HarvSFC

Howe had 1 win in 10 before 22nd January. Including an embarrassing defeat against Cambridge. Everyone knows what changed between his appointment and the 22nd January and it wasn’t his tactics. His record could have been worse had Newcastle played their two scheduled fixtures, but they beat Everton after pushing the game back. Newcastle would’ve remained in the same position as Norwich, Watford and Burnley had they not spent the most amount of money in Europe. The homesick excuse was coming.

RIP Minsk. Given the nature of the fixture list at the beginning of the season, we had a difficult start, spawning some negativity. Your thread provided some context to the results and brought along some positivity and belief that the situation wasn't as bad as it appeared. Thank you, true Saint.

I love this team. For years, we've have mediocre, big ego players giving post-match interviews promising changes and nothing happening. These guys do it on the pitch. Romeu's my man of the match. He's elite, better than Wanyama was in that he isn't just an excellent ball winner, but can play with the ball too and contributes in us keeping the ball up the pitch, which is another element of defending. He's not getting the big move at 30, so it's now a question of how long he can keep this up for, like it was with Steven Davis, albeit a different player. I think that McCarthy is unfairly criticised on here, like Stephens is, who put in another good performance today, coming on at half time with some calling game over at his presence on the pitch. But, Forster was on another level today and pulled off some very good stops in midweek too. He's looking like the Forster before the big contract again, who would pull off important saves if the Alderweireld/Fonte/Schneiderlin/Wanyama wall in front of him was broken and contributed to our brilliant defensive record of that period. Adams is also coming on leaps and bounds now. Today's finish was one you'd have expected to come from Ings in previous years with Adams known more for his power shots. But he put it away clinically. The goals compliment his all round game, which has been excellent in recent weeks. Broja's on another level. Once he adds the goals to all the chances that he creates himself, he will be world class. Four points from Tottenham and Manchester United away, we'll take that. Maybe our top form is to come in the second half of this season. 🤷‍♂️

Saints scoring soon after an unfunny “game over” post is becoming a nice theme.

Forster’s back to pre-big contract Forster and I liked him.

Martinelli sent off for two fouls in one phase of play tonight, which I haven't seen since Chris Baird playing for Northern Ireland many years ago. West Ham know what they're doing by deflecting the Zouma story and bringing up the race card.

Outstanding. Only criticism would be that Hasenhuttl didn't walk up to Conte with his finger over his lips after the way that bloke with the embarrassing hair transplant acted after going 2-1 up. We outplayed the cheats, the referee and got the result the match deserved. JWP is a Van Dijk money player now, considering how much goals and assists are worth today. We should try those crosses more often, both were right on the money and we were right not to sell him for £50m to Aston f**king Villa in the summer. Perraud's found his feet now after looking a bit Cedricy early doors. Hit the bar again, similar to the one against Wolves. If he can keep those long range shots up and turn some into goals, that would be very handy. Stuart Armstrong is finding his form again, such an effective player. Him and Broja are just so direct and attack minded and its the perfect trait to have as a footballer, rather than turning and playing the safe pass, which are eventually easy to defend. The takeover has seemed to lift the club on all fronts without many changes, which is what we wanted. We've broken back back into the top 10 of the Premier League, which is pretty remarkable considering we've had a bottom three net spend for a good few years now. Up the Saints. This is why we support Southampton.

Send Chelsea that miss.

BIG - He loves the hitting the badge celebration too. He was part of Spurs’ academy as well.

The appointment of Dan Ashworth will mean Newcastle will start having a plan now, which is a shame. Everton are a bit more rotten behind the scenes, and don't have any footballing nous/plans there seemingly. Would be funny if they go down. Some wanted Lampard and Alli here, with both having question marks over their managerial and current playing ability, let Everton take the hit.

