January Transfer Window

[saintant]

18 minutes ago, tdmickey3 said:

Russell Martin

Agree he was the main cause of our problems. However, we failed miserably to identify the fact that you need a big, physical side to give you any chance of surviving in the Premier league. Sure, you need some players with stand out ability but you have to be physically equipped to compete and we were miles off so were very easy to play against. If we go up again I hope lessons have been learned. We are at last introducing more strength and power into the side but it's been neglected for far too long.

[Saint86]

3 hours ago, wild-saint said:

Agree with this post. Too play 4 at the back with 2 wingers we absolutely need a Physical striker with some height / aerial ability. Larin and his record looks unremarkable but how many unremarkable target men are there in the championship that have done a job for teams to reach the playoffs. He may not get the goals but his physical presence suits us more than archer and armstrong's game. Clearly we will want Stewart to stay fit but we will need to be really careful with his minutes. 

Ill probably be proved wrong but im fairly confident that we create enough chances for a him to grab a few but its his physical presence that will be the real benefit.  

The post you quoted has incorrect goals/penalty stats.

The last time we played 4 at the back in the championship, Armstrong was the top player in the league for combined goals and assists in a side that was one of the most effective attacking units in championship history... so he very clearly does fit a 4-2-3-1 formation, and no amount of posters trying to reinvent history by saying he doesn't will change that... 🤦‍♂️ The reality is that he has been misused this season, and him playing as the lone striker in what has essentially been a 5-2-2-1 all season is on the manager(s)/recruitment, not Armstrong..

He's gone regardless, but let's not do the guy dirty with this weird revisionism.

Edited yesterday at 13:02 by Saint86

[Chez]

4 hours ago, for_heaven's_Saint said:

Which game do we think Stewart will get injured in, leaving us having to start Larin or change system to fit in Archer? I’m going Leicester away. 

I'm going for the play off final, but actually it's just cramp due to an overelaborate and elongated 96th minute winning goal celebration.  

Edited yesterday at 13:12 by Chez

[Chez]

3 hours ago, lumuah said:

No, 21 weren't penalties. It was 11 - I think 21 is every penalty for every club he has played for. Hi missed/had saved 3 pens.

Goal Breakdown by Competition

The following table reflects his total career statistics for Southampton across all formats:

 

Competition	Appearances	Total Goals	Penalty Goals
EFL Championship	78	35	8
Premier League	73	6	1
FA Cup	10	1	0
EFL Cup	13	1	2
Total	174	43	11

(Data current as of 3 February 2026) 

 

 

Who is our penalty taker now? It's time we had someone as reliable as MLT-Beattie-Lambert

[Chez]

5 hours ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

I find it incredible Sam Edozie is still here.

I agree. If the parties have fallen out, why hasn't he gone out on loan? I don't buy the line that we wont loan to another English side. Sounds stupid when we have loaned others. If we got a better offer from abroad, why didn't he take - he was fine going to Anderlecht. Was it from Turkey perhaps and he didn't fancy it? The club has bene very good at shifting unwanted players (how much of their wages they are paying I don't know), so don't understand why he hasn't gone. Weird.

[leesaint88]

3 minutes ago, Chez said:

I agree. If the parties have fallen out, why hasn't he gone out on loan? I don't buy the line that we wont loan to another English side. Sounds stupid when we have loaned others. If we got a better offer from abroad, why didn't he take - he was fine going to Anderlecht. Was it from Turkey perhaps and he didn't fancy it? The club has bene very good at shifting unwanted players (how much of their wages they are paying I don't know), so don't understand why he hasn't gone. Weird.

Wasn't there rumours the club didn't want to move him on to an English club? I can only assume there is a fitness issue which hasn't been published and it's holding off any move.

[lambtiss]

15 minutes ago, Chez said:

Who is our penalty taker now? It's time we had someone as reliable as MLT-Beattie-Lambert

I think it should be Scienza as he strikes the ball better than any other. 

[EBS1980]

7 minutes ago, lambtiss said:

I think it should be Scienza as he strikes the ball better than any other. 

