Saint86

We finished 15th and 5 points clear of the drop zone. Reckon fans need to stop evaluating the season quite so harshly. It was a dissapointing end to the season, but we weren't in a relegation scrap for even a single game week and were basically safe after 27games (35points)... The fact we only got 5 more points after that is just very poor. 🤷‍♂️

Agreed. My mind is made up on him and has been for a while. He's an awful manager tactically, and has no clue how to switch things up and when to go on the offensive etc. England will win nothing with him and that has been more than demonstrated by the last 2 tournaments for me. 🤷‍♂️

Also, on this requirement for captains to be English... You lot being serious? Which one of you is going to call up chielini and let him know he's a rubbish captain with no backbone? Probably fair if said person also let's Neuer / Ronaldo / Lloris know whilst there at it as well? 👍.

Having watched the YouTube clips, he looks reasonably strong, quick feet under pressure (but not someone to dribble at defences), very right footed, decent placed finish on him, reasonable corner delivery, and most strikingly of all, someone who will make quick and decisive passes up the pitch for players to run onto... (Which is specifically something that we need). He would do nicely in our team as a part of a midfield 3 with romeu as the defensive mid and JWP box to box. Failing that, he could possibly replace JWP in a midfield 2. He can maybe do a stu Armstrong style job on the right, but given his best asset seems to be passing and vision, that would seem to be a waste of him. Ultimatley though, he looks a decent player that would improve on most of our midfield / CAMs.

HCDAJFU TBF

Well called. BRF 1-0 MLG.

I'd argue they are both good squad players for us. Every now and then i get the impression Redmond is only just shy of being a good winger... but as you say, he doesn't do it consistently. I do think Redmond's game would improve more than the rest if he wasn't surrounded by other very average attackers.

The mistake you guys are making is being wrong in debates with MLG - don't be doing that to yourselves....

If our transfer plan is to trick youngsters into signing for Jong Ajax, i'm not sure it's going to work...

This analogy makes no sense. Products don't go to a gym to work on their fitness. Players do. Increasing the gym's capacity and facilities will allow a greater level of physio care and fitness training which will therefore lead to improvements in those aspects. Also, the "factory" I believe you are referring to, is currently supporting two rather decent youth teams for the club. Why anyone would be complaining about an investment in the clubs training and academy infrastructure i do not know - particularly as it will be used by the Women's team going professional as well. This is a good thing 🧐

Now that would be good business. Extra sweet if we can get some choice words in about what a well run club Burnley "used" to be...

Lets be fair, broadly speaking clubs like Everton and Forest have far rougher fanbases than us. We can barely be bothered to sing or boo, I know we've got some numpty fans as well, but the numbers of saints fans likely to run on the pitch and deck a footballer just isn't gong to be very high.

A shame, really hoped we were going to move for players of his calibre.

My tottenham supporting mate thinks Winks is absolute garbage and wants him out of the club. Badly hope this link isn't true.

https://www.hampshirelive.news/sport/football/football-news/southampton-west-ham-matchday-experience-7140079?utm_source=whatsapp&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar I enjoy the band myself... but outside of that we really do need to improve the matchday experience. The fan bond to the team (and associated songs/atmosphere) has been bad since Les and Co dismembered the promotion team (in summer 14?). After that it never really recovered with players always coming and going. Need to badly get some stability paired with success, and get some good / original fan chants on the go again for me. A proper home end would certainly help with this. Goes without saying that the food and drink are bang average at best.

The youth teams have been playing his style quite successfully this year. Hopefully with some good backing we see an improvement in the first team as well.

We need a 3 man midfield, with romeu sitting, JWP box to box, and someone like eriksen being given the freedom to play (due to the other 2) and create.

