Hodgey

Where to start !. Firstly we’ve tried to clear out players before and got nowhere (indeed Hoet Lemina and Elynoussi continue to return). So if we managed to move on a couple of players we don’t want that would be a good result. More likely is we lose players we do - Ings, JV and Redmond which may free up some wages and transfer budget. Next question is how wisely can we invest - recent history suggests we’ll buy a couple of £15m players who will need a season to bed in and may or may not be of the quality required. So you lose 3 1st team and replace them with 3 players you already know to be inferior for a season. How about the youth ? With both U23 and U18s bottom of their leagues and pretty abject - nothing doing there for at least 2 years. So what is the answer ? Firstly we have to nail the loan system - we’ve seen with Lingard and AMN it can be done but we’ll need good loan fee and wages signed off. we need 1st team starters on loan and probably need them to be the spine of our team - so a cf / cm or cb. Then we have to hope that Salisu / Diallo / Tella / Djenepo improve and buy a few more ‘potentials’ (I’d start with the championship). finally we may need to dip into the free transfer pot for some cover in key areas (ie full back) which I can see having more quality / volume than other years due to Covid. It’s all a very tall order though - get it right we could be lower mid table, get a couple wrong i can see relegation. oh and for goodness sake have a strategy on squad balance. Aim should be a prem quality player on every position with someone who could at least do a job for a few games in reserve. Not no full backs but a load of gks and wingers

For me after that Walcott, Redmond and Bednerak played themselves out of the semis. We cant seriously play the same 11 again after that. Forster will be a lucky boy to keep sticks and the only reason Diallo and Bertrand get in is because there are no alternatives. Forster KWP Vest Salisu Berty Diallo JWP Armstrong Djenepo Adams. Ings

This has been a few years coming - I was surprised at the defensive response to the comment from the Burnley new owner when it was pretty clear he had it spot on. What’s more worrying is it looks like it is a base talent rather than training issue. First stage of solving an issue is admitting you have one - I’m hoping it’s crystal clear to those who matter in the club or we’ve got 4 years of nothing coming through - which is a big problem if youth is your declared sustainability policy. Thing is we don’t need to produce Prem quality players - that is incredibly hard to do and takes patience, with our set up however we should be producing championship quality players who can bolster the squad when injuries hit (and hopefully the odd Prem standard player)

SKD - no WE wouldn’t get a champs league and euro league player for £2m. But that isn’t the way it works. Nobody who would pay £50k a week wants Elynoussi as he isn’t good enough. others at a lower level might buy him for a reduced fee to subsidise the fact they would have to pay a very high wage. I’d be happy with £2m cash plus £5m saved in wages. Yes it seems like a bad deal (and his book value is still c £7m so it is) - but better than us trying to find 2 more loan deals and he leaves on a free anyway in 2 years. If you think he is genuinely good enough to be a decent squad option fair enough. I sadly don’t - and whilst I admit I doubted Vestergaard could be a prem player due to his pace, pace isn’t as important for a cb if they learn positioning and his arial ability and passing have always been decent. the fact Celtic fans aren’t bothered - and he has been in and out of a poor Celtic team doesn’t give me confidence despite some half decent stats. BTW - same opinion on Hoet. Lemina has at least shown he can be a prem player so someone might nibble if Fulham go down

There’s lots of value in doing that. Firstly I think having him around blocks Tella progress - and I think Tella has something you need in the prem (pace) and potential. Secondly if we want Walcott as a reserve striker / lw then we can’t afford both given his wages. And lastly he’s just not very good - and if he’s around we’ll be tempted to play him, and he’ll inevitably continue to disappoint. I’d take anything above £2m

Not sure if injured or not but neither Valery nor Vokins could make the 1st team squads today.

