Saint86

The list of players writes itself, and the general saintsweb collective wants rid of basically all of them except Adams anyway 😅😂🙄. Timing of this after the positive noises from the fans forum is interesting though. Charlie Austin style shithousery from certain players / persons with an axe to grind - but without the balls to actually put their names on it. Leaking it does nothing but destabilise the club. If you take the assumption that key players who've improved under Ralph and are still playing for him are supportive of him, the logic here as well is that these "disgruntled players" have gone over JWP's head aswell to speak to management - which implies divisions in the dressing room. Regardless of what you think of Ralph, I sincerely hope the board shift all of these players out PDQ.

Fixed it for you 🤗

I think its obvious that the club want to sell Adam's if the right offer comes in. Semmen's didn't deny that last night tbh. What he did say (at the Fan's forum) was that "Che won't be going to Everton on loan"... The athletic ran a piece before the fan's forum saying we would reiterate a stance that we weren't actively looking to sell him, but that behind the scenes the stance is he'll be sold at the right price. Now unless that is complete make believe from the athletic (which has not been the style of Dan Sheldon, Carl Anka, or Jacob to date), that information can only have come from sources in the know - and we will likely see Che Adams leave (subject to interested parties). I don't for one second think we'd sell Che and not have a replacement lined up either. So in summation - I think the only reasons anyone should be stressing over the Che Adam's rumours, is if they are either scared about us keeping him for the season, or about our ability to replace him adequately.

Watkins is a good player and would be well priced at £25M-£30M.... but is he significantly better than Che Adams? i certainly don't think that selling Che for £15M and purchasing Watkins at £30M would be justified.

Yup, I think no wins by the end of August and he'll be gone or going.

Should be signing Sarr...

Agreed. A better way to handle it would be for a supporter to stand up and highlight the fans' concerns over the spurs loss - the lack of defensive nous, the mistakes, the ease with which spurs played through us etc. and then ask Ralph for his thoughts, and whether he's concerned, what he thinks are the core reasons behind it and frankly the perceived lack of progress over it, and whether he has considered a different formation or how he plans to address it. Frankly - someone should ask some polite, intelligent, but more awkward questions - i'd expect BBC solent to do this but for whatever reason Adam blackmore doesn't OR won't. Regardless, Ralph doesn't deserve abuse, but many more games like spurs and his clock will be running low - and tbf i bet he knows it and feels the pressure as well. Some of his more recent decisions do smack of a man who is under the kosh and the pressure is stopping him making proactive or correct decisions.

Tessem will find his feet i'm sure, but missed Merrington today.

Disappointing result but not that unexpected. Lots of young / inexperienced players vs one of the best attacks in world football - and it showed. Once the nerves set it they wobbled and gave away some soft goals. Concerning, and i don't think we have the players currently to play that formation. Djenpo, Valery, Bednarek, and Stephens. We can't be playing games vs the top 4 with 3 of those players starting in defence. Hopefully we can learn from that and make a few key additions (CB and ST) to go into the next ones. Still some signs of promise within it all. JWP, Lavia, and KWP had good games for me. Ultimately we'll have to bear with this side as they bed in. Lots of new / young faces, and last seasons' squad fillers around them just aren't up to standard. Could be a rocky start. Very unconvinced by the tactic - would much rather see a 4-2-3-1 etc.

Hall marks of the emirates game for Yoshida's debut. Horrendous defending this game. Isn't Selles a defensive mastermind?

Salisu doubly at fault for that. Shocking. One of the worst own goals you will ever see.

Wow. Right when we were getting back into the game...

Most of our issues stem from Benarek and Valery playing in a new look back 5 with a young keeper and djenpo at LWB... up against one of the best attacks in world football. Recipe for disaster as its basically 2 players that dither defensibly, and then one (dejenpo) that doesn't / can't defend... Results in a load of bad positioning and bad passing, with poor communication/confidence between them all, and ultimately a very nervy back 5 as a result. Second half hopefully better, and think we need to remember that this is a free swing ultimately. Spurs are going to be top 3 or 4 end of the season - and we all know our record opening day of the season, let along away to one of the best teams in the league!

