chiknsmack

Strasbourg are Chelsea's Valenciennes, so if he does realise his potential he probably ends up at Chelsea for a nominal fee.

Stephens Lyanco Bazunu is the solution to our defensive midfield woes.

Cameras usually make conditions look better than they are, but for most of the second half I had a hard time spotting the ball (and no chance of seeing P13A players) when play was on the far side of the pitch. The pitch didn't look too good but it played a lot better than it looked. Camblan looks a good addition.

Right-footed Sulemana and KWP on the left. Bree and left-footed Aribo or Dibling on the right. Players who found themselves consistently in the right position to go to the byline and curl a cross back for Onuachu and most of them were on the wrong side of the pitch to do so (and the other for whatever reason had zero interest in trying). Things have improved by having a clear, simple plan when in possession in the defensive third (don't tap it around and eventually pass it to the opposition to let them have a shot; just send it long). We're no longer the architects of our own demise at the back. Now we need a clear, simple plan in attack, something like "Get it wide, then get it forward, then get it in the box". If repeatedly playing the ball around our own box led to conceding goals, maybe repeatedly playing the ball into the opposition box could lead to scoring some.

Yes. The Gakpo that almost came to us or Leeds until Dutch national team coach Louis Van Gaal told him to stay in the Netherlands until after the World Cup, where he scored three goals and caught the eye of Liverpool. And the Ramos that almost came to us until Benfica qualified for the Champions League group stages, decided to keep him, and he too scored three goals at the World Cup. It's not unthinkable that such players can end up at Saints. In fact that's SR's whole goal; find (and sign) players who within a window or two are wanted at Liverpool and PSG. As I said the scouting team are pretty good at the finding, but whoever does the signing part leaves a lot to be desired.

We didn't miss out on Gakpo and Ramos by much. If either of those had gotten across the line we'd never have heard of Onuachu/Sulemana/Orsic, and only possibly heard of BBD/Archer/Stewart after selling Gakpo or Ramos for big money (even then we probably would've aimed higher). There's not much wrong with the scouting, it's the final decision-makers who leave a lot to be desired.

Ramsdale Suga ABK THB KWP Lavia Fernandes Dibling Lallana Alcaraz Archer You can have Dibling and Lallana sharing a spot to shoehorn JWP or Stu in. We've learnt the hard way that DM is the most important position on the pitch (our performances when JWP was tasked with filling in for Romeu or Lavia) and that's the main thing for the new manager to figure out. Downes may - or may not - fall into that "too good for the Champ, not good enough for the Prem" void, and I still hold out hope that Ugochukwu is good enough. He, like Shea Charles, struggled under Martin's tippy-tappy strategy but could be better suited to making tackles and handing the ball off to someone more creative rather than rondos on the edge of his own box.

Your post translated to "Now it's on to the championship", but "the Championship" is the 2nd division (the one we're trying to avoid being relegated to).

New manager bounce, win three of four against Fulham/Wham/Palace/Brentford to get back into the fight, and then Levy offers half of what he's worth as per usual so he goes? I don't see it. £70m in the summer if we go down. If we stay up and keep improving in subsequent years he's here for life.

6th in the league in touches, 16th in the league in touches in the attacking penalty area. 3rd in the league in passes received, 15th in the league in progressive passes received (successful passes into the penalty area, or passes in the attacking 60% of the pitch which move the ball forward 10 yards or more from its furthest point in the prior six passes). 6th in the league in possession, 19th in the league in shot-creating actions, 20th in the league in shots.

There are a few players missing from those plans. Fernandes would be another big-money sale, though I'd hope for the possibility of PL loans for him, THB, and Dibling (and Ramsdale? Loan him to a promoted side in the hope he keeps them up at the expense of a more-established PL side, then take him back the next season to weaken the loanee side in 26/27? Maybe a loan swap for their top-of-the-Championship-quality keeper?) so they can return when we bounce straight back up to the Prem. If we return to the Prem in 2026/27 with a championship squad and have to buy new replacements for those three on top of what we need to do to improve on the current squad to become mid-table Prem at minimum, we won't have the money. If we return to the Prem, get those back for free and can add a few more of similar calibre we'll be competitive. I know we sold Lavia and JWP last time, but we loaned out ABK and TP and kept KWP. Something similar (sell two, loan two) would be better than selling all four. Whether the owners would agree, or would see the opportunity to get a profit in the books and take it, I don't know. BBD has largely been somewhere between shit and fucking shit this season, but there's a player there. He, Archer, and Armstrong are all capable of 20+ goals in the Champ. Fraser would be the experienced option alongside Edozie and SAA. As someone else has mentioned, Charles would be back and has impressed with consistent games at that level this season. I'm not convinced Taylor and Bednarek would stay, so there could be two more "NEW"s required there. Ramsdale was £25m this year and after an England recall wouldn't be much/any cheaper. Dibling is roughly Livramento/Lavia level already so there's most of £60m on its own. THB has an England callup and a Man City pedigree so wouldn't be far behind Ramsdale. As above I think we have the strikers to score for fun in the Champ, though as you say having a manager who actually wants to attack like mad and score for fun would help immensely.

