SaintJackoInHurworth

Just sifting through the transfer news for Saints that is out there, here is a summary: Name Club Position Terem Moffi Lorient (France) Striker Daizen Maeda Celtic Striker Nicolas Jackson Villareal Striker Danny Ings Aston Villa Striker Mystery Striker(!) ? Striker Beto Udinese Striker Oscar Estupinan Hull City Striker Jérémy Doku Rennes (France) Winger Kian Breckin Man City Winger Carlos Borges Man City Winger Rory MacLeod Dundee Utd Winger Michael Keane Everton CB James Bree Luton Town RB Rick Karsdorp Roma RB There may be a couple I have missed. For example, I seem to remember theer being another full-back that we were linked to earlier on, but I can't find the details.

Unlike far too many people on here I am not about to slit my wrists just yet! That's not to say I don't have concerns - of course I do! I am concerned at our lack of striker, at the failure of the squad to adapt their playing style to a way that will deliver a win or at least a draw against what is at best a slightly above average Brighton team, at the failure to replace Romeu so that we have adequate cover for Romeu; I am concerned at the training video which showed a manager with no rapport with his team. Yes, I am concerned, but things can and may turn around: Jones may yet build a good rapport with the squad and understand which players are good and which are inadequate; he may also get to grips with suitable tactics which will work with this squad and deliver the results and performances that we all wish for. Sports Republic may be successful in buying a decent striker and defensive midfield cover - maybe a decent, experienced defensive leader too. Some of our younger players may make the transition to the first team and deliver something new and exciting. Our current run of fixtures may allow us to get some decent results, which may allow us to build some confidence. Of course, there is no guarantee that any of these things will happen, but having seen what a disaster it seems to have been to sack Hasenhuttl, I don't think we need to rush into that course of action again in a hurry. Instead, let's get behind the team and manager and hope that things will improve. If they don't and we find that we are again in the same sort of situation we had with Pellegrino then obviously the board will have to act - but now is not the time to do that. One thing I would also say, though, is that we as supporters can be prone to believing every rumour and every comment about the worst things happening in the club. The fact is that for the most part we haven't a clue what is going on and actually things may be more positive than we fear. I, for one, hope this is the case. COYS

Surely, past record has got to count for something, as has style of football and ability to develop young players. On that basis Dyche cannot be counted - his style of football and dependance on older players is just the complete antithesis of a Saints manager!! Similarly, Jones record of failing miserably at every other club he has managed apart from Luton has got to count against him. Gallardo on the other hand has an incredible record and I agree with the earlier post that getting him would be a coup. Neevrtheless, if he really has been linked with Man Utd and Barcelona and turned them down then the chances of him coming to Saints have got to be pretty slim. Tedesco also looks a possible alternative. Beyond Gallardo and Tedesco, I wonder about Javi Gracia. He did pretty well at Watford and took them to their highest-placed Premier League finish, improving on the success of Marco Silva who is doing so well at Fulham this season. It was a total joke that he got sacked at Watford, just because they had a bad start to the following season. He would have turned that round almost certainly and I think he could turn Saints round too. I think he is also a free agent at present.

I've always been a defender of Hassenhuttl, but I must convince my support for him is beginning to significantly waver. Let me put this in context: I've been concerned for some time that there are too many fans too quick to sling dirt at our players and manager. I definitely feel that some of our poor support for the club has had a bearing on our many failings and that failure on our part has not helped the manager and players to gain confidence in what they are seeking to do. I've been supportive of Ralph because he has been so much better than what came before. Whatever anyone may feel about Ralph, he is definitely an improvement on Hughes and Pellegrino and the football we have played under him has until recently always been better thgan under Puel, albeit, Puel did achieve better results - in large part due to having a better squad. Our squad has had many limitations throughout the whole of the Hassenhuttl era and so it is hard to place the whole blame at his door. I have serious concerns about who we might get to replace Ralph - Parker? Redknapp? Allardyce? Pulis? No thanks to all of those! Benitez? Not really convinced. Tuchel? Maybe but doubt he would come to Saints - and there are many others who would fall into that same category. However... we have changed our coaches and we have revamped the squad (albeit with a failure to recruit a good goalscorer and we have lost our key midfield lynchpin of many seasons) and our results have not improved. This is beginning to undermine my support for Ralph. There is no question that performances and results need to begin to improve soon. If they don't I think the club will have no choice but to spin the wheel, sack Ralph and try to recruit someone else who maybe can do what he has failed to do. If Ralph manages to keep his job over the next few days, I believe the matches against West Ham and Bournemouth will have a significant bearing on his future (none of us expect anything other than defeat against City so, unless we avoid defeat that match probably doesn't make much difference unless it is another 9-0 or similar).

