HarvSFC

Spence is one who has a bad attitude looming over him all his career. Warnock loaned him to Forest because of it, where he was successful, but then he was more interested in posting shots at Warnock on Twitter rather than celebrating their promotion. He has since fallen out of favour with Conte and Postecoglu and Farke didn't speak too highly of him after cutting the loan short, saying Spence didn't meet the expectations off the pitch in the Championship. Didn't have any impact at Rennes either and he's now playing YouTuber charity matches. Really, he's only been good for Forest and Genoa in his career, which I'm assuming the latter because they want to sign him. Probably one we want to steer clear of. Reportedly, we had a lot of unprofessionalism at the club when we got relegated.

Adams to Saudi? https://x.com/JacobsBen/status/1801017487691034752

Mane, Van Dijk, Wanyama, Pelle, Tadic. All players excelling in lesser European leagues, some even playing in Europe when we signed them and gave them a pathway into the Premier League. I want to see us target players like this again, rather than taking risky punts on youngsters who might not make it and aren't ready to make an instant impact. Of course you get duds like Clasie, Juanmi and Boufal, but a Van Dijk and Mane sale counters those. Last season, Manning, Stewart, Fraser, Harwood-Bellis, Rothwell, Brooks and even Holgate had previous Championship successes on their CV. Shea Charles was the only punt and he didn't really come off. So, I'm hopeful we can find a good philosophy again this summer.

Upgradeable squad option is Aribo. S. Armstrong, Downes and Smallbone (rightly or wrongly) were always favoured over him last season. Injuries saw his minutes increase and he didn't put a foot wrong, but if we need to trim some of the squad fat to get genuine upgrades, especially in the middle of the pitch in the starting eleven then I would be okay with the move. Trading Aribo out for Ox would be pointless because the latter can't stay fit.

When are the Sam Vokes and Lukas Jutkiewicz links going to start?

Two uninspiring names on the list there.

Jokingly, made this prediction after McCarthy's first appearance of the season. He just keeps coming back and the powers that be keep offering a new deal after a handful of good appearances just as his contract is about to come to an end. Was only selected for 8 of the 49 league fixtures this season, so wasn't considered good enough for 84% of the season, but we're looking to retain him for the Premier League, again. Two keepers already on the books, McCarthy would keep it to three, not many clubs add more than three senior goalkeepers even with a long term injury. Been negligent/hamstrung by the goalkeeper position for nine years now, since Forster's knee injury and been offering deals from what seems like emotions, rather than on pitch contributions and McCarthy wasn't getting a look in until Bazunu's injury. If our recruitment team can't find better player's than McCarthy and Adams then we need a new recruitment team.

Right time for club and player to move on. A good servant of the club leaving on the high of promotion having had a good season and will be remembered fondly. Can apply the same statement to McCarthy and Adams who we should also be looking for better than this summer.

Good with the youngsters.

What a difference it makes to not have someone from the top saying we're lucky to be in the Premier League and that the women's team will eventually outgrow the men's team. Good that they've learned the team needs a mix of youth and experience, think that proved last season, especially the loan signings. All fans knew it when they were raiding the City youth team last time we were up here, but it's good that they've identified that mistake. Don't think Lallana's the answer, but we've got a whole summer to see who else we bring in.

I can't back the Lavia or Phillips claims. Lavia's clearly a very good player and in our relegation season we were over reliant on him. However, he was injury prone during that season and since his move to Chelsea his injuries have only gotten worse, missing a whole season. We need someone who can actually step out onto the pitch and is dependable for our first season back. As for Phillips. Pre-Bielsa Phillips wasn't very highly thought of at Leeds, then Bielsa got his hands on him and the rest is history... He had a very good Euros with England also, but since his move to City he has reverted to a bog standard player, like only Bielsa knew how to use him, Guardiola couldn't suss out how to and his loan to West Ham was a horror show. Let Everton pay the expense of his Man City wages as they aren't going to be low as I can't see him being much of a success here.

Broja isn't the same player he was here previously from what I've seen of him on TV. The knee injury seems to have set him back quite significantly. His main skill here was picking up the ball from deep and then just running with pace and power, but he doesn't do that anymore, hence the 1 league goal in 21 appearances for Chelsea and Fulham this season. 0 in 8 at Fulham, we can do better now. We don't need to aim low, players want to come to the Premier League if we get our scouting right.

