SaintJackoInHurworth

I was hoping to go to two Saints tickets in one weekend this weekend, but sadly I missed out on getting a Leicester ticket in time (any offers of a Leicester ticket would be welcomed!). However, I am still going to the second game - Sunday's Academy match between Middlesbrough and Saints, which is being played in Bishop Auckland. It will be the first time I have ever been to see an academy match. Judging by Hassenhuttl's interview I may end up seeing Fraser Forster in goal and I am also wondering whether Ings and Bertrand may get run outs. Anyone any idea whether this may be likely? Anyway, my main purpose in starting this thread is to ask some opinions from those who have been to away academy matches before... * Will I need to buy a ticket in advance? * Will there be segregation between home and away supporting fans? (NB I am going with a Middlesbrough-supporting friend) * How partisan are supporters at these sort of games? In particular, will I be ok wearing a Saints scarf? (it is one of thsoe ones that has home colours on one side and away colours on the other side) Any thoughts/comments/advice will be welcomed. Thanks in advance!

Personally, I have mixed feelings about this. When Hoedt first joined us he did ok considering what was being asked of him in the light of the whole Van Dijk debacle. He showed some potential and was beginning to get selected for the Dutch national squad. Sadly, I think he has been badly coached and managed and that has resulted in him being put under the stress of over-inflated expectations of a kind that must be hard for a young player to cope with. This in turn has resulted in him losing concentration and, no doubt, confidence - even though that may demonstrate itself as arrogance to some. I kind of feel it would be great if the club could undo the failings of his coaching, resulting in us seeing him achieving the potential that he seemed to have when he first joined. However, I recognise that is probably overly-idealistic and that in reality it is probably best both for him and for the club that he moves on now. Hopefully back in his native Holland he can restore some of his potential and begin again to develop into a great defender. I just hope that we don't come up against him in European competition some time in the future and discover him living up to that potential against us!

BBC seem to think he could be in the frame though there is a lot of conjecture in the article (which is quite surprising for a BBC article): https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46618593 That article is a very glowing article about Mitchell. As I read that I hope that we hadn't been in talks with him only to find that the link with Man Utd steals him from our grasp. I would certainly welcome him back as Les Reed's replacement.

To the tune of Despacito: Hasenhuttle - his name is Hasenhuttle, He's a chief with pressing football, The manager of SFC! OR... to the tune of The Power of Love (FGTH, Gabrielle Aplin, Dalton Harris) With Ralph Hasenhuttle, Saints play pressing football, Keeping clean sheets And scor-ing goals!

Quique Sanchez Flores to inspire the team to a battling 1-1 draw with a goal from Ings cancelling out a Kane wonderstrike.

So, just to ask the question again more simply... * What would your response be if Man Utd were to sack Mourinho and take an interest in appointing Hughes?

You know how football clubs often like to recruit former players as manager...? You know how many football clubs like to recruit managers with experience of managing at top clubs? You know how many EPL football clubs like to recruit managers with EPL managerial experience? Well, if Man Utd sack Mourinho as is expected, perhaps they could try and entice Mark Hughes away? How would you feel if they did?!! PS Of course, my own personal hope is that Hughes manages to get our team performing at their best tomorrow with a great win against Chelsea, followed by a glorious up-turn in form for the rest of the season and beyond..! (but failing that I would accept a good bid from United with good amounts of compensation...! )

We lost a great owner (Markus Liebbherr) and the replacements have not been anywhere near as good. We lost a great MD (Cortese) and his replacement has not been anywhere near as good. We have lost some great managers (Poch and Koeman) and their replacements have not been anywhere near as good. We have lost some great academy and player recruitment staff (inc. Georges Prost, Huw Jennings, Malcolm Elias, Paul Mitchell & Matt Crocker) and their more recent replacements have not been anywhere near as good. We have lost some good players and their replacements have not been anywhere near as good. Overall it is a shocking tale of decline which can be seen in every area of the club. That having been said... * Hughes is an improvement on Pellegrino - though he would not have been my preference this summer when appointing a new manager. * Lemina was great when he first joined us and somewhere in there there is a good player waiting to re-emerge. Good coaching and management could help him rediscover that form. * Hojbjerg has been one of our better players in some matches within the past six months, so some of the criticisms of him are a little unfair. * Hoedt is still young and despite everything does still have potential as a defender - if only he could benefit from good coaching and a little more encouragement to rebuild his confidence. * Bednarek started badly for Saints at the start of last season but did well at the end of last season and deserves to be given a chance. * Romeu was good for us under Koeman and even under Puel - good coaching and management could help him to rediscover that ability and form. * Gabbi started well with Saints - good coaching and management could help him rediscover that form. * Austin started well with Saints - good coaching and management could help him rediscover that form. * Ings started well with Saints - good coaching and management could help him rediscover that form. * Redmond started well with Saints - good coaching and management could help him rediscover that form. * Cedric was part of the successful Portugese Euro 2016 squad - good coaching and management could help him rediscover that form. * Bertrand is a quality full-back and was unlucky to lose his international place - good coaching and management could help him rediscover that form. * Targett had a great season last year at Fulham - good coaching and management could help him rediscover that form. * Some other youngsters have previously shown promise - good coaching and management could help them rediscover that form.

