Barsiem

What I find interesting about Sheldon is that he supposedly covers the Manc clubs now, yet he still is involved in loads of Saints pieces. Indicates to me that he is the one with all of the contacts at the club and his replacement Tanswell doesn’t appear to be able to establish these himself.

He was sh*te here because we didn’t use him properly… same with Djenpo. We get flair players who can be magic on the ball and train them out of it by stopping them roaming and prioritising them helping the team defend rather than attack…. We shouldn’t buy these kinds of players unless we will actually try to play to their strengths. Anyway, he was also professional if unspectacular here so best of luck to him. Glad he was so successful at the WC

Good point! He is still available for selection but it looks like he was dropped earlier in the year due to a poor attitude in training. According to the below article he hasn’t been as effective in the last couple of years for them, but given he averages 23 at test level and Pakistan are missing Afridi it seems strange to leave him out. Might be good news for Hants though https://wisden.com/series-stories/pakistan-v-england-2022-23/why-have-pakistan-not-included-mohammad-abbas-for-their-test-series-against-england

I think Jones will do well for us, but then I always think that when we appoint someone from the lower leagues. Sports Republic have recruited well in players and coaches so far, so fully back them to have gotten the manager appointment right as well. The fact we appointed him so quickly shows he was the man they wanted

Tbf I do hate people reminding me how sh*t England are at penalties

Highest score on day 1 of a test ever it looks like https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283082.html

Not sure what the definition of best is in this instance, but for me it was Michael Swenson equalising deep into stoppage time to draw 2-2 with Fulham at Selhurst Park, mainly because Antti Niemi went up for the corner, chested the ball down, theN volleyed it against the bar for Svennson to nod in the rebound. Limbs everywhere. I was flaming stoned as well which helped the enjoyment

Two weeks off seems sensible. Give the players time to reflect and reenergise after a tough period. Come back (hopefully) raring to go. 4 weeks is a lot of time for the manager to work with them before our next game

Great news! Need to find an opener from somewhere though

We bid c£40m for Gakpo... So why wouldn't we be looking to spend that in Jan? I guess it may be a little less as we've had to pay off Ralph since then, but the money should still be there

Could be any team from 8th downwards I think…. It’s still quite early in the season and lots of time for the wheels to come off. You’d imagine we’d do everything we can to get a striker in early. But it’s always tough in January and esp for strikers.

Haven't voted, but will back the board. As has been mentioned, some of those involved in this decision picked Frank for Brentford, who is someone we would love here now

Surely it's most likely to be some ex players with an agenda? I haven't read the articles but I think if he was poor at man managing that should be called out, but if it's more gossip based then agreed there's no need

What players have posted any sort of goodbye and thanks message to Ralph so far? I've had a look at half a dozen accounts on twitter just now and not one has posted anything. I stand to be corrected but it suggests to me he had serious problems with the players as alluded to by the Athletic.

I’m Surprised Luton have commented on this so early. I was thinking Jones would be one of several candidates we’d be speaking to but maybe we’ve already made up our mind. I’ll trust the board on this one but he’s going to have to hit the ground running or it will go very sour very quickly. He’s got no pedigree to garner any patience from the fans or players like Ralph did

https://twitter.com/SouthamptonFC/status/1589558104827600898?s=20&t=7Lh1POBoBBn4VjVpy6ycQA

This basically. We replaced the coaching staff, which was obviously the cheaper option, but we should have bitten the bullet and paid him off then. Tbh I think Ralph has been waiting to be pushed. He should walk really if he feels he’s out of ideas, but I guess not many would walk away from that sort of payoff…

Some in depth analysis on his impact is on the Echo website. some of the Echos coverage under their SaintsPlus scheme is pretty good! https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/23099854.maitland-niles-showing-saints-aim-permanent-deal/

Are these figures are correct? Have Brentford really spent £300m on players? Or has someone arbitrarily assigned values to each teams players?

Ok, obviously missed your earlier point. Yes agreed it’s coaching and management. Will be interested to see how Brighton fair longer term without Potter

We’ve improved our squad since last season as well btw. Better GK, much better centre backs and Lavia as well. I won’t include Mara or Aribo in that list as the juries out on them. We also didn’t loose any key players, whereas Brighton did Brighton is a great comparison for us as they do not have a good PL striker either, yet have managed to look so much better a team than us over the last couple of years.

Finished 1-0. From what I saw of the 2nd half it was a scrappy game with very little quality. But another solid win!

1-0 after 60mins. Pusey with the goal!

Bit disappointing to see him written off by some already. What all players need is confidence and a run of games, and I would argue it’s easier to play well in the PL after a great season in the Championship than by being a bit part player in a struggling PL side.

I didn’t say enemy, I said threat. All through Blair’s reign there were a substantial number of labour MPs and supporters who would have rathered Brown was in charge and now I’ve used all my posts for the day talking about politics 😂