It's going to be an interesting summer for sure, like last summer, but we're in a much better position this time around. I think there has to be a bit of ruthlessness from us this summer. The same ruthlessness we showed Sharp, Hammond, Chaplow, Hooiveld, K. Davis (after a shaky start), etc... in 2012 if we want to compete again. I think we have to say our thanks and move on from McCarthy, which I don't think is too controversial. Once player of the season, played a good part over the last few weeks, a good servant of the club, and it's now time to part ways on a high. I have similar feelings regarding Adams and S. Armstrong. I don't think we've had much say in keeping either with both of their decisions having been made, two good servants again, had some good moments, but we need to aim higher now. Thank them both for their contributions and move on. The loans, keeping Downes needs to be top priority. Essential to Martin's tactics and makes us tick. Unfortunately I think with West Ham's managerial change and with him being a West Ham fan who might want to prove himself there still that it could be one that gets drawn out. Good to secure Harwood-Bellis, but feel as though he needs a Fonte next to him, and no I don't mean Fonte himself. Joe Rothwell is obviously not being kept on. Thank you for the goals against Huddersfield and Sunderland, but I'm not sure what he actually is as a player. Other than those goals he was anonymous in open play. Brooks and Fraser are a bit more difficult. Brooks was a once highly rated player and played very well against West Brom in the second leg and had some other good moments, but a lot of his time at Saints has been a bit underwhelming giving his reputation. I think Bournemouth want him back anyway. Fraser, had a really good purple patch and has done a job as a left wing back, in the last couple of games. I just think he's lacking a bit technically and when his pace goes, which is already on the wane then he will struggle, especially at Premier League level. Probably needs to explore his options, leaves a fan favourite. Sell Sulemana and Mara, they had their chance to prove they were good enough in the Championship, they weren't, so they don't get those chances in the Premier League. Sell Onuachu to the highest bidder, hopefully Caleta-Car has an agreed fee, which I've seen a few times. Sell Lyanco and Perraud, the latter is thought of highly, but we went from Bertrand to him, we can do better. I wonder if Bella-Kotchap will come crawling back now we're in the Premier League. Some talent there, but he's a sicknote and wanted nothing to do with us in the Championship. This could actually be the summer we reset and we've got the financial power to do so now. We just need to spend the money well and wisely, on quality. This season again we had a very large squad, larger than it needed to be, we need to go for quality rather than quantity. If we keep the formation we've been playing recently, then: New GK Harwood-Bellis - New CB - Bednarek KWP (Please get him signed up a new contract) New LWB Downes (Hopefully) Two new CMS, replacing Smallbone and Aribo, who are two squad options, not starters Adam Armstrong - New ST

Oh wow, what a day and night. I think from the West Brom second leg up to yesterday have been my favourite moments as a Saints fan. For the match, Leeds had plenty of the ball and played some nice stuff, but McCarthy wasn't really tested. The shot that hit the crossbar was agonizing, but Edozie missing after going through was the best chance of the game after the goal and for the most part we were defending the 1-0, and it worked. For the stuff outside of the match, it was perfect. There was some myth that Leeds just missed out on automatic promotion and therefore deserved to go up. They finished the season closer to us than they were to Ipswich. There wasn't really much acknowledgement that we finished the season on 87 points. Leeds were seen as the favourites, despite us doing the double over them in the season. And finally, it was Leeds who were writing us off and calling us flat track bullies part way through the season, and my God, we sure did bully them this season. Yesterday was just perfect, short term and long term. We need to be in the Premier League with the money available. I might live in naïve hope that with a few correct decisions that we can one day replicate the Koeman years and get back into Europe, while we'll also never win a cup playing in the Championship. We've seen clubs like Brighton, Bournemouth and Brentford establish themselves with good decisions made off the pitch so there isn't any reason why we can't do so again, we haven't got Semmens telling us how lucky we are to be in the Premier League anymore, we need to be competitive again. My fear before yesterday was getting stuck in the Championship and it is so easy to do so, an unforgiving league. This season and the Adkins seasons were brilliant, but the Burley/Pearson and Poortvliet/Wotte seasons were far worse than the Pochettino/Koeman and even Puel seasons. Final word for Pompey, getting giddy about playing us next season, but we're Premier League.