I think confidence is so important. Hoedt's confidence is shot and maybe he needs a break from the firing line. Bednarek had the same at the start of last season but when he was brought back in at the end of the season he did really well. Maybe it is time we gave him another run in the side? Clearly confidence is important for our strikers too. I would have thought today would have been a good day to give Gabbi a run out. Is he injured or has he fallen out with Hughes? Where's Elyounoussi too? I'm not a big fan of his but it seems strange to play a full back on the wing! Even stranger that Armstrong was not the one brought in instead of him, though I can see the possibility that maybe Hughes thought it would give us another defensive option.

He is on the bench today!

Now that Saints have released news of the new third kit, I wonder whether there is any possibility that SD might put that on sale on their website... or maybe the second kit, if and when that finally goes on sale!

1. Man City 2. Man Utd 3. Liverpuddle 4. Spuds 5. Arse-nil 6. Chelski 7. Everton - with Silva receiving huge plaudits for transforming Everton into a club that can compete for European qualification. Relegated: 3 from 4 - Cardiff, Huddersfield, Brighton, Bournemouth Saints: 15th - Saints will still struggle for goals though they may get a few more than the last couple of seasons. However, they will also concede a lot of goals until Hughes decides to abandon 3-5-2 and reverts to 4-4-2 for the last ten games of the season. The other team to finish below us will be West Ham. At Chelsea the saga of whether Hazard will stay or go will rumble on until the closure of the transfer window and then again in the January window. Chelsea will not let him go at either time but his performances will suffer - especially in 2019. Puel will be sacked in December with Leicester in 12th, after a fairly good start to the season is followed by a run of 10 games with only one goal. Leicester's directors are labelled heartless for sacking him just before Christmas. Burnley to be eliminated early from European competition and have a poor start to the season, but will recover to finish just above mid table. Crystal Palace will surprise everyone and finish in the top half, narrowly missing out on European qualification. Leicester will recover from 12th to also finish in the top half. Jack Wilshere, Charlie Austin, Andy Carroll, Dean Sturridge, Danny Ings, Adam Lallana, Ashley Young, Luke Shaw to spend most of the season injured like Oxlade-Chamberlain. Oxo to defy expectations and return in February but then to get injured in his third game with a completely different injury that keeps him out for another year. Portsmouth struggle as Jake Wigley proves to be a worse coach than his father. The club are fined for making an illegal approach for a player and several players go on strike. Wigley resigns, but Paul Robinson becomes caretaker manager until the end of the season. Despite a record of only one win in the last seven, the board offer Robinson the manager's job permanently at the end of the season after Pompey narrowly escape relegation on the last day of the season - but their escape is only because of results elsewhere.

It's a shame I just missed out on this deal. I wasn't planning to buy a home kit this season but when I saw this thread on Sunday night I nearly changed my mind! Sadly I then discovered I could only buy it in small and didn't want to risk that! Unless they relaunch the offer I will probably just skip this season's home kit. However, I am wondering whether there might be any possibility that they will run an offer on the away kit. Is there any news on when this will be released? And is it going to be yellow and blue as has been said in the rumours? If they do an offer for the away kit I might have to consider it.

Alex McCarthy - Age 28 - new four year contract, player of the season 2017-18, former England U21, former England squad (0 caps) Fraser Forster - Age 30 - one year into five year contract, former England player (6 caps) Angus Gunn - Age 22 - Five year contract, England U16, U17, U19, U20, U21, England squad (0 caps) Harry Lewis - Age 20 - one year into three year contract, England U18 Jack Rose - Age 23 - New two year contract Kingsley Latham - Age 18 -New one year contract Adam Parkes - Age 19 Alex Cull - Age 19 That is a lot of goalkeepers! Lewis, Latham, Parkes and Cull don't affect squad numbers (not that anyone is expecting any of them with the possible exception of Lewis to get anywhere near the first team this season!) but that still leaves McCarthy, Forster, Gunn and Rose as players whose age means they would need to be counted in the squad stats if they are to play. So what is going to happen? * There is a lot of talk of Forster going - whether on loan or getting sold remains to be seen. * What will happen with Rose? Is he going to get a squad place or go out on loan? * Lewis is supposed to be a great future prospect but he now has a lot of keepers in front of him. What is his Saints' future now looking like? Will he go out on loan again or will he become the recognised third keeper rather than Rose (assuming that Forster leaves)? * Latham, Parkes & Cull - they have a lot of good keepers in front of them, so they are going to have to work hard to prove themselves! No pressure though as they are still young, especially in goalkeeping terms.

