HarvSFC

Oh when the Saints go Marsching in.

Semmens went to Birmingham to see some cheeky madams Instead, he bought a striker, his name was Che Adams He scores them with his left foot, he scores them with his right And when he scores more than Ings we'll sing this song all night

We took a mini-energy gels break when Norwich made a double substitution. Somebody should look into that, that double sub caused the game to stop and is bringing the game into disrepute. The only thing Romeu was missing from his game was goals. He has now completed football. Astounds me every game these days and seems to get better and better. How that clown at Tottenham kept him or JWP out of the team is incredible. Usually when we're 1-0 up, it's slightly nervy. But, tonight was as comfortable as you can get a 1-0. Broja's not been at the races in recent weeks, but it's testament to the rest of the squad that they're all chipping in and we're running out comfortable victories without him, when in previous years we had relied on Ings a bit too much. Echo the poster above that Adams needs a song. He's literally an unsung hero at the moment.

He had a great game against PSG last weekend. Nantes beat them in a surprise 3-1 win. Couldn't do anything for the goal, which took a deflection. He also saved a Neymar penalty. If we got him it would be one of those "insane" signings. But, sadly, I think he's a level above our market.

There's something rotten at Tottenham, and it started when Pochettino was there, players stopped playing for him, etc. Since then they've had Mourinho, Nuno and now Conte and have chucked a lot of money around, but they're still the same mid-table side expecting to push for the Champions League. Even Kane's stopped playing for them now after last summer, like Alli, etc. did in previous seasons. He turned it on against Manchester City for obvious reasons, but he's one of the best goal scorers in England, their penalty taker and at this moment in time he's the 18th top scorer, behind players like Gallagher, Zaha, Maupay, Bowen, Smith-Rowe and Dennis. He only has one more than JWP. It's a job that needs a mass overhaul of the squad, like we needed when Hasenhuttl first took over. Only, he won't be given the time to oversee it and players like Davies, Dier, Sessegnon, Hojbjerg, Emerson, Doherty, Sanchez, Winks and Bergwijn, who are their "unsellables" will outlive another manager.

Another one for the highlights against Norwich at home. We got relegated with them, they were the strongest team in League One, running away with the title, so it was the toughest fixture you could draw in the JPT back then. They're 2-1 up and with a matter of seconds left of the match Grant Holt has it up by the corner flag, only he then tries to pull one of his cons and goes down looking for the free-kick, doesn't get it and we get possession, boot it straight up the pitch with Papa Waigo, the JPT slayer, scoring with one of the last kicks of the game. Then you've got the drama of penalties, Bialkowski did well against Forster on those and Wayne Thomas bags the winning penalty. Great evening and we of course go on to Wembley and get a great day out that won't be forgotten.

Burnley are doing it again. Usually I'd want them to go down, but not this time. Hopefully it isn't the inoffensive Brentford that they drag in.

Van Dijk only got £5m because he also cost Liverpool £75m in transfer fees. Clubs are now paying millions to players in signing on fees once their contract has expired, replacing the transfer fees and that's why so many players are now seeing out their deals. Juventus paid £14m to Emre Can back in 2018.

If Wan-Bissaka was £50m for winning tackles and offering nothing more...

Alongside the previous two months where clubs were postponing matches with minimal COVID cases, but citing injuries and internationals to ensure those players were back for the rearranged fixture, which gives them a far bigger advantage than a 30 second break. While, we were what looked on the outside following strict COVID regulations to ensure there wasn't an outbreak at the club, which there wasn't. It's no surprise that COVID/injuries hasn't affected clubs after the postponement rules got stricter and football got out of the hectic Christmas schedule.

Looking at who's coming up, Fulham are. You never really know what to expect from them. They usually spend good money and go down. It's got to click at some point, you'd imagine? They aren't like the yo-yoing Norwich, unfortunately. It would be good if the south coast's number one club, Bournemouth failed to come up after gambling on promotion on deadline day, although they're four points clear with two games in hand. Can see them going straight back down under Parker. Then QPR, Blackburn and Huddersfield are all clubs who are having unexpected seasons given the resources available to the trio, they may not survive up here though and Sheffield United won't likely stay up with Heckingbottom having another shot.

