tajjuk

It's a completely staggering job he has done to be honest. I know its only 8 games in the league, but to get 13 points, which is 1.6 points per game extrapolates to a 60 point season, which last year would have been 7th, 3 points from 6th place. And that is with no transfers in, little time to work with the team (The Cardiff game is pretty much a right off, if we played them now we would win I reckon) over the busy Xmas period and 3 of the games were against top 6 teams, plus two games against two of the biggest spenders outside the top 6 in West Ham and Everton. I am genuinely excited about next season when he gets a full pre-season to work with the team, we aren't playing catch up after Hughes's awful mess and we might actually do some decent recruitment.

He's pretty much been a 1 in 2 man wherever he's been at the highest level, maybe a little on the wane physically but I reckon he'll score goals. Chelsea have a lot of the ball and a lot of play round the box, plus top quality attacking wide players in Hazard/Willian/Pedro but they just don't get enough people and movement in the box which is what Higuain is all about, he's a proper finisher, both feet and in the air and makes good runs.

People who watch on TV are essentially customers and that is where the money comes from, they just aren't specific customers of Southampton FC, they are customers of PL football.

Same is true of Arsenal and Everton, and Arsenal are supposedly quite cash rich and Everton are now bankrolled by Moshiri. Whilst we are not cash rich or bankrolled, I suspect we are in the same situation as those two clubs, its wages more than transfer fees that are the problem. Clubs have wages budgets worked out and FFP also has restrictions on the wage bill rising, so you can't just go out and add 150k a week (say one elite level player or two very good level players for us) if you are already at the max. I fully suspect, based on the lower wages and finances most continental clubs have, that the likes of Hoedt, Boufal, Clasie, Carrillo and possibly Davis that we are in part paying some of their wages up to a PL level. It's the kind of the curse that comes with the blessing of having PL money, players coming into the club and their agents are attracted by the wages and money on offer in the PL that allows most PL clubs to attract players at a higher level than they would otherwise. That means lots of players on £50-70k a week, because these players were probably only earning more like £30-40k at their Italian, Spanish, Dutch, French clubs etc. So probably we are still picking up 50% of their wages when they are on loan. Then we have the likes of Austin, Cedric, Forster, Long, etc. who are probably on £65k a week plus but are not currently nailed on first teamers. The squad is just too bloated with high earners, mainly left over from the planning for a European campaign and the mass load of long contracts we gave out to try to hold onto our players. But there is one week of the transfer window left and 14 PL clubs so far have signed no one. Only Bournemouth, Cardiff, and Chelsea have signed anyone for a substantial fee. Bournemouth and Cardiff likely have much lower wage bills, with many of their squad players likely to be on Championship level wages.

As mentioned above, he doesn't think we are enough of a threat going forward with 3 at the back, but is worried about us defensively with 4.

I think yesterday though was important for the squad's mentality to hopefully get over this losing leads thing. The ref tried pretty much anything to give Everton a way back into the game and draw, but though we conceded one we held out strong and got the win. I feel like its mentally one of those things the team needed to get over, holding a narrow lead deep into injury time. Hopefully such instances should become less common. Also with less games, less injuries, less suspensions, and more time for Ralph to work with the squad, should see us having the depth and fitness to last better deep into injury time and keep the fitness/concentration levels up. Its become very clear that under Hughes the team was not not elite level fit, and tiredness leads to lapses into concentration.

^ German clubs do have a fantastic record of producing talent, probably up there with the likes of Ajax and Barcelona. It doesn't just come down to the talent available to them but their coaching methods as well where they make the most of that talent. I wouldn't write any of our youngsters off until Ralf has got to look at them and had time with them. Improving 21,22, 23 year olds is pretty much Bournemouth's MO at the moment and one of the reasons Howe is so highly rated. Look at for example the likes of Smith and King, they were like 21-22 when they joined Bournemouth, hadn't exactly done much before that and he has moulded them into good premier league players who play a role for their team.

6 or worse would be worrying I think, 7 would just about be about adequate but we'd be treading water and 9 would be decent. I am reckoning 10 would be a good return, but honestly there is 4 potential wins there, but that would be winning like 5 games in a row which I doubt we'll do.

Pretty sure Jones was recalled by us. I think all our loan players were so Ralf could get a look at them. 15 minute sub cameo after several months injured as well. And a 15 minute cameo where the manager thought he had done well.

