SaintJackoInHurworth

I was part of the old Saints Web Fantasy League but haven't been part of it for last few years - even last season when I did have a Fantasy football team. I have joined for this season and at present have got Ward-Prowse in my team, though I am concerned as he is injured and not sure he will play on Saturday.

It definitely sounds a good deal, though I'm sure there is that nagging fear of 'what if Armstrong doesn't deliver in the EPL, while Obafemi goes on to become the next great striker in the Championship?!' I doubt it, but who knows?!!

I would like to see him stay but would not be surprised to see him go to Spurs or possibly West Ham. Unlikely to be Everton unless he is content to sit on the bench waiting for Calvert-Lewin or Richarlison to get injured! We would be daft to accept anything less than £30 and should be pushing for as close to £40 (or more?!) as possible if we do sell. Ings should be worth more than Hojbjerg because: He is a striker - strikers typically demand bigger transfer fees than defensive midfielders There are more clubs interested He is a bigger name star player Presumably we are not going to be negotiating to buy another player from the club to which he is sold - unlike with the Hojbjerg & Walker-Peters transfers Spurs are only going to be buying him if Kane is sold and the fee they receive for Kane may potentially inflate all transfer fees that they need to pay to replace him. If he is going to leave then, if we can afford it, we should try to keep him until at least January and bring in Armstrong to get established in the comning months before he goes. Letting him go would be madness if we don't also have confidence that the fee he commands allows us to improve the squad beyond what we lose by selling him. If he stays without having signed the contract, there remains the possibility that he will sign during next season. If he doesn't sign and then gets injured, it reduces the likelihood of another club signing him and increases the likelihood that he may accept the offer on the table anyway. If he doesn't sign this summer but we have an even better start to this season than last year (without the injury difficulties excacerbated by a lack of access to conditioning facilities because of COVID), he may be convinced that Saints can and will achieve more in the future and may see value in staying on - even if only with a one year extension or something. I believe that Ings is committed enough to Saints that even if he isn't going to be staying hw will continue to give his all for us in the season ahead.

If you want a song for him, how about this to the tune of Paradise by Coldplay: "When he played down in France, Saints came in to take their chance. So he left came to Saints to play, To show off the Southampton Way. And now it's Perraud, Perraud, Perraud Life! Perraud, Perraud, Perraud Life! Perraud, Perraud, Perraud Life! Every time we close our eyes!"

Is anyone playing Fantasy Football for the Euros? https://gaming.uefa.com/en/uefaeuro2020fantasyfootball Is there a Saints Web League for this? I have created my own team and would love to join a Saints Web League if there is one... or I am happy to create one if there isn't. Thanks!

*** NB This is NOT a repeat of the other thread discussing whether or not players should be taking the knee and the rights and wrongs of booing them when they do so. If you want to comment on that then feel free to find that thread and comment there. This is a thread aimed at those Saints fans who are supportive of the act of taking the knee and believe it has value in challenging racism. *** Having established the above, I want to make some brief comments, to pose a question and to make a few suggestions for us as Saints fans... * In taking the knee many players still feel that this act still has value in challenging racism within football. This includes Saints players. It is a campaign supported by the 'Kick It Out' and 'No Room for Racism' campaigns and has no direct association with any other organisation or political campaign. Footballers themselves seem perplexed as a result that fans are booing it and continue to renew their determination to challenge racism by taking this simple act. In particular, the England team have renewed their determination to take the knee, following booing by some fans during the friendly against Austria on Wednesday: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/57370117 * In the light of the above, what can those fans who are supportive of the 'Kick it Out' and 'No Room for Racism' campaigns (especially as expressed through taking the knee) do to express our support and to silence those who are opposed to this campaign? * I want to suggest a few possible actions that we as Saints fans can take at the start of next season if the act of taking a knee continues: Join the players in taking the knee Cheer in support when the players take the knee to drown out any boos Chant other things in support, e.g. "Kick out racism - racists out!" or "We are Saints; we hate racism!" or similar Report anyone booing the players when they take the knee. What other suggestions do people have for what we can do to express our support for the campaigns to eliminate racism from football?

No-one is taking it to mean anything other than what it does, except the 'lovers-of-the-word-woke' brigade! Taking the knee has always been a symbol of protest against racism started by black sportsmen in the USA, with no agenda except to challenge racism. Within football in the UK it is linked with the 'No Room For Racism' and 'Kick It Out' campaigns and has absolutely nothing to do with Black Lives Matter (if that is what concerns anyone!). As for those who claim that footballers are only taking part because they feel forced to do so, I can accept that that may be the case for some, but there are plenty for whom the action remains an active demonstration of opposition against racism. As a demonstration of this look out for the fact that a number of footballers do not just kneel, but raise their arms in protest too. The problem is that too many of you criticise the actions taken to protest racism and then argue that you are not racist, but are protesting becuse it is 'ineffective'. If you are so concerned that the protest is ineffective then can I suggest that instead of criticising the protest, why don't you come up with something more effective? Until you do, your claims to be anti-racist are hollow and meaningless. I think one of the big problems, as in so many of the issues within football, is that the fans are not involved. So, I want to suggest something completely different than just abandoning the protest and going back to things as they were before... I want to suggest that those of us fans who do, genuinely, want to see racism kicked out of not just football but society as a whole, why don't we join in the protests as well?! I believe that if fans take the knee too, just as fans protested against the actions of the big 6 over the Super League, so the game will be forced to listen and to act.

