S-Clarke

He's not being serious 😉

a CM at absolute most in my opinion. I've said before we need more on the flanks, Redmond has no real competition pushing him from the left. Boufal isn't a winger either, and isn't reliable enough. Sims isn't good enough either, so we do need another wide player IMO, but we'd certainly need to sell more to get one.

Bit OTT to say huge pressure at this stage! Will probably lose that, but perform a lot better. We're no more than mid table, wobbling between 10th-14th, we'll finish in that sort of range this year.

Could have been a similar score line to the Burnley game last year, it was certainly a similar performance though. Inept for 90% of that game to be honest, everyone looked off it from min 1 to min 96 - bar maybe 5 or 6 mins in the middle somewhere. Dreadful, dreadful performance from Redmond. Awful showing from Smallbone too, not sure what he adds. We were playing with 9/10 men for most of that. Ings and Adams starved of anything decent to work with as the width just didn't produce. We finished last season well, but I hope we haven't rested on our laurels. Need to keep improving to keep up with this league.

Vestergaard on for Stephens. Here is the creativity...😉

Romeu is ok, but I do agree that his position is where the money needs to go. Someone with a bit of a 'box to box' nature about them, we lack that drive and power from CM. Smallbone cannot play the Armstrong role. Hopefully throw Moussa on in the 2nd half and scrap the Smallbone idea.

Standard Lemina really, it's unusual if he plays more than 20 odd games a season. Can't build a side around that.

Looks like Burnley away at the start of last season for me, we look off it in every position. Weirdly, it looks like we're on the beach. No chance for Ings or Adams to get into the game, but you kinda want to see more from Adams in games like this? Smallbone, completely unbalanced us in my opinion. It's like paying with 10 men. Credit to Palace, they're marking tightly and hitting us on the break. Very tricky as it stands to even see us creating a chance.

I respect your views and your opinions, I don't want to throw this into a 2-way either. All I will say is that I'm ambitious about my football club, I think there's potential in here to do well and I've always felt that. Investment is part of it, of course, but having a drive from the top is equally as important - it just feels like we're treading water at the mo. Kat said she'd sold us to take us to the next level, I see no evidence of that. Markus put significant money into this club to bring us back. We spent a fortune in L1 (on wages and transfer fee's) and he spent a fortune building the new training facilities etc, no...he didn't shout loud, but it was clear to see his input. With Gao, I can't see his input and I haven't from day one. I can't be the only one bothered by that? Anyway, as I said - I respect your views, we agree to disagree on this subject and we'll see how the future pans out!

As i said, I get those views and I can understand where people are coming from to a degree. But my view is that it's not sustainable long-term, there needs to be a better model driven by the owner. One bad season and relegation and that entire model is in total tatters, it's heavily reliant on us staying in the PL by hook or crook and retaining that income. My biggest gripe has always been his lack of presence. Remember the talk of the five pledges, or whatever they were? Never heard a thing, no one knows what his plan is - I think that's part of the problem. Is he looking to develop us? develop the area? sell up quickly to any charlatan and run? He's not built a connection with the fan base and no one knows his intentions, it's not a recipe for long-term success or development imo. Football clubs are unique and totally different to a normal business, running it like a bog standard business isn't going to provide much in the way of growth or development.

The whole market feels a bit dead to be honest. We could probably do with losing Hoedt first to free up a little more $$. Towards the end of this month things will ramp up in my opinion. Clubs see how their squads settle in after a few weeks/react to injuries etc. We'll see what happens.