I still don’t get the 100pc certainty we cant win it. If we beat Bompey, we could easily have a semi vs Everton or Leicester neither of which are forgone conclusions. Then yes we’d probably face a Chelsea or City - but then it’s a two horse race in a one off game and our form could have changed by then. I don’t remember being played off the park by Arsenal or Utd in the last two finals. if this isn’t a decent chance then I’m not sure when will be, are we going to get a year where we outspend everyone, or the top 6 suddenly become really weak ? Good luck waiting for that. I’m not expecting to win it, of course not, but we’ve got a good chance here of getting to the final and should be all out going for it. I mean resting those players against City didn’t really pan out did it ?

Just consider that if we beat a team a division below, with injuries, who need to go up, we are then 2 wins away from our first trophy in 45 years and therefore most Saints fans life. This is one of the best chances we’ll have so I’m shocked by the amount of fans seemingly non plussed. I can only assume winning things isn’t of interest - as I don’t see another great chance coming along anytime soon !.

I mean who knows who was doing what from that corner. In any case putting a full back against the best header of the opposition doesn’t strike me as too clever. But agree could have done better

I’d still sign him up for another 2 years if wages are right. Zero trust in us getting a competent lb, we’ll end up playing Salisu there or some such. Not sure about the scapegoating - neither goal down to him and set up our one attack, certainly not brilliant but no worse than KWP and better than all our attacking midfielders

I’ve kept an eye on Elynoussi and Celtic and he seems injury prone and incredibly erratic, he also seems to miss a lot of chances and has been frequently dropped. He’ll also be on £50k a week. No better than Simms who we let go for free and was on a lot less. Take whatever we can get for him and get rid - or get Walcott in for a season on same wages. Redmond / Armstrong / Djenepo / Tella and then possibly Walcott is enough. Need to use loans / tiny transfer budget on full back and striker

He is miles better than Vokins, even now. I reckon he has a couple of years left, so hope he’ll take a bit of a pay cut given he’s on the decline. Do we really want another position to try and fix now ?

Ralph has fallen foul of a disasterous youth system and broke club. He’s given it a go, but it was always clear to most that our youngsters are a long way short of the required mark. People slating him for letting fullbacks go who can’t get into poor championship / league 1 teams, he’s wanted new fullbacks for a while but the club hasn’t found any. Puel had a similar quality 1st team but a stronger squad (and had no direction - exactly the reason Leicester got rid as well). I also think playing games so quickly is having a negative effect - the automisms need constant training as does opposition study and conditioning. Yes it’s the same for all clubs but for us having such a strict system it’s having a bigger effect (you could blame Ralph having no plan B but he’s trying to do things a very set way)

I think what we saw today is why he will be better than Redmond. He’s slight but competes for the ball and isn’t afraid to take a wack - no half arsed efforts and doesn’t give up. He needs a proper run in the team though for me

Been impressed so far, but there are definite mistakes in him, one today that almost had Chelsea clean through. Just need to make sure we don’t lord then criticise him - looks like he could be a top player but has a long way to go and we need to support the dips and errors he’ll have, but also not build him up to be VVD so soon.

Good point - I naively calculated £50k per month - he probably is on something close to that sadly. I think out of principle I’d be refusing to hand that over - maybe that’s what it is !!

Good point. I just wonder if we are still weighing it up wrong. For example Elynoussi - let’s say he has another 2 yrs left on £50k a week - that means paying him off £1.2m, plus he is still worth £2.5m based on time left original transfer. We seem to play hardball and want xx when in my mind we should have a min price of £3.7m which would ‘write off’ liabilities. I don’t have an issue trying to get as much as possible, but if we cant get it for totally unwanted players on high wages (which has been proved) then we need to be realistic.

Don’t forget about Gunn - add him into the mix and you are almost at £100m. Another destined for a few more loan deals and a quiet £2m exit.

