HarvSFC

Frankly, for all the talk about having very little money, we've made too many mistakes with the money that we have/had. New contracts and wages going on underperforming players like McCarthy, Stephens, Walcott and Djenepo were needless and disastrous to have them eating up a large portion of wages at the club. I don't think many other, if any Premier League clubs would have offered these players a deal, let alone have them on the rumoured £70k that Walcott is on. Then, you go into the summer, address there are problems in the first team setup, so we get rid of the old coaches, but keep the underperforming manager, which proved to be a delaying of the inevitable, which many fans predicted. The summer window, we had this great idea of signing young, potential superstars. But, every player we signed was a punt and now they're proving not to be good enough. Once again, recruitment hasn't been good enough. Did we need Larios and Mara? Probably not, their fees could have gone elsewhere. Did we need to spend so much on Bazunu when a decent scout could have identified a currently better goalkeeper from Europe for the same price. Aribo for a pressing team? The last player that would suit a pressing system. Maitland-Niles, average Championship central midfielder, was once a very good right-back, but doesn't want to play there. Selling Romeu was also a mistake. We did make two good signings in Lavia and Bella-Kotchap. But, a good striker/attacker for the immediate was a necessity after losing Ings and Broja over the last two seasons. If we didn't sign some of the aforementioned names, we could have made a £20m-£30m attacking signing and been in a better position today, rather than bottom of the league on Boxing Day. Again, all the talk of having little budget, but we put it in the wrong areas in the summer and not the priority. Then we've taken another punt on the manager position. The most important part of a team, as a good manager and a bad manager are the difference between safety and relegation. We were in a precarious position when we appointed Jones, but it wasn't fatal. We were/are still close to safety and a good manager could have instilled some confidence and a game plan into the team. Any new manager we appointed was even given the luxury of having a break from first team fixtures and given time to work their ideas with the squad. However, we've returned with nothing. No new manager bounce at all. Jones said his mistake at Stoke was that he went in and tried to change too much, well it seems like his mistake here is that he's came in and changed nothing. We bought him out of his contract at Luton, so again a fee has exchanged hands, but was it to the right hand? Essentially, at the moment, as we sit 20th in the league it seems as though we can plead poverty all the time, but we're not making use of that small budget well at all.

"“The biggest dream is Liverpool, but I have to keep working hard at Celtic to prove myself and take it step by step. Should Mo Salah worry? From me? No! He is a super player.” Fits the bill of dreaming of playing for Liverpool and of course comes from our own feeder team.

His best lines being it doesn't matter where the club finishes in the league, when it does, the proof was in the summer when good level players didn't want to come to us. When the fans aren't feeling it, the players aren't. As a season ticket holder, the crowd always starts optimistic, until the players give a reason not to be, which has been going on for six years now. He doesn't enjoy travelling and watching the poor performances either. Only, he's paid a great deal of money to watch those performances, while we pay a large chunk of our wages to watch those performances. Then you've just got to hope that it was the departing Crocker who was behind the contracts for Walcott, McCarthy, Stephens and Djenepo, as those four moves were terribly wrong for a club with such limited resources.

Just had a look: https://www.northstandchat.com/threads/charlton-athletic-vs-brighton-hove-albion-official-match-thread.398266/page-24 "Ah well, hopefully a good warm up for the real stuff on Monday.I would take getting knocked out of the Micky Mouse cup first round every season if it means we then stuff the scummers." 🤣

Not a confidence inspiring victory, but we'll take the victory. When new manager's take over, you hope to see some instant, positive changes. I guess the closest comparison we have is Hasenhuttl taking charge of a deflated, unfit, 19th placed Hughes team. Within two games and a lot less time than Jones has had, we were pressing, showing a new way of playing and beating Arsenal. However, following all the PR pieces of attacking football, last night I saw the opposite, lining-up with five at the back at home against mid-table League One Lincoln and if not for an offside goal, we'd have given them the first half. One of the best things about Hasenhuttl getting sacked was that I wrongly believed we'd never see a Salisu throw again, but there he was again throwing aimless balls to the first defender. Positives were of course the win and Jones seeing that his initial tactics weren't working and he changed it, although I'd have liked the ABK halftime sub to have been the change in formation. But, we'd be a few goals down at half time playing that way in the Premier League. The best players were the subs, Edozie, despite the miss, S. Armstrong and even Walcott in his little cameo made two good crosses before needing to return to the physio. Notable omissions were Aribo, behind Walcott and Djenepo in the pecking order. Possibly because he's one of the laziest footballers I've seen and whoever recruited him for a side that used to be known for pressing, well hopefully it was Shields and he's gone. And Mara. Shows up in the B team and friendlies, but no first team minutes last night. And then there was Maitland-Niles... We've seen Oscar Gobern line up in midfield against League One opposition and he was a lot better against them than whatever Maitland-Niles served up. He's not a central midfielder and he needs to drop it. Wenger, Emery, Arteta and Mourinho, all very good, top level managers had a look at him and decided his position was a right-back. Improvements needed for Monday and as a Southampton and England fan I never want to see five at the back again after this year.

Hopeless. Bring back the World Cup.

Key thing is KWP being back. When on form he's one of our best attacking outlets, the wing-back formation could suit him and we're begging for a good attacker at the moment.

Wolves put £35m down on Fabio Silva two years ago before shipping him out on loan to Anderlecht. What's another £40/£50m.

Can't we just make an official public apology, while also stating that our interest in the player is over before signing him five months later? I think Liverpool did it once.

I think Adams is good enough for the build up play for us. It's the poacher/finisher that we're lacking.

The Champions League changes from 2024 as well, no more group stages, but a 36 team league. Some say it's similar to a "super league".

Jay Rodriguez certainly became a completely different forward after his.

We've only had two months to replace Shields. This is the Southampton way.

Here's one that didn't go to plan:

While Brereton has a comparable 40 in 138 for Blackburn.

Great to see Gakpo and Ramos in form during the World Cup. They’ll be full of confidence when they return for Boxing Day.

Seeing Yoshida and Lovren do the coin toss as captains was a reminder of what we used to have. Minamino and Yoshida missing penalties, also a reminder, but more of a current one.

So, they didn't run away with the league again after going unbeaten in their first 9. You'd think their fans would finally learn after going ten years without second tier football.

Meghoma from Spurs joined in the summer too, 16, another one highly rated in the youth system with caps for the England Under 15 and 16s.

Wasn't up for the fight for Bournemouth and massively let them down in their relegation season. Not what we need.

Not quite. They went into January sat in 19th place with 11 points from 19 matches. We're sat in 19th place with 12 points from 15 matches and have six more points available before January, which could take us several places higher if all results were to go our way as we're only 2 points adrift at the moment. The difference being they could offer a significant financial incentive were they to continue their poor form, while we've only got Premier League football to entice players and at the moment that position is looking precarious, but not fatal.

Do we know if Wales were told you only get three group fixtures in the World Cup and they needed to win tonight?

FFS, we'll probably have to close block 1 and 2 because of those events. Awaiting the long email regarding how our hooliganism has influenced the innocents of Goztepe.

Jones has converted to satanism and summoned the devil to play upfront for us.