Rebel

That was terrible last night - from the moment the line-up was announced. Unfortunately it suggested a manager who has lost the plot a little bit. A midfield of Aribo and Smallbone and Adam Armstrong was always going to struggle. And playing Shea Charles in defence and not midfield made no sense either with Holgate and Bednarek on the bench. I couldn't work out if we were playing 4-4-2 with Adams and Adarma upfront or 4-3-3 with Adarma in midfield though. I went on a bit of an Aribo watch and he was terrible - he looked lazy and unfit. He couldn't even do the basics for a midfielder right - pass and move in to space for the return pass. And never really seemed to be in the right space. Likewise Sulemana when he came on - again terrible. Full of it - whatever it is - but not really any idea what to do with the ball or how to play in a football team. With both Adams and Adarma on the pitch we still lacked a centre forward or goal scorer. They are both second strikers - although very different in style. They both need a centre forward to play-off or play behind. Neither one really fits in a 4-3-3. Ross Stewart better bloody well be a superman of a centre forward when he starts playing. Adarma is not really a centre forward, he's not our best attacking midfielder and he's not our best winger - so why make him captain. Alcaraz and Stu should start in the AM role over him all season long. The team that ended the game was more like the team that should have started the game - and that's a terrible thing to have to say. But if I am honest I'd struggle to pick a first 11 whether we were playing 4-4-2, 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1. There are some fundamental problems with the team/squad that will take at least another transfer window - and money - too fix. In terms of promotion I think this season is already a write-off.

I am not sure that is true. I think both Leicester and Leeds ended up having better transfer windows than us and have ended up with better squads. And I would say Norwich also look like they still have a good squad despite this being their second year in the Championship. Watford too maybe. Probably both as good as ours if not better. And I think you are ignoring the teams like Ipswich and Sunderland that have quietly been building good squads - and are on a upwards curve. Sunderland just beat us 5-0 by the way. I don’t think our squad is that good in reality - and it looks like our manager isn’t that good either.

It’s not bravery passing the ball out from the back when there is no pass on and you give it away on the edge of the area - it’s stupidity nothing else the team doesn’t look like it has the raw material to play the way Martin wants it to - and that is Wilcox and the owners fault but Martin needs to accept it will take time to build a team capable of playing that way - and get real about the players he has and play the way that gets the best out of them but even then we look light in midfield, lack a goal scorer or centre forward and attacking midfielders - and any real depth at full back I’d struggle to name a proper full first 11 playing either 4-3-3, 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1 msubr you could just about name a team to play 4-2-3-1 if you are going to play 4-3-3 you need a proper centre forward and 2 good wingers or at least a very talented false 9 and 2 wide or inside forwards we have Adams whose a support striker, Adarma whose a second striker, and 2 left wingers in Edozie and Fraser (one is too small and the other is too young and inexperienced) neither of whom who should be starters i won’t count Ross Stewart until he proved he is fit enough to play again - and shown he’s made a full recovery I am not sure what Kamaldeen is - apart from a load of false hype And that’s before you get to the gaps in midfield and defence. Charles looks like a good DM but is too young to be first choice game in game out. I’m not sure what Flynn Downes is. Smallbone is box-to-box 8 I think and Stu and Alcaraz are attacking Central Midfielders. Aribo - again I have no idea really - I forget about him most of the time we have 2 full backs who can’t seem to defend - and in Larios (too small/too young) and Bree (too bad) back- ups we don’t seem to have any confidence in we should be able to name 22 players we can rely on to be OK (not great but OK) - 2 for each position - and we can’t

Smallbone played as an 8 and a 10 for Stoke - but started the season for us as a 6 and did pretty well at it. I would say his best position is probably as an 8 on the right of the midfield. I would guess he returned a bit too soon from his injury for the Sunderland game - as he looked out of sorts - but then so did the whole midfield. Downes is a 6 and played there for Swansea under Martin - allowing Grimes to get forward. But I would guess he can play the 8 role as well. I think maybe he got through the QPR game on adrenaline as he looked off his game at Sunderland - hopefully due to the after effects of his food poisoning. I am not sure we have the right squad - after the transfer window - to keep playing the 4-3-3. It looks a bit unbalanced with Martin trying to put square pegs in round holes. Not replacing Tella was a big miss. He was really our only wide forward. Adarma is much better as a second striker than as a centre forward - and scored all those goals for Blackburn playing on the right of a 3 behind the centre forward - where he can use the space and make the runs from deep. The squad looks better suited to a 4-2-3-1 at the moment with Adam Armstrong, Alcaraz and Smallbone/Stu in the 3 behind Adams/Stewart, and Downes and Charles sitting as the 2 in front of the back 4. The fullbacks in KWP and Manning are both attack minded and get forward too much - and seem to forget their defensive duties - which leaves the 2 centre backs exposed in the 4-3-3. One of them needs to sit back in the 4-3-3 whilst the other moves in to midfield. But at the moment they both seem to play more like attacking midfielders or wingers. Maybe that why we signed Holgate - to play as a more defensively minded full back on the right. So for Leicester I'd play: Bazunu KWP Bednarek THB Manning Charles Downes Smallbone Alcaraz Adarma Adams Which put round pegs in round holes and will get the best out of the full backs as well as Adarma, Alcaraz and Smallbone. - and give the centre backs more protection.