Until that goal this was not looking like a good day: 1. I am hating every moment of this biased commentary from Efan Ekoku. I have heard some biased commentary before, but this takes the biscuit. 2. I can't believe the ridiculous refereeing decisions - that was not a penalty and should have been our free kick and then just before their secoind goal they were given a throw in that should have been ours. 3. Every ricochet in their area seemed to be falling to a Burnley player. However, we are now back in it with that goal, so let's see us go on to equalise and then go on to win this game.

I think the abuse some of our fans give him is disgraceful. I am not saying he doesn't have areas of his game that he needs to work on, but he is definitely a quality player. I actually think a lot of the criticism he receives actually come out of situations which he is instrumental in creating! The fact is that sometimes he can move the ball well from midfield towards attack and create (near) openings. Unfortunately, it is at that stage that he tends to let himself down with a weak final ball or shot. I don't know why our fans are so scathing to some of our players. JWP received the same abuse, but is now one of the first names on the team sheet. Tadic was abused and he left to go to Ajax, taking them to near Champions League glory. Davis was abused and he returned to Scotland; and so the list goes on! Consider this: Antonio was a hopeless lump when he played for us. His touch on the ball was dreadful and he looked to be a just a clumsy oaf. Now, however, he is scoring loads of goals for West Ham and is knocking on the door to play for England. That is what happens when a player is given confidence. Now, I believe Redmond has twice the talent and potential that Antonio had, so let's get behind him - becaue maybe, just maybe, in a few years we will be enjoying hearing the pundits tell us how much he has improved!

The Sheff Utd game is clearly a huge game for us. However, they struggle to score, so if we don't do anything stupid we should definitely be able to avoid defeat. The harder challenge will be scoring. Despite their position in the league, they don't typically concede many goals. If KWP and Diallo are fit for this game then my preferred line up would be: ..................McCarthy KWP.....Bednarek.....Vestergaard.....Bertrand ..........Diallo............Ward-Prowse .....Djenepo....................Armstrong (or vice-versa) ...............Ings...........Minamino (if fit) Bench: Forster, Salisu, Jankewitz, Redmond, Adams, Tella, NLundulu, Stephens, (one of) Ramsey/Ferry/Watts/Chauke A few comments about this: Forster was incredibly lucky that the second goal was disallowed. Even if McCarthy's performances have been a little under par recently, he would still have done better than Forster. Bring him back and let him show his quality. If KWP is not fit I would still like to see Bednarek remain in the middlle with Vestergaard as that is where he is most effective. I would consider playing Salisu at full back, though I recognise that potentially that would mean left back with Bertrand switching to right back. Despite all the boo-boys on here who seem to have a vendetta against him (just as they did against Romeu, Ward-Prowse, Dusan Tadic and Stephen Davis before him) I actually think Redmond is a good player - especially when bringing the ball forward from midfield. Sadly though his shooting is not great and sometimes his decision making in the second half of games isn't always the greatest. I believe Djenepo is better and more likely to go past a player if he attempts to do so - though sadly sometimes he deosn't have the confidence to take on players when out wide for some reason. Adams works hard and sometimes makes some nice touches but his final pass and his shooting too frequently fall short of the standard required at present. With Redmond also struggling in those respects, I think Minamino or even Tella should be the ones to partner Ings.

Some of you wrist slitters should just give up supporting Saints and go and support P*mpey. All it takes is one Skate in our midst to criticise Hassenhuttl and you are jumping in bed with them and joining in. LET'S BE ABSOLUTELY CLEAR: at a time of poor investment in the club, following on from a period of bad investment and mismanagement of transfer policy, Ralph Hassenhuttl has steadied the ship and got us playing decent football. If he leaves, we are stuffed! I would far rather the wrist slitters take their fishiness down the road and let real Saints supporters get behind the club. To put it simply: if you don't like it, get lost!

When we made complaints against officials a few weeks ago I found it odd that we didn't also complain about Graham Scott for his part in the VAR decision in the match against Villa. Now we have seen him again making dodgy decisions against us. While most referees have moved on from the crazy interprtation of the handball rule which plagued football at the start of the season, it seems that Graham Scott has used the uncertainty as an excuse to give a big decision against Saints. No doubt he will be on the phone to his mates Deam and Mason to celebrate tonight. 😒

We need to get them on the back foot in second half, but personally I would be encouraging Jack Stephens to stay back a bit. A couple of their goals have come from situations where they have found lots of space on the left because he has still been upfield. Bednarek has been trying to cover that but it has left him all over the place - and hence his own goal. Redmond has actually done ok on his own on the right, so I would let him continue to take charge down the right wing. However, I think we should be sending a lot more down the left where Bertrand and Minamino can combine.