I wonder if we would negotiate a release clause with Salisu to extend his deal, seeing as we negotiated a buy back clause for the first time to secure Livramento. I don't think we'd get Salisu's true value this summer and then the next he goes into his final year. Of course you'd also have to make the release clause enticing for the player, so he's not going to accept a release clause of say £60m-£75m. But, then of course, his agent could just be in his ear now telling him that he'd net at least £20m as a signing on fee if he sees out his contract here, which comes with its own risks (injuries, etc.) I guess we could work a gentlemen's agreement like we apparently did with Van Dijk without the circus of then rejecting a deal following, and Kane's situation last season also might dissuade players from that route. Arghhh, too many scenarios! I don't envy the decision makers, but will be delighted if that announcement of a new contract comes up. (It's like his signing all over again).

Some say they were calling for more flexibility and being harder to beat, while others were calling for John Terry to take charge. 🤣

That win was dedicated to @Dorchester Saint. Going to be a tough ask for Everton to finish above us now. At least Alli got a good run out. Previously I compared Romeu to Wanyama and how much better Romeu is. But, that now feels disingenuous. He’s playing like Schneiderlin was, now. All over the pitch, wins tackles for fun, passes the ball silkily, he just needs to add the trademark cross field balls. Like I said last week, he’s elite, his best season here. MotM today. The other player who impressed me the most was the other experienced head in the team - Armstrong. Was playing like a man possessed in the first half, beating players like Lallana/Mane would, always looking to attack, playing good passes and was rewarded with a goal. Made up for last week’s performance against United. Looked a lot more on it today. Good performance overall and Long showed his experience at the end, even getting a rare goal! Both Everton and Newcastle are 5 points off 20th, what a dream that would be. @Lord Duckhunter’s favourites Lampard and Howe, while Hasenhuttl sits comfortably in 10th with the rest of the “cult”.

There’s also the chance of getting to the semi-final, being the only Premier League with Championship Barnsley, West Brom and Cardiff being the other semi-finalists. Would be laid on a plate for us. 🤷‍♂️

I enjoyed the JPT for a season, count me in for the Conference League.

Why hasn't the FA kept tabs on this? Has far more influence on a match than our little one minute breaks.

Yeah, Hooiveld was better suited to the Championship, while Fonte suited and adapted to the Premier League better. Good player and was exactly what we needed at the time of his signing.

The magic sponge/spray didn’t gain its title because it’s actually magic… This isn’t a revolutionary thing and I could write the same article about the other 19 Premier League clubs and feigning injuries. We see it every week as fans and always have done in the modern game. We’ve just been taken over… Surely there’s something more interesting to write about?

Dortmund are consistently within the top three of the Bundesliga despite being a stepping stone club. It is a less competitive league, but they’ve shown you can succeed even when selling your best players. It’s all about getting the replacements and the scouting right. That’s where clubs fail. If you have a supply chain of Lewandowski, Gotze, Hummels, Aubameyang, Dembele, Sancho and now Haaland, you won’t go wrong. Atalanta are following a similar pathway, breaking into Serie A’s top four and competing in the Champions League, despite having a 21,000 seater stadium and being a yo-yo club in the 2000s. Its no secret that our best period of recent years came when we had the brain of Paul Mitchell heading our recruitment. Replacing Lovren with an Alderweireld and then replacing Alderweireld with a Van Dijk was fine. It’s when you start replacing Van Dijk with a Hoedt/Vestergaard that the problems arise.

Schneiderlin had his best season following the summer he was told to stay and earnt his move the year later, Van Dijk had his worst half season the summer he was told to stay and was gone before the January window opened. Unfortunately in today's football, the latter is more often the case if you don't grant players their moves, they just stop playing. Look at Kane... JWP has more league goals than him this season. The key thing is not letting them all go at once. I know that we survived it before and even improved, but it's a risky strategy.

Does anybody know why we couldn't have played Newcastle this week?

I'm hoping that the takeover allows us to go back to the Southampton of seven years ago. Selling a Lallana and getting a Tadic, selling a Lambert and getting a Pelle, selling a Shaw and getting a Bertrand (following initial loan), selling a Lovren and getting a Alderweireld (loan fee + wages) and then Van Dijk a year later, selling a Chambers and getting a Long. AND THEN still having enough to bring in Forster, Gardos, Mane, Taider (ermmm), Elia and Djuricic. Under Gao, we simply couldn't do that and had to keep the books balanced at all times regarding transfer expenditure and income, e.g. a Targett sale gets you an Adams, but nothing more and needing to spread out the Ings and Vestergaard money from this summer, but not going over what came in. It's similar to the Leicester model, but also, they've shown this season, like we have, what one poor summer window can do to your club. Maybe Les Reed was right that they are trying to copy us. I think that's the difference that the takeover has brought in. We'll still be a selling club, but hopefully we can get rid of the net spend trophy.

Why else did we sign Ollie Lancashire?