saintwbu

DCC reminded me a bit of Jose Fonte yesterday. Quite simple and understated, a bit messy in terms of pushing and pulling, but just got the job done. Salisu is great at winning duels, blocking etc, it’s always felt like he’s lacked a calming influence alongside him. So far in ABK and DCC we seem to have really upgraded in terms of partnerships, and it is such a joy to not have to watch Bednarek being bullied by every forward he tries to engage with.

Yesterday was his best game so far imo. I haven’t really felt much about him either way so far. Made some great stops yesterday, i’ve always liked that he seems willing to come for crosses (even if not always successful). He played one pass yesterday in the first half, on the ground through some Arsenal players, out to the left wing which I thought was superb and was the first proper sign i’d seen of his quality of distribution.

It felt like as soon as people read some Torino fans saying he wasn’t very good, they’d made their minds up. He’s been our best player away at Chelsea in the cup last year, and at home to Arsenal in the league yesterday - not bad for a £7mil back up CB.

Great week for Perraud. Goal against West Ham, assist against Bournemouth and a big part of the goal yesterday. All round game was good in all three as well.

Lyanco for me. I’ve only seen him live 2/3 times but he’s been good each time, so i’m always surprised by the stick he’s had. He’s pretty quick across the ground too, he bombed down the right in the first half at one point. Also thought DCC was impressive, no nonsense and a proper defender, the sort that other teams seem to have and we haven’t recently - doesn’t mind some pushing and pulling but is always trying to win the ball.

A good attacker in the Championship commands pretty decent money these days, so even if we don’t deem him good enough for us, he should be worth a good fee if he continues his good form.

Makes you wonder what sort of terms they’re expecting a new manager to adhere to. We know they have a pretty particular transfer policy, maybe managers aren’t keen on it.

Gonna take a hell of a run from a very average squad to overturn last years terrible run of form, so personally not bothered by this ‘4 wins in 23 games’ or whatever it is people like to shout. I see 11 points from 11 games from this new team - less than i’d have hoped, not the worst I could have imagined. Probably would’ve been a couple more if Lavia hadn’t got injured but that’s football. Sunday will be tough, but 3 points from the next 4 would put us in an okay position going into the World Cup break, anymore and i’d be happy, any less and i’d be concerned.

He’s bullied plenty of CB’s this season, notably United and Chelsea’s. The problem is if he’s missing chances or we’re losing then naturally it’ll go under the radar. Tonight he was absolutely superb.

Surely it is plausible that we signed Bazunu & Lavia because we wanted them, and decided ‘why don’t we get the guy who found them for City’ after, rather than the other way round

He might not be our best player but the drop off in quality in his position is definitely a problem, and i’m sure we’d have had more control in that Villa game if he’d been playing, and the first half against Everton. So it will be a boost to have him back.

We don’t yet know if SR are as reluctant to pay compensation to another club as we have been in the past. They may have a very clear idea in mind of who they need for the model to be successful. This whole episode will be an interesting insight into our future.

Come off it, they walked in and took our 20 goal a season striker. They’ve also got Buendia, Bailly, Coutinho, Watkins as well as quality and experience all over the pitch. They’re more in need of a management overhaul than us! They just have enough quality that they’re keeping above water despite a shit manager.

Sort of seems like a commentary on the Athletic piece, rather than adding much themselves.

Wenger supposedly never used to talk to the team after a game, and he wasn’t too bad. But don’t let that get in the way of a good rant.

Both Armstrongs, Djenepo and Elynounoussi (appreciate he falls into most people’s ‘bland’ category) would feel pretty luxury compared to what we’ve had on occasion!

I don’t really have a problem with him picking Maguire as he has consistently been good for England, and our selection of CB’s isn’t great. Trent, however, has been shit for England, is playing shit for his club and Southgate has clearly shown previously he’s not a fan yet all of a sudden he’s a guarantee in squads. Can’t help but feel the constant talk of his omission in the public eye, mostly by Klopp, has had an impact.

Yeah he’s the real deal I think, Van Dijk-esque in the sense that I reckon he’d transform a defence of average players. I hate the fact we’ve been conditioned to expect good players to not be here long, but i think it’s fair to say, he’s not gonna be here long.

But it can, or they can just decide not to buy him, like Chelsea did with Ake when he was at Bournemouth. It all depends on the makeup of City’s squad at the time, and what their other outlays will have been in that particular window. Buybacks aren’t guarantees, plenty of them have never been utilised.

Pretty sure Tino and Broja both had good things to say about Redmond helping them settle in too last season

There was a few Göztepe shirts at the Chelsea game the other night. Some stewards went up towards them at one point in the second half, not sure if that was to check they weren’t Chelsea fans given they weren’t wearing Saints shirts!

The two legs of the league cup semi final against Liverpool he was absolutely brilliant. He scored in the first, and had their right back on the ropes all game in the second (Trent?). He was also good in the final. People forget he was our player of the season in Ralph’s first season, and there was relief all round to see him return from injury the following season when he came on at Fratton Park (and scored a brilliant goal). He has had some good times here, and he’s produced some moments of brilliance. But it’s felt for a little while now like a separation would suit both parties. Good luck to him, seems like a nice enough guy and very much a family man. I hope he can earn some good money in Turkey and enjoy his football. Thanks Nathan.

Worth pointing out that we’ve just got rid of Valery, Bednarek, Stephens, Forster, Romeu* and tried to get rid of Redmond and Walcott all in one window, and have barely made a penny on them. That’s a good chunk of our first 11 options from the last couple of seasons, and we couldn’t find anyone to buy them. I think it further demonstrates that just staying in this league under Ralph has actually been an achievement in itself. *Feel bad putting Romeu in there because he’s brilliant, but still counts.

Ralph wanted an attacker, we all wanted an attacker, so it is a bit disappointing to not get a big addition in that area. But we didn’t score many goals last season, we did however concede a shit load, and we’ve definitely addressed that issue. I loved Broja here and really want him back, but numbers wise he didn’t bring anything after new year, so i’d say we’re about the same as we were last season in an attacking sense. We’ve added Mara, Aribo, Edozie and the only player of substance we’ve lost is Broja. We’ve also found a place to get more out of Armstrong, so hopefully we’ll see more of a contribution from him than we did last season. Hopefully the significant strengthening in midfield and defence will be the big transformation from the second half of last season, maybe we’ll see more of the 1-0 wins we saw at the start of last season, which is fine by me. Also was really nice to see some genuine quality brought in to be a backup, in Caleta-Car - when was the last time we did that!?

Bednarek’s comments showing a level of stupidity completely reflective of a defender with virtually zero footballing intelligence whatsoever. Wish we’d just have cancelled his contract instead of loaning him, awful player, awful attitude.