There was a similar reasoning behind the Hasenhüttl/Klopp high press; some large percentage of goals are scored within a small number of seconds of a change of possession, so the goal was to force turnovers high up the pitch and then have a shot ASAP.

I took notes on Downes in the first half because I've been really disappointed in him slowing down the attack and wanted to know if I was just biased and remembering all the times he turned back while ignoring all the times he went forward. 35 notable plays in the first half (33 touches, two others; pressing Pickford and letting a man run past him on the break). Six positive plays, 11 negative, the rest neutral. He does turn back as much as I think he does. On one of his neutral plays he received the pass from Fernandes while wide open in space, looked to turn and play back before eventually doing the right thing and playing forward. Even one of the six positive plays was one where he was slow to make himself available and slow to play a pass just outside his own box, but eventually played it forward/wide to KWP. His instinct is to play backwards, probably in large part because he receives the ball either with his back to goal or his back to the right-hand touchline (which, being right-footed, sees him want to play passes to his left, ie. backwards). In the second half when he switched to the left of the midfield two and Aribo came on on the right, the KWP/Aribo connection was MUCH better than the KWP/Downes one. You could argue for Aribo on the right and Downes on the left of a midfield two (as we saw after Aribo came on), but I think there's also an argument the midfield two should be Lallana on the left and KWP on the right, with Sugawara at RB. On paper Lallana and KWP sounds like a lightweight pairing, but they're both very good with the ball and both very experienced. In games where Russball works and we control possession (obviously I'd prefer to be more defensive-minded against clearly better sides) we're likely to see more attacking action from that pairing than from Downes and anyone. If Lallana can only play 45 minutes you then have Downes to come on and shore things up if needed (ideally on the left where he's more inclined to play forward). It was notable that today's gameplan led to many occasions where Downes was the furthest man forward. I'd much rather have KWP being the furthest man forward in those situations; he's more likely to pick the right pass or score a goal. Plus KWP in midfield gets both him and Sugawara on the park, when they're two of the best 5-8 players in the whole squad; certainly both better than Downes.

If I were in charge I'd be trying to stay in the PL. Ramsdale, KWP, Sugawara, Dibling, and Fernandes are all good enough for a mid-table PL side, and it's better to start next season with those five and try to find another eight or ten of the same over the next few seasons to become an entrenched top half side/contender for Europe than to go back down to the Championship and MAYBE keep one or two of them. I disagree with point 2; I'm not assuming we're already down with a relatively weak squad. (I AM assuming we're down with the current manager; RM would legitimately need a miracle to stay up). That said, if staying up isn't an option, I'd probably keep RM. He's gotten promotion before, and the squad he'd have next season would be stronger and more used to his style of play than the one he got promoted last season (assuming we only lose the above listed five, Charlie Taylor who left Burnley because he didn't fancy another season in the Championship and so presumably would ditch us too, and a couple of youngsters like SAA). But where would that get us; back in the Prem with RM at the helm and a weaker squad than we have now? Then giving him eight or ten games before considering sacking him if we don't have a double-figure points haul? If/when we get to that point of consideration, do we keep him again and accept relegation again so he can get promotion from the Championship for a third time in 2027/28? The plan to become a yoyo club and hope we don't slip up and become a midtable Championship club is a dumb one; the plan MUST be to become an established mid-table PL club because mid-table in the Championship (or worse) is hardly a life worth living (though I know some of you disagree and apparently would enjoy following the club when they win ten or fifteen games a year in the Champ or L1 with affordable tickets). Keeping RM doesn't accomplish that, so even if you're certain that keeping him means we're down this season and will walk the Championship next season (which is my position), I can understand giving him the sack now. With respect to point 3, I think we'll struggle to sell KWP. An acceptable club can give him an acceptable contract and give us a few million quid in January, or they can wait until July and give him the few million instead as a signing bonus when he signs as a free agent. If I was him I know which one I'd choose.

We sounded out Schmidt around that time too.