Saint86

He isn't a CB, is an absolute lunatic of an athlete that can play a bit of samba.

Also, we're in the semi final hat 😅

Generally is the case that most of the team deserve 10/10. I'm looking forward to a bit of salty pep. Wonder if we'll get gracious or salty.

Absolutely bloody superb. I liked the line up and thought we'd have a chance. But they didn't even have a shot on target... It was comfortable... Like wtf. Fair play to Jones and the players. Shocking what happens when lavia is fit and we played a midfield 3!! And lyanco, I mean I still think he is an unhinged loon, but he was magnificent at the back. All 3 cb's were superb! KWP and JWP back to their absolute best as well. People saying jwp can't lead... For weaks now he's been leading!!

5-3-2 then, but i fancy JWP, Lavia, and Diallo as a better midfield 3 than Jones has fielded so far. Interested to see how Armstrong and Mara get on. What does it say that i was dreading a worse line up? 🙈 The fact that city's weakened team can still comfortably feature players like foden, grealish, alvarez, laporte, walker, and cancelo.... with Haaland and KDB on the bench. Actually horrific.

By that logic we'll announce him tomorrow, not tonight.

May just be me, but I am chuckling at these complete Souness-isms 😅. He wastes no time saying basically exactly this any time he's allow to do punditry on small wing/full backs!

https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/23070309.motherwell-player-callum-slattery-fined-homophobic-abuse/ Not covered himself in any glory here...

I'd give season ticket holders a vote personally (and i say this even though i am no longer one myself - colour metaphor puel). ST holders are match going fans and the ones most likely to buy the kits. Also stops skates or casuals (that never attend / buy club merchandise) from voting.

Imagine being involved in our kits for next year (both at hummel and at saints), seeing this on a message board, and then instead turfing out the usual absolute garbage.

No...🤷‍♂️

I don't have an issue with the overall plan - its an ambitious way for them (and therefore saints) to punch above our weight. If they do it right then we'll have a good future. But it all hinges on us staying up. I'd be tempted to say they've tried to do too much in too short a period, and consequently they are failing currently. Its certainly a risky approach. But then equally, they appear to be in it for the long haul, and for a while now we have wanted proper football orientated owners that are actively involved in the club. We have that now. I suspect the biggest concern fans have with them is the appointment of Jones - to the point where SR's entire reputation with the fan base now hinges on him being a success? If Jones fails and we go down, the fan atmosphere towards SR will turn incredibly toxic. It will then be on them to act and address that, and the bar for restoring fan satisfaction will be higher. I just hope we can stay up as i think the future could be quite bright if we do.

I think you're right about Jones speaking Spanish but I am not sure Lyanco does? I'm not sure there are any senior Spanish speaking players other than Willy. So Jones, Willy, and Selles? Larios obviously does, but hard to call him a senior player lets be honest - barely involved. All in all, hopefully he speaks some english?

France didn't win the world cup, Argentina did... and only two Argentina players are from Ligue 1.... 🤷‍♂️ 5 from the prem, 10 from La Liga, and 4 from Serie A.

I agree - but Jones absolutely rims a good 5-2-3 sadly...

Says "we" numerous times during the forest post match presser... https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12780144/premier-league-hits-and-misses-is-there-any-way-back-for-southampton You can be critical enough of the guy without making rubbish up. Ultimate blame lies on SR and that is where the fan ire should go. Hopefully Jones can turn it around. If not, the board need to own it and make a call PDQ!!

Finally watched his post match presser from Forest, not actually that bad imo? https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12780144/premier-league-hits-and-misses-is-there-any-way-back-for-southampton But badly needs to start getting things right in the final 3rd to take some of the pressure off and start getting results - Hopefully Alcaraz and Orsic help in that regards. Will hopefully add some quality and nous beyond Edozie, Aribo, Ely. Unlucky in a lot of ways to finally get a win against palace, only to face a mauling by city up next... Will kill any momentum immediately. Still think his football is awful.

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...