I assumed him, or maybe  Azaz ?

[Chez]

8 minutes ago, leesaint88 said:

Wasn't there rumours the club didn't want to move him on to an English club? I can only assume there is a fitness issue which hasn't been published and it's holding off any move.

yes, but I don't believe that. It makes no sense. My guess is the english clubs offered buttons while an oversees club would pay most or all his wages, so SFC `turned down' those English offers. Edozie perhaps didn't fancy the oversees move or preferred the UK clubs, so there was a stalemate.

[Chez]

1 minute ago, EBS1980 said:

I assumed him, or maybe  Azaz ?

both feels like an upgrade on AA, but we shall see.

[Midfield_General]

31 minutes ago, Chez said:

Who is our penalty taker now? It's time we had someone as reliable as MLT-Beattie-Lambert

Got to be Leo. Make him penalty taker, captain, manager and give him the keys to Cortese's private shitter. 

 

Edited yesterday at 13:47 by Midfield_General

[revolution saint]

30 minutes ago, Chez said:

Who is our penalty taker now? It's time we had someone as reliable as MLT-Beattie-Lambert

Ross Stewart?  Transfer Markt has him down as 22 scored and 3 missed.  Definitely scored a few for Sunderland anyway. 

[BarberSaint]

Wonder if he's part of a Cyle to work scheme.

[notnowcato]

4 hours ago, saintant said:

Where did we go wrong then?

We didn’t replace Jason Wilcox when we needed a Director of Football the most. 

[sadoldgit]

2 hours ago, lambtiss said:

I think it should be Scienza as he strikes the ball better than any other. 

Not sure about that. He seems to waft the ball rather than get real power behind it.

It’s a shame we can’t just bring a player off the bench to take penalties. Manning looks like he could take a good pen.

Edited 22 hours ago by sadoldgit

[Paul_B]

1 hour ago, Midfield_General said:

Got to be Leo. Make him penalty taker, captain, manager and give him the keys to Cortese's private shitter. 

 

Matey in the black puffer/beige beanie hat/crutches is either an undercover Saints fan or knows where Scienza lives and is meticulously planning in his head how he is going to kill Scienza and eat his testicles.

[Midfield_General]

10 minutes ago, Paul_B said:

Matey in the black puffer/beige beanie hat/crutches is either an undercover Saints fan or knows where Scienza lives and is meticulously planning in his head how he is going to kill Scienza and eat his testicles.

Him and the lady next to him just look delighted to have been allowed out for a day out, bless them

Orange jacket fella looks pretty happy too, reckon there's a few covert scummers in there 

Edited 22 hours ago by Midfield_General

[Doctoroncall]

16 minutes ago, Paul_B said:

Matey in the black puffer/beige beanie hat/crutches is either an undercover Saints fan or knows where Scienza lives and is meticulously planning in his head how he is going to kill Scienza and eat his testicles.

That’s a £55 beanie from Canadian company Arc’teryx!

[Tommy Mulgrew]

Cyle’s brother

[SNSUN]

1 hour ago, BarberSaint said:

Wonder if he's part of a Cyle to work scheme.

Nah, he drives a McLarin.

[Whitey Grandad]

11 minutes ago, SNSUN said:

Nah, he drives a McLarin.

Where's that facepalm emoji when you need it ?

[Holmes_and_Watson]

4 hours ago, Chez said:

Who is our penalty taker now? It's time we had someone as reliable as MLT-Beattie-Lambert

Ah. SR were thinking about keeping our penalty success rate as it was with...

[lambtiss]

3 hours ago, sadoldgit said:

Not sure about that. He seems to waft the ball rather than get real power behind it.

It’s a shame we can’t just bring a player off the bench to take penalties. Manning looks like he could take a good pen.

You'd rate Manning on penalties over Scienza?

😲 

[Sheaf Saint]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cwyr9pgnl20o

BBC have got us down as one of the transfer window's losers. The last paragraph is pretty damning...