Bednarek was superb for most of the game against QPR - he had Sinclair Armstrong in his pocket once he’d figured out how to play him. His commitment has been great so far this season - and he has the experience we need at the back. He’s a level above the Championship - and maybe he’s become the leader at the back we have always needed him to be. I think the Villa experience taught him a lot. I’d play him over ABK all day long. Maybe ABK has a higher ceiling - but all he’s really shown us is he’s a quitter when things get hard. Now we could have said the same thing about Bednarek in the past - I’ll give you that. if we don’t sell ABK I more or less expect him to go on strike until January.

true we don't know what was offered for ABK or Sulemana - maybe the offers were so lowball they weren't even worth contemplating. But I think holding out for £25M and £30M is probably a bit too hardline. I still think Sulemana will be another Djenepo - I don't see him as a £50M player. But I could be wrong.

If we can't shift Tall Paul, Sulemana and ABK before the end of the week does this mean we are going to be stuck with them playing in the reserves - if at all - and eating up money we could use elsewhere? And going down in value? I think I'd have taken any offer for Sulemana and ABK that got us our money back to get them off the wage bill. And with Tall Paul I would have accepted a short term loss to avoid a longer term loss.

the value of players on the balance sheet is amortised - so if you buy a player for £10M and give him a 5 year contract his value drops by £2M for every year of that contract until he is out of contract. It doesn't matter whether or not his transfer value goes up or down until that is realised by selling him. I am guessing that is why some players are going out on loan with the option/obligation to buy next summer as it means we retain their value on our spreadsheet for another years - whereas if we sold them for a lot less than we paid for them this year our balance sheet would take a hit. Transfer fees are also normally paid in instalments which also affects the balance sheets. But this is all management accounting dark arts and spreadsheet black magic. It ignores the fact that Sports Republic have invested about £250M or more in Southampton - both in buying the club and loans or capital injections to fund buying players. They want this back - or as much of it as they can get. Which means they will have to take it out through management fees, loans repayments or dividends. I expect they will do this over the 3 years off the parachute payments - and will use that money and the money raised from player sales to do it. Which is why we don't have loads of money to spend despite player sales. I could be wrong - and SR could be happy to write off the investment or they could be happy to bet it all on getting promoted this season. . Most investors would take the money out until what remains of the money invested equals the value of the club without parachute payments - which means on paper they haven't made a loss. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle - they are looking to recoup a large chunk of the investment but not all - and spend enough on the squad to give us a fighting chance of going straight back up - but not bet the house on it. Even if we were in the premier league I think they would want the money the put in to buy players back.

I actually thought Mara had a good game on Saturday and made a big difference when he came on. He led the line OK and occupied the QPR centre backs allowing Adarma to drop deep and creating the space for him to run in to. He gave us a bit of pace and presence upfront. His quick thinking free kick also put Fraser through on goal. If we sell Adams - and I think we will - I would still want him replaced though. I'd be happy with Bojan Mioviski from Aberdeen to replace Adams and Andi Zeqiri from Brighton to replace Tella.

Out of interest what is the average Championship wage? £10K a week? Or is much lower than that. I thought I read Flynn Downes is on £25K a week. And that Everton were paying a large % of Holgates wages (£70K a week) which I took to mean we would be paying about £35K a week for him as well. I would have thought it was a similar deal with Ryan Fraser.

Totally agree with that - but it doesn’t change the way they are going to act now unfortunately

Sports Republic are restructuring following a major investment which was then followed by a major loss of revenue they are selling / liquidating the assets to get that investment back - and that means selling players they also want to cut the costs / wage bill to a level that fits with our annual revenue It’s what any business would do in similar circumstances they will use players sales and the parachute payments to recoup that investment over the next 3 years - probably until what’s left of the investment matches the value of the club in the Championship without parachute payments any positive difference after that can be spent on growing the business to make a return - i.e flipping your payers and maybe getting promoted Shea Charles being an example of this They would obviously like to get promoted but they are not going to count on it having lost a lot of money already

I have no issue with selling Adams - if we had a replacement for him already. the Champions is his level but he has a year left on his contract so you have to sell unless he signs a new contract similar with Adarma - he’s not good/ big enough to be the centre forward and we should have better AMs/wingers but I would have liked us to have signed Piroe and Duk for example before cashing in I am sure there is a plan - it might be B or C by now - but it’s not an obvious one right now

I didn’t hear the interview - but that makes me think Bednarek is off I still think KWP will go though

