LuckyNumber7

My only complaint is the (probable) 3 at the back again, other than that what are the alternatives? Stu is likely injured as is ABK and at least he's dropped Elyounoussi. People will moan whatever the lineup is because we have shit players.

From what my Celtic mate tells me and what I've seen of Maeda he's very workmanlike. Not a bad player by any means but not one I'd be overly excited about either.

There's a lot to be critical about the club atm but fair play to them, this looks like a very shrewd signing and the sort of flair player we've been crying out for since Tadic left. Still more needed of course but this is a good start to the window. I look forward to seeing him in action.

Bloody hell please god not Michael Keane. Can only assume those who are in favour haven't seen him play for Everton, he's horrific and makes way more fuck ups than Lyanco. I'd rather we recalled Bednarek which is saying something.

The World Cup format is perfect as it is as has been shown by this tournament, I really wish they would stop meddling. But if we do have to have 48 teams then I like Egg's idea of groups of 6 and just a big festival of football. Groups of 3 is crap for so many reasons but thankfully even Infantino seems to be realising that. I suspect they'll go with the 12 groups of 4 which is better, I just don't like the grey area of some 3rd place teams qualifying and others not. Same principle for the Euros. There's also likely to be some utter dross qualifying for the finals now which will probably make for some very dull, one sided games.

Were they all pointing to TCWTB whilst singing that? Booing after their first home defeat for nearly a year, and some say our fans are entitled!

I always found it so frustrating how Redmond was given chance after chance, yet Boufal was only given the occasional chance to impress and if he didn't he was dropped again. Inconsistent yes but we definitely misused him.

Not sure what game you were watching but aside from the penalty miss Messi was the best player on the pitch, even at 35. They highlighted some of his sublime passing and runs after the game, certainly wasn't just safe 3 yard passes.

Southgate will be delighted if this finishes 0-0

Nothing too revelationary but it is good to hear from the owners. They are clearly intelligent guys with a good mix of business and footballing backgrounds who have a clear idea of how they want to run the club which is a good thing. Whether it works or not we'll see. Getting at least one good quality attacking player in January will be key to how things pan out at least in the short term. Nice to hear a bit about how Ralph is doing as well, I suspect in the end his sacking was something of a relief.

There were some interesting comments here from the Luton CEO that basically confirmed we had been in contact with them for a while and Jones was our top target. He's also very complimentary about how Saints conducted the approach. https://thelutonian.com/its-a-sexy-project-everything-chief-exec-gary-sweet-said-on-search-for-new-luton-boss/

NJ's post match press conference.. I like the cut of his jib.

Props to that Luton fan for doing something so many on here fail at - spelling Bazunu's name correctly.

Personally couldn't give a flying one that he's not a 'name', how often do we see the bigger names flop in management. Jones has been quietly doing a really good job in the lower leagues and has earned this shot at the PL. Unlike some better known managers who might only come here for the paycheck he seems very driven to succeed and make a name for himself. It's time all Saints fans unite behind him and the club and start hopefully looking towards brighter days, it feels a long time since we had anything to be positive about. Welcome to Southampton Nathan and good luck, you'll need it!

It's clearly not bullshit as Luton officially stated they have granted us permission to speak to him. It's highly unlikely Saints will make any official statement until the new manager is announced. I suspect if anything Saints are a bit annoyed that Luton made it public.

Do us all a favour and go back to supporting Luton then? I'm sure you'll be delighted they can now get a good manager in after the terrible job Jones has done.

Have you ever seen Conte interviewed, most of the time he's a bumbling mess (partly due to language, granted) yet is one of the most highly rated managers in Europe. Intervies are just for fans, how you speak in them and how you communicate to the players are two different things and by all accounts Jones has got the players at Luton running through brick walls for him. Whether he can do that with PL players remains to be seen but I don't get the feeling we have a load of big egos in our young squad, and if the reports are true about most of them being unhappy with Ralph's hands-off man management then Jones' style could be just what's needed to get them all onside.

No he didn't, Gerrard was long gone when Rangers got to the final last season. Gerrard did a decent job in a two team league before flopping at Villa. Jones has done an excellent job on a shoestring budget in the Championship. He wouldn't be my choice but I'm not dead against it either, let's give the guy a chance before declaring him crap.

Considering they were in L2 when he first took over and last season got them to the Championship playoffs, on probably the smallest budget in the league, yes he has done a superb job at Luton. He wouldn't be my choice but let's at least give the bloke a chance rather than slating him before he's walked through the door. I think some people's expectations when talking about the likes of Emery and Frank are too unrealistic and whilst I don't like the narrative from the club that we're just so lucky to be in the PL, we are not a very attractive proposition atm, especially to those already in a good job. The thing that concerns me most about Jones is the potential style of play but right now just getting results and turning our form around is all that matters.

Typical when this news breaks that the forum is playing up so much. It's a sad day but undoubtedly the right decision. When Ralph arrived he was like a breath of fresh air and lifted the mood and atmosphere around the whole club. Re-engaged the fans. Did a brilliant job in keeping us up through some tough times and largely with his hands tied behind his back. However I think aside from the occasional good run, things have never really been right since the 9-0 against Leicester and I think that left a big mental scar on him. Over time his character has changed to an increasingly forlorn figure and his tactics have become too cautious, the opposite of his original remit. Our problems are certainly not all down to Ralph but things have just become very stale and I think he ran out of ideas on how to fix it. So a parting of ways is best for both Saints and Ralph. One thing you can say about him is that he genuinely appeared to care and always tried his best. I wish him all the best in his future career or retirement if he chooses that. I suspect he'll need a bit of a break regardless. Our next appointment is crucial, we need someone to come in and have the type of impact Ralph did originally. A tough ask with a squad largely full of Championship standard players.

Interesting read but not sure why it hurts you so much. I love the fact the PM is a (genuine) Saints fan.

I feel for him as he has a good attitude and is clearly trying, but sadly he just isn't good enough. He's basically the new Shane Long in that he runs around a lot and is a bit of a menace but you need so much more than that in the PL. He rarely even looks like scoring. He needs to move on in January for both his sake and ours.

I know you're trolling but what a load of bollox! The whole point of these loans is for the player to hopefully develop and come back better, which it appears Tella is doing. As for the bit in bold, he's not Burnley's player so it's not their decision to make.

This Chelsea Man Utd game has been utter dross.

Judging by your posts before the match you weren't expecting any of those things, but hey any excuse to moan and slag off Ralph... I think we can all agree we weren't brilliant last night but neither were we as bad as some are making out. I'd love to see us playing attacking free flowing football and winning games 3-0 but realistically we don't have the players capable of that. Despite the number of shots Boscombe had I never felt that worried about them scoring and in the end thought we saw the game out quite comfortably. In fact we had the better chances to score again. And Bournemouth may be a bit crap but they were still unbeaten in their previous 6 games. I still think we need a change of manager but ffs enjoy the wins when they come. With or without a new manager we have a largely Championship standard squad so it could be a while before the next one.