Plenty of time to get his replacement sorted, so no excuses really. The only question would be that Arsenal missed out on Guardiola and Klopp as they remained too loyal to Wenger in the latter years, ending up with Emery, which set them back a good few years. Do we wait out the two years knowing Hasenhuttl is going to leave, which would be the right thing to do, or should the ideal candidate come along, do we act, securing our long-term plans further as well as not risking missing out on someone who could take us further. Drawing another Brentford comparison, they had Thomas Frank on their coaching staff, behind Dean Smith and when the latter left, it was an easy transition and they were able to carry on with their progress. We obviously can't do that at the moment, as Watson, Davis, nor Fleming are managers, but it will be interesting to see if we look to replicate a similar pathway here with a coaching appointment in the future. Either way, as I said, no excuses on his replacement. We can't replace him with a defensive manager like Puel, as that's where the transition from Koeman to Puel broke down as they were two completely different managers. We can't go for the cheap option who sounds like Mauricio Pochettino, but doesn't have a clue about management. We can't go for the dinosaur/managerial merry go round brigade like Mark Hughes. And hopefully, when Howe gets relegated and sacked by Newcastle that takes him out of the running, as he will inevitably be linked. Ultimately, it will be a shame to see Hasenhuttl go. The players have never turned on him, nor stopped playing for him despite him having to get rid of the egos in the dressing room that were here and clearly being quite strong minded with his approach on how players should behave. The 9-0s were embarrassing, but relegation would have been far more costly for us. Its always exciting watching us, never dull, well maybe the second halves, but the first halves are electric. Livramento also credited Hasenhuttl for him choosing Southampton, so he was clearly doing something Potter wasn't at Brighton off the pitch, so it will be a shame to lose whatever that was as well. But, yeah, it's always going to happen in football these days. Does his family live over here, or are they still in Austria, as I know he went back in the most recent break? Additionally, I think we would all take retiring at 57. Earning millions, what a life. Surprised more don't do it. What motivates and gets Roy Hodgson down the training pitch every morning?

Broja and KWP have celebrated by slapping the badge recently too. Thankfully, KWP's + a positive post-match interview came quickly after somebody made up that he was unhappy on here to not be playing RB.

He has done very well to be fair. Used his contacts to make some smart loans at Swansea on their limited budget. Guehi, Gallagher, Woodman and Brewster when he was good among the names. Swansea’s “money”did run out in the summer, hence why they let one of their better players in Andre Ayew leave on a free and Jamal Lowe going to Bournemouth. He left over a month after the play-off defeat, so it does look more like it was his decision and now Swansea have gone from 4th to 16th. He’s doing similar at Forest. Panzo, Surridge and Davis, he’d have all known from the England setup and when he took over Forest they were in 22nd. They’re now 8th and he holds a 56.5% win record.

I only watched the last two Egypt matches in the tournament, but Salah was anonymous in both. Looked overall, and he only scored two goals in the tournament, despite playing the full 90 and then extra-time where required in each of Egypt's 7 games. Although, to be fair Egypt only managed four goals overall. So, I guess he did bag 50% of their goals.

Forest outplaying Leicester. No Vestergaard or Bertrand included either.

Could the break have played a part? Yes, I know, the break that all professionals wanted could have actually had a negative impact? Imagine that. You've got two teams coming up against each other. One has been in training as normal every day, playing matches and keeping sharp. Whereas the other one has been in light training and had a small holiday. So, you get results like Middlesbrough knocking out United, Chelsea and West Ham going to extra time against Plymouth and Kidderminster and us needing extra time against Coventry.

Played 15 Ligue 1 games this season, has the same amount of red cards as he does clean sheets. 😬

Tag him. @Charlie Wayman

There was a small link to him in January.

The Salisu situation is an unpredictable one. Reportedly, he turns down Ghana because he wants to focus on his club career. Now, he’s obviously going to have more of an affiliation to Ghana, than he is to us, so it shows a character which will turn a contract offer down here if he feels he has a better opportunity elsewhere. Whether he wants to focus on his club career due to financial reasons or reaching the top is unknown. Newcastle and the top six present those financial gains which we can’t offer, but I don’t think the top six will be calling this summer, it seems too soon. Additionally, we ourselves took advantage of his contract situation at Vallodid and picked him up for a very reduced fee, although it was a release clause then, rather than the length of his contract. Personally, I would prefer him to go to one of the big six, rather than Newcastle. I hate those sideways/downwards moves that are money motivated like Ings to Villa and Koeman to Everton. Then you have fans telling you the money at the club will take them to a level above ours eventually, when Ings can’t get into the Villa team and Koeman was sacked, so…

Wait until you see the league table!

