david in sweden

Ali Dia ?...... Correction : Except for the Swiss lad who demanded a Prem. start and got sent off in the first minute v. Man Utd and helped up lose 0-9. as for " the former manager " : Seemingly the 93% got their way and NJ has actually gone, now let's stop gloating about it and concentrate on finding someone who can help us avoid relegation, and then pay him a million bonus - if he succeeds.

"attitude problem " ?.... or do they mean mean AMBITION ? . " The desire, or determination to be successful, rich or powerful etc." as quoted from Oxford Advanced Dictionary. Goodness! .. Heaven forbid we should raise our Academy youngsters to have an ambition and want to leave the club. Disgusting idea.

IF... Morgan were to stay he would undoubtedly get game time in the first team ..in a year or so. To have put him on the pitch just now, and expecting miracles would be totally wrong, especially at a time when the regulars are struggling. Bad luck, Bad timing(?) .. but there is still a world of difference between Academy football and the drop zone in Premier League. Our previous "successes"; Walcott, Bale, Oxlade- Chamberlain, Shaw and Lallana all grew into a Saints squad and were helped playing alongside experienced pro's. After moving they all struggled at their new clubs when expected to show up and do their bit. Morgan was amongst a bunch of lads (U18's) who are part of the best Academy year we've had since Prowsey's time. There are others - many of whom are local and have been with the club since 8 years old, and although it's a shame he's gone, I don't think we will miss him in the long term, as we have others who are DAJFU at U18 and B team level. I may stand corrected, but I thought JImmy-Jay was from the London area (?).and had been rejected by Chelsea some years ago and he joined us soon afterwards. A chance to return and get a big salary was surely a no-brainer for him. even if he's in along queue for aplace on their bench, and surely the 6 million compensation is not a lot to moan about.

Find a someone who's managed a club in " some country's" top league for a few years - (not bothered if they've won anything), but has successfully kept their club above the drop zone on a regular basis by playing attacking football with any sort of formation. Can coach young players well, and speak reasonable English (and get by with 2 or 3 other languages) so that the message goes home to the entire squad especially as we have a goodly number of players who don't know how to handle an interview... let alone pass a ball 10 yards. Maybe not a Lampard or Gerrard, as they always tended to look down on Saints when they were players...and would cost too much anyway, and definitely not one of the recently sacked Prem. managers who has already failed to deliver elsewhere...

Saturday's game really will be the "Last Chance Saloon" for Nathan Jones. Wolves are above us in the table - having scored even less goals than we have - and unless we see a paradigm shift in the team performance and three points to go with it, the " R word " will be on everyone's lips until the final game, and without " a convincing win ", it may well be Jones' last game anyway....

Jones, Hasenhuttl ..or whoever.. the simple truth is that although some players have certain qualities, and " sort of function", occasionally - our squad is simply not good enough. We can't score and many points have been lost for the want of a single goal. The profit we made from selling VvD was squandered on over-priced, unsuitable, sub-standard replacements from other leagues whilst those remaining from the post-Koeman sides gradually departed the club and were never adequately replaced. The slide began a year ago ......when a vastly-improved side that was top of the Prem. just two months before dramatically imploded 0-4 at Villa Park, and it's gone downhill ever since. The summer purchases of teenage talents who had been discarded by other Prem. sides has proven too much when they are all " thrown to the lions" every week without the support and guidance of more experienced players who know their way around the Prem. and hold things together. Without a massive improvement in the next few games Nathan Jones may follow in the furrows left by those who went before him. Being a Prem. manager - at our end of the table - is simply about one thing ....getting points, and staying clear of the drop zone. The only consolation for NJ may be that better managers than him have trodden the Prem. path before him ... and failed.

to be fair "trousers" .... most of the young players we've signed this season have shown up well and despite their age we see that they have good skills, whereas many of our own young talents who are "on the up " are still some way from making the first team bench at this level. The other factor is that the " physical demands " of the step-up from youth football to the Prem. are enormous and we have seen in the past. Despite their excellent showings last season both Broja and Livramento were injured by mid season, and were scarcely fit enough to contribute anything afterward the New Year. This season, despite starting well ...Larios, Lavia, Edozie and Bella-Kotchap (twice) have all lost significant game time through injury and it's clear that young bodies, (more used to playing youth football) simply cannot stand up to the rigours demanded of a players' physique at Prem. level. and may not recover as quickly as more experienced players may do. There is a world of difference between starting well - after a good pre-season - than slowly recovering from a painful injury in mid-season, and beginning to kick a ball again. * Historical note: comment from an Alan Shearer interview (a former Saints talent who started his career slowly). .....There is a lot of difference between being " fit enough to play, than being properly... " match fit ". Being " fit enough " may be an achievement, but the big question is .. are you now better than - the other guy?

I think many of us saw JJ's progress last season, when he also made England apps. for his age group. but also a certain amount of satisfaction, in that despite Morgan returning to the club that previously rejected him, that Saints have picked up a healthy 6 million transfer fee (plus add-ons, I believe). Not sure how he sees his future at Chelsea, but it's fairly certain that it'll be some time before he could even become a regular on their first team bench, whereas he might well have got game time with us - with a little more patience. NOTE: Tyler Dibling's misadventure with his aborted move to Chelsea last summer shows that the grass is not always greener in a rich man's garden.

Tella has been impressive enough at Burnley, so let's get him back and help keep us up..... and then Burnley can come back in the summer and buy him - if they want to.

it's only force of habit, they've been doing that for the last 5 years....

