Saint Fan CaM

Because other Managers ran rings around him.

Blimey, that’s a stretch. It was a good 2nd half performance, but a better team would have taken us apart and finished us off earlier in the game probably. My feeling is we will finish higher than last season but on the proviso Ralph is able to identify a system to suit a first choice team that includes our best players…i.e. Redmond is left on the bench, Adams and AArmstrong do not play together, Perraud gets the nod ahead of Djenepo at LB. Oh and the high press means more than 1 or 2 pressing…worked so much better when at least three of the front line pressed together as it limited passing out. I’m going to stick my neck on the line and say 12th.

Let’s hope it doesn’t go belly up then.🤣

I thought he played well last night - not too many mistakes and he learning the system all the time. I think he’ll be in the squad for this season at least.

Perhaps it doesn’t work that way in reality, but you would think this deal may have been used as a sweetener for us to sign Broja on a permanent contract. Disappointing that we’ve not managed to leverage something with that unless all our eggs are in the Delap basket of course?

I agree, thought Lyanco had an impressive game - in fact I was surprised at how composed he and Stephens looked, albeit against a non-Prem team. First half though was a bit dire…a lack of creativity, pace, power…just a totally lacklustre performance with some players exhibiting the signs that they’re about to become fringe players. Redmond got a talking to from Ralph after they scored…just stood ball watching. He may have experience/savvy but his legs don’t work anymore. Djenepo was OK, but his legs are still not working in conjunction with his brain!🤣 McCarthy was not put under a lot of pressure, but once again got beaten at his near post and fluffed clearances - I just hope Bazunu starts the season as as no.1. Second half was much better…more urgency, moving the ball quicker, better options going forwards. Thought it was interesting that we didn’t miss our two ‘primary’ strikers at all - Stuey Armstrong was excellent. Interesting to see the decent CB options Ralph has now, given that Salisu didn’t get on the pitch. It was good to see Perraud fit to start - didn’t know he was ready. Still need a decent 10+ goal striker, two attacking midfielders and we’ll be looking OK.

That’s a lot of hope stashed away there! I don’t agree with your description of this transfer window - it’s hardly conclusive until we see results on the pitch. These youngsters may be really great and we all hope they are, however they need to prove (a) they have the ability to deliver Ralph’s instructions on the pitch and (b) flex those instructions if things are not working out to impact the game. Too many in the squad have not been doing these basics very well. And the strategy of growing the squad with several £10m players (that are equally at risk of attempting Ralphball and failing) does have an alternative - i.e. just buy a £25m+ CB and £25m+ striker who are more competent than the current incumbents. Not saying that’s the right mway to go necessarily, especially if you’re looking to turn a profit, but it’s an alternative.

Mmm, am I the only one feeling a bit cautious about packing the squad with a lot of unproven players that might not be really up to the job? Reminds of the Lowe days a bit, although to be fair the scouting and recruitment appear much better now. It provides a lot of competition for space in the 1st team, but also provides Ralph an opportunity to tinker and one of my concerns about his management previously has been his seeming inability to know his best team. Its nice gawking over all these new players coming in, wondering what promise they might have, but there’s only 11 players allowed on the pitch at any one time and if our available squad players are incapable of collectively competing in the EPL (per the last 12/13 games of last season), it’s going to be another difficult season.

Yeah but then we'd need to find someone to kick a decent corner? 😉

An interesting take for a first post and you may well be correct. If we were serious about Delay and Broja then we'd be nearer a signing by now I suspect, although there has been clear interest of some sort. Which more mature ex-Saint from abroad would be a 'massive' signing of GBP30m + that might fit the bill? Tadic - but he's not a striker as such? Can't think of any others!

I can’t see Saints getting anywhere near the money City might accept to let Delap go and the longer the charade goes on, the more we risk losing out on other priority choices. We should be pulling the stops out for Broja now IMO - he’s got knowledge of of Ralph’s system and has proven he can score at EPL level. I hope we don’t revert to type and end up blowing too much on a last minute panic purchase on Ings or similar.

For me the key issue is variety of formation and gameplan to keep oppo managers guessing. One of Ralph’s systems biggest flaws is he gets found out quickly and there’s little or no reaction to change. So 3 CB’s is fine on occasion providing there’s a plan in place to flex and a gameplan that does not inhibit our attacking ability.

With the influx of new coaching staff, the appointment of Bazunu to improve the keeper role and some much needed younger legs in defence and midfield, I was starting to get optimistic about the new season. Unfortunately this optimism has been muted at this point by a lack of improvement in tactical nouse and performance in front of goal - yes, it's early days and we've got at least Mara to look forward to joining and others hitting form, but at this point there's little to demonstrate lessons learnt and a corner being turned. Difficult to predict therefore how the season will end, but at the moment I see it going like this - early defeats will mean a significant upswell of anti-Ralph protests leading to a difficult decision by the Board. Would they act early and try to convince Poch to come back and finish the project he started? If we don't fix the lack of goal threat we saw at the end of last season, it will mean one thing - relegation - and I can't see the Board risking that eventuality with the level of investment made this summer.

Here's a recent link... https://www.footballfancast.com/southampton-transfer-rumours/moussa-dembele-transfer-future-lyon-southampton-striker-armando-broja

Although no direct attributable quotes to back that up whatsoever as far as I can remember. It's the experience that would be buying alongside a top performing player and that's something we're perhaps slightly lacking at the moment.

I don't think he's a long way off the level we need to be fair - he lacks experience which is understandable at his age, but he's unlikely to get that with Perraud and KWP (and possibly others such as Djenepo) in front of him. I do agree that a season away on loan would be good for him, but from what I've seen so far he will be a very good LB in the future.

Agreed - does seem a little strange that he seems to have improved (i.e. found a role that suits him) over the close season but Ralph seems to think he'll grow more with a loan. Perhaps he's not showing that consistently enough in training? For my money he's been disappointing whenever he played last season - ball watcher, not strong in tackle, lack of penetrating runs...just seemed to be making up the numbers. Hope whatever happens he flourishes - he deserves to coming back from injury and personal issues.

I see links with Harry Winks are not going away with the suggestion he can play alongside JWP allowing him to push forward more. Can't see that being part of the plan myself, but who knows?

Still want us to get Dembele - that would be the icing on the cake of what has been a really good transfer window. Think there's still an option for a loan too?

Yes agree with this - I too read that he tends to drift right and if that works well with Aribo it can only be a good thing providing it doesn't lead to us getting stifled out on the wing with nowhere to go and ultimately losing the ball and being hit on the break. Saw that too many times last season.

Oh for a bit of news about a player Saints may actually sign (as opposed to one that clearly is not even on the radar). lol

Oh yeah I get that, but I mean where will he fit in - i.e. within the current starting 11 as a partner striker or no.10 or like Broja replacing Che/A Armstrong as a forward playing intermittently. I think the latter is more likely.

I hope he does just enough to ride it out until the end of the season, but not well enough to finish above us!

Mara seems to be the real deal, although it will be interesting to see how he copes with the higher pace and physicality of the Prem. May find he needs to bulk up a bit to cope with the CB’s he’ll be facing. Can see him being a target for some heavy tackles and potential injuries, but on the bright side he might provide free kicks around the box for JWP. Where will he start…a Che replacement or as a no.10?

If that’s true looks like we did an extremely generous bit of business given the players value was near €3m!