Brumsaint

I would like to see Redmond and Walcott playing as the number tens. Much as I would like to see Diallo given a chance, I don't think this is the right game. The only other position I would question, assuming that there are no injuries, is whether Ings should play from the start or come off the bench. I just hope everyone has the legs to be on top of their game at the end of a busy week!

I think people are being overly harsh on Djenepo. He didn't have a great game, but he gave Bertrand a lot of support in keeping Traore and Semedo quiet, as well as playing Bertrand in really well a few times when he was overlapping. More goal threat and attacking intent with the ball would make a real difference, but he didn't give the ball away any more than other players - Romeu was most guilty of that today, I thought and JWP played a lot of backwards balls when he didn't need to IMO, some of which put us in more trouble. I thought we were a bit flat overall, but Wolves did press really well and didn't give much room at all. McCarthy definitely MOTM, but I would have liked to see Diallo come on a bit earlier and Nlundulu or Tella instead of Long. Can't be too disappointed with a point away at Wolves when not playing at our best, though.

Kameron Ledwidge was spoken of as a star of the future at one time. Anyone seen him play? https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2017/oct/03/next-generation-2017-20-of-the-best-talents-at-premier-league-clubs

He still has time to get his career back, but what a horrific time of it he's had! Didn't he also have a really bad injury that held him back when he was younger? Fingers crossed for him, anyway.

These are exciting times because of how much Ralph is getting out of the players. We have a really strong first 11, but I am worried about squad depth, so need to be convinced that Ralph's magic touch is improving the whole squad and bringing them all up a few levels. If the likes of Diallo, Smallbone, Obafemi, Tella, Djenepo, Valery, Vokins and Salisu can come into the first team and play as well as the players they replace we will have an exciting season! Despite our much vaunted promotion of youth and signing of young players, only three of the starting eleven against Everton were under 25 (Adams, KWP and Bednarek), so we do have a good amount of experience to help the younger players, which is a positive in my opinion. I absolutely agree with Ralph that we don't need to fear any team and can go toe to toe with the best now. We made Everton look poor and can take a lot of confidence from that. In terms of the Digne red card, I think it was more intentional than not. He tried to take KWP down once, failed so made sure he got him the second time while holding his hands up to protest his innocence. That's why there was such an angry reaction from the Saints players.

I will hold my hands up and say I was really worried about him being a starter last season, as I didn't think he could do the high energy game required, but have been totally proved wrong. He's had good periods playing for us before, but Ralph really seems to have brought out the best in him. Sign him up for a new deal, please.

If we didn't need the game for our first 11 to build fitness and match sharpness, I'd like to see some youngsters playing, but unless there's a risk of injury, I can't see anyone apart from McCarthy being "rested".

A few things that I consider have been highlighted after that performance: Salisu will play with Stephens once he's fit enough and has adapted to the way Ralph wants him to play. Taking Bednarek off for tactical reasons at half time was a surprising move, but hints at where he sees the problem in defence being. The manager doesn't really trust any of his options off the bench to be game changers. Boufal looks likely to be sold, he left it very late to bring on Djenepo, there was no CM at all, Tella is young and lacks experience while Shlong and Obafemi can run and chase, but are unlikely to unpick a packed defence, especially when the service from midfield is so poor. Hopefully, that means reinforcements will be brought in. Tactically, the two number tens are not really wingers, so it's essential that the full backs run in behind and get decent crosses in. They were both pushed very far up the pitch yesterday, making us very vulnerable to counter attacks with fast wingers and we know a lot of teams will have been looking at that. Bertrand's crossing was also awful from what I saw, so must improve if our strikers are to thrive. The international break and one player missing through injury certainly had an impact, but this was a shadow of the team we saw in July, so why was everyone else looking so off the pace? Has some complacency crept in? The players definitely looked short of match practice and we were all surprised that more friendlies were arranged. I hope it's not going to take too long to get them back up to speed and fit.

