players - not squad additions or young players to 'bed in' like Small etc. We need new players ready to go, that costs money...so I hope we've saved some cash in our back pocket from January to add to whatever we have in the summer. We can't keep standing still, because eventually we will drop - unavoidable no matter who the manager is. The club won't be blind to our lack of quality in the final third. If our output was higher in those number 10 area's then I'm fairly sure we'd be in and around Wolves. We have less quality in attack than last year, yet we are doing the same - that indicates that we've improved defensively slightly, so if we can now improve the attack in this window, keep everyone together then we will hopefully avoid standing still again.

Terrible, again. We're starting Shane Long though, the lack of quality in that area is absolutely horrific. Our only decent player, who is now out of form, isn't even ours. The rest of that attack is average at absolute best, if not lower league fodder. We need huge, huge investment in the summer to overhaul that attack. I do not want to see Long, Redmond, Moussa, Ely etc trying to pretend they can provide an attacking threat at the highest level, as it's painful to watch - honestly, it's enough to send people round the bend. Keep Tella around as squad depth, but his season has been a bit of a disaster all told (injuries haven't helped). Bednarek for that goal was shockingly bad, but it was kind of just expected. We really need better than him if we're to do anything more than concede every single week. So yeah, big summer ahead. We can't keep regurgitating the same trash heap players and expect different results, we need a radical overhaul.

He's massively struggled. He was given quite a few opportunities at the start of the season and physically he struggled, it's clear he had a good turn of pace but he lacked refinement in his finishing and touch and had absolutely no physicality to his game - and at the highest level, that is shown up. He may come good, but I don't know - I can see huge limitations in his game that will always mean he'll struggle. £15m is a decent investment for us so I'm sure the club won't give up on him, but his confidence is through the floor right now given that Shane Long is preferred as the sub role ahead of him.

Absolutely stupid tweet that just creates pointless speculation. Main point is that it's the other knee and totally unrelated to the meniscus injury he had. This injury can happen to any player and is just dreadful, dreadful luck. Using it as a stick to bash Ralph and the club is nothing short of lunacy.