Saint86

Regardless, it seems unlikely. https://talksport.com/football/efl/1240325/blackburn-ben-brereton-diaz-staying-leeds-blow-transfer/

Keept it realistic you say? That will be Liam delap and cole palmer knowing our scouting...

I assume that's Diaz. In which case yes please!!

Pahars would be a start, is there anyone in the fanbase that wouldn't swap peak Pahars for Armstrong? 🤩🥰😍 What we really need is a Davis or Beattie (if we're sticking to parallels with those days). Coincidently, both 20years old when they signed for saints. (Aka 5-6 year olds by this thread's counting 🤪)

FWIW - MLG liked my post 😎😙 (and thus my saintsweb career is now complete)...

This is such a bizzare narrative and one that I don't think holds up.... Simply because the "5 year olds" we've signed in recent windows are some of our best players 😅. ABK is in the Germany squad, Livramento was a key first teamer for us until injured, lavia is so good he is Immediatley our best player (imo) and Chelsea liked him so much they bid £55m on deadline day. Mara hasn't really been given a chance so a question mark on him fine... But Edozie looks decent when played and was a cheap signing, ditto larios. Salisu is also a good example of a quality young player. Whilst bazunu is certainly no worse than forster and macca in recent seasons. 👍 Our issue is we've spent too much money on older squad level players expecting them to be first team quality for a mid table team... They aren't / haven't been, and they have higher wage demands and limited resale value. Well actually, the biggest issue is we never replaced ings... But the point is, it is not because we signed a load of good quality youngsters at any rate. Ralph had us 13th for xG, if we had signed a class striker/attacker we'd have been even higher in the xG ratings and we certainly wouldn't have been 18th for goals scored when he was sacked. Its a failure by the recruitment team to not sign another promising youngster (gakpo) that's largely responsible for the impending scrap... But the recruitment outside of a quality striker was good 🤷‍♂️

That was my take on the game. At the start he was a bit of a deer in the headlights, but he grew into it and showed there is something there. Seems crazy for people to be bludgeoning such a young kid over that particularly debut appearance. And its bizarre if there were people thinking we were signing a £1.5M youngster with no first team minutes to be a first team left back in the premier league. He may be having a tough year given his PV loan, but he's got many more years to reach the required level for saints. I also thought his interviews etc showed him to be a keen player, nice lad, and perhaps a bit cocky - but that is true of a great many teenage boys and something that usually changes as they get older.

So you're saying that we're going to be in the championship unless we play a 16year old Jay Morgan... Because that's what our premier league survival hangs on? 🤣😨...

Imagine agreeing personal terms with Gakpo and then not signing him... Woops

The interview basically says that we signed players and tried to change the way we play, but equally implies that it was too much / too complex to achieve it so quickly. Reading it, the implication they give is that Ralph was fully onboard with this, but you do have to wonder. (ultimately we will never know now unless Ralph comes out and says it - but tbf it does tie in with him starting with the 5-3-2 and then ditching it early on). Another interesting quote - its positioning in the article relates to Nathan Jones - but given they sacked Ralph and hired Jones, i would say it applies to both. “You cannot change the manager’s personality,” says Ankersen. “If he wants to play this way but you want to play another way, it’s not going to work. You have to have 80 per cent alignment, then you teach him 10 per cent and he teaches you 10 per cent. I think there is a lot that can be read in between the lines of that interview. But all in all its an interesting read. Also, it states that we had agreed personally terms with two strikers playing in champions league qualifiers. Presumably Gakpo and one other.

“We have great respect and love for our ex-owner (Gao), but he would be the first to say that he wasn’t as involved as other owners. Some of the decisions we made were of necessity — some things we had to do, like being quite simplistic in the way we played, recruited and developed. It was effective within certain constraints. A lion in a zoo can only do so much. But with Rasmus and Henrik coming in, the walls of the zoo have come down.” 😵 A lion in a zoo. 😨 And by, "walls", does he mean, "floor"? 🤣

We'll meet them in the quarters (unless Southgate is worse than i think). We've got very little chance if we demonstrate the defensive nous displayed vs Iran.

Agree with this. Really is quite simple tbh, we're not as bad as has been made out and our stand out deficiency is obvious. Ralph had us 13th for xGs, and joint 15th for goals conceded. And that was despite injuries to a swathe of our best players (Lavia, KWP, ABK, Livramento), as well as trying to gel a new and young/inexperienced squad. The reason we are in the bottom 3 is that we have basically played all the big/form teams already, and more importantly, that our then 13th for xG translated to 18th for goals scored... Grim. Or phrased another way, two boards have consistently failed to replace ings with attackers that know how to convert their guilt edged chances. Now... with the cold hard facts laid before us, two questions remain. Will we sign said attacker(s)? And will nathan Jones be as effective as hassenhuttle (debatable given its his first taste of prem football and he's inheriting a young low confidence squad). Assuming Jones is decent and we sign an attacker, i think we'll be fine.