I think it maybe time for a reality check here.... Ralph Before he was our manager we were awful and he transformed the way we play so that we were able to compete in games more often. He has enabled the development of youth and a pathway for them to the first team like no other manager. He is, however, far from perfect and there are better managers. Recently, he seems to have begun to doubt his own methods - which is both a good thing and a bad thing. We have begun to be better at varying our approaches to games which can make it harder for the opposition to know how we will play. On the other hand, we aren't as good as we used to be at what we do well i.e. pressing. Better managers are very hard to attract to a club like Southampton Our transfers We have brought in more players than we have in many transfer windows including some players with real promise like Bella-Kotchap and Lavia. Some of the new players will take longer to adjust than others and we cannot expect them all to be instant world-beaters. Younger players bring an amazing potential and energy; however they also bring inconsistency and are less good at the basics when we need to graft. Maitland-Niles - it has been clearly said that he is not ready and that he will be used when he is ready. I don't hear too many people complaining that we did that with Salisu (who still has much room for improvement). He will have his day! The failure to land a quality striker or winger (or both) who is ready to compete at the our level is a massive concern. Last night's performance Was clearly awful. Is just one match, though it follows another inept performance in the previous game. Nevertheless, it is not time for panic stations yet. Elyounoussi I don't understand how a player who was so out of favour can suddenly become so in-favour. I understand that his work-rate is much better than it used to be and that is great - but it does not transform him into a quality winger. The fact is that he demonstrates less flair and ability to dribble and create opportunities than most other wingers we have had in recent times. Nevertheless, it would be unfair to blame him for last night - the whole team were hopeless with the exception of only a couple of players. Djenepo Was one of our better players last night (at least in the first half) and is one of the few players who have stepped up this season. Romeu Losing him feels like a massive loss and we could have done with him last night. Don't forget, however, that his performance levels were beginning to drop with age noticeably last season and we have got to move beyond him. Sadly, we only replaced Romeu with one player - Lavia. We still have the same issue of not having a backup in that position.

Great to note all these northern-based supporters! As my name suggests I am based in the village of Hurworth near Darlington. Previously I also lived in Northallerton and in Wakefield. I grew up in Hythe and also lived in Farnborough and Basingstoke. I am sure I will have met some of you who are part of Northern Saints. I tend to attend a few matches each season - mostly up North, though in recent years I have tried to take my youngest daughter to a match at St Marys each season when visiting family. To answer the questions about Northern Saints... The club has a presence on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/2450705627 The club itself can be found on Google Groups at https://groups.google.com/g/northernsaints And... to answer another question: As well as Northern Saints, there are a number of other regional Saints groups - some of them with official links to the club like Northern Saints. Personally, I know a couple of other Saints fans in the Darlington area - one lives on my estate and the other is also a member of Northern Saints with whom I sometimes go to matches.

Maybe we should have a sweepstake. Everyone selects a striker that the club could look at and suggest him on here. First one to name a player gets that player as their nomination but only one nomination is allowed. If the club buys that player, the person who nominated them is the winner. Anyone who knows the winner should buy them a pint next time they see them in the pub. I'd go for the player I mentioned earlier: Vangelis Pavlidis. Here is his YouTube video: Hehe!!!

Following the failure to sign Gakpo after Leeds annoying intervention I guess we are all wondering if anyone else might suddenly pop up as being linked with Saints. I imagine it will be some left-field up and coming player who has recently been called up as an international having got some good goal scoring stats with his club. It could be someone like Vangelis Pavlidis who is near the top of the goal scoring stats in Holland: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vangelis_Pavlidis No idea if he is any good, but I am sure the club will have scouted players like him. Let's hope they can pull something out of the bag!