Success, of sorts, did come with Taylor Harwood-Bellis remaining at St Mary's amid significant Premier League interest.

Losing the defender and striker Adam Armstrong, who joined Wolverhampton Wanderers, would have been considerably damaging, irrespective of the financial compensation because Southampton still seem to be fixed on a run at the play-offs.

But it is hard to square that particular circle when the simple equation is that they have subtracted their top goalscorer, who went into the window requiring support, to replace him with 30-year-old Cyle Larin, who has never played in England and last scored in double figures in the 2020-21 season for Besiktas.

Daniel Peretz has addressed issues between the posts, while fees for peripheral figures Ronnie Edwards and Armel Bella-Kotchap were good business decisions and trim a bloated squad to an extent, but does any of it speak of obvious improvement with reference to trying to reach the top six?

If Larin is a bona fide hit, these words will prove irrelevant, but for a club that once upon a time wrote the rule book for measured but also progressive recruitment, it is a slightly wild swing of the bat which feels like it could go drastically wrong, more so than it could go right.

[Midfield_General]

2 hours ago, Sheaf Saint said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cwyr9pgnl20o

BBC have got us down as one of the transfer window's losers. The last paragraph is pretty damning...

Success, of sorts, did come with Taylor Harwood-Bellis remaining at St Mary's amid significant Premier League interest.

Losing the defender and striker Adam Armstrong, who joined Wolverhampton Wanderers, would have been considerably damaging, irrespective of the financial compensation because Southampton still seem to be fixed on a run at the play-offs.

But it is hard to square that particular circle when the simple equation is that they have subtracted their top goalscorer, who went into the window requiring support, to replace him with 30-year-old Cyle Larin, who has never played in England and last scored in double figures in the 2020-21 season for Besiktas.

Daniel Peretz has addressed issues between the posts, while fees for peripheral figures Ronnie Edwards and Armel Bella-Kotchap were good business decisions and trim a bloated squad to an extent, but does any of it speak of obvious improvement with reference to trying to reach the top six?

If Larin is a bona fide hit, these words will prove irrelevant, but for a club that once upon a time wrote the rule book for measured but also progressive recruitment, it is a slightly wild swing of the bat which feels like it could go drastically wrong, more so than it could go right.

That last paragraph could have been written about pretty much any of our signings over the last three years, with the exception of Ramsdale. 

[spyinthesky]

13 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

That last paragraph could have been written about pretty much any of our signings over the last three years, with the exception of Ramsdale. 

Fernandes was a good signing.
Scienza is OK too.
Its up top where there has been a significant lack of judgement.

[Sheaf Saint]

27 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

That last paragraph could have been written about pretty much any of our signings over the last three years, with the exception of Ramsdale. 

Yep. Wild swings of the bat are SR's specialty.

[VectisSaint]

23 hours ago, Saint86 said:

A summary of our business...

I guess ultimately we've done good work to thin the squad/wage bill, and have strengthened in the GK department (which truthfully is probably worth more than AA's goals Vs Stewart/cerin's for the rest of the season).

Presumably now we will see edozie reintegrated as an option on the wing (which is badly needed), and I guess we all hope that either Stewart can stay fit and firing for 19 more games this season, or that Cerin does...

In - Bree, return from loan

[Saint86]

3 hours ago, Sheaf Saint said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cwyr9pgnl20o

BBC have got us down as one of the transfer window's losers. The last paragraph is pretty damning...

Success, of sorts, did come with Taylor Harwood-Bellis remaining at St Mary's amid significant Premier League interest.

Losing the defender and striker Adam Armstrong, who joined Wolverhampton Wanderers, would have been considerably damaging, irrespective of the financial compensation because Southampton still seem to be fixed on a run at the play-offs.

But it is hard to square that particular circle when the simple equation is that they have subtracted their top goalscorer, who went into the window requiring support, to replace him with 30-year-old Cyle Larin, who has never played in England and last scored in double figures in the 2020-21 season for Besiktas.

