Dusic

We are going to replace our best player having just sold for £75m, right? Would be asking for trouble to continue with Hoedt (2nd choice), Yoshida (3rd), Stephens (4th), Bednarek (needs a loan), Gardos (training mannequin), especially given the quality we have had in that position in the recent past. Have seen the Mawson link but that is more likely in the summer should we stay up. Crying out for a powerful defensive leader having lost Fonte and VVD inside a year. Yoshida cannot lead a backline and Hoedt is still adjusting to the PL and seems more understated.To rake in that kind of money and not buy one is what gets you relegated. Over to you, lads.

I'm sure Reedo is relaxed. Clyne, Wanyama, Koeman style.

Could this be the player from France that Jeremy Wilson mentioned? Interesting write up here: http://www.o-posts.com/teams/italy/inter-milan/guido-carrillo-estudiantes-powerful-number-ready-big-europe-step-up/ The fact he used to play under MP and also fits our current model of signings from big clubs who are not playing regularly suggests it could be true. Certainly need a player with more power up front and age 26 he would be approaching his peak. Wouldn't read too much into x goals in x games unless you can see how many were starts.

Bit more from the Echo: Walcott a clear target and MP wants someone to replace Austin, which looks like the most clear priority: http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/15808325.Saints_target_Walcott_deal/ Seems odd to have targets like Tosun who was clearly going to Everton and Benteke who we clearly can't afford the wages of (he is on over 100k a week). Really thought at least up front that we would have something lined up. Also, IMO to not replace VVD is ludicrous as our CBs are bang average.

Shows how despite fans on here asking for these lads to play in the first team after a few goals in the watered down U23 league that there is a huge, huge step to PL level. The vast majority of our current U23s will do well to play above L1 level.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/01/03/southamptonchairman-gives-full-backing-mauricio-pellegrino-despiteperilousproximity/ So... Walcott - sounds like it could happen but with Giroud injured and some question marks over Sanchez and a heap of games in January including two legs of theLeague Cup semi I can imagine Wenger may want to keep him til near the end of Jan which isn't ideal for us. Others allegedly wanted: Benteke - can't see Palace selling to a rival unless for a huge premium, which we won't pay. Sturridge - would be a great loan if fit but surely if it were going to happen and he is a serious target then we would have tied it to the VVD deal? Mawson - would need to pay a huge premium for a player who is potential rather than finished article. No way we will pay £25m for him so we won't sign him in January. Tosun - going to Everton by all accounts and they will pay him more than we could. Nothing imminent then. Usually would be amazed we didnt have a striker lined up for Jan 1st like Liverpool did with VVD but then again we are miles better at selling than buying, since Mitchell left anyway. Also our league position surely makes it difficult as stated here: http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11700/11194713/southampton-favourites-to-sign-arsenals-theo-walcott

This is becoming quite a big factor in our slide down the table. I would say playing at home gives an advantage to the opponent at the moment - in a big way. There isn't exactly a lot of supporting happening. Some players take unfair abuse, the likes of Tadic, Redmond and Forster - the latter two have been ruined partly by a lack of any support. Bertrand was the target last night. No new player songs, can't remember the last time the whole stadium sang OWTSGMI. The whole ground is so tense and it definitely transmits to the players. Any oppo Manager will be telling his team to deny us a fast start and then wait til the crowd get stuck into their own team. I read on here about protests and constant chanting about sacking the Manager but that will not help one bit. It will just make an already ****e home atmosphere even worse. For a relegation battle the home atmosphere has to improve, as well have 3 or 4 massive home games that are truely must-win. A couple of popular signings will help, but fans also need to kick themselves up the arse a bit IMO. Aside: another way to reduce your home advantage is by providing an absolute turdburger of a pitch that negates the way the team tries to play. We didn't adapt to the conditions and Palace did but I bet Pellegrino was livid at the groundstaff for letting it get like that, even if some elements were outside of their control. Very unfortunate. Fine margins in the PL and on the day Ralph told everyone how great the whole setup was. Oops.

Yoshida and Stephens is a partnership that any PL opponent will be fancying their chances against, its simply not strong or dominant enough. Both are ok players when alongside a powerful leader of the back four but as a pairing they are powderpuff and get absolutely beasted in the air. Yoshida is not the leader of a solid backline. He has a habit of losing his man and doesn't lead the defense. Hoedt was screaming at him against United when he lost Lukaku and then later Lingard giving them free headers in the area. Against Hudds he completely left Depoitre who was their only threat. No coincidence that we have started leaking more goals since he became a nailed on starter each week. Yesterday we needed someone to push the team up the pitch, like Fonte would have done. Someone to encourage the others to play to the conditions, stop playing one touch passes when the ball was barely rolling and go more direct. Yoshida looks to others but right now, and as captain, that needed to be him and that isn't what he is about. We are crying out for a defensive leader and having sold Fonte and VVD within a year (both good financial deals) you would expect more to have been spent on this position so we arent so reliant on sub-standard players. Note: I like Yoshida. He has undoubtedly improved and seems like a top guy. This is purely about him as a PL central defender and there is a reason IMO that in our best seasons he was firmly third choice.

A couple of signings won't sort this out.