Why is it hilarious to suggest he is an horrific owner? He's amongst the worst in the PL. We survive because of the PL income, we survive because we have players to sell and reinvest. That is our model. That model is driven because we have an owner who will not contribute or invest into us. Without PL income we would be in the financial pits. The strategy we have is driven by Martin Seemens/Ralph et co, because it's clear they have little money to play with. I understand the views that in some ways Gao being 'silent' can be a positive, but as a fan base you still need to feel the owner is engaged to some level. Things are going 'well' on the field at the moment, but that is purely in spite of Gao. We have struck lucky with Ralph, but it feels like he is hamstrung and we're never going to see his full potential as a manager because our owner won't invest. Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking 100m/200m - but just having the flexibility to buy a couple of players without needing to work out who you can sell first - that would be a start. We were told his ownership would take us to the next level and allow additional investment, we now have absolutely no pot to piss in. Taking secured loans out left right and centre. The model to sell before you buy is all well and good, but this relies on us being in the PL. Full stop. KL is as guilty as well, it would be nice to have her engagement on it as well, it feels like she's let us down a little. He has made no effort to integrate with the fans, he has made no effort to share his ambitions, views or intentions with us - absolutely zero effort. No one knows what he's here for. Why should we give him the time of day? When you add together the fact he's made little or not effort with the fan base and we seemingly have no pot to piss in, there's no doubt there's ill feeling about him. This 'new' lot sound like someone we need to avoid as well, but that does that make me anti-American? No, it makes me someone who is trying to want the best for the club he supports and it's clear to me at the moment that Gao isn't providing what is best for Southampton football club.

More racial stereotyping crap. People don't like Gao because he is a terrible owner, simple as that. No one knows his intentions. If he was English, American, Swedish, Dutch and his approach was the same, he wouldn't be liked. It doesn't matter what his nationality is, but he has been a terrible owner. In answer to your previous questions - that would have been Kruger, Reed and now Semmens. As mentioned many a time before he has no real involvement in the club, so he's all pretty much nondescript and is offering us nothing.

Yeah, kinda tempted to dodge this one. But if they're negotiating with Gao directly for his stake, this is probably the sort of deal he'd sanction as we all know he wants out and has no real interest in what happens to us afterwards.

Van Aanholt Tomkins Cahil Sakho Benteke Ferguson All most certainly out for Palace. Big question marks over Eze and McCarthy too - doubtful they will start. No idea how they've managed to accrue such a huge injury list.

This place, for me anyway, is absolutely flawless now. I can get straight on all the time. Tiny slow downs occasionally, but 9/10 I'm able to get in. Posting a reply can sometimes take 10-20 seconds, but that's no drama. The lounge is a weird oddity though as that does time out for me, but I never really went in there anyway!

Yeah, there's a credit in your season ticket accounts. It'll sit there unless you ask for it back to your bank account, or you use it as a credit for future purchases at the ticket office. It wasn't ever an auto refund into your bank account. Mine is sat there at the moment, I imagine it'll come in handy next year to put towards my season ticket when I renew when normality is back.

You might as well call Wolves the Portuguese national team. It works for them for sure, but the obvious links with Mendes is a little unfair to the rest of us!

Just the Carrillo loan to sort out now! I think it was always pretty inevitable that the unsellables would all go out on loan again. It really does highlight our piss poor we were run between 2017-2019 when the majority of our 'record' signings are all out on loan.

Doubt pubs are going to be open for much longer tbh. Well, they shouldn't be if they new restrictions are anything to go by. Ban social gatherings of no more than 6 people, indoors and outdoors, including pubs etc. If that's what they want to do, why keep pubs open? Sorry, don't want to go into a COVID rant! But the waffle and mixed crap never ceases to amaze me.

I doubt the club will provide any passes for away games, home games yeah....but away games, you'll just have to find a way to pay/watch it. Doesn't sound like fans are going to be back in stadiums anytime soon anyway, so we'll probably see most of the next two months broadcast live via some form.

Well, that was suitably dreadful.

No JWP tonight, he's on the bench. Slightly different formation, but Kalvin Phillips takes his direct place.

It's the longest run of flawless access for me, haven't had an issue for a good few days now. Maybe it's still not instant, but it's a world better!

They're another club who have got their big signings wrong, pretty much every year. The difference between them and us - they go again the next year, as they've got an owner who is prepared to bankroll to an extent. Now they've got a proper manager in there it may be different.