Smirking_Saint

We replaced him with Lavia tbf

Ralph had run out of ideas at the end… potentially you could argue if he’d of gotten a striker in the summer then he may of found his way back.. but I’m not so sure Sacking Ralph late (after admitting he’d lost the changing room before this season had even started), appointing a man that EVERYBODY could see was wrong from the start.. and then replacing him… far too late.. with a guy that has zero managerial experience is atleast 50% of why we are comfortably the worst team in the prem this year Terrible contractual and transfer dealings over the last 2-3 years are also very much to blame

I don’t see why we’d ‘need’ to sell outside of any large incoming bids If they down tools thats a different conversation but they’re on decently long contracts and again we’re under, as far as Im aware, no real financial pressures to sell so I don’t see why we couldn’t for atleast a year

Considering he’s probably been our best CB over the last few games no

Im not entirely sure why everyone believes we’ll have a mass exodus, whether enforced or otherwise.. I do believe SR’s words that we’re on a sound financial footing… so Id only imagine we’d lose those that it makes no financial sense to keep KWP/Salisu will likely be off due to their contractual situations, we have Bree/Tino and a multitude of CBs as replacements there anyway - 40-50m Lavia just won’t stay regardless of it we stay up or not, good DMs are a premium and he has basically everything in his armoury and will be younger/cheaper than Rice… another 40-50m (we’ll likely need to replace him) Smallbone/Tella - I think we’ll probably see these leave, I imagine Smallbone because I don’t see how he fits our tactics, fee will be negligible.. Tella will probably want to remain at Burnley and a fee of around 20m probably fits Outside of that we’ll probably try to recoup some fee for Orsic, may look to sell/loan Onoachu (carillo MkII basically (more ability admittedly) and potentially offload DCC if he is causing trouble… then its a coin flip whether we can find suiters for AA/Djenepo - Might make 10m-20m from that Outside of that Id say the squad looks in decent nick for a Championship charge, we probably still need to sign a striker and a DM, maybe a CB The importance of course is effective recruitment, of which we’ve made a pretty poor hash of overall under the SR banner

Makes absolutely no difference to the ability and maturity he has for a 19 yr old. He’s comfortably going to the very top

Have to agree, since I came back here Saints web is a more calm place then the madhouse it was, some really good posters on here and Rivers is always one of them You can tell some people have a more intricate knowledge of the game then others tbh Unfortunately there’s also some that wouldn’t know a football if it hit them in the face but we can have it all

…..Of a recent sustainability study on top flight clubs… Basically its a list of the premier leagues 20 clubs and a study has been done on the financials, seems a pretty arbitrary metric but it’s essentially a ratio of assets/income vs outgoings (wages) but also stuff like fan engagement etc adds to the score… the ideology is that the creators of this want to reward the top clubs with something… not really sure what.. a goldfish or maybe Janny B on loan for 6 months IDK Anyway, its nice to see we’re well run The glaringly obvious part is Everton being in the top 2, despite falling foul of FFP and their fan engagement being basically Moshiri shouting at Simon Jordon on Talksport but I suppose these academics aren’t perfect Full article in the Athletic

But Bednarek and AMN both had good games yesterday Moi’s workrate is needed in the 10 but can agree perhaps Charly can work there. It feels like he has the attributes but we’ll need to see Ralphs and so Selles’ tactics yesterday were what we at a club are best at, we’ve looked at our worst when we attempt to deviate from them, our main issue under Ralph was being overstretched and tired and so caught on the counter - Squad depth and 5 subs will help here.. and also converting chances, we still need to improve here but lets see what Sulemana and Onuachu can do We can criticise things that are there to be critiqued and pre match I was sceptical of AMN and Bednarek but there performance yesterday justified their inclusions Selles is what we have, outside of him Marsch was the best name but for whatever reason he didn’t fancy the project, I have no doubt Wilder, Gerrard, Lampard would take us backwards

Id of said a lot of this is quite biased imo Bednarek has been pretty awful certainly since he came back, but his performance yesterday was excellent and his stats back up what I saw on the pitch As for Ely, egg is spot on, I agree he isn’t good enough from an attacking perspective but he offers tactical consistency, tracking back and covers really well for Perraud who’s main issue is he is naturally an attack first FB, if we are to continue with a 4222 then to replace him we’d need someone comfortable on the ball and able to cover back.. Edozie isn’t that man, Arma maybe but his ball retention is awful and perhaps Aribo but he doesn’t work hard enough AMN was excellent too, agree KWP is better overall but he’s had a poor season too imo