The better example would simply be Manure - a club saddled with debt and heading for a decade in the background 🤣

Would our players be able to see each other in this? And if not, would we actually notice?! 🤔

They look like photoshops based on leaked snippets on here... so surprised if that is the actual kit images being leaked. But, that home shirt is pretty bad if that is it - would struggle to be less "saints" if it tried. The third shirt looks even worse, at least by itself... A top effort over this past year by someone 😅. The away concept is okay - sort of thing that might take a while to grow on me, but then could see myself ending up liking it over a season... Especially if it was paired with the other 2 efforts. Hopefully those aren't our kits - but if they are, I hope our summer transfer business is of a higher standard than Hummel's year of kit design... 😬

I heard they've been scouring this place for months in an effort to headhunt the perfect candidate.

Would quite like to see us go in for Openda of Brugge (been on loan at Vitesse and scored 18goals this year). Young striker, could be the future of Belgium's national team given his scoring record at lower levels. Supposedly available for 5-6million. Absolute coasted the Eredivisie for a 2nd tier team, and has a far better record their than Broja and bags of potential. I'd love to see us go for someone like him at any rate.

I don't think you are in the minority tbh. Generally i'm always wary of vocal minorities shouting loudly when they're unhappy, particular if that side of the argument is the one that features a fair amount of harsh language as a substitute for concise arguments... (obviously that isn't everyone). Also one poll posted on what was basically the "sack Ralph" thread the day after a bad defeat doesn't mean much does it? Its about as biased a poll as you can get on a football forum 🤣. Personally, i am also of the view that the club aren't not wrong to have kept him on. And i think most fans are still just about in the camp and won't argue with the club's decision when viewed on balance (tight though - could have gone either way And i reckon it was considered at board level!). And yeah, maybe we could have paid to sack him? and then gambled on a new manager? But would they have been as good as Ralph with the resources he's had, or as committed? Ralph is ultimately a known quantity and has been successful every season he has been here with limited resources. Ultimately, i think we have the lowest net spend of all surviving prem teams since he's been at the club? - and we haven't been in a relegation scrap under him in that time. So the abuse he gets from some is not really warranted for me. Looking at it from a squad quality perspective - I reckon most of us would have taken any of Pope, Mee, tarkowski, Cornet, Mcneil, and Weghorst from Burnley's team and put them straight in our starting 11... And yet they're the team who went down and in reality got nowhere near saints. His job fundamentally, has been to keep saints in the league with one of the weakest squads and minimal backing. He's done that every year plus delivered some memorable wins, runs, cup runs, and sadly some infamous defeats/ losing runs. But on balance, if he's being backed by the club then i think the fan's should get behind him as well, even if it is his last chance. But saying all that, I don't think there are any saints' fans that thinks he can survive being backed this summer and then not delivering improvements next season. It does look like he is going to be backed in this window - both with improvements to the coaching setup, and also with funds to finally assemble a good team of his own choosing. On the one hand, that makes for potentially an exciting summer and season, but on the flip side it means there can be no more excuses if we're doing poorly by Christmas. And there will be pressure on him as a result of that - both to deliver improved results, and also to potentially blend in quite a few new players. The added risk with all that, is that it looks like we're going to go all in on youth players (i.e. the city academy players), and that could be risky if we do have a rocky start - regardless of which manager finishes the season. Anyway, he's clearly staying for the time being, and in the meantime there is a new kit and lost of transfer dealings on the way.... i.e. silly season. Therefore Love and light to all 😎

He also shot me down for saying the relegation threshold would be circa 34 points this season (relegation prices thread), whilst suggesting 28 points himself. But i don't get wound up by it like some of the posters on here. On the contrary It just makes me smile - its simply an omission that he knows who's boss at the end of the day 🤣😎

Not wishing to condemn a player on youtube 😨 - but the overwhelming majority of these "highlight" saves are the kind that gets a keeper lynched on here if they don't make the save.... I.e straight at him, good vision, slow shots etc. You really need to see the goals he's conceding as well - sadly these don't often make it into highlights reals - but that video wants to present itself as a scouting video, so it fails. What it does show him doing though is parrying the shots away from the danger area, and getting good power behind the parries. Also seems to have reasonable (if slightly risky) distribution. Tend to agree with you, his dominance of the box didn't come across as a weakness on that video, and some of his sweeper play stood out. Nothing to suggest he isn't a good improvement on Macca or Forster in that video though