I’m not sure it’s a mental thing now - under Hughes and Pel it was lack of belief, now I wonder if it’s fatigue. It reminds me of MoPo team which if went behind that was it, however now more often than not we get our noses in front. They just seem to get overrun as the second half progresses, failing to close down creative players from the opposition and without the energy to break. This team needs to go at least 2 up, then we need sensible tactics to kill the game, or 3 quality players coming off the bench to keep energy levels high. Aside from Ings or a JWP set piece we rarely score, the amount of air shots or hitting straight at the keeper suggests a worrying lack of skill and composure that you cannot train. I’d go as far as say that if Ings goes we are clear relegation candidates. Let’s keep him even if it means he leaves on a free and we get another year in the Prem.

Think we are close to turning this round - it’s been marginal stuff with Newcastle / Villa / Wolves - any of those games could easily have been a point or win. Minimino clearly not Saints match fit yet, and a lot of players lacking confidence - Adams can’t buy a goal (and needs to use his left foot) and Djenepo and Redmond off form. I agree Forster should have started after recent McCarthy errors but honestly think it would have been the same result - couldn’t see Forster saving either. We have a big problem with a plan B - think this is both tactical and a very thin bench. We need another striker urgently or we could be in serious trouble next year.

1982 - Saints 4 Man City 1 - 6 yr old. Stood in the Milton End with my mate and Dads behind us so we didn’t go flying in the surge. Result at the time wasn’t a shock at all, how things change !!. Full kits, scarves everything - birthday treat for one of us, meant we went to 2 matches a year back then. Think it was £1 to get in....

It also led to our best chance and excellent save from Darlow. No point having big men upfront if you don’t give them anything to attack - even with 9 we were never going to go through the middle of them

Whilst it’s lovely to think that we should give others a chance due to some terrible performances, the reality is an off form Adams or even Redmond is better than anything we have at youth level. This is a free hit, chance to be the last 8 in a winnable cup and we should play our very best team and hope they play their way back to form, This is also no time to put Salisu in - he needs at least one B game - we should be able to play the team that gave us so much success in the 1st half of the season finally - remember that back 4 with Rom and JWP in front and how solid they looked ? The one exception is Forster, he’s played well in the other cup games and deserves not only to play this, but after McC shaky performances of late a chance to show he can be no 1. Win this and confidence returns - we’ll then see better league form.

Even Bruce knew about our rb issues - targeted from the start- you don’t get away with that at this level. Sometimes you need a plan B - pointless bringing on a big lump up front if you can’t cross the ball in. We should have put 3 times the amount of crosses in that we did in those conditions but every time it was laboured slow passing to the wings and hit first man crosses. We should have pushed Vestigaard up front, Jwp our wide to cross and bombarded them. Everyone is upset not by this game (annoying though that is) but that we seemingly can’t think of ways to score against 10 or 9 men - it really isn’t good enough

We’re in a very tricky place - next 5 years are crucial. squad size is right - make up isn’t - having 3 first team gks and 2 full backs is madness - that is a recruitment error. Scouting has also let us down - £55m wasted on Hoet /Gunn/Lemina/Elynoussi, if we had a competent cb/cm/am then we could be more tactical in bringing kids on / covering positions. this has been done - but the Burnley bloke had a point about our youth, the quality and aptitude of players we are producing isn’t good enough - especially if the aim is to have half the team from the youth set up. This for me is the biggest worry And then there is finance - Covid hasn’t helped, neither has awarding Forster and Long big new contracts. That loan means we need to make £10-15m a year from transfers - for that you need some quality youngsters or great scouts. Finally we have literally put all our eggs in the Ralph basket - if he goes we have to start again, giving him that much power has worked so far as he is such a talent, but I can’t see a succession plan if he leaves. The hope is that we finally clear the deadwood, use some of those wages on patching up the squad, and that the new youth set up starts producing results meaning we can stabilise as a mid table team who make a small transfer profit each year to eat into our debt. If we can do that for a few years I’d think we’d get investor interest and we can move on from there if we go down, we probably drop again and end up bankrupt and start again - at least it’ll be a bargain price then for someone !