benjii

48k

Don't forget that these results are for the season ending under Puel. I suspect the gap with Spurs is bigger now and Everton will have overtaken our wage bill. Still, though, it does show that relegation will cause serious problems if we can't shift players and don't come back up.

Basically corroborates what I said the other day. Whilst semantically Johnson may have been wrong, the info from Porton Down - "it is Novichok" - plus the other intelligence the government is privy to left them in no doubt at all. And apparently we have convinced 25 other countries sufficiently as well.

Yes, exactly.

Way over the top. He can't mark in the box so will always cost us goals.

Are you mental?

McCarthy Cedric Yoshida Hoedt Bertrand Romeu Lemina JWP Long Austin Boufal

That's why we need Yohsida back.

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.