Saint Pete

Wow.

Yep, they are very strong. World class players on the bench, only just bringing on Cherki from Citeh!

Brilliant from Olise.

Agreed, I don't think Downs should be written off at 21 years old and the example given above of Larin is a good one as he shows that strikers can go through fallow periods in front of goal but then come good. But I also think we shouldn't put reliance on him to fill the gap left by Stewart if we are serious about promotion ambitions. Can we afford to keep Downs in reserve as well as signing another starting option forward? I don't know but I can't see it somehow. I think they will maybe have a look at Downs in pre season but another loan for him is the most likely outcome for him. Then we will bring the Stewart replacement in, probably another loan like Larin. Can't see us moving for a striker until quite late in the window.

Well yeah, but is that later part the club view or Alfie House's view? The bits that are quoting Solak or club "sources" seem to be angling towards Downs being given another go, but time will tell I guess.

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/opinion/26194932.southampton-must-back-larin-stewarts-free-transfer/ He might be looking at this from the echo? Includes this section on Downs:- "Downs looked a lost cause in his limited appearances at St Mary's, but owner Dragan Solak believes he has all the attributes to succeed in England. Sources have suggested that Larin, who struck up a good relationship with struggling Archer, can help Downs to better settle into the squad."

Agree, the club definitely shouldn't fall into the trap of thinking "let's give Downs another chance, he will come good eventually". Appears he did nothing on his loan spell away so there's absolutely no justification for placing any reliance on him back with us! We should stick with the blueprint of 2nd half of last season and look to sign another target man type of striker with physical strength to interchange with Larin to replace Stewart. If Archer is happy to stay, I would keep him on as an option for a smaller different kind of striker for when plan A not working and also as useful backup option in wide positions.

Not sure about re-signing Ballard, it only makes sense for either party if we think he's likely to be a regular starter. The lad's benefitting from regular football now so wouldn't be the right move for him if he ends up back on our bench for most of the season. I haven't seen him play for Orient but seems like he's been played centrally? I don't think he fits the profile for what we need to replace Stewart as he doesn't have the physical stature (think the Larin/Stewart interchange worked really well in terms of the way we want to play so we should be looking for a similar kind of striker to continue that plan). Equally not sure West Ham is the right move for him either, he probably needs a season with a lower ranking Championship side to establish himself at that level in a starting role.

It's unusual circumstances for sure because of the play off situation but surely we didn't have to wait until the last game, we could have triggered the extension at any time before that point? But presumably we chose not to because of not knowing what league we would be in, i.e. we didn't have faith/loyalty in extending Stewart's contract whatever league we were in. For that reason, my view is that Ross is entitled to try his luck in getting a better deal elsewhere given his stock is reasonably high at this point. I don't see that as being disloyal to us, it's just business, the same as it was a business decision that we chose not to trigger the extension at an earlier point. "Loyalty" works both ways.

Morocco 1 up and have looked the better side so far.

Ultimately though, I can understand in his circumstances that he wants to get the best possible contract at this key point of his career. He's 29 years old and has missed a fair chunk of his time to progress his career through injury. The end of his contract with us has coincided with his best period of fitness and scoring at Championship level in his career to date and he can't guarantee that will be the case in a year's time, he may be long term injured again. So I personally understand why he is trying to pursue the best possible deal while he can and wish him good luck. (We could have avoided this situation by activating the extension clause in the time frame allowed but didn't do that, possibly for good reasons due to the play off situation but that was our choice (or balls up) so fair play to him).

Yep, that penalty looked suspiciously like a VAR cock up to me. Will be interesting to see if image released to show it wasn't offside as certainly looked like it was.

His corners were fine from what I remember. But for several years we failed to sign anyone who could attack the ball and head it in either box.

They would only ever considering signing a pay as you play deal if no other club of a similar standing would offer them a "normal" deal. Which clearly wouldn't be the case with Stewart after he has just scored 11 goals for us in the Championship this season. If he was still recovering from injury and hadn't played much when his contract runs out, then he would be in a less strong position and might have to accept that kind of deal for a little while.

Fantastic news! So important to have a good foundation and Peretz also showed he is a good character in the dressing room in the last few months. If we can also secure new contracts for Bree and Stewart and a deal for Larin in the next few weeks, that would be a great start to the summer.