Not really sure how Ralph Krueger has found himself as the Chairman of a PL football team. Not sure how he is qualified for the role, or has the relevant experience. He isn't a shrewd businessman, has no experience of managing (or even being heavily involved in) a multi million pound business, has no football experience, no wealth to personally put in...what does he add as an employee? The Chairman should calm, motivate, st a vision and lead - he doesn't outwardly appear to do any of that.

1. Mentions we are a small club quite a few times. Whilst that might be true in the context of the PL, he laboured that point a bit too much. 2. Way too much emphasis placed on the VVD "cloud" as an excuse for our position. 3. Pretty clear we won't try to keep the top players in future after this experience, going by what he said. 4. Very hypocritical re Pellegrino position and Saints not being a knee jerk decision club who let one person take the fall for when things don't go well...ahem, Puel 5. Described last season as "very good"...hmmm. 6. Would be better if Krueger stayed quiet and Reed spoke IMO.

Biggest problem so far is nobody is buried yet, which is fairly unusual. A win tomorrow would be massive but anyone who wins back to back games would hugely improve their situation. Also most of the sides who have changed Manager have seen a positive impact, which is also quite unusual. Will be a tense second half of the season and probably 8 teams will be able to be relegated going into the last month of the season, Saints included as we have wasted too many points at home.

Thanks for the PM choccyboxkid. Interesting stuff!

You can. It works both ways. I am sure Gardos is quite happy picking up his PL wages for 6 months more knowing he isn't going to play because he has known for at least a year that he won't and has probably rejected taking a pay cut in order to go somewhere else and play. Likewise Jack Rose, a 4th or 5th choice keeper won't be expecting to even get on the bench in the PL so if he isn't named he won't be bothered. No way will Gardos or Rose's feelings stop us from signing a player that we think might improve us.

Amazed Reed gets the amount of stick he does. Has done a lot of great things at Saints. There is of course frustrstion at some decisions etc but only because our standards and expectations are now higher. Be careful what you wish for. At least we have a plan most of the time and a clear enough identity. Many other clubs have neither.

Not an expensive one, so no huge problem, but Pied was another poor signing summer of 2016. If the guy brought in as backup RB doesn't play when the main RB is out injured then he is just wasting a space in the squad. Backup fullbacks are important, especially at Saints as that position is key to hoe we play. Once Pied is released in the summer hopefully we get someone a little better who is actually an option to start a game when needed.

Fairly sure we decide who the 25 are and can just leave out players we don't need in it, like Rose or Gardos. It doesn't restrict how many we sign, would just mean someone like Gardos wouldn't be able to play in the PL for us, which he won't anyway.

Gabbi must be so ****ed off. How can you pick Long ahead of him?

No French reports on Twitter that I can find. Isn't line 2 the bit that says Long was miles better with Mane? Thats spot on IMO. That spell was the outlier in Long's career.

More than qualified to be an assistant coach, given MP already has two other assistant coaches. Fran Alonso had never had any pro level coaching or playing experience when he held the role previously. As Black played a prominent role then it makes sense that one of Tamarit or Compagnucci will step up. Pellegrino clearly going nowhere imminently.

Amazed anyone wouls turn down Daniel Sturridge on loan. We struggle to score goals. He is one of the beat finishers in the league. A couple of seasons ago he would have cost £50m+. Loan would be a no brainer and he would definitely score.

http://cgul.co/2Droydx Some fairly obvious but interesting comments from Brighton's CEO on how the window works. Interesting that they have only 4 people inside the club aware of specifics on negotiations at any time. Probably similar at Saints, hence its hard for anyone here to really be ITK.

Good price for us, but find it hard to be too bothered about a fee as we don't know how much will be spent on what. You have to say its a quality signing by Liverpool, absolutely class centre back when fit and focused, easily the best in the PL and I think he will do really well there. To think two seasons ago we got more points than them over a 38 game season. The difference in the quality of the squads now is ludicrous.

From what you see as people I like Davis, Hojbjerg, Romeu, Cedric and Long but a fair few seem like jerks, the same as in most squads of footballers. Who else do you like? Its not about his ability. In each of his three seasons here he has spent significant periods out injured. The type that make his 80k a week pretty average value. I don't think he will make 15 PL starts in a single season for us. Players like Tadic get continually slagged off here but he comes across as a model pro in terms of his fitness work and how he lives off the field. I don't think Austin does everything he can to be in the best possible shape, which on that sort of cash is a shame. Then when the team is most reliant on him, to kick a goalkeeper in the head, unprovoked, is pretty poor. If a player like VVD and Bertrand had let the team down like that they would have got hammered for it. By the time he recovers he will have earned more than most people on here will in 20 years. To think we pay him and Long about £150k a week combined is quite ridiculous. #toplad #chas #backinapril

Is it just me, or does Maya seem to be regressing back to his form from earlier days at Saints? Lately he seems incapable of marking in the box, and has been a lot more sloppy and unsteady in possession than over the last 18months where he had got better. Has a bit of a habit of being nearly there when a team scores against us. He has improved immensely since he signed for us, but I think he is better with a very dominant player next to him, someone who leads the back four, and I'm not sure Hoedt does that (he is still adapting obviously). Playing in a ****e team of course doesn't help, but is he really good enough to be a nailed on PL starter? I'm not convinced.