Dman

If we’re going to continue to play with 2 ‘10’s’ rather than out and out wingers / forwards, He is by far (Armstrong aside) our most suited to that role. I think he’s done alright this season, if I’m honest. Seems to be playing with confidence. Id give him a new deal and f**k off Redmond, Theo and Djenepo (if we can find a buyer for any of that tosh). Still an area we need improvement in though.

Best performance I’ve seen from us in my recent memory. To a man. Very much deserved. Need to tidy up in front of goal, glad it didn’t cost us today. Easy win Saturday if we play like that.

50 ‘lad points’ to you. Well done, Sue. Lads, lads, lads!!!

The odds on us winning something is very, very low though. Even if we have a relatively successful cup run (I say relatively as coming 2nd,3rd,4th isn’t a success imo), we still would need to pull off an unlikely victory in the semi final / final, as shown in our recent ‘successful’ runs. Personally, I don’t foresee us winning anything for the next 15-20 years. Probably even longer at the rate the gap of the bigger clubs is getting. I agree with Coalman here, if a player ‘wants to win something’ he’s not going to want to stay with us. That being said, I don’t think the players would just down tools if they knew Ralph was going… realistically he’s not a huge name and he’s not loved by the squad in the same way Poch was.

Huge loss for Brighton. Very good appointment by Newcastle. Potter could well follow him up there at some point next season.

If I were him, I’d hold off signing a new deal. 1 - because another season like this one, he’ll have some decent sized clubs sniffing around. Especially if he’s got 6months or less on his contract. 2 - the longer he waits, the less time he has on his contract, the more desperate we’ll become and will result in a larger ££ for him. It seems like more and more players are letting their contracts dwindle and becoming free agents. Even at the highest level (Pogba, Mbappe etc..). I could see this becoming the norm (players hold all the power), which isn’t great for a model like ours.

Agreed. Salisu will be key to how I rate our summer window. If he has no intention to sign a new deal, I could see him being sold… it’s a bit of a worry, if I’m honest.

Amazing he’s managed to blag his way on to talkSPORT to be honest. Imagine hearing the transfer is £45m (to Everton, who are pretty well known to be unable to spend big due to FFP restrictions) and thinking, hang on, that doesn’t sound right…. 😂😂😂

He was always going to end up at either Newcastle or Everton. I can’t believe people even thought this had a chance.

Nice in theory, but in reality it won’t work like that. If they’ve got a £30m offer from us or a £40m offer from Newcastle, then they’re not gonna throw £10m away to spite them. The only thing is if Newcastle won’t agree to add a buy back clause, that could be a deal breaker.

If true, worrying. Would suggest there’s a chance Chelsea can get him out of our loan deal. Doesn’t bode well for the summer if Newcastle are serious.

I know a player or 2 (U23) from clubs around here, who’ve been shipped out on 2/3 loans to different clubs over a season or 2. Generally speaking they hate it and find it very difficult to settle. But I do agree with your last point, I guess it comes down to how much you back your ability. That being said, it would take a brave man to turn down the opportunity to join Liverpool. Not the sensible move, in my opinion, though.

The same one sung to Ronaldo every week, yet no fuss made (from what I’ve seen) there. Not racially motivated at all, basically being called a Sex offender

Silly boy. With Jota, mane, Salah, Elliott, Diaz his opportunities will be limited to non.

Agreed. First season he done well getting them into the top 4 and integrating a lot of the younger players (Mount etc.), which seem to just be forgotten. Second season, they became slightly too predictable to play against. The only thing with Lampard for me is he seems too nice and I can imagine giving the players a fairly easy time of it, where as your tuchel, klopps etc. Are just perfectionists and demand ridiculous intensity at all times (the difference between a good and great manager I guess). That being said, If (big if), he’s given 2 / 3 seasons at Everton to turn the tide and build his own squad, I think he could do okay there.

Who’s winning? 15 - love dman tonight.

“I cannot say that I prefer the 4-2-2-2 the most now,” Hasenhuttl recently said. “I prefer to be flexible. It makes it harder for the opponent to look at you and it makes it more interesting to prepare for a game.” Most people’s issues where that he was reluctant to move away from his preferred formation. He’s confirmed himself, he now flexible.

Confirmed to be absolutely true, by the man himself…. LOL https://theathletic.com/3096228/2022/01/27/ralph-hasenhuttl-is-showing-signs-of-increased-flexibility-and-southampton-are-seeing-the-benefits/?source=freedailyemail&campaign=601983

If Chelsea offered us a deal livramento including Broja, I’d snap their hand off. Broja would be far more important and valuable to us and we have KWP, who’s more than good enough (imo better atm) and I’m sure we could find a back up RB. Does make you wonder about the links to that Spence at Forest….

Interesting… FWIW Colwill (a Southampton lad, who’s family member's are key heavily involved with sholing), will be a top player.

I wonder if we’ve been told no to Broja (or not yet at least), but Anjorin is available…

In 2012, Aubameyang was playing top flight french football, so to a degree was already established in European football.

Imo, Ali wouldn’t suit Ralph’s preferred 4222 formation (tbh I think that’s a crap formation anyway), but I think if we played more of a 4411 (as we have done a few times this season now), I think he’d be a very good option in the 10 for us. The trouble with Ali, a bit like Ozil towards the end of his time in England, is that he’s not really a midfielder and not really a striker. He’s an attacking 10, who offers little defensively, which makes it very hard to squeeze him into a team. Similar in a way to MLT… where would he fit in to a modern side? Could see him doing well at Newcastle, under Howe, in the same way that King and Wilson played at bournemouth as a pair, at times. All theoretical though, he’s not gonna come here, he’ll end up at Everton or Newcastle.

For the love of god, please stop calling him ‘Ralf’. You’ve only had 3 years to start spelling his name right ffs. As for the geezer at AFCON, wouldn’t touch anyone based on who shines, in that comp (unless they’re established in Europe), with a barge pole, absolute joke of a competition.

I’d have thought 30m is more likely the figure they’d want (if he’s for sale at all). The fact we’ve made an offer would suggest that we’ve been encouraged that he potentially is available though..?