Saint86

The issue was that those squads are with the club since they were schoolboys. And 10years ago we were in the 3rd tier on the back end of administration, having had a lot of the academy staff poached and struggling to recruit the best coaches or talent.

Anyone who wanted howe in went straight on the muppet list for me 😅

He's going to be class 👍

Should be charging £50-60m plus for the now minted human rights abusers. They're going to be proper in the mire by january and desperate. Hope they go down to be honest. Edit - they're rumoured to be keeping their net spend in January to 50-60m, so they can't afford JWP regardless. Not with needing an entire new back 4 to stay in the league 😆

Is he going to be another to prove the forum experts wrong? Written off after his first game by many, but put in a strong showing last night. I really enjoyed his performance along side Salisu. Also, Salisu - absolutely superb, what a player!

I still think it's criminal that Walcott gets in the team whilst KWP is benched every week. How long before the manager plays our best RB at RB and moves tino up to midfield?

I absolutely new they were going to score from that corner before he took it

I like Lyanco 😅

Good post and I agree. Ultimately, Ralph fits us if we're being honest. Plays attacking football and has a go, not too great, has some utter shite performances, but overall he does alright. He also bloods the kids generally speaking. Although I am missing seeing Tella in games. And also, the treatment of KWP is borderline criminal for me. He is our best right back!!! - Is he worried that he won't have any cover late on if he starts all 3 as RB/LB and RAM? Because thats our best set of players imo. And then you have armstrong on the left, and Redmond/Armstrong partnering Broja? Edit, I actually can't think of a strong enough reason not to be starting KWP as LB as a minimum.

Fair point, that worsens my analysis as they've pulled away from us since then.

I was just looking at the table and thinking just this. Its easy to say we've played 5 of the top 8 in our first 9 games (plus wolves in 11th) - but if we're to stay up without beating those teams, then we have to get the points vs those teams around us. From the 3 teams directly below us (thats 3 of the bottom 4), we've managed 1 win and 2 draws (2 home, 1 away) - That isn't enough to inspire full confidence this season. Ultimately, we've won one game outside of the top 11 - and that was at home to 17th. Things are looking better, but we need to improve still.

yup, easy layoff and a goal there.

Poor team selection here. Why is it so obvious to everyone bar the manager that we should have KWP at right back, Livra at RM? Not walcott...

Absolute pony. That was Livramento's fault - people don't need to make excuses for him.

Play our best right back and that attacker gets covered and that isn't a goal.

I plead guilty your honour 😖

Why have you quoted my rambling post about Hassenhuttle's job security in a thread about the marching band?🤔

Steve Bruce isn't a bad manager. He's better than shit like Howe and Lampard at any rate!

We'll be seeing Newcastle linked with everyone. But he's the kind of player they should go for. Youngish in his career, able to join and become a mainstay as part of their project and grow into an established keeper at the top of the league.

If he wants first team football, you'd think he'd come to saints. Good competition at West ham and he isn't getting past Lloris. Newcastle could well come in and blow us out of the water though...

Wait, now you can see who reacted to your comments!!! Huge news in the annals of saints web! On the takeover front though... is anyone else feeling like we're the kid on the playground that no one will pick to be on their team?

I don't think its a stretch to say they can buy enough quality players to lift them above saints over half a season sadly. Wonder who the new manager will be? I feel for Brucie, but can't imagine he's long for that job. Suspect they can attract some interesting names. I wonder if someone like Conte would be tempted with the money and opportunity that project would offer.

We just dropped 1 space nearer to the relegation zone ^_^

Not under southgate in a major final you don't 😆

I actually think a fair amount of those differences stem from the mangers' styles of play, and also the quality and confidence of the teams in general. He's come into his own under Hassenhuttle and was our best player for much of last season - sadly that combines with one of the weakest saints teams in recent history. A lot of people give JWP significant flack on this forum, but he actually has merits when compared to Rice and Philips. Those 2 are far more defensive than JWP, and for Southgate that is ultimately what dooms him because Southgate wants to play 7 defenders, 1 target man, and 2 pacey wingers. The players than JWP will be competing for are for a more conventional CM spot, and thats basically Henderson and Bellingham. JWP is a very competent player who does a lot of ugly work for saints. He is exceptional for dead ball delivery, stamina, and fitness. He's also a fantastic little wind up merchant who also keeps his cool and has a very good disciplinary record - recent red card aside. But generally speaking, those are actually all important attributes for tournament football - and being arguably the best free kick taker in European domestic football really is a valid skill to lay claim to in a knock out tournament - it wins you games or stops you losing. Given his overall ability, i think that with another manager (who doesn't pick a squad composing of majority defenders/defensive midfielders) he'd probably have gone to the euros - A tournament that was noticeable for its lack of quality dead ball specialists. He also unlikely to have bottled his penalty in the same way the others did. And say what you will, England score goals from dead balls - just take the world cup where i think it was our main attacking threat? Obviously its football and we're all going to have different views. But i'll wrap up and say he should have been included in place of one of the 4 right backs this summer 🤷‍♂️ On the Rice and Philips comparisons - The saints player that occupies their role is Romeu, not JWP.