I guess this line up shows who definitely won't be in the squad for tomorrow from the youth team: https://twitter.com/SouthamptonFC/status/1304404647105433600

Does anyone know whether Slattery might be given a chance in the team this year? I see he played for the U23s against Wycombe today and came close to scoring with a free kick. It was a shame to see him disappear off on loan after showing promise in 2018-19.

So we do have Boufal and Djenepo both playing, with Valery at RB and Ward Prowse in midfield. Ralph has gone for players in their natural positions! 3 defenders and no wide players on the bench, though, which indicates there's not anyone else who's rated very highly by the management in the U23s, I'd say.

I'm hoping that we manage to turn things around this week, but Armstrong will be a big loss IMO. I want players to play in their best positions, but I'm not sure about playing both Boufal and Djenepo. If we don't do that, it would mean either playing Adams, or one of the full backs in a more attacking role, such as Valery or Vokins, or playing JWP further forward with Romeu coming into CM.

My hope is that whatever happens in terms of player transfers over the next 8 months, we have Ralph in charge and happy with the squad he has, so that we can start the season the front foot. That said, this is my take: GK - don't expect any changes for first & second choice, but would like FF to be shipped out even if for a token fee. If KWP does well over the rest of the season, I'd be very surprised if the move isn't made permanent. I hope that Valery rises to the challenge to trying to take the first team spot, too. I'd like to see Vokins given a few more games to see whether he's ready to push for a first team spot. Unless Bertrand signs a new deal, we may well be looking for someone else. CB is definitely a problem, as after Stephens and Bednarek, the rest don't seem to have Ralph's confidence. I fully expect Romeu to leave in the summer and if Hojbjerg doesn't sign his new contract, he'll be sold, so we will need to sign replacements. Unless someone leaves, I don't expect they'll bring in any more forwards or wingers. Will anyone buy Carillo, Lemina or Moi? I bloody hope so, but am not holding my breath for the fees for the three of them to do more than cover the cost of one decent incoming player.

While those stats look pretty convincing, I'm pretty sure that Cedric was not the only factor in our upturn in form. We started playing 442 (or whatever you want to call it) with players playing in their favoured positions and a big upturn in form all over the pitch. If Valery had been fit, he could well have played just as much of a part. I'm glad Cedric's form picked up with everyone else's, but we will be OK without him.

I wish him all the best and thank him for his contribution, but if we're to challenge for Europe, rather than be in relegation scraps, we need better players. I think we should try to use Danso and see if he's capable of playing in this league. I thought he was brought in as a CB, so we need to know whether he can play there against decent opposition, or get someone else. I assume with all the rumours we are looking for someone else already.

Ok, fair enough. That I understand. He should not be played at RB ever!

I was there today and really don't get the hatred for JWP. He looked awful at RB, but I thought actually played best as CM for the last few minutes. He didn't have his best game today, but doesn't deserve the flak he gets. Boufal has a lot of skills, but was a liability when he was on. He drifted away from the right side and left us really vulnerable to attacks, especially when JWP was there, but he also lost the ball far too easily quite a few times considering how little he was on the pitch. If he's started instead of JWP, we could well have lost. The one I really don't understand is why Gunn is still starting. What has McCarthy done to not get in ahead of him? Heart in the mouth whenever the ball goes near Angus at the moment. VAR should have ruled out the pen, but was right about the other two. The ref was truly awful and we could easily have won today. We need to score more than one goal to do that, though. We need someone else to take chances.

I'd like to see: McCarthy Cedric Yoshida Danso Bertrand Romeu Armstrong Djenepo Boufal Obafemi Long and have a strong bench in case they're needed.

