Smirking_Saint

Well not really because he never showed any real leadership, similar to JWP he is ever present and leads by example but he isn’t a rally the troops type like Fonte was And lamping Murphy would have only had put him out for the rest of the season, so no, not sure it’ll have helped

Our ‘experienced’ guys have always been terrible buys, and generally our youth buys have always been decent Compare ABK to DCC, AMN to Lavia, fucking anybody to Aribo/Onuachu Its not experience we need, we need stronger mentalities across the board.. wherever they come from.. we’ve missed that since Fonte and to a lesser extent VVD

The best of our CBs yes… not a particularly high amount of praise though overall

Its always been a bit baffling for me but I think it always highlights how fans will side towards a player they consider homegrown or one that shows a bit of steel (Lyanco) despite clearly being limited On metrics alone, and I appreciate they do not show the full picture but Bednareks stats are better than Stephens, and for me its backed up by what I see on the pitch, both players are limited, but Stephens, for me, is the more limited Interestingly too, until the fallout between JB and RH he survived successive team changes and was often picked ahead of others by management. We’ve actually had JS up for sale for 2 years now, with only Bournemouth showing interest (and ending it after his loan spell was unsuccessful). Bednarek was also the name recalled by Jones in January (and subsequently was one of our best performers (in a shit team)) I think overall though the JS vs JB debate shows just how much of a rot had set in within our defensive ranks over the years

I actually think he is the best of those here in terms of ball playing, aswell as actual defending so would be a shame if he left

Yeah but we don’t know the extent of the injury, whether its being treated elsewhere, whether its just a time related ‘resting’ rehab Maybe he is getting early or late treatments ? Maybe they’ve decided the training ground is too busy so to treat elsewhere ? Maybe of course its transfer related ? Its just another simple tweet from him, like JWP, with zero depth designed to increase engagement with little effort

Another non story like the JWP post Bednarek got injured vs Reading, I really don’t think there is a lot in it really

Zach Awe… inspiring signing

He’s looked very good in pre season and is probably more suited to Martins midfield then most, arguably I think he is the reason why we’ve not pushed for the likes of Grimes etc Personally Id rather resist a sale, it’s unlikely we’ll command fee’s north of 10m so, like Wilcox was saying in the echo interview, it goes down to weighing up the situation, Id rather he walked on a free next year, then trying to find an equivalent player, around 10m that we can integrate quickly

He is but thats a separate conversation

He was, he wss a nice guy, probably too nice to be in the position he was in, I just think he let a lot of the backroom stuff decline and allowed a slack attitude to set in by not keeping standards/aims high

Not entirely no, I think he did an ok job, but towards the end was more of a hindrance to the SR project and needed to go I think unfortunately he allowed the club to regress probably quicker then it should of done under his guidance, and really was only luck/Ralph that kept us up

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/23684925.wilcox-updates-southampton-reject-first-ward-prowse-transfer-bid/ Wilcox goes into a fair amount of detail here, and although a lot will be PR pieces it marries up with what Id heard and said on here at the start of pre season The club is comfortable in its position and will only sell if values are met.. which.. as a Saints fan.. is incredibly refreshing considering where we were under ‘Anyone can go’ Semmens

I think he plays for either personally, Chelsea are in as much need for a decent No.6 as Liverpool… possibly more so Id fucking love it if he went to Chelsea over the scousers

Here we go !!

Yeah its a gamble but he has the talent and raw attributes to be a very good CB at European level

One of my favourite Burnley replies… I mean.. it literally makes no sense

Their arrogance is absolutely breathtaking Not realy sure where the ‘myth’ that he doesn’t want to be here comes from, by all reports he’s pretty relaxed about the whole thing, absolutely no indication from anyone that he ‘desperately wants to leave’

Salisu has cut it in the prem and left sided CBs are more of a premium than wingers

I just think thats who we’ll sign…

Yeah I think so, if JWP or Sulemana stay it only improves on this… striking options worry me but I think we’re looking to do business there I personally think we have, overall the strongest or atleast a top 2 squad in this division… time will tell if we can shake off last years mentality and adapt to Martins system

Bednarek will be one of the better CBs in the division Smallbone has been our standout performer in preseason Baz.. tbf… I thought would be ok but his pre season form is a definite worry Not really sure what you see there

Im hoping when we see movement on these we can potentially bring in a CB target of our own, imo I think it’ll be Ronnie Edwards and I would hazard a guess we have it lined up already Lyanco will be an interesting one, not sure where we go from here but I reckon we’ll see him go out on loan

They’re different types of players tbh Caicedo is more of an 8/6 where as Lavia is probably more of an actual 6 So I suppose it depends what you want really, Lavia is more like Casemiro/Fabinho where as Caicedo is more like Gundogan

Im fairly sure he was part of the ‘French’ clique that were making noises about not wanting to be here towards the end of last season Its why I was pretty sure Perraud, Diallo, him and Mara would be off to some degree Whether those thoughts have since mellowed im not sure