Biggest positive for me is Ward-Prowse, I don't think I have ever seen him play like ever, he seems to have beefed up a bit, for his goal he drove forward with the ball and shrugged off a challenge, does anyone ever remember him doing that? I feel like under previous managers he would have either got muscled off the ball or just passed it off sideways to someone. We all know that technically he is a very sound player, good range of passing, can cross, can shoot, can take pens, corners, free kicks, has decent vision. We also know that he always works hard. But the question marks have been over his physicality, hes not the biggest, strongest or quickest, that plus never really being able to find a settled position have been his biggest weaknesses. I really hope this game is the start of a good run for him and we maybe start to see him really fulfilling his potential.

I believe Ralph wants to play his 4-2-2-2 long term, which would need several new players IMO. He has already said he is not happy to play a back 4 because we are open too defensively, and has also said he wants more protection in front of that 4 as well. Which of course is a slight against Romeu, but I'd say its more of reflection that Romeu is not that mobile and is pretty slow. So that probably highlights two areas in need of improvement. CB and DM. If we then presume that Cedric is going then we need a more attacking right back (the width in his 4-2-2-2 came from the wing backs), the Danish guy from Genk seems to have been identified for this role. Then he was stated he wants more pace in the attacking areas, again I would presume this would mean basically someone to compliment Redmond, so a fast AMC. Then he also wants a mobile, more target man like player, so another striker. And probably a further striker to basically be another option/challenge Ings for the 'Werner' role in his 4-2-2-2. Especially considering Ings' injury history. So IMO that is a minimum of 5 new players long term - 1. Top quality centre-back, ideally with pace I reckon (I believe Dayot Upamecano in his Leipzig team is a very quick centre-back, hence the links but unlikely we will get him) This will be a tough ask to find I reckon, we are talking about basically finding another Van Dijk. Its why its a shame that Mepham looks likely to be going to Bournemouth because he is a very mobile centre-back. 2. A new attacking right back, with pace, looks like the Danish guy from Genk is being lined up for this. 3. A mobile physical DM, a 'Wanyama' if you will. 4. A pacey, hardworking attacking mid/wide player. 5. A mobile target man type striker to play up front with Ings. + 6 Another Ings/fast attacker, but maybe Obafemi can fill this role, at least short term. There is also questions about the other CM, but I would presume basically Hojberg/Lemina would play there, though I am not sure Hojberg quite fits this role. At Leipzig this was Keita and he was key with his physicality and dribbling ability to bring to ball forward to start attacks and to break out from opposition presses, its similar to what Dembele did for Spurs at his best. Hojberg is a good player, and big unit, but he's not particularly quick or that good at dribbling. You'd think Lemina, if he can get fit and get some consistency is tailor made for this role. I also wouldn't honestly be surprised on that basis that if a big bid came in for Hojberg, he'd be sold to raise funds to buy those other positions because I am not sure long term he fits the style of play Ralf wants (but he might adapt). So you are looking at potentially 5-7 new first team players. You are struggling to see from the current squad who might be able to fill in here and possibly be improved by Ralfs coaching. Maybe Gallagher for the mobile target man role. Maybe Boufal for the fast attacker role, I always thought his work rate was fine so if he came back and got on board with Ralfs ideas he could be a good option. Valery would be fine as the back up right back but I don't think you'd want him as our first choice and you'd need another as well. From the squad and those on loan you can't see many players being able to fulfil those roles. Carrillo, Clasie, Reed don't fit and I'd expect them to be sold. Austin, Elyounoussi, Hoedt you'd also expect to go as they don't really fit either, also Long if we can find a better striker option that has similar attributes. You'd also say that Armstrong and JWP don't really fit with that system either, but they seem to be fairly versatile players that have adapted well to Ralfs style, so along with Romeu you'd probably want them as your midfield back ups. The black box is going to have to work hard to find some gems, otherwise I expect us to be a work in progress still next season and beyond. It could easily take another 3-4 windows to undo the damage done over the last two years signings wise.

They have just scored 6 away vs City and Liverpool, this is probably going to be a lot tougher than when we played them away, they will be full of confidence (so should we) and Zaha and Townsend are a handful. I'd like the see Cedric and Bertrand in to be honest, I would be a little worried about Valery vs Zaha, Zaha made a mug of Milner who is very experienced. Is there an U23 game between now and then, would be good for Bertrand and Lemina to get some minutes. A week and half to prepare though.

Over 8 minutes of injury time is ridiculous, would have been an outrage if they had stole a draw in that period. But a deserved win by the sounds of it, shame we couldn't keep a clean sheet and also get the third to just kill the game off though. Everton fans have to be asking questions, they have spend a fortune in the last three windows, they chased a manager and sacked a competent one, and they look poor.

Its interesting that Bertrand has dropped his level just as much as Cedric but seems to get far less stick. Always seemed a solid player and was a good signing, his last 18 months have been poor but hes been in a poor team with poor managers. Probably was the best right back outside the top 6 for a good couple of years when we were playing well.