While we have been having a good close-season so far as far as transfers are concerned, one position that remains of some concern is right back. We have a good first choice in Cedric, but if he gets injured we seem to have very little cover in that position, having released Jeremie Pied. Therefore, I am wondering if there is any news about this? Are we in the market to sign anyone? Of course it may be that it is felt that Yan Valery is ready to take a step up into first team contention. If so that will be great to see and I hope he will be a great success. Alternatively, could Hughes be considering the possibility of one of our right backs providing cover on the left? Or could another youngster like Alfie Jones or Jake Flannagan be converted into playing at right back?

I don't normally buy myself a Saints' shirt this early in a season - I usually dither for a while first. However, if they get some more kit in stock this week I may have to consider buying myself a shirt this week. Incidentally, someone said that the app offer expires at midnight - where does it say that? I'm hoping I can benefit from this too!

I agree - but while we are talking about it, what a chance to take out any reference to anything crap from a Saints song...! How about this alternative?: When I was just a little boy, I asked my mother what should I be, Should I be a keeper, Or out on the pitch? Here’s what she said to me, Think of it clearly son, You're Angus, son of Bryn Gunn, So go and be number 1, And play for Saints, He's our keeper! He's our keeper!

Evidently we are about to sign a French youngster called Allan Tchaptchet: http://sportwitness.co.uk/france-southampton-complete-signing-young-defender/

Basing this on the full current squad... Sell or release: Carillo, Gardos, Taylor Keep: McCarthy, Cédric, Valery, Yoshida, Stephens, Hoedt, Bednarek, Bertrand, Targett, McQueen, Romeu, JWP, Lemina, Hojbjerg, Davis, Tadic, Redmond, Sims, Austin, Gabbiadini Unsure, but probably/possibly keep or loan out: Forster, Pied, Wood, Jones, Flannigan, Clasie, Reed, Hesketh, Boufal, Gallagher, Long A few of this last group may be sold and replaced with better quality players, but should be kept if we cannot replace them; others I don't know enough about how well they are developing as younger players and/or whether they may be getting to an age when they take up an extra space in the squad without being yet good enough to warrant a place. If we end up with too many players for our permitted squad size then we should send a few on loan again - including potentially some of the 'keep' group (e.g. Sims)

I didn't believe we could do it, but it looks as if we are just about there now. OK, I know we need to be cautious and make sure that we don't concede a record haul of goals on Saturday, but I am going to allow myself to believe we will stay up. Of course, the inquisition into this cannot start before the last match, so let's just enjoy this now. I wish I could be there on Saturday - hope those of you who go are able to enjoy it!

I hope so! We need a second quickly so I can relax a bit.. followed quickly by a third!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/43960000 - West Ham: Andy Carroll sent home after row with manager David Moyes I wonder how significant the falling out between Moyes and Carroll could be? They have already got a tough run-in - could losing him make it even tougher? If they lose every game they become another team that we could pass with only three more points. On the other hand, these sorts of things can sometimes help nuture a siege mentality in a football club, which could help them secure a couple more points and with it keep them in the Premier League.

