S-Clarke

Their recruitment was odd/confused under Van Gal and Jose either. Although with Jose, he threw the board under the bus with his comments and they ended up sacking him. With Van Gal they went for headline signings such as Falcao and Di Maria. No real impact from those. It's a club with no plan, just flying from season to season and seeing what sticks.

He just said 'I don't promote violence, but I'd go in there and give them all a few slaps at the moment' Lol.

Man Utd are broken and it all stems from above the management/coaching. Their recruitment is nothing other than diabolical, every single year. They are one of the biggest clubs in world football, what they bring in on marketing alone would make us squirm, but they are being left behind by most 'top' teams in Europe now on the pitch because their recruitment is bitty, slow and failing most years. They don't seem to have a recruitment strategy, as will be proven by the deadline day signing of Cavani. Their fans have every right to be baffled and frustrated by the overall ownership of the club, arguably one of the biggest club names in world football is being managed in a way that no one could have seen 10 years ago.

Williams would be a very odd signing if true. We have two first choice full backs already, so he'd be coming here as cover from a club he's already cover. Makes no sense for Man Utd, us or Williams. Unless we're braced for a deadline move for Bertrand.

Looks like Lemina is doing exactly what most of us thought he would. He's not involved again. Neither is Reed fwiw, another player too fragile for this league.

KWP was excellent, back to his performances at the back end of last season. He gives us a real balance from our right side, attacking and defensive discipline. Wasn't too sure on JWP today, seemed to be hanging on the edges of the game.

ITK? Not exactly the player we need, he's long past it unfortunately. Bit of an emotional homecoming on the cards, but he's not great these days. Not sure what to make of it if you're ITK.

It's done. Confirmed by Ralph, he's our player.

A really easy win, it's not very often you can just relax (as fans) after 80mins of a home game. I'm trying hard not to get too carried away though, as the standard of the opposition we played today was shocking. They are beyond bad, lower half Championship going by that. Derby totals for them wouldn't surprise me. Let's see how we go after the Internationals. But two wins out of two is a nice return.

Good half, in control, no real issues. Should have been well up before Moussa's goal, but at least we finally got one. WBA will need to come out a bit more now, so they will be even more space. The goal will do Moussa the world of good I hope, he looked lost before that.

Ruben Dias didn't do to badly yesterday. And Gabriel Magalhaes has settled straight in. Llorente (Leeds new CB) straight onto the bench. We've obviously signed Salisu with an injury, which kind of explains LeGod's comments a few weeks back. (We may be forced back into the market for another etc) Why our club is so secretive though is beyond me, absolutely does my head in.

We'll hear about it late tomorrow I'd have thought, if that includes any other additions that's anyone's guess. Time is still tight for others though, imo.

The talk of keeping Boufal is like the talk you have to yourself about your own hoarding cupboards. ''Hmm, I might keep this box....it's got some bits in that may come in use, they might not...but they may finally help with something'. Fast forward another 2 years and that box is still sat there.

Just to add a bit of flavour to this, he was linked with us back in Feb as a potential 'summer' addition. https://readsouthampton.com/2020/02/20/southampton-fans-react-to-milot-rashica-links/#:~:text=Southampton have been linked with,release clause of €38m. feels incredibly far fetched though.

'Fake penalty' - no way in any world was that a penalty. The Tottenham players didn't contribute to that penalty, it was given away by the officials. Not a fan of Hoj myself, but you can't put that on him. Sort of like clinging to something to throw at him for no real reason.

Cheerio Austin, he even struggled in the Champ last season though. His career is only going one way now.

In the couple of videos I've watched, he always seems to be in the 'right place' to either win the ball or cover for his teammates, so like you said I think that shows that he has a good understanding of the game and good awareness. He doesn't look like a 'Lemina - stand back, it's all about me' type of player. Yet he looks as good running with the ball as Lemina.

11 years ago, holy jesus. I remember that game like it was just yesterday, 4-1 i think, lallana with a couple. Where has that time gone.

He's a decent talent, but not a £26-27m decent talent. I thought 'wtf' at the fee when Bournemouth signed Ibe too, he's a similar, yet less experienced player. It's probably a headline fee though, due to his age a lot of that will be spread over the contract and based on all sorts of career driven bonuses imo.

Diallo sounds really good, if you were picking the sort of midfielder to replace Hoj he'd be there (looking at his attributes and videos, which granted don't show the whole story!) If....he's as his videos and the reviews suggest, we've got ourselves a player better suited to how we play than Hoj ever was. Bit of energy through the middle is much needed.

My hunch is that we still need Hoedt and Boufal out of the club before we can do anything, including a loan. That's poss why we're missing out on everything as players don't want to sit and wait for us to get our shit in order.

Being good with the ball is just a must for any CDM anyway, but you need a lot more than that - strength, awareness, positional sense, ability to tackle, react to breaks, pace etc. He has none of those at all. That's why he's a really limited CB too, and why our defending has been so poor since he's been in the side. He's improved so much, don't get me wrong, but he's still incredibly average and is such a huge downgrade on what we had before (VVD/Fonte)

What is with the craze to play Stephens as a CDM! Just, no! He's a defender, a very average one at that.

We're keen on every single player someone else signs. But then it transpires the selling club actually want money, and not magic beans, we have no further involvement.

I'm slightly worried that there are no credible links/rumours for us, but plenty for our 'rivals'. The Veerman one has gone quiet as well. There are literally 2 working days left, what an absolute shower we are. Still. Still, time to prove us all wrong...!