My first game at St Mary’s since early 2019. Gave up my season ticket after the season of Puel and then only went to 3 or 4 games a season during Pelegrín’s and Hughes’s and only saw bad losses. Partly due to how bad the football was and the increasing costs - but also family circumstances. Even gave up watching Saints on TV at the end of last season we were so bad. Im a little bit excited and nervous about today - but I have missed match days. have to confess though I bought a ticket last minute as I was starting to worry it might be last chance to see a home win for a while with our ever decreasing team hoping Adams gives us one more game and starts up front - but apart from that the first 11 picks itself as we are looking a bit thin with outgoings, incomings not match ready and injuries. Bazunu KWP Stephens Bednarek Manning Charles Alcaraz S Armstrong A Armstrong Edozie Adams

I am pretty sure Holgate has been signed to replace KWP as someone who can pass the ball and move forward into midfield as an inverted fullback. With Bree as the back up. I think Woods will be the replacement for Lyanco and I am hopeful that when ABK leaves Taylor Harwood-Bellis replaces him. Maybe I am wrong and it’s 2 players in to replace 3 outgoing in KWP, Lyanco and ABK.

I don’t see how we will get a better Championship striker than Adams or Piroe with a record of c20 goals in a season. It looks like Adams is off and we missed out on Piroe who was his most obvious replacement. We also missed out on Cameron Archer and Chuba Akpom and we’ve just let Tella go. We all seem to have given up on Mara - and I have a feeling he will be heading back to France sooner rather than later. We’ve been linked with Duk from Aberdeen who scored 16 goals in the Scottish Premier League - so League 1 level in reality. I’d be happy with either him or Mioviski as one of our strikers but not as the top gun. I am fully prepared to be surprised by Martin and Wilcox pulling a star player out of the hat - but I am not hopeful. Maybe there is some truth in the Ings on loan rumours.

I’d add Aribo, Mara, Bree, Perraud and Sulemana to that list, I don’t get all the hype around Sulemana. He’s scored 5 goals in 2 years at Rennes in Ligue 1 and 2 goals in 18 appearances for us. We massively overpaid for him. From what I have seen of him he’s another Djenepo - maybe with a bit more pace but smaller - but still with no end product. He will score the odd wonder goal and make some amazing runs but mostly there will be no end product with no pass or cross or no shot on target. Also don’t really see how he fits Martin’s pass move and pass football.

Tella, Smallbone and Alcaraz should have been the 3 untouchables this summer - they should all have been told they were going nowhere from the very start. I can’t imagine any of them are on massive wages.

I am guessing its one it and one out in terms of striker for us - and with both the Ounachu and Adams moves seeming to fall part we couldn't close the deal for Piroe whereas Leeds could. If that's the case Sports Republic should have taken the temporary financial hit and signed Piroe and then done their best ship out Ounachu and Mara. I have the horrible feeling we are going to be stuck with them this season - and neither one judged good enough to play. Looks like Holgate is being brought in to replace KWP at right back and provide some cover at CB - with Bree being the cover at right back and another one we are stuck with.

Please tell me Moussa Djenepo is leaving - still can't believe he was nearly out of contract last year and they gave him 2 more years. It looks like he's a nice person and he has some talent with the football - and he works hard - but he has no end product and no football brain. Aribo is another one I hope leaves - is lack of effort and movement is just terrible. I don't think we'd replace either one if they left. We just wouldn't miss them. And please let it be Sulemana that is off - not Tella.

Hopefully Pantsil is off to Everton or somewhere else - which means Genk will have the money to bring 'Tall Paul' home.

Ryan Fraser is a big no from me. He will be a toxic signing for most fans which is reason enough not to sign him - even more so if he replaces Tella. He is too small for English football and 5ft4 - and he relied on his pace which has probably gone now he's 29. Pus his attitude stinks and he played for a Bournemouth team that seemed to hate us for some odd reason. The only light in this tunnel is Sulemana is off and we are cashing in on him before other people realise he's another Djneppo. Even then I'd rather rely on one of the youth team over Fraser.

I would be less than happy if we end up we end up selling Adams and signing Shankland - the definition of a journeyman footballer - from the Scottish Premier League which is equivalent to League 1 at best. it’s alright signing potential from there in the form of a young player but not a 28 year old. I’d take a risk on Duk for example but not as our main striker. does Stu count as young when signed him? Van Dijk certainly did. no more Aribos or McCann’s please. I don’t get the Sulemana appreciation - he’s scored one wonder goal - but so has Djneppo. His track record and end product are terrible.

Sports Republic want the money they put in to the club back before its too late. Its that simple - they are not going to throw more good money after bad. Once they have that moneyback guaranteed by player sales and/or parachute payments - and they are probably fine with getting it back in instalments over the next 2 or 3 years - any additional money we make from player sales or the parachute payments we can probably spend on strengthening the team. And give us a shot at promotion. They bought the club to make money - and buy selling players - being in the Championship doesn't fundamentally change that. Its not like the Premier League TV money made us profitable anyway is it. Unless you are a big six (or is it 7 now) club all the TV money you make and commercial revenue you generate gets eaten up by players wages and transfer fees. If you are lucky you make some money on selling players - but if you don't spend it all - and more - on buying new players you get relegated. I don't really see why anyone would buy a mid table premier league football club to make money.