Haha! You have to remember to delete the sentence you started writing before you decided to structure what you are writing differently!! I was looking for this myself earlier and have been looking out for it for a few weeks, but it doesn't look like they are doing it this year. They usually do it with about five games to go. As I haven't seen it I have been creating my own predictions by doing all the calculations myself and then displaying it all using a table which I can create at http://www.teamopolis.com/tools/bbcode-table-generator.aspx Sometimes I also paste the text into Word and use Find and Replace to change td] to th] Here then is my attempt at predicting the results and final table based on Saints drawing all three of their remaining games and getting three more points: [table] [tr] [th]Saints v.[/th] [th][/th] [th]Stoke v.[/th] [th][/th] [th]Swansea v.[/th] [th][/th] [th]Huddersfield v.[/th] [th][/th] [th]West Ham v.[/th] [th][/th] [th]Brighton v.[/th] [th][/th] [/tr] [tr] [th]Everton (A)[/th] [th]2-2[/th] [th]Palace (H)[/th] [th]1-1[/th] [th]Bournemouth (A)[/th] [th]1-2[/th] [th]Man City (A)[/th] [th]0-3[/th] [th]Leicester (A)[/th] [th]1-2[/th] [th]Man Utd (H)[/th] [th]1-2[/th] [/tr] [tr] [th]Swansea (A)[/th] [th]1-1[/th] [th][/th] [th][/th] [th]Saints (H)[/th] [th]1-1[/th] [th]Chelsea (A)[/th] [th]0-2[/th] [th]Man Utd (H)[/th] [th]1-2[/th] [th]Man City (A)[/th] [th]0-3[/th] [/tr] [tr] [th]Man City (H)[/th] [th]2-2[/th] [th]Swansea (A)[/th] [th]1-2[/th] [th]Stoke (H)[/th] [th]2-1[/th] [th]Arsenal (H)[/th] [th]1-2[/th] [th]Everton (H)[/th] [th]2-1[/th] [th]Liverpool (A)[/th] [th]0-2[/th] [/tr] [tr] [th][/th] [th]5-5 3 pts[/th] [th][/th] [th]2-3 1 pt[/th] [th][/th] [th]4-4 4 pts[/th] [th][/th] [th]1-7 0 pts[/th] [th][/th] [th]4-5 3 pts[/th] [th][/th] [th]1-7 0 pts[/th] [/tr] [tr] [th]TOTAL [/th] [th]35 pts[/th] [th][/th] [th]31 pts[/th] [th][/th] [th]37 pts[/th] [th][/th] [th]35 pts[/th] [th][/th] [th]38 pts[/th] [th][/th] [th]37 pts[/th] [/tr] [/table] Final Positions for teams currently in Bottom 7 places (NB Teams in 13th/14th may actually finish above teams in higher places & I am predicting West Brom to lose both their remaining games 2-1): [table] [tr] [th]Team[/th] [th]P[/th] [th]W[/th] [th]D[/th] [th]L[/th] [th]F[/th] [th]A[/th] [th]Pts[/th] [/tr] [tr] [td]West Ham[/td] [td]38[/td] [td]9[/td] [td]11[/td] [td]18[/td] [td]47[/td] [td]72[/td] [td]38[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Brighton[/td] [td]38[/td] [td]8[/td] [td]13[/td] [td]17[/td] [td]33[/td] [td]54[/td] [td]37[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Swansea[/td] [td]38[/td] [td]9[/td] [td]10[/td] [td]19[/td] [td]31[/td] [td]56[/td] [td]37[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Saints[/td] [td]38[/td] [td]6[/td] [td]17[/td] [td]15[/td] [td]40[/td] [td]59[/td] [td]35[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Huddersfield[/td] [td]38[/td] [td]9[/td] [td]8[/td] [td]21[/td] [td]28[/td] [td]63[/td] [td]35[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Stoke[/td] [td]38[/td] [td]6[/td] [td]13[/td] [td]19[/td] [td]34[/td] [td]68[/td] [td]31[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]West Brom[/td] [td]38[/td] [td]5[/td] [td]13[/td] [td]20[/td] [td]32[/td] [td]58[/td] [td]28[/td] [/tr] [/table] In other words, to answer your question, yes it is possible to stay up with just three more points!

While you are almost right, actually it would still be (just) within the bounds of possibility that Swansea could still finish above us - though it would require Swansea to probably only lose by one goal in their two defeats (especially the one against us) and then for us to lose very heavily against Man City (e.g. 6-0) and Swansea to thrash Stoke (say 4-0). Nevertheless the odds of that happening would be slim enough for me to be very happy to find us going into the last game following that set of results. You also have to remember that if

I don't want to put a downer on this as we need to try to win and the fact that their season is now virtually over gives them less to play for. However, I think this is going to be a very hard match to draw let alone win. Despite having a bad start to the season they have won all but one of the matches that they have played against the teams outside of the top seven. The only match they didn't win against those clubs was a draw against West Brom back in January. Since October they have only lost two games at home (against both Manchester clubs) and drawn three (against Chelsea, West Brom and Liverpool). They have won the other eight home league matches, including four out of eight matches won at home since the start of the year. If we can achieve a win it will be a significant result and we must go for it, with defeat leaving us back in the mire. The one thing that we have going for us is the now distant memory of our last match aginst them - our best win of the season when we beat them 4-1 at St Marys back in October. I wouldn't mind seeing us turning in a performance like that one!