Looking back ....to the JPT final when Antonio scored for us, whilst on loan from Reading (!) it all went pear-shaped when Nicola Cortese subsequently refused to sanction his purchase - because of Reading's 2 million price tag. This was plain madness when you consider how subsequent clubs invested and benefitted when they bought him. (Cortese previously questioned Alan Pardew's judgement when he wanted to spend ONE million on a 26 year old, L1 striker... named Lambert (!) For all the plaudits he got for organising the administration at the club, Cortese almost bankrupted us a second time when almost every purchase he made, was on borrowed money and engineered via his European cronies, and proved to be expensive disasters; like (example) Osvaldo and Ramirez who together cost over 25 million - without even calculating their salaries after being given 4 year contracts. In our present situation, (with other players refusing to sign for us after looking at the Prem. table), we could do worse than sign Antonio .

A bit tired of FIFA 2022 are you ?

Signing a clinical centre-forward ? ...... I've been saying that since Pelle left the club. Our worst problem is that we'll never be able to afford more than 20 mill. for a player and still be able to pay his salary. Perhaps NOT re-signing Danny Ings was a blessing in disguise, as he went off injured after 20 minutes in his WHam debut. The 12 million fee may have been affordable for Saints, but not his current salary level.

Good comment Dave fizzy. I admire players who despite being fouled, tugged back or ankle-tapped still soldier on and try to make an attempt to score, - as against those who go down like a sack of coal when they sense the slightest touch - and whatever happened to the rule about ref's booking players for diving? Also having goals disallowed for fouls in the area is often a ridiculous decision (no matter what VAR says). If that was the standard rule... there would be a penalty given every time a corner is punted into the box and everyone goes for the ball. There is a difference between "physical contact"... and a foul. Many refs give a penalty, when the player ought to get an Oscar instead.

Agree Whitey, If pushing and bodily contact were penalised likewise, we'd see a penalty given every time a corner is taken....

...and, as a matter of interest ..what would your reply have been ? If we were to prematurely sack Nathan Jones, we could offer the job to either of Englands' best and most experienced players in the last 15 years - Messers. Lampard and Gerrard, Surely they would be good choices for Premier League management...having been sacked from two of the richest and successful clubs around. Even the best players don't automatically make good managers.

perhaps signing him the week before we play City in the League Cup might be some sort of tactical advantage ?

Maybe our record of Prem. / Div.1 away games at Goodison is up for consideration?. Can't recall our last win there, but it was almost certainly back in the last century.........

Well maybe not sh*t scared, but " cautious " as despite always picking up the points, Pep has always said that we play well against them, and so I don't expect a " weakened side" but I'll be pleased if they don't start with De Bruyne.

Few fans have mentioned getting another goalkeeper. Ralph insisted on keeping McCarthy as first choice for an age before he used FF, but now we have just Bazunu and Willie C to choose from. McCarthy is injured and will go ..sooner or later, and although I think Willie would be a valuable asset to keep - on the coaching side - longer term we still need another name to give us some choice .... in the worst case scenario.

Right Chez, I've been writing the same thing since Pelle left.....

On present form, Pep shouldn't need to start with his best eleven, as even his bench is pretty formidable to look at. Certainly the summer signings that City released to us will have something to prove, and we can hope we see some minutes from our new signing, and to call us underdogs is an understatement, but Cup competitions are always a " one-off " so who knows what the evening might throw up. City have won this trophy a number of times but that will count for nothing on the day. COYR !

maybe ?....but the bottom of L1 is still a long way from the Prem.....

we live in hope Toussaint, but it's a sobering thought to recall that the last time we won in the league at Goodison was way back - in the last century...

Reading all the comments above, I think you've all covered most of the negative things that we all agree on, but analysing the reasons for our downfall is easier than finding quick solutions, but I think some have been overlooked. The success of the " Koeman years " gave us false hope and the subsequent sale of VvD gave us lots of spending money, most of which was squandered on sub-standard signings, successive bad management decisions and general poor judgement. The import of last summer's teenage talents looked promising, but consider also that some of them were either the best talents in poor /or/ relegated clubs in other countries, and promising youngsters that " bigger clubs " considered " surplus / sub-standard ". and were happy to release. Even playing a couple of them in a Prem. side would be encouraging, but when half the side are still in their teens, its clear that the lack of "experienced heads" around them is a major cause for concern, and the failure to sign any recognised striker has been the main problem for our predicament, and too often left Ché Adams playing alone as a sole striker. In 18 games so far this season, we have failed to score at all in 6 of them, and lost 7 games by just a one goal margin. IF we are to survive - not entirely impossible looking back 20-odd years ago to those seasons of "The Great Escape" - but (1) most recent defeats have been put down to poor defending / errors, but I maintain that the main fault has been the lack of goals, and not just defenders. We managed to survive last season - despite conceding the most Prem. goals, - but did score enough goals to get points - even though many of those were drawn games. We need experience up front and we need it now. (2) Get back those experienced players, presently out on loan, and have as many of them available - in case of more injuries. Jan Bednarek is not the worst CB we've signed in the last five years, and that our own Academy product Nathan Tella is helping a rapidly-improving Burnley side to achieve promotion, whilst we are likely to go down is ridiculous in the extreme. Even Will Smallbone has clocked up some valuable game time, even in a somewhat indifferent Stoke side, and the sight of Jack Stephens regularly sitting on the Bournemouth bench is ridiculous in the extreme. All could be vital to our eventual survival. (3) Relegation and loss of TV income would harm the club (economically), and even a quick promotion back up would mean several more years of stringent budgeting. Investment now might avoid the worst situation, but penny-pinching may well prove fatal come May. Decisions made this month may decide our future - long before the end of the season.