benjii

Socotra island looks amazing too. Did you go there?

Yep, I agree with most of that. Going Burnley isn't the answer. We need to play a similar shape to what the players are used to, get someone playing with a bit of confidence in the 10 role, up the intensity off the ball and make the most of Austin's current fitness.

You ask why people are banging on about it then bang on about it yourself?

Wesley has proven his talent through his performances for Lazio, as well as the Netherlands, and we believe he can develop even further here at Southampton, alongside his international teammate Virgil van Dijk, as well as the likes of Jack Stephens, Maya Yoshida, Jan Bednarek and Florin Gardos.

Agreed. It's got to cliche time... we need a few Benalis out there who actually give a **** and can translate it to effort and commitment on the pitch.

Probably!

The problems over the last couple of seasons have been due to decisions by the footballing people. You could say she is ultimately in charge of hiring and firing those, which she is, but frankly why would she be expected to have a clue about that? She never went out looking to own a football club. She may have passed the club over to bad owners but I'd say it's too early to tell.

Not sure what you mean by "we". 80% of the group was bought so 80% of whatever that included is owned by Gao and 20% by Kat. I've not seen any reports of any land having been sold and I don't think there is any mention of any land sales in the last set of accounts.

Who knows. Depends entirely on what wage bill the owners are prepared to risk in the Championship for starters, then who we get as manager, then whether we can sign some solid pros to complement whatever is left. With the likes of Stephens and Targett on £40 -£50k a week you would imagine that any of our players would be up for sale if a fair offer came in. If we could keep McCarthy, Targett, Yoshida, Romeu, JWP, Long, Austin and add Sims, Hesketh, maybe Slattery etc. plus a couple of big nasty buggers, keep S Davis for another year, then we might have a chance with a decent manager. Obviously Cedric, Bertrand, Lemina, Gabbiadini, Tadic, Carillo and Boufal will be off (whether loans or permanent). The worry is that we get stuck with too many players who we can't shift and who will still be of little use in the Championship like Forster, Stephens, Redmond, Bednarek which would hamper our ability to rebuild on the wages front.

Need to get Yoshida and Romeu in the team. Possibly Davis too. Too many just going through the motions. Against Arsenal I would pick: McCarthy Pied Yoshida Hoedt Bertrand Romeu Lemina JWP Long Austin Boufal Bench: Forster, Stephens, Hojbjrerg, Davis, Sims, Redmond, Carillo

Yoshida has been injured. He's fit now though and with a clear week with the players hopefully Hughes sees he's our best CB. When you think who we've had in that position.... Christ.

No, I don't think he is. Would still give free headers away and not mark. He's a League One defender or maybe a Champ defensive midfielder.

Now that's a hash tag!

True but I still think it was odd to go 442 with two fairly slow forwards in your first PL away game. Plus Lemina and Hojbjerg who got overrun by ****ing Wigan. Should have had Romeu in there as well and if he wanted two proper strikers play Long or Gabbi coming from wide.

If his big idea is 44 ****ing 2 then we're screwed.

Yeah, it's not his fault. Complete **** up by those in charge of transfers.

Pathetic isn't it? He'd struggle in the Championship at centre back FFS.

If Cedric is one of our best players, no wonder we're ****e.

Quite. ****ing stupid to go 442 today. 433 should have been the approach.

They really do. We need to get on top early on.

He's a bellend. Goes hurtling into tackles at full pelt to try and show everyone he's a proper midfielder but with his weak, spindly little legs he's always going to be risking injury.

He still looks like he can't be arsed. Ambles back when the back four is turned. I think he needs a serious reality check.

Ref lost the plot with the Mane thing. The match is quite entertaining though. Virgil has been crap and now Spade Face Rat Boy is injured.

North Sentinel. Absolutely mental place. Jungle, beaches, culture, a certain raw quality. Tricky to get to but well worth it. Can't recommend it enough. Probably suits couples or younger travellers more than families.

Watching the Palace v Victims it's so frustrating that we stuck with the clueless Pellegrino for so long. Palace are very limited and have offered very little but having a manager who has identified a weakness in the opposition (direct balls in the right back channel) and set the team up accordingly sees them leading at half time. Proper management instead of the anemic surrender-by-numbers we have had to endure.