Saint Pete

I think you miss the point a bit with your opening comment. I don't think many saw Vestergaard as perfect by any means. For several seasons, we have lacked an experienced organiser at centre back and we have seen the results of that in the performances defensively. Replacing Vestergaard in the squad with a more inexperienced player is hardly likely to help with that issue, so we need to make sure whoever we sign can compete for a starting place straight away and preferably has the character and experience to help out some of the younger players we already have. Take your point they don't have to be over 30, but defensive players do tend to improve in the qualities we ideally need as they gain more experience. Just think sometimes the club are so focused on our model of signing players who are the "right age", they forget to think enough about what the team needs right now in order to improve.

I hope you are wrong about that. As it stands, Stephens is 3rd choice CB and will be straight in the side if Salisu or Bednarek pick up an injury or are out of form. That's not a situation anyone should be satisfied with! Simeu I think should be thought of primarily as a B team player for this season as has very little experience. So we certainly need a replacement for Vest and it ought to be a player who can contend straight away for a starting place. Personally I wouldn't be against signing an older defender with some experience (Cahill mould) as our team is crying out for more experience and know how especially after losing Bertrand, Ings, Vest.

Yes, feel quite positive about this one as should help with that feeling we had so often last season where it didn't feel we had any good plan B options from the bench if we needed to change the game. This lad may be young but he looks like he has different attributes to our other forwards which should give Ralph more ability to change things up if plan A isn't working. From the clips he looks pretty adept at holding it up and bringing others into the game, which will make him a good option for us.

Yes, notice it says current bid is "up to £15m", which suggests it's not £15m up front, only with the add ons. So as you say reckon we will hold out for £15m before any add ons and that'll probably do it.

Whilst Armstrong can play CM this does take something away from us in the No 10 positions where he is our most effective player currently. Also if Romeu gets injured, we don't really have another more robust DM style player to cover for him, so this makes our midfield look quite vulnerable in Ralph's favoured formation. Overall, I can't really believe that Ralph can be happy with the depth of cover available in centre mid, particularly given that Hojbjerg, Reed, Lemina, Slattery and Jankewitz have all left permanently in the last year or so, with just Diallo coming in. Surely we need at least 1 more DM and must have a free spot given those departures.

Surely we must be looking to bring in another centre mid, as it's obvious we are woefully short of cover in that position. Lemina, Jankewitz, Slattery have all left permanently now and Smallbone presumably still not available through injury. If JWP is still out for the weekend, who will we be able to call on from the bench for CM if needed out of interest?

So what would be the reason to join (or stay at) Southampton out of interest? At the end of the day, players will always gravitate to bigger clubs who pay them more money if they are good enough. In Villa"s case, their best player has left them yes . to join the best and richest club in the land. I wouldn't personally say that was a reason for ambitious players not to join Villa.

I"m not moaning FFS! Think Southgate has managed the squad superbly. Just didn't agree with that sub as it was a negative move. But the win was well deserved and roll on the final. By the way, Vestergaard played very well for Denmark. If he stays and plays like that all season I'll be more than happy.

Personally, don't agree with the Grealish sub. I didn't feel it was necessary as Denmark were on their last legs. If anything it gave them half a chance to get back in it. But that said, we did manage the game and keep the ball superbly in last 5 minutes and by and large Southgate has made the right calls in this tournament.

No fucking way.

Cracking goal from Tielemans. If they go on and win, that would be a worthy winner in any final.

A class act, quality defensively and in possession. Personally, I would have been happy to see him stay on for a couple more years, but let's hope we can sign a younger replacement with some quality who can step into his boots. Can't help speculating that there may have been some kind of tension recently with Ralph reading his Twitter sign off. Seems odd he would thank Semmens and Crocker but not mention the manager? The comment about finding a new home that allows him "freedom to play and maximise his contribution to the team" is interesting. A hint of unhappiness with how Ralph has asked him to play recently? I could be reading too much into it though! It certainly seems a well thought out message, quite typical of Ryan I think. Good luck to him wherever he ends up 👍

Better start this half, just need to be sharper in final third now.

Looking at the table now, it's a good job Fulham have slipped back into a poor run of form recently or we could have been looking at a pretty high points total to stay up this year.

Leicester now looking over their shoulders at teams bunching up behind them in the table. They blew a champs league spot last season with a poor late run of league form, won’t want the same thing to happen again this season. Securing top 4 spot surely more of a priority for them than the FA Cup (he says hopefully)?

Offside (says VAR anyway!)

The logic now with these VAR reviews of tackles seems to be “well that looks bad on the slow mo replay so he has to go”, no account taken of the overall situation in real life speed. That one shouldn’t be a red, he clearly had full intent to play the ball and did so, just caught the player in the follow through. Poor use of VAR yet again.

It's going to be interesting to see which way Ralph goes with this. Personally I think he will want to maintain the momentum of the last couple of games and give the likes of Ings & Theo another game to get them fully up to speed before the semi final. So I think it's unlikely he will make changes unless there are particular worries over fitness or knocks.

👍

Leicester/Man U would be least worst draw for us in my opinion.

Well played Nathan Redmond, pleased for him. Clearly he has had a poor season, but he has always been a confidence player and this performance and 2 good goals and a fine assist should do him the power of good for the rest of the season if he can stay fit.

Can't complain at that side. Should be good enough to win if they perform. COYR!

Yep. Also, our squad is criminally light in some positions currently and the club needs to address that, not just Ralph. Getting shot of Ralph won't change the fact we only have 2 premier league quality centre midfielders at the club, which is crazy and was bound to catch up with us at some point this season.

My advice is you should give up following football. If you think the chance of winning a cup is meaningless, what's the point?

Baffling stuff from us. Surely we have to be more direct at this point?