In terms of the chances of selling players, this is my take on it: Forster - would need to be prepared to take a massive wage drop. Even then, uncertain as a 3-0 defeat was his first appearance in nearly 2 years. McCarthy - I'd rather not sell him, but seeing he's out of the first team, there might be interest. Cedric - not sure whether we'd get the kind of money we hope, but sellable. Stephens - doubt there'd be a big fee, but championship teams might take him off our hands. Hoedt - we'll take a huge loss, but someone might be mad enough to take him on the continent. Yoshida - don't want to lose him and we wouldn't get much, but plenty of teams would take him. Jones - was expecting him to feature after coming back from loan. Maybe we'll see him against Huddersfield? Otherwise, put him out on loan again. Targett - could have sold him for a good fee last summer. Glad we didn't and hope we keep him unless RH thinks Vokins is ready to play more of a part. Romeu - makes the team look more solid when he plays, so wouldn't sell, unless RH sees an upgrade available. Lemina - has been a huge disappointment considering how good he can look. Would cash in if we can. Reed - would like to see him given a chance. Definitely would attract interest in championship if not. Clasie - doubt we'll get much of a fee, but Holland seems most likely destination McQueen - terrible injury record, so unlikely to get much of a fee. Hesketh - was hoping he'd be given a chance this season. Has been good on loan and hope he can impress in pre-season rather than being sold. Boufal - hasn't done much on lan this season to justify a big fee. We'll see if he is given a chance in pre-season, or whether anyone's prepared to buy him. Moi - another terrible buy. We would be lucky to give him away. Austin - not suited to our style and goalscoring record not great recently, but would still attract interest possibly. Carillo - unlikely to recoup much of the ridiculous amount we spent on him, but can't see him coming back into the first team. Need to shift and move on. Gallagher - despite our woes up front hasn't been given a chance this season, which indicates he never will, as he's been fit as far as I know. Long - until his recent form, I assumed he'd be going, but now reckon RH may keep him. Not worth much in transfer fee, anyway. Ings - if we can cancel the £20m transfer and invest that money in someone else instead, it would be as good as selling someone IMO. I didn't even comment on Gunn, Bertrand, Vestegaard, Bednarek, Valery, Hojbjerg, JWP, Armstrong, Redmond, Sims or Obafemi, as I don't see any chance of them leaving. We need a big clear out when you look at the (lack of) quality overall. How brave will the club be?

When I saw Bednarek up for that corner I thought "**** we're going for it, hope we don't regret this!" Then Salah picked the ball up and ran in a straight line with nobody challenging him until he stuck it away and I just felt sick. I suppose it's good that we don't just settle for a point against title challengers, but a point would have been a great result and we lost it through poor decisions on defending at the end of the game. We didn't really look like scoring in the second half, but neither did they until we presented it to them. Ralph's done an amazing job to take us this far with the squad we have, but the attacking options need a complete overhaul in order to compete for a top half place, let alone Europe.

I know we're still in a terrible position in the league, but do you remember last season? McCarthy won player of the season with no real challenge from any outfield player. It does make me appreciate RH's ability to coax good performances out of the players we have and we can see players visibly improving. Redmond, JWP and Bednarek are prime examples and each could be worthy by the end of the season.

I trust Ralf and his team to get the most out of all of them. I'm surprised that Sims and Hesketh haven't been given a chance yet when others have. Considering the improvements we've seen in other players who'd been written off, I expect a few more to come good, but I think it'll take a while.

I reckon he'll go with his 4-2-2-2 formation from the off and will expect the players to fit into it. Is Targett fit? If not, he might go for Vokins at LB, as he's been promoted as a big supporter of chances for the youth players. McCarthy Cedric/Valery Vestergaard Yoshida Vokins/Targett Lemina Hojbjerg Armstrong Redmond Austin Gabbiadini (basically, who else is fit?)

A settled team would be good, but we need to know that the players have been well coached so that whoever comes into the team due to suspension or injury will be able to step in and play their part. I just hope the squad are good enough to take on his ideas and improve individually and collectively.

I'm sure I read something very similar to that in the summer. I'm hoping that his grounded nature will help him settle and produce his best form for Saints, because he's not looked the player we were hoping for so far.