Saint86

The defensive changes were correct, it nullified arsenal's main attacking threat and led to us going 3-1 up. They were reduced to having to play through us which suited us and resulted in arsenal not having a shot on target (second half) until the 70th minute. It's a shame a lot of people can't see / understand that tbh. Ultimatley, Selles has taken a lot of flack for team selections / tactics, but he did alright vs arsenal. The simple reality is that we were away at top of league, who were playing in front of 60k fans to save their season, and ultimatley our lack of overall squad quality showed. Sadly the team just didn't have enough, or got complacent. I distinctly remember having a sinking feeling it was coming when the clip of our fans turning their backs and doing a poznan style dance was showing, talk about tempting fate... Arsenal scored shortly after 😂... I would also say that the ref being incredibly biased/soft towards arsenal and playing circa 18min of inury time didn't help... Martinelli should never have been on the pitch by the end either.

Yes, it won't require anywhere near 39points.... Its going to be 33-34, maybe 35 at most. If we had beaten arsenal i actually think we'd have done it. Feels like we're at best destined to have hope but fall short this season. Wins vs Bournemouth (H), Forest(a), and Fulham (H) will see us to 33. We'd then need to get a couple of points out of Newcastle (A), Brighton (A), or Liverpool (H).... But if we don't beat Bournemouth we're gone regardless imo.

He rallied the team numerous times on the pitch yesterday, he was everywhere in midfield, and he made numerous goal saving tackles or blocks... 2 of which were certain goals prevented... Queue fans wishing for him to leave... Hard to make it up.

Jacob Tanswell on power hierarchy, staff churn, responsibilities etc: Semmens’ role has changed since the takeover. In hindsight, this may have been something of a surprise, given Semmens said Sport Republic will not have a hands-on role in the day-to-day running of Southampton shortly after its purchase was publicly announced. Ankersen was the leading, almost single, voice in Jones’ appointment, which is different to what Semmens had in the past, where he was steering the ship. The distinct ways in which Sport Republic wants to operate is, understandably, not to everyone’s liking and can create a power struggle. It changed the responsibilities of Crocker and Semmens and some parts of their roles were essentially overlapped and covered by the ownership. Even taking into account the most recent departure of managing director Toby Steele, there have been more exits than what’s been documented, too. It is worth saying that Jason Wilcox should be given the autonomy to wield his influence on what will be a crucial summer. Lastly, in response to Max’s question, Ankersen is an erudite thinker who should be applauded for wanting to be bold and get Southampton ahead of the curve. However, it is important there is a correct balance between risk and pragmatism and someone who challenges his ideas — shown when he worked excellently alongside Phil Giles at Brentford. There hasn’t been enough of that this year. He also states within the same article that Bazunu, ABK, and Lavia's transfers were started by the old recruitment team in early 2022 (translation of "early last year").

None of this slow start malarkey please Selles - start with our strongest attack and actually carry a threat. Would be beyond naive to think arsenal won't score if we just stand off them, pass the ball amongst ourselves, and let them chose their attacks at will. Taul paul as the target man. Sulemana and then Edozie/Djenpo as wingers. Alcaraz playing as the supporting central attacking midfield. JWP and Lavia as the Central mids, one anchoring, one supporting. Have JWP dropping off the right wing to whip in crosses for Paul. Also, the tricky wingers should either win us territory or fouls - Or both. Never understand why Selles uses most of the above as impact players, but introduces them in a disjointed fashion with little time to play effectively together.

Deduct £1 for every goal we're going to lose by?

Dan Rice, Matt Crocker, David Thomas, Tony Steele, Joe Shields, a significant part of the data analysis department. Not to mention upheaval throughout the coaching setup and first team. Everyone remembers when SR / Rasmus said they weren't going to get too involved in the day to day running of the club right?

