Saint86

If salisu doesn't want to sign a new contract then i could still see him being sold. Once we hit the summer he is in his final year and his value will plummet.

Great supporter story Sinned, thanks for sharing it! Blackpool at home is a pretty decent draw for us; you'd like to think we can progress to the 5th round and then who knows, we're only a couple of matches from Wembley! Funny how things seem naively positive after a win... Fingers crossed anyway!

I'd love him at saints, sadly by the time he becomes available (or we have a vacancy) i think we'll be looking like a championship side and he'll likely be out of our league.

You'd like to think this is the case, but not sure many would credit Jones with that level of nous at the moment 😅

Okay... He was briefly in the senior England team due to injuries, and only really has a shot at the RB slot when others are injured - he has TAA, Reece James, and Trippier all above him in that pecking order. As for being messed about and being unhappy at playing left back: ‘If you want to play for England, it’s important you show them you can play on the left as well,” Walker-Peters says. “He said: ‘Look at Trippier. At the Euros, he played left-back some of the time.’ I’d say versatility is definitely a quality that Gareth appreciates.” “I feel just as comfortable in either position,” Walker-Peters says. “It was a bit of a surprise to people when I started playing left-back this season but I’ve been doing it for a long time, throughout the England youth ranks – including at the Under-20 World Cup.” https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/mar/24/kyle-walker-peters-england-call-up-southampton If he does want to leave then fair enough; he's a good player and always puts in a solid shift for Saints - consequently he deserves far better than to be scrapping it out at the bottom of the premier league table. Football careers are short, he's a fair way into his, and Saints have done very little re squad strengthening to justify any player committing to us long term... Which is another reason we should be grateful for JWP... he is arguably our best player (I would personally say he edges out players like KWP) and someone who loves the club.

Eee I, Eee I oh, down the football league we go?

My view on xGs is that the main value is in a player's xG conversion rate. And that can only really be accurately used in comparing players within their own league, for simple reasons such as goalkeepers will be better in the prem than the eredivise etc. Similarly defenders will likely be stronger, faster, better at marking etc in some leagues compared to others. Sure there are ways to allow for the differences in quality, but that becomes more and more of an assumption / interpretation based analysis - and that is where your good analysts will make a difference. Ings for example had significantly one of the better xG conversion ratios at saints (I'm sure everyone new he could be relied on and was a decent finisher, but statistically he stood out vs the league's other strikers, even kane etc.) Similarly comparisons can be made for keepers, defenders, wingers etc. But another key issue to be made when looking at player stats is the manager / tactical setup within which they play - I.e. under Ralph we had a lot of players ranking highly for interceptions and this was regularly presented - but in actuality it doesn't mean that much given our entire tactical ethos was generating pressing and turnover opportunities - in the same way, just comparing xG for a player is flawed as some teams will simply generate more attacking chances.

Nice easy one...

They struggled vs the 4-2-2-2 central press and being forced out wife. We don't have a midfield. Has a team ever conceded 9 at this stage of the competition before?

Sadly i think we're going to have to get used to it tbh, this is is the SR way - 5 at the back and hoof ball.

Have we just accidently won a game - certainly two very lucky goals. Palace had more possession, 8 corners to our 1, 13shots to our 6... and we committed twice their number of fouls. Talk about winning whilst playing shite.

That's one of the most ridiculous free kicks i've seen. So flukey. Bad defending and keeping, and the wind has caught it. Was a cross from like 35yards out on the wing... Right in the corner... They all count i guess.

Win or not, these tactics do not work. Can't keep playing like this at this level.

Is Rasmus a Pompey fan?

Its hard to imagine there was a worse managerial choice out there.

When is he getting sacked?

5-2-3 I'd guess? Unless he is putting Lyanco in midfield. Midfield 2 is anyone's guess though.

Any streams for this one? No idea why i want to watch us get ruined again 🤣

I'd like to see us sack Jones and rehire Ralph, but give give him a good striker and some actual cdm cover 😍😘. (who could have guessed I'd say that 😋🤣)...

if he doesn't know he's joined the team 20th in the league, then he deserves to be surprised...

Hard to get excited about it if we're honest. Who feels confident it will make any difference with Jones' disjointed (hasten to use the word) style But whatever, welcome aboard the good ship Southampton to Orsic...

No one says we're a shit club, just currently being run very poorly 😉. You are ofc welcome to disagree...

Shame they couldn't have got in Orsic and a quality striker in the summer, would have been a very different season

I am absolutely stunned that he wants to join us tbh, we're going down.

I suspect you'd be a broken man if you'd spent 4 years battling tooth and nail to save and rebuild the club, only to be finally promised a striker, let down, instructed to play 5 at the back, and then hung out to dry by the board... Not backing him this season and sacking him now is one very large combined mistake by SR. He has been the main thing keeping us in the league. If he had been backed this summer with good attacker's we'd be comfortably mid table and the entire atmosphere around the club would be better. Anyway, I don't see why are you following me around the board to continue/rehash an argument in which we are diametrically opposed 🤔. I'm not going to drastically change my view I'm afraid. 🤷‍♂️ He should have been backed and kept, instead of being hung out to dry for months and sacked. He absolutely shouldn't have been sacked without having another quality mananger lined up 😔. We have utterly torpedoed the club's season and future... He would have had a full strength team this January as it was (with which he beat Chelsea and outplayed United) before the injuries kicked in, and we absolutely should have had a striker arriving on the 1st Jan. Its one ginormous car crash of mismanagement by SR, and now we are staring relegation in the face and unable to manage a shot on goal at home to one of the worst sides I've ever seen at SMS in the Premier league. All of which is irrelevant to the point myself, Toussaint, and others were discussing re the odd transition to a back 5 this season under SR. Which it seems plausible was enforced by SR and matches the recruitment decisions we've taken and the choice of the new mananger.