Newcastle ended the month with 28 senior players, the only issue is that three of them can't be registered, so some are going to become unhappy. Although, I guess they didn't have enough players a few weeks back! Their only signing that I'm envious of is Guimares. Trippier, we have two better full-backs, he was declining at the end of his Tottenham career. See his Wiki: "Trippier made his first start in the 2018–19 season in the game against Fulham, and scored his first goal of the season from a free kick. However, it was generally considered that he had a disappointing season, after suffering from a series of minor injuries, as well as having committed a number of defensive errors. In a match against rivals Chelsea, he scored an own goal, in an attempt to pass the ball to goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. His goal made the scoreline 2–0 to Chelsea, which was also the final result of the game. He left Tottenham at the end of the season, having made 114 appearances for the club in all competitions." Wood's a system player, suits Burnley, but doesn't suit Eddie Howe. Burn's a less exotic Vestergaard and Targett's a 6/10 player. Carvalho is unfortunately Liverpool's. A really good youngster. He'll be there at the end of a season for a tribunal fee, which could work out cheaper than yesterday's price. He's not Liverpool level yet, a bit too inconsistent and has flaws, but he would have got plenty of game time here, if the rumours of our interest were true. Maybe Liverpool are learning that it's better to get them young and for less than £10m, rather than wait a few years, give them Premier League experience elsewhere and then sign them for £40m+. Ross Wilson and Rangers. We know that we were financially negligent under Wilson (and Reed), spending large transfer fees on the "unsellables" and putting them on large contracts to boot without any real strategy, or plan. It has taken years to sort out and that was with the Premier League income. Now, one of the statement signings yesterday was a 31-year-old Aaron Ramsey from Juventus on loan. The days of these types of players heading up to Scotland these days is unheard of, because there isn't any money up there. Plus, Rangers have only recently recovered/reformed from their own financial woes. I just can't see how his wages are sustainable up there and alongside Ramsey, they also signed Amad Diallo on loan from Manchester United last week. He was a £37m signing for United just last year and was most probably put on a contract ranging from £50k-£70k. So, he wouldn't have been a cheap deal either. Seems like Wilson is playing the old Football Manager again and trying to make statement signings, rather than following a strategic plan. Will be interesting to see how it plays out for Rangers in the long-term, but they have essentially splashed out on two big loans.

Think I’m echoing everyone here. We saved money over the summer and didn’t spend any last month, obviously, so hopefully that gives us added flexibility to manoeuvre with the takeover/we’re saving money for Broja, even if Chelsea don’t budge at the end of the day. So, with that in mind: A starting Premier League Boruc/Niemi/Fabianski/Martinez type goalkeeper, which with the right scouting should be obtainable. If we look at Brentford as an example now, given the takeover, they picked up Raya for £3m from Blackburn in the Championship and he was their key player at the beginning of this season before his injury. There are still good goalkeepers out there at a good price, just our scouting has seemed a bit narrow sighted in the goalkeeping department in recent years. A striker - Be it Broja, or somebody else. The max I would go for Broja is £30m. If we are looking to sign Broja as per the rumours, it is likely to be a fee around that figure. Therefore, IF we are willing to spend £30m on Broja and IF he can’t be got then I hope we would put £30m down on another goal scoring striker, rather than replacing him with a budget option. An AM. I’m undecided on this one. Yesterday I said an up and comer like Anjorin. But, Elyounoussi, Djenepo, Armstrong, Redmond and Walcott are all nearing the end of their current contracts. Only Armstrong and Redmond deserve to stay on that list and I would even say they would have to go on reduced terms. Therefore, with so many likely to leave, we do need a more senior first team ready one again. Then, finally, a new contract for Salisu. Becoming free agents is the new thing for footballers and it is the smart thing for them to do, as they then pocket the transfer fee. So, this isn’t going to be straight forward. But, if we can, it needs to happen. He’s a potential £50m+ signing, which we won’t get this summer. Therefore, it’s not selling him at his peak value, which we will be looking to do and he will have his suitors in the future should he continue. At most, I really hope we’re not the net spend champions. Keep the philosophy of buying young and selling high. Fantastic! Leicester do that well. We weren’t. We were selling high and then buying cheap and using the rest of the incoming to fill various over positions in the squad for a pittance because we had no investment. E.g. selling Vestergaard and Ings and replacing them with players who don’t make our starting eleven in their respective positions. (I know we got Broja, but the club would have been hoping Armstrong could be the Ings replacement). So, yeah, hopefully this summer we can start acting like every other Premier League club that’s around us at the moment. Your Palace’s, Brighton’s, Wolves, etc. who have outspent us for years and somehow we’ve maintained a pace with them.

Semmens said in the summer that there was money left over for January should we need it. Fortunately, we haven't needed it. With those funds + the takeover saved over for the summer, if that allows us to sign a match winning goalkeeper (Johnstone's not that, he was the cheap Gao option), an attacking midfielder in the mould of a young up and comer like Anjorin, Broja, or a £30m equivalent striker if he's not obtainable, plus signing Salisu up to a new contract then that will be a brilliant summer. If we lose Broja and then need to sell JWP/Salisu in the summer to finance incomings, then it'll be the same old Southampton with nothing changing. We'll see! It could be an exciting one for once and I really hope it is. P.S. Has is been confirmed whether Guan and K Billy were Les Reed and Ross Wilson?

That’s not fair, all we won was half a fee for Bradley Wright-Phillips.