So on wasting of transfer fees then, and according to transfer market (note transfer values are actually listed in euros, but its all relative so used the pound sign for convenience): Season before last (20/21) Hojberg was sold for £16M, Reed was sold for £6.5M, and we got loan fees of about £3M for Lemina and Hoedt. Saores, Yoshida, Carillo, Boufal and simms left the club on frees. Total income was £26.3M and a lot of squad strength was lost. Against that, we signed KWP for £13.3M, Salisu for £12M, and Diallo for £12M - total spend was £37M (a net outlay). Personally, KWP/diallo/salisu for Hojberg and Reed is a more than fair return. Last Season 21/22 We spent £43M and made £60.35M. So an element of profit making clearly required - perhaps to offset previous window's small net spend. Net spend over the two seasons balances out basically. Ings was sold for £29.4M, Verstergard for £17.6M (£47M total). We also saw Gunn, Obafemi, Bertrand etc leave fore free/nominal sums. Therefore a lot of replacements requried. Against that we signed Perraud, A.Armstrong, lyanco, Tino, and added Theo and Broja to the wage bill. We lost Ings - which obviously was not good - all our bad form under Ralph was in parallel with having no fit/available focal point - the chance creation was pretty much always there, just not the conversion. But the squad had major holes. I would argue rock and a bad place on this one. On balance, we strengthened the overall squad (which if people recall was appallingly threadbare at the end of the 20/21 season in particular. If we had gone out and signed another £20-30M striker (plus wages), we would likely have been short 2 fullbacks and CB cover etc. 🤷‍♂️ Broja being in an out of form and getting injured is what largely did for us the next season. But the underlying issue here is we had to sell players to buy, we effectively did not have a pot to piss in, and we had to manage a total squad refresh, most of which is in fairness the legacy of the Les Reed era (and the fact our owner put nothing into the club over multiple years). On balance, I think its harsh to overly blame Semmens or say that the money was "wasted". Could it have been spent a bit better? Okay yeah sure, if recruitment was perfect maybe... but the reality is we had very little financial muscle/flexibility, and over those windows were seeing a lot of players leaving the club - often on loans or for free - Having gone over it, i do actually think its pretty impressive that we were involved in precisely zero relegation scraps under Semmens and Ralph given the resources they had and the rebuild they were effectively undertaking. EDIT - Also having just checked into it a bit further. Semmens became CEO under Gao in June 2019. The season before his arrival (i.e. 18-19) was the year we signed Vestergard for 25M euros, Ely for 18M euros, Gunn for 11.3M, and Stu Armstrong for 8M. The season before that was 17/18 which saw Carillo 22M euros, Lemina 18M euros, Hoedt 16M, and Bednarek 6M. Boufal was 18M the year before. That's 74M euros for the 4 untouchables (Lemina, Carillo, Hoedt, Boufal). As far as I can make out from Transfermarket, we made in total about £22M in transfer or loan fees from them. So a 52M euro loss over a few season (plus wages, and signing on/agents fees) that had to be recovered (in terms of squad quality). Combined with the lack of investment - thats a pretty bad set of cards that Semmens ultimately got dealt as a starting hand... Doesn't seem fair to criticise Semmens for pointing that out? 😄 You could also add in Gunn to all of that - signed for 12M and sold for 5M. In summary, i don't think Semmens has a bad track record... and after years of relative success (i.e. for our modest resources/situation), its unlikely that he's to blame for this season given the elephant in the room (i.e. a complete club restructuring via SR).

Not sure anyone sees Semmens as a saviour figure or gives him hero worship, just treat him with a dose of realism. His biggest mistakes imo stem from publicly implying a lack ambition - which got a fair portion of the fans on the wrong side. I don't disagree on transfers still being hit and miss. But they were certainly an improvement. Reality is we were financially quite poor relative to the rest of the league, which impacts on our attractiveness, available pool of players, and our overall recruitment operation/resources. But players like Salisu and KWP were significant success stories from that period. Others like Djenpo and Diallo were only ever going to be squad players in reality and haven't worked out. Broja was a decent acquisition. Che i would say was a decent aquisition. AA was a "we need a pacey striker who can score" desperately signings - and it hasn't worked at all - but then equally no where near as some of the bad signings under the previous regime. I can't even remember who introduced Moi but obviously hasn't worked. Reed and co certainly oversaw tremendous transfer sales and then wasted a lot of the money on poor players tied to long contracts - I have no issue with anyone throwing them under the bus for that.