Lets just trust our new manager, he seems to know what he is doing, if JWP gets game time then he probably rates him and that is good enough , maybe Ralf will be the making of JWP, maybe he will be the end of him, but we'll get to see. IMO every player in our squad started with a blank slate when he took over and gets a chance to prove themselves under the new manager in a new era. We already know that a few have already been written off by Ralph, Gabbi is gone, Hoedt is sidelined, Cedric is likely to go. Players regularly criticised on here like JWP, Austin, Long, etc. have, for the time being at least, seem to have made an impression on the manager. Whilst others like Redmond and Romeu, who IMO were not doing enough over the last year to 18 months to deserve a place in the team now have under the new manager.

Yeh but your point was that the team that lost on pens to Derby was much more expensively assembled than Derbys, which whilst technically it is, all those players are at least ours and have a market value, whereas 30% of Derby's first team and their best players are not their players and they don't get any value from them. If you suddenly removed them and Derby had to go out and buy 3 new first teamers as good as those young players, they would have to have spent more money than it cost us for that team sent out against Derby. Thus when you look at it like that, despite all our failings in the transfer market, a team made up of more than 50% of our U23s drew with a playoff chasing Championship team, which has some of the best young British prospects around from elite clubs, which is not actually that bad. What it probably shows is that we could have avoided wasting all that money on expensive foreigners and just trusted our academy products more to be our squad depth as they are probably no worse. But of course all that money wasted on Carrillo, Boufal, Hoedt etc. was money spent looking to improve the first team and just didn't work out, which happens in football. I am not sure why we would help Chelsea and Liverpool buy loaning their young players, what we should be doing is tapping their best young players not getting game time and saying they should agitate to come to us and progress their careers, highlighting the likes of Sancho etc.

Yeh was an important period for us to get through with some points and not going too far behind others considering all those six pointers going on and we had Chelsea, City and Arsenal in our run, plus a host of injuries. We are probably doing better than many expected considering who we have had to play and who has been out. Yeh forgot Romeu.

3 of their first team are on loan and they are probably their 3 best players. Kind of skews your comparison.

That looks like the likely team, aside as said above depending on how knackered Romeu is, though the likely replacement is JWP is probably equally as knackered. Whilst not having Lemina or Bertrand is a blow, Ings is the key one IMO, he's the best striker we have by far and probably one of the best strikers in the bottom half of the league, him staying fit is going to be key. His pressing and movement against an Everton team that likes to play out from the back is a key battle. Also how we handle Richarlison, though he seems to have done what he did last year for Watford start well and then go off the boil, maybe he doesn't like the cold.

Aside the Ralphs who are the other two guys? Also thanks for the transcript.

So this is pretty much confirmed then? Wonder who Cedric is going to and how much we are buying the Genk player for?

He probably would, he has pretty much said last night that Obafemi is unprofessional. He did deliver for those clubs, those clubs were just terrible terrible teams that were all over the place with multiple managers and issues behind the scenes. IIRC he was top scorer for both clubs in the league. I kind of agree with the above post, our academy products get a hard time of it and seem to get written off before they have even had a chance to get any experience. I mean we all know the criticism JWP has got over the years, despite almost every manager picking him regularly. I think some of our fans have been spoilt by the likes of Walcott, Oxlaide-Chamberlain, Bale and Shaw, all those players were top level academy products, but also crucially they were early developers, not every player is like that. One of our best players of recent times, Lambert didn't really develop until he was in his mid 20s. I can only imagine what some of our fans would have said about Lambert if he had been from our academy and around our team at 19-20. There is massive number of factors that goes into a players development besides their raw talent, there is the experience they get, how their body develops, injuries, their home life, their attitude and maturity which might change over time etc. etc. Some of the best payers in the world were awkward, inconsistent players in their early 20s and developed into world class players once they found their place, their position the right manager etc. Other youngster explode onto the seen and look set to conquer the world and then fade into obscurity for various reasons, look at someone like Adriano, he was a beast, the complete forward that pretty much had everything and was banging in goals for Inter and Brazil at like 20-21, then his father died and his career fell to pieces. Look at Walcott never hit his real potential or turned into the top player we thought he would despite looking so good at 16-17. And I am not saying Gallagher is going to turn into some world beater or the next Lambert, but at least let the guy have a chance to get fit and show what he can do.

Don't understand the hate Cedric gets, not been great the last 18 months granted, but who has in our squad but before that was very solid, always seen him as a good defender, probably better defensively than a lot of other full backs in the league and of course is quick with good work rate but his attacking game let him down and prevented him from ever being top quality. But for like £4 million hes been a great signing IMO, very stable presence at full back for a long while.

Manager seems to disagree with you -