Whats all this Coady chat on twitter, has there been any credible links in the media?

Genuinely surprised by the negativity on this thread lately! I think our squad is comfortably good enough to finish at least 15th. We've added good quality depth, and specifically players to suit the way Ralph wants us to play. Plus he's finally got some decent coaches behind him and on the touchline. If we get a quality striker we'll be looking for a top 10 finish as a good season. If we don't i still think we'll come somewhere from 12th-15th even with an average year. Am i on a different planet to everyone else? Reading some of these comments i feel like it 😨😅

Imagine we'd be open to selling anyone for the right price... Someone offers us £150m for JWP we'd be stark raving mental not to take it.

I don't agree. If every team is a "rival" in your world, then what is an actual rival called? There is a difference between other teams and rivals and there are some very clearly direct rivals even at this point in the season - man city and liverpool are rivals for the title. I suspect Chelsea/spurs/Arsenal will be rivals for the top 4 etc. I imagine most people would be considering fulham, forest, everton, and bournemouth as relegation rivals on current squad depth/quality?

We haven't been in a relegation scrap since Ralph's first half season, and this year we have been very active in the transfer market and strengthened the squad / tailored it for his style of play. Given that i don't have any anticipation for a relegation scrap. Forest shouldn't have been promoted given their squad last season. They have had to massively strengthen to be competitive in the prem, and whilst they've given it a good go, its hard to look past them as anything other than a team that will be fighting relegation - especially considering they'll have minimal squad depth. Conversely, all the people being positive on here surely don't think that us making 6 signings means we should be on a level with Forest?

If the club consider forest a rival then we are in trouble.

Neverton look to be finally going down. At best they are going to be right in the mix this season.

I've seen one poster (without naming) on here refer to it as "lucky" that KWP has adapted to LWB whilst criticising Ralph for forcing the switch on him. Which i personally think is very biased, and I would agree with you that there does seem to be a real bias on here (at times) re Ralph and him not being given credit where its due. Conversely, I would say he's improved several players during his time here - Not least JWP and KWP. Ultimately we're not sat here discussing a player's (who was superfluous to Tottenham) potential move to Chelsea for no reason. Similarly the improvement in JWP (and transfer links) are largely due to Ralph's coaching of him (which probably also saved his saints career).

If i were KWP in a world cup year, i wouldn't be going anywhere unless it offered first team football. His best chance of making the england squad is probably playing LWB at saints... that may not happen due to the other injuries, but he'll still be playing regularly and hopefully shining at saints. Equally he knows if he doesn't sign a new contract he'll likely be able to exit next summer. So i think its unlikely he'll be leaving for anywhere without first team football being offered.

Swap him? No chance. Whilst i see your broader point, swapping him is like saying Broja is a £40M-£50M player - which is how much i'd be asking for KWP. KWP has been a contender for player of the season the past 2 years and is not somewhere we should be looking to sell unless its for silly money.

Seriously hot prospect by all accounts. Shame we couldn't have got him (if the rumours we were even in for him were true). Apparently Chris Brady (also at fire) is meant to be mustard as well.

I agree. SAF hit his mercurial talents in the face with boots, and I doubt Clough was very accommodating either - and we all know Jose has had a particular management style throughout his career. Similary Pep and Klopp get what they want with their players, and if they don't play ball they get moved on. As for accommodating special talents, just look at the long list of managers that have failed at PSG because they prioritise accommodating players over the manager's wishes, and United have been plagued by that as well in recent years. I've personally always had the impression that the best managers are tactically astute/successful, and have a disciplined respectful no nonsense man management style, the type that set-out how it is and don't tolerate players stepping out of line, but that also praise and look after players that deliver. End of the day its a job and is about putting a professional framework in place that lets the team, manger, coaches etc. all work together to deliver. Second you start giving someone special treatment within that you're on a slippery slope.