We should have backed and kept ralph imo... but we didn't and instead limped on without being decisive. its one of the key decisions in relegating us 🤷‍♂️. His metrics for the season were okay given serious consideration - he had bad injuries, a very young and inexperienced team to gel, and the toughest games. He had us one game of mid table despite the above, and 13th for xG. The main reason the side were struggling under ralph was because they couldn't shoot (18th goals scored), and the defensive injuries were compounded by the Lavia injury. Had Ralph been given the correct tools in the summer, let alone the mid season break and £60M + in January, there is no way we would be in trouble. Also, you have no idea ultimately who was responsible for the semi permanent appointment of Selles? nor the overall mid/long term strategic decision making behind it - i.e. other targets, budget constraints, summer recruitment plans etc. So unfortunatley stating things like that just reads like you're just speculating to suit your narrative / argument 🤷‍♂️. I agree on Ralph/semmens, and given Semmens backed ralph he was probably more likely to be behind looking at a Marsch style appointment than Selles - obviously that all fell through quite quickly and we went for Rasmus' long term welsh love interest... The cynic in me wonders how that happened? Given how the control hierarchy actually seems to work these days, i would say its abundantly clear Rasmus had final say for pretty much the entire season... Its clear Rasmus was behind the Ralph sacking, the jones approach/appointment, jones' prolonged retention, and much of our transfer dealings. Whoever or why they settled on Selles ultimately is fairly irrelevant i'm afraid. He's an assistant thats been left holding the pieces after a year of horrific management at the highest level. But regardless, this new fan spun narrative that Semmens is the issue has very little grounding. He had no pot to piss in for years - yet slowly cleared out the deadwood and made some very positive signings to the team - as well as finally starting to get the youth teams performing. And combined with Ralph, they steered us away from relegation contenders and delivered relative stability. Its a huge testament to the work the two of them did (on no budget) that we were never in a relegation scrap under Ralph. Both should be praised... Now SR come in, and within a year they've dismantled essentially everything Semmens and Ralph had built... the academy coaching/recruitment, the club's scouting setup, the first team coaching etc. Plus they've spent £160M totally changing the squad into some kind of academy flesh market... Everybody knows that Rasmus is the head dog in charge of that - he made it very clear himself at the fan's forum... So the fans blaming Semmens (for essentially dismantling years of his own hard work) just come across as angry/frustrated fans flailing around for anyone to blame - and everyone should be directing their decision making frustrations squarely at Rasmus - because that is where they bloody belong 😄

Has very little to do with Semmens. Not sure why fan's keep trotting this out. Has been abundantly clear that Rasmus has had absolute control over all decisions. Reality is that Ralph and Semmens were doing a good job keeping the club stable and slowing turning it around despite no owner investment.

As with the others that have all left the club this year, I suspect he doesn't fit within Mr "not getting too involved" Ankerson's vision for the club going forwards.

I don't know about that. BFS is all about the numbers of football. Wasn't he one of the early pioneers and worked out where to position attacking/defensive players for set pieces etc based on percentage ball drops and chance opportunities etc.