He is on the bench today. With Vestergarrd starting and unlikely to last 90 minutes, might we finally see him come on for a few minutes at the end of today's game?

Just a thought but... can we still sign players on a free after the deadline closes? If so might we be planning on signing a full back on a free?

If we don't sign anyone, this is where we stand in the positions that we are concerned about: Centre backs: Bednarek, Stephens, Vestergaard (soon to return to fitness), Salisu (Soon to return to fitness) Left back: KWP (soon to return to fitness), Valery Left back options: JWP, Diallo (injured), Redmond, Armstrong, Smallbone (injured), Stephens Right Back: Bertrand, Ramsay Right back options: Ferry, Armstrong, JWP, Diallo (Injuerd), Watts(?), Jankewitz(?), Smallbone (injured), Stephens Central midfield: Ward-Prowse, Romeu (Injured?), Diallo (Injured), Smallbone (Injured), Jankewitz It would not be an ideal situation, but the point is that as more players return from injury our options will improve. In particular if Salisu can finally play for us then Stephens becomes a significant full-back option. I would love to see us sign someone as a full back but I'm not going to panic if we don't!

Interesting stuff... Are you ITK?!! Despite the uncanny nature of your prediction, though, I think it is fair to point out that Jankewitz only came on for a few minutes at the end and didn't look like he was ready to provide cover this season... yet!

I agree with those who are saying that it is strange that we have agreed to loan out Vokins BEFORE signing a replacement. Hopefully this does mean that the loan signing of either Brandon Williams or Ainsley Maitland-Niles is imminent. One thought that no-one has expressed is whether there may be some chance that Sam McQueen could also soon begin training in his return from injury. It has been a long time (and I know that ACL injuries take a long time), but it would be great to hear that he is on the road to returning. If we don't sign anyone and if McQueen is not likely to be fit any time soon, then I guess we will just have to go with any of the following options as cover for left back: Kayne Ramsay Diallo Ward-Prowse (potentially with KWP switching to the left) Jack Stephens (as above)

I haven't followed all the ins and outs of this tread, but there are so many possibilities for why it has teken so long to get him ready to play. I'm just pleased he was finally on the bench tonight. However, both Bednarek and Vestergaard are playing well at present so he has got fair competition to face before he gets selected as first choice. I would suggest any of the following (and probably a combination of more than one) have been contributory to why it has taken him so long to get to this point: Injury Coronavirus - a bad bout with noticeable symptoms and a subsequent long recovery to re-establish breathing, etc. Health/Dietary issues resulting from a condition, e.g. allergies to dairy, gluten, etc. or crohn's disease, diabetes, thyroid problems, ME, IBS, etc. Cultural adjustment to British diet Cultural adjustment to British standards of expression - e.g. maybe he had another issue (e..g. Health/dietary) but felt it would be impolite to volunteer this information, etc. Social adjustment and settling-in Mental health issues

Personally, I think we should have won that and were very unlucky: A few missed opportunities conceding a goal following on from a dodgy refereeing decision coupled with an injury to Bednarek timing of that first goal gave them just enough time to put the pressure on we are prone to panicking in such circumstances Without the difference that Cavani made they were not going to get back into that game. Credit to Cavani for being the difference in the game. With Ings I think we would have gone on to win it. I can't believe some are criticising Hassenhuttl! The decision to bring Long on was maybe wrong, but other than that no fault lies at his door.

Disappointing to have been pegged back from 2-0 up, but I can't help wondering whether the injury to Bednarek just before their first goal, coupled with a bad refereeing decision may have contributed to this. It was not a corner to them and we ended up having to work it out from defence in the post-corner chaos while Bednarek was also still trying to shake off the effects of the collision. Unfortunately, the ball was passed back too far as we began to pish forwards and we were left stretched at the back when we lost possession.

Pleased with that. I would say we have played better as the half has gone on - the goals have definitely given us the confidence to do well and Man Utd have grown deflated as they have fallen behind. More specifically in terms of performance, some players have been on it more than others. Walcott, Romeu and KWP are all having great performances, whereas Armstrong's performance has been more mixed - though it has got better as the half has gone on. In the early part of the half some of his passing was not great. I also think Djeneppo has also been good - and increasingly so as the half has gone on. Finally, Ward-Prowse has clearly been the star with such brilliant set-pieces. He seems to be getting better and better in that regard!

If we win we will be in 3rd place straight after the match (or as mentioned above, 2nd if we win 5-0, etc.) In addition, if we win then we will finish the gameweek in the top 5.

Lemina on the bench for Fulham today but Harrison Reed not in the squad. One report suggests that he was almost but not quite ready to return, but there is no clear explanation as to why he has been missing. Could he have been one of those that contracted covid19? Or maybe that was Lemina? Could it even have been both of them?

So we have sent Sims on loan to Doncaster. I wonder whether that could eventually lead to him leaving permanently next summer unless he has an absolutely brilliant season and shows he has huge potential in the Premier League. Any other news? I would imagine it would be more about us loaning out players than anything else. What about any of these: Tyreke Johnson? Hesketh? Slattery? Lewis? Gunn?/Forster? Tella? Ramsey?