Fofana (cb) was pissing me off yesterday, threw himself over at the slightest touch towards the end and the ref bought everything.. yet when Arma did the same he was waved up

In fairness to Bednarek I thought he was our best CB yesterday. Played front footed, organised well, probably his best game in a Saints shirt for me

Orsic, Sulemana, Stu Armstrong, Aribo, Ely can probably all play there Be interesting to see if Charly could too considering its not all about pace but ability to hold, win, shift the ball in tight half spaces Edozie has enough about him I think, maybe Aribo can be convinced to out a shift in, Ely just isn’t good enough in the final third for me

100%, he’s been a fantastic buy and genuinely if he hadn’t got injured we’d be a lot better off imo Chelsea, PSG, Arsenal maybe, Liverpool potentially.. they’re all the sides that probably need a no.6 like him desperately… likely be plenty of suiters the kids got everything he needs for that role including the athleticism

TBH he doesn’t offer anything remotely interesting or insightful either on here or on twitter.. just stalks around looking for anything he can be pedantic about He is basically the Jeremy Vine of anything Saints.

Tbh Im fully at terms with the fact we’ll lose him, kids going fully to the top.. he’s an 19 yr old, 6 ft tall No.6, press resistant, good at progressing the ball into dangerous areas We’re not keeping him, modern tactic’s effectively REQUIRE a 6 with those properties and there isn’t an abundance of them at the top level Either way we profit and move on, its been wonderful watching him but he won’t be here next Summer whatever happens imo

Id probably only drop Ely, Id even keep Bednarek in the 11 who I thought was excellent today AMN did very little wrong either Keep the same tactics, swap Ely for Edozie and potentially AMN for KWP thats it for me Positive momentum is what we need here

That literally never ever happens outside football manager and they’ll probably lose just as much from agents fees etc There are two trains of thoughts really; - City buy him back because they want him… unfortunately with Phillips looking a predictable bag of shite its a real possibility along with Gundogan potentially leaving this year - City don’t want him but Chelsea or any other club that needs a 6 buys him and City hoover up the sell on fee, (20% I think), my only hope is Enzo is the signing that doesn’t make them picking up RL a priority I don’t think we have a hope of keeping him so hopefully we’ve started scouting a replacement

I thought that, originally I worried we’d lost our out ball but certainly Onuachu and Stu looked knackered

Spoke with just a completely serene confidence pre match, no sense of arrogance, just an authority and a feel of a real positivity I think he deserved and now deserves a chance, for me, short of a capitulation at Leeds OR a big name coming in I think give him the rest of the season Its shit or bust now anyway with very little to lose, the players seem to be really engaged with him, his tactics are back to how I feel we’re set up and play best.. christ… he even got a tune out of Walcott and Bednarek I also fear, after today, considering he seems to have SUCH an affinity with the players that IF we replace him with somebody mediocre then it could have a negative affect on the squad He did brilliantly today 👏🏻

You couldn’t of really got it more wrong tbh - Rasmus hired him - Has asked every managerial appointment to ensure they worked with him - Marsch pulled the plug not Rasmus But you know.. unsubstantiated anger is always best

I think its time to reset, and play what is, IMO our strongest line up, if ABK doesn’t make it then Salisu can drop in, Im not sure there’s a lot in it on current form Id expect him to go back to having the ‘wide’ players as IF and push the FBs forward and both Orsic and Sulemana are more natural at playing narrower

Lets get behind Selles and see where we are, Marsch was, IMO an obvious and available appointment but for whatever reason he didn’t want the gig Lampard/Gerrard I think would just take us backwards and/or waste more money when we eventually sack them Worth giving Selles a chance and see if any other names come out of the woodwork

This is what I’d like to see against Chelsea, its a good start and easily transitions into a 4231 or even 4222 (bit of a stretch) if required, not sure on the fitness of ABK or KWP but these can be easily swapped with Salisu or Bree We need to get in their faces early, they’re as fragile as we are, especially after their midweek loss Stick Onuachu on Silvas toes and try to get Sulemana in behind as Badiashile doesn’t cover him effectively Im not really expecting a win but Id like to see a competetive and full of energy performance

I was involved in some of the redevelopment at Staplewood.. Cortese was.. to put it mildly.. hard work