Saint Pete

Totally this. If the club really are saying there is no money at all to strengthen unless we sell despite what you have said above, then hard to see how we will attract another decent manager if we don't secure Hughes. There are clear areas of weakness in the squad that need addressing and Hughes would be right to push for assurances that the club are serious about backing him to do something about them. That's not to say we can throw huge amounts of cash about but there must surely be something left from the Van Dijk sale and getting the highest earner off the books? We have to also take into account that there are far fewer of our current players who you would expect to be sold for big fees after this last season. So if we are relying solely on that, we will really be shopping in the bargain basement! Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

Can we necessarily assume that Hughes wants to play with 3 big centre backs next season though? I think he went with that formation by necessity for the run in because we are so weak at centre back. If we can sign at least 1 maybe 2 better quality CBs, maybe he will look to return to a back 4. But that would probably mean moving on at least 1 of our current players in that position. Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

Pleased if he is staying as I think he is probably our best centre back now. But we do need to get better quality in for this position, which means someone will need to go to make space in the squad. Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

Arteta to Arsenal seems odd to me. Surely the Arsenal fans would be expecting a more experienced manager, so seems a big gamble and a lot to ask for a manager raking his first job. Still wouldn’t be surprised if they have someone else lined up.

I think the view that Hughes hates any flair and creativity is a lazy assumption that isn't really backed up by what we has done at other clubs, Stoke included. I thought he had actually worked hard to improve their style of play after the Pulis Stoke years and signed quite a few flair players, some of which worked out and others didn't. Typically of the Stoke fans, I think they ended up complaining about this and said they wanted to go back to hoof ball! I think he will insist on commitment and effort from the players as well and I don't see anything wrong with that after the insipid performances we have had to put up with over the last couple of seasons.

If Hughes has little time for players with a poor attitude like Boufal, there's no "sadly" about it in my opinion. He really isn't good enough to put up with him refusing to come on in crucial games etc. All of our squad were grossly mismanaged under Pellegrino, but not all of them behaved in the way Boufal did when Hughes came in and tried to put things right. I think Hughes may want Gabbi to stay however, but that probably depends more on what the player wants to do. Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

It's also worrying how passive Gao still appears to be, apparently just leaving Krueger and Reed to get on with it, even after the near disaster of the last season. You would have expected almost being relegated would have encouraged him to take closer order to protect his investment but there seems little sign of that so far. That can only lead to a continued vacuum of proper leadership and accountability in my opinion. If as seems likely Hughes is confirmed as manager that will be a boost. But I think we do need a good summer window if we want to give him the best chance to reverse the trend of the last couple of years and I can't say I'm encouraged by the noises from Krueger about the lack of any real change. Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

I don't think many Saints fans want or expect the club to spend beyond it's means. But what Kruger seems to be saying in the interview is that it's our policy to only re-invest what we get from player trading, unless I'm reading it wrongly. That implies that little or none of the massive hike in TV rights money is planned to be invested in strengthening the squad. If this is the case, how can we expect anything other than a continuing gradual decline in quality of our squad in relation to the other clubs in the premier league, who I think we can assume will be using at least some of this revenue to fund improving their squads? I don't have massive objections if they want to look to expand our profile in China, but that strategy is absolutely pointless if we take our eye off the ball in terms of competing in the premier league (as we did this season), because no-one in China will give a **** if we are not in the Prem.

This was the most concerning bit for me and something he should have been challenged more about in the interview. With all of the income that we get from TV, it seems extraordinary if Ralph is saying none of that is available for strengthening the team and all the budget for "investment" needs to come from player sales! Even more extraordinary that Ralph thinks we should be happy about that! If this really is the case, it backs up the worries that Gao is banking the TV cash to pay back what he has paid to Kat for the club surely? Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

Still way too much emphasis on the decision not to bend over and let Van Dijk leave in the summer. You do get the feeling that Ralph is lining us up for lots of further sales where the club will say "we are just getting back to the successful Southampton way". I get that Van Dijk's strop can't have helped MP with the morale of the team when he took over, but there are many other reasons and mistakes over the last couple of years that you still feel the management are sweeping under the carpet. I don't think the answer to all our problems is "let's sell any player who expresses an interest in leaving" irrespective of what that will do to the quality of the team. I would have liked to have heard more acceptance that the recruitment side has not been good enough lately and that we have failed to replace players with good enough quality in certain areas. He doesn't need to name names but that would have given me more confidence that the club know they need to strengthen to bring us back up to the level that we were at. We can't just expect Hughes to do it all without the support he needs in getting the right players into the squad. Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

I agree, but suspect it's not as black and white as that. I can't believe Hughes would be saying he wants to run everything, probably just that he wants to be fully involved in decisions on signings, targets etc? Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

In a team that is functioning properly and using him in the right way, I think Tadic will always create chances. So there's no way we should be selling him. What we need is more players in the attacking third who are capable of converting the chances he creates. So would much rather we move on the likes of Redmond and Boufal, who produce far less end product than Dusan. Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

Have you been watching the last 6 games? Surely you must acknowledge that there has been a marked improvement in performance? He’s only been in charge for 8 league games and 3 of those were against Chelsea, Arsenal and City. Put in that context, the results he has achieved have been very good and just as importantly he seems to have the backing of the players, something the last 2 managers never seemed to achieve. I personally think it’s very unlikely we will be able to attract a manager with a much better record than Hughes at the moment, and I certainly don’t trust Les and co to unearth any gems if we go into another lengthy round of “due diligence” on other available candidates. Any talk of the likes of Tuchel or Ancelotti, etc is absolute pie in the sky. So let’s get on with appointing Hughes, so that everyone can work towards improving the squad, which should be what we are focused on this summer.

We did at Swansea. For this season, that's all that matters. We will only stop making those errors when we get better defenders in. Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

What do you expect within 8 games? He's done more than enough to justify getting the job permanently. There is important work to do on the squad, appoint Hughes now so we can get on with it. Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

Oh well. Pity that, poor goal to concede, but doesn't matter [emoji3] Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

Set piece, come on. Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

Great stuff Tadic, unlucky. Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

I think it will be their strongest available 11 or very close. Pep will want to be seen to respect the competition and he has said he wants to get the 100 points. Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

If we do let Austin go, we need to bring someone in who we can rely on for goals at premier league level. Sorry, but there is nothing to suggest Gallagher is that man. Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

Player - McCarthy Goal - Tadic Helmet - Boufal Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

A 10 goal swing is unlikely, but it's complacent to think that it's impossible, particularly in these circumstances. We are up against the best team in the land who have scored over 100 goals this season, scoring 5 goals or above on a number of occasions. Swansea are up against the worst team in the league, freshly relegated, making them quite likely to fold if Swansea can get in front early. When Huddersfield were still in the mix, it felt more comfortable as Swansea would have gone into their game thinking any win may be enough. They now know they have to attack from the start, looking for goals. So I hope that Hughes has already drummed any thoughts that it is "job done" out of the players, and they are approaching this game in the same 100% committed way they have the last 3 games. I think we need to approach like a normal game, looking to play a strategy to get points, rather than thinking that a 2 or 3 goal defeat is OK, which is likely to lead to an edgy afternoon if Swansea start building a lead in their game! Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

Goals scored, which we are also ahead on. So they effectively need a 10 goal swing. Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

But don't get sent off in the first 5 minutes FFS!! Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

I would certainly rather Gabbi stayed than Boufal or Carrillo! But others have said, suspect if he and the wife are not happy here off the pitch, it's probably best he moves on.