Think we can all at least agree that this is a lot more exciting than automatic promotion. Our season would've been done weeks ago, no last Friday and no Wembley trip.

Since the turn of the year only City, Arsenal and Liverpool have won more points than Chelsea. They've played 18, won 10, drawn 5 and lost 3. Those losses came against Arsenal, Liverpool and Wolves, so other than Wovles they weren't totally unexpected. As mentioned, Pochettino was just getting this young Chelsea team who had Jackson upfront going. Boehly's got to be one of the worst owner's to have entered the game in terms of club stature, expenditure and results. He just seems to want everything with no clear plan. A stereotypical American.

How come Leeds didn't give Norwich a few chances by giving up possession in their own half? They didn't really give Norwich a sniff tonight which meant Norwich didn't get any confidence or momentum after a couple of Gunn howlers. Leeds dominated. Unfortunately, we'll give West Brom a few chances through our own faults tomorrow, but we've got to do the same as Leeds did tonight given we're the strong favourites also.

Not too bothered if we don't bring in a DoF. Would hopefully avoid another Shea Charles situation where we spend 50% of the transfer budget on a player the manager doesn't want to play/trust. Hasenhuttl also got lumbered with a number of misfits in that final summer and then the pointless Orsic signing last January. Get the manager with the recruitment team to work through a handful of identified players and then sign the one best fitted.

I saw they had wrote an entire article on it earlier: https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/football/portsmouth-fc/portsmouth-rivals-southampton-appeal-for-help-ahead-of-west-brom-semi-final-and-potential-return-of-south-coast-derby-4627595 So, I wanted to see if their claim "Pompey have never felt the need to do this" was true. Apparently, after a quick Google search it isn't. Here's Michael Appleton the last time they got relegated from the Championship: And here's their ex-captain Liam Lawrence: It's almost as if every club does something like this before a big game. Not sure why they've latched onto it, guess they've got to keep pushing their myths.

His son's in our academy, so they're possibly still based around this area.

Lallana being released by Brighton this summer, so get ready for all the links... Would anyone accept him back here given the way he left? Purely on footballing terms I don't think he's a 46 game player if we stayed down and that's what we would need and he isn't a Premier League player anymore if we went up. So, fitness issues too much of a concern and he isn't the same player now because of that. See Ramsey's return to Cardiff as a reference, which was also why I was against an Ox return. Walcott's return wasn't exactly successful either.

After these last handful of games it has become clear that during our dip in form Martin should have pulled Bazunu out of the firing line when it felt like every shot against us was going in and put McCarthy in. The latter wasn't good enough for a Premier League number one spot, but similar to Davis, he's perfectly capable in the Championship. Felt as though one of Sulemana/Edozie should have come on for the last ten minutes for Stephens also. Add a bit off chaos/unpredictability up the field for us because everything we did was very predictable and eaten up by the West Brom defence apart from the Downes and Stewart chances in either half. I don't really get what happened with Edozie, he was in good form, played most weeks, then got injured following a bad tackle, but he hasn't really played since. Got a start against Stoke, but everyone was bad that day. Can't have a handful of midfielders and attackers who can only make sideways passes on the pitch. Need the gamechangers also. Ah well, 0-0. Nothing to chase, nothing to defend. Psychologically, it's just another game we're going into with home advantage. Do need Adams, though. Up the Saints.

Hopefully Stewart has 45 minutes in him.

Ran the game against Sheffield Wednesday on the opening day, so it is a shame he didn't give us a few more to see if we had sorted ourselves out and were going back on the up. Similar to how Lallana, Schneiderlin and Kelvin Davis stuck with us in League One. But, in the same breath we went from having a midfield of Wanyama, Schneiderlin and Steven Davis to JWP being our best midfielder. He wasn't as good as any of those three, aside from his set pieces, so another example of the decline of the starting eleven. Similar to Clyne, Lallana, Lambert 🙁, Schneiderlin, Ings... And many others in that the grass isn't always greener away from Southampton apart from a bigger bank balance. Schneiderlin, Ings and Lambert pretty much finished their careers as a top level player with their moves.

Only team we haven't played off the park for at least 45 minutes of a match this season is Leicester and they were the champions... We've definitely got the team to get us through this and lets hope the recent poor form was due to playing a match every three or four days.