Daniel Peretz has addressed issues between the posts, while fees for peripheral figures Ronnie Edwards and Armel Bella-Kotchap were good business decisions and trim a bloated squad to an extent, but does any of it speak of obvious improvement with reference to trying to reach the top six?

If Larin is a bona fide hit, these words will prove irrelevant, but for a club that once upon a time wrote the rule book for measured but also progressive recruitment, it is a slightly wild swing of the bat which feels like it could go drastically wrong, more so than it could go right.

Ignores the fact that, well managed, ten of our on field 11 should be good enough to be get promoted. Stewart (if he stays fit) being the 11th.

Its a calculated risk by SR. The squad is still competitive, financially they've balanced the books, but they've thrown the dice on Stewart's fitness and risked us being left without a reliable goalscorer.

Personally - my expectations for this squad are that we should still make playoffs, and within the playoffs, (assuming Ipwich get top 2) we should still be the favourites of the 4 to go up... I'd have been more confident if we had kept AA, and i'd be more confident if we had more depth in the ST, CAM, Wing positions.

That all hinges on us sticking to a 4-2-3-1 and being well managed tactically for the remaining games. Anyone's guess as to whether that materialises. Has Eckert switched to a back 4 to save his job and get a few wins, and then it will be back to a 5-2-2-1? Or is this going to stick? And is his game management going to keep improving at the required rate to out think more experienced managers in a playoff race? Spors clearly backs him, and its on those 2 (and their big top man CF choices - stewart/larin) that any success this season now rests. One thing is for sure, they need to get Edozie up to speed PDQ, becuase we cannot go the next 19 games with just Jayrob as cover for the wings.

Edited 4 hours ago by Saint86

[Miltonaggro]

1 hour ago, Saint86 said:

Ignores the fact that, well managed, ten of our on field 11 should be good enough to be get promoted. Stewart (if he stays fit) being the 11th.

Its a calculated risk by SR. The squad is still competitive, financially they've balanced the books, but they've thrown the dice on Stewart's fitness and risked us being left without a reliable goalscorer.

Personally - my expectations for this squad are that we should still make playoffs, and within the playoffs, (assuming Ipwich get top 2) we should still be the favourites of the 4 to go up... I'd have been more confident if we had kept AA, and i'd be more confident if we had more depth in the ST, CAM, Wing positions.

That all hinges on us sticking to a 4-2-3-1 and being well managed tactically for the remaining games. Anyone's guess as to whether that materialises. Has Eckert switched to a back 4 to save his job and get a few wins, and then it will be back to a 5-2-2-1? Or is this going to stick? And is his game management going to keep improving at the required rate to out think more experienced managers in a playoff race? Spors clearly backs him, and its on those 2 (and their big top man CF choices - stewart/larin) that any success this season now rests. One thing is for sure, they need to get Edozie up to speed PDQ, becuase we cannot go the next 19 games with just Jayrob as cover for the wings.

A considered post.  I saw us beating Stoke on their patch as a positive sign in terms of capability - they are above us and a good few Saints fans would have been happy with Robins as manager to replace Still.  The hit and hope is that Tonda can keep the learning curve going, as the board are clearly gambling on Stewart's fitness and a loan forward who last scored double figures in 2020-21 in the Turkish league to close the gap towards the play offs.    

[pingpong]

Actually a cracking window.

We got a new keeper, kept thb, got Bree back, shifted a bunch of dead weight, including weakening a key rival with agent aribo, and we have a new striker who cannot be worse than downs.

It might actually be the best January window we've ever had.

[AlexLaw76]

3 minutes ago, pingpong said:

Actually a cracking window.

We got a new keeper, kept thb, got Bree back, shifted a bunch of dead weight, including weakening a key rival with agent aribo, and we have a new striker who cannot be worse than downs.

It might actually be the best January window we've ever had.

Worse than downs? He needs to be better than Armstrong

[Saint86]

59 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Worse than downs? He needs to be better than Armstrong

Well, technically he doesn't... But he and Stewart need to be effective enough for us to get promoted. Thats the only yardstick SR should be judged on ultimatley.