I can't see that protesting is going to achieve anything at this point tbh. It isn't so much the board, as the ownership... and in particular Mr "i won't get involved" rasmus ankerson. Reality is under Semmens and Ralph were stable despite no owner input for years. SR have come in, and in one year of decision making, they've totally changed the coaching setup, ended our attacking press style of play, dismantled the scouting set up, lost a load of important academy staff, sacked ralph and hired jones (entirely on rasmus seemingly based on the fans forum), and then lamped us with the players best mate in selles. Its clear that all of that is under Rasmus' decision making, and its clear as well that Semmens has disagreed with parts of it (particularly jones) but has no power to disagree with Rasmus. But, SR / Solak himself have ultimately been committed and put a lot of money into the club -and in reality have put in more than i think saints fans ever reasonably hoped to see. Protesting that is not constructive ultimately? Especially as if they did actually walk away / lose interest, the club itself would be left servicing the debt accrued on player contracts, transfer spend, agents fees, and manager costs whcih have been accrued under their short tenureship - we should all actually be quite happy that SR remain committed. And we surely can all see the issue is Ramus? and we just have to hope that Rasmus takes a step back from the decision making process in the summer. To give him some benefit of the doubt, i think shields leaving has forced him to get more involved this year... but clearly he has been out of his depth. Going foreword (whether he is made to, or through his own personal choice) he has to step back. We cannot continue to have him involved in important decisions at club level. Semmens was doing a reasonable job previously (albeit with limited resources), and we can only hope that Wilcox knows what he is about. Huge rebuild on the cards this summer and it really is last chance saloon to make something out of the investment made to date. Players like Lavia, Bazunu, ABK, Sulemana, Edozie, Alcaraz remain very promising youngsters and they are on long contracts. A good year in the championship will ultimately do them a lot of good as players and as a team, and immediate promotion back to the top flight will mitigate the financial impact (alongside a few key sales and parachute payments)... But if we stay down in the championship everything will be undone sadly.

You've got the wrong "but" here Weston... the "but" you're after is "Rasmus"... 😭 For me, we need to go out a get a statement manager for the level, someone with a clear and effective style of play, preferably attacking. If we can attract someone like Potter, Gallardo, Knutson etc then it would be superb... but equally i think its a reach. But who knows, stranger things have happened - and there has been so much churn in the premier league this season that there may not actually be many top level jobs available come the summer.

Today was the last reasonable chance of survival. You're looking for absolute miracles now.

I'll have what you're having... in what world do you expect this board to make anything but further fuck ups this summer?

Something very very rotten at the club at the moment. Some players seemingly not committed enough to even play, punch ups at the training ground, new signings benched, no fight from the players at all, and managers being picked on player power... And atop it all, the biggest clown i think i've ever seen hold the reigns at saints in Rasmus Ankerson. Its going to be a very very very long way back from this.

That's it i'm afriad.

Problem is, i am certain Rasmus Ankerson is incapable of finding someone of the required ability next season. Every single decision he has made has been horrific.

Get ready for us to not play in the air to him...

With availability as it is. I would like to see Sulemana and Dyjenpo/Edozie on the wings. Should cause problems. Then have Alcaraz playing through the middle and running in and around Tall Paul, who should be fucking used as an actual aerial target man ffs. Have JWP supporting and dopping off the right winger/CAM to whip crosses in etc and get men in and around the box. You would also like to think that a combination of Djenpo/Edozie and sulemana is going to win a lot of free kicks - or if defenders are scared to tackle, win us a lot of territory. Sadly i fear it will be more of this pass pass pass bollocks between bazuni, the back 4, and JWP. The concept of actually running with the ball and taking territory has been utterly coached out of the players lately. But that is exactly the kind of attacking bravery that we need right now. Passing in front of teams is like letting them lounge around on the beach with a cocktail in their hands for this level. No threat at all.

I don't think it will be - likely Mara again. What we'll probably do is play it in the air to Mara, then bring Tall Paul on and play it to his feet...

Well i think we all hope you see a saints win!!!

We still had a good mananger then, and crucially he had a viable focal point to convert the created chances (ings). Two boards have since failed Ralph on the striker situation (although mainly Rasmus as Semmens did at least get broja in), and then half our fanbase was apparently oblivious to the deeper performance metrics and decided to turn on him (after 4 solid years) because he didn't have us fighting for top 10 this season... despite injuries, no attack, and a young inexperienced squad to gel. As anticipated by many, it's been markedly all down hill from there on out 🤣. And we're just reaping what's been sown over a few years now sadly.