Tammy wouldn't be a bad acquisition subject to price. However the price (and wages) will probably be above what we can afford - particularly because if he is available there will be bigger fish than saints in the market. He is not on a par with Ings however. Ings' expected goals conversion rate with saints was above basically any other attacker in the league. When we had him fit we averaged a top 6 points return in a 38game period. With Che Adams, AA, and Ely we're a relegation level team. More than anything else, we need a striker who can stay fit and clinically converts his chances - it doesn't need to be a bigger name - especially if chasing a flagship signing costs us quality in AM and cover at CDM.

I agree on the positions, but lavia and abk are our two best players in their positions, and possibly our 2 best players full stop.

Eh? Would take an absolute wonder save to get that header, have to remember he has to set himself to come out and claim the ball, then firminho of all people gets a free header and sends the ball flying into the far bottom corner. And he did make some cracking saves 👍

Most of which will comfortably stroll past saints. Plus Jones doesn't take the cups seriously historically.

Gareth Southgate

Agreed on the Euros, that was Prowsey's chance and he was mugged off properly by Southgate in favour of the unfit Henderson. But re your second point, it shouldn't matter as Southgate won't take charge of another england game beyond the world cup - not unless he suddenly develops even basic level of tactical awareness and bravery.

Frankly incredible that he's picked connor gallagher and philips ahead of JWP. Philips has been injured and has hardly kicked a ball all season, how is he going to get match fit in a week.... I mean, he's played 1minute according to transfer market... on the 8th fucking july. Feel for him. But ultimately England under Southgate are shit and have zero chance of winning. First half decent team we face we'll resort to parking the bus, giving them the ball, and playing 8-2 and hoofing it to kane and one headless chicken runner. Then at 70min when we're losing he'll throw on some attacking mids and play possession football. Southgate should never have had his contract extended after Croatia, and the euro's final should have resulted in the sack. Should certainly have gone after the nations league fiasco. FA's stated ambition was to win WC2022 - Everyone knows that couldn't be further from reality under the most tactically clueless england manager there has ever been.

Yes, he's west ham's best player and key to them. We're having a bad season but they're 1 point ahead of us. People say JWPs form is poor compared to previous seasons but then don't judge england's other central mids. Philips has barely played and is now out injured. Rice is having a poor season by his form. Henderson has managed 640minutes all season. The only central midfielder on form is Bellingham. He should be default first pick - but its southgate so he'll probably pick Henderson/philips and rice to start.

Philips and Henderson have? JWP has been playing consistent all season, and his defensive work, interceptions, and general possession play have been solid. Saints have been poor from a possession and attacking/goal scoring/set piece perspective due to our more defensive setup - and that is behind his perceived worse form (i.e. minimal final 3rd contributions).... but that really is due to tactical setup and lack of quality in front of him. Fan's may not appreciate that, but you'd hope a manager can appreciate it enough to select him over Henderson and Philips - neither of which have seen much / any game time. He remains a player who could happily play every minute of that tournament if required, offers a quality set piece threat, and would do a respectable all round role in midfield. He is also a far better player than Philips anyway. Also tbf, rice has been very poor all season as well. Regardless, its bad news for saints, he's a key player for us and he will now have very little to play for and is unlikely to be in a good headspace for the rest of the season. Maybe he can get his head in the right space, but it equally sets a bad precedent - stay at saints and miss out on international football no matter how well you play (be it the euros or the world cups).

Very interesting post, tallies up well with other analyses of his tactical set up and management style. I think he'll prove a good appointment - but not without good attacking additions.

Lavia is the replacement for Romeu, and is a far better player than Romeu was last season!? Although, we have no other adequate CDM cover, and Nathan jones plays either 2 CDM's (ala Southgate's 3-4-2) or one minimum. So we could use another CDM - but not before addressing the attack. Players/positions that are adequate and won't be strengthened in Jan (IMO): GK - Bazunu, Macca LWB - Perraud, and KWP/Larios RWB - KWP, Tino, Larious CB - Salisu, ABK, CC, Lyanco CM - Lavia, JWP Re the attackers - it clearly needs significant strengtehing. I would personally be signing a good striker who will finish, and a quality CAM who will generate chances and keep the ball. From what we have, Che is a good target man and Stu is our best CAM. Moi is a decent enough squad player. Haven't seen enough of Mara to judge. Djenpo and AA have been largely anonymous. Edozi shows promise, but we can't be pinning our hopes on him lets be honest 🤣

Welcome aboard the SS Southampton Nathan Jones. I actually quite like him and think he'll do well. Regardless, SR have certainly been decisive on this one. He's one of the best up and coming managers in England, but equally its going to be a tough step up (with a young team, low confidence, and poor attackers) for his first taste of managing in the top tier. It is one hell of a gamble, but lets hope that those in charge know what they're doing - and that they buy the man some quality reinforcements in January.