I think the Gakpo situation is all a perfect example of why the club like to do things in private: we have a well-established and successful recruitment policy which identifies good players while some other clubs like Dirty Leeds just pounce on deals being made by other clubs and use the money saved to make a higher offer. It seems to me that the deal was going through until Leeds decided to interfere and that just left the player unsure so that he has decided he can't cope with all the hassle. Leeds and PSV don't come out of this with a great reputation if you ask me. If we don't manage to save the deal then I kind of hope he stays put and PSV get into financial difficulties as a result!!

We have been linked this morning with Man City striker Adedire Mebude: Spurs, Newcastle and PSV are also linked with him.

I believe that if Romeu is leaving (as seems likely) then we will definitely bring in either Garner or Maitland-Niles. I think/hope it will be Maitland-Niles and feel that our formation tonight would have been a great advert for how he could fit into the Saints set-up. He also provides an extra option if needed as full-back cover. I am loving the rumours about Gakpo and would love it if we sign him. It seems he is definitely moving somewhere and we have been in the driver's seat. However, I am a little concerned with the increasing number of clubs being linked with him but a lot of the links seem fairly weak, so I am hopeful we will be the ones to sign him. Our interest in Caleta-Car is also exciting, but I think it's dependant on quick progress in negotiating to sign him and in selling Bednarek. I hope we don't sell Bednarek without a replacement. Unfortunately, this all still leaves us with no clear link to a striker. My guess is that they have realised that it is a choice between either an average striker and winger or one good player in one of those positions and I think we have decided to go for Gakpo rather than Ramos. I don't think Broja was ever seriously on the cards as he is neither creative enough nor a 15+ goals-a-season striker. It would be amazing to sign AMC, Gakpo, DCC and also a striker and a full-back, but I doubt very strongly that it will happen!!

So, if we sign both Maitland-Niles and Caleta-Car will we have the most double-barrelled names in any one football club ever?!! Bella-Kotchap Walker-Peters Ward-Prowse Caleta-Car Maitland-Niles We could also technically include Lyanco Neves-Vojnovic in this list. That ignores the B Team player Zuriel Otseh-Taiwo and under 18 players Fedel Ross-Lang and Ryan Chavez-Munoz. For good measure you could also include Lexi Lloyd-Smith from the women's team and the head of women's football Marieanne Spacey-Cale!

Some of the links to Saints this summer have been fascinating and the link to Gakpo seems one of the more amazing ones. By the sounds of things (and I have no idea personally) it would be great if true, but it sounds too good to be true! It sounds like a smokescreen to me. I would anticipate we are more likely to sign someone like Vangelis Pavlidis who scored a decent number of goals in the Eredivisie last season and is a Greek international. At 23 he would be a very Saintsy signing!!

Who said anything about him being back up? He is clearly a much better central defender than Salisu, so I would see Salisu as back-up - albeit his frequent indisciplined runs up the wing last season may suggest he would be better employed in that role anyway! As others have said, if we sell Bednarek, I would be worried about having Lynaco or Stephens as back up. Give Salisu the time to develop as back-up and maybe he can develop into the central defender some people believe he already is.

So... just a thought... there are rumours saying that Bednarek is in talks to sign for Aston Villa. Meanwhile there are also rumours that Tyrone Mings has fallen out with Steven Gerrard. Is there any possibility that Mings (a former reject of the Saints academy) and Bednarek might be involved in a swap deal?

There seem to be far too many people on this forum that believe this rubbish and I don't understand why! A look at the statistics may help: Goals conceded in 2021-22 while playing in matches where they started or played more than 45 minutes: Bednarek: 51 goals conceded in 31 games = 1.65 goals per game Salisu: 57 goals conceded in 34 games = 1.68 goals per game Lyanco: 19 goals conceded in 9 games = 2.11 goals per game Stephens: 19 goals conceded in 9 games = 2.11 goals per game Valery: 7 goals conceded in 5 games = 1.4 goals per game Those statistics actually suggest that Valery had the best defensive stats last season of these four, but it must be noted that in most of those games he played as part of a centre-back three rather than a two. It is also worth noting that Salisu's stats would be slightly worse if we were to count the goal conceded against Spurs after he was sent off. What is absolutely clear is that Lyanco and Stephens had far worse stats than Bednarek and even Salisu's stats were slightly worse than his. With this in mind, I reiterate the point that while Bednarek is not a great defender the obscene way that he has been derided by some is completely over the top and we should not be rushing him out of the door until we are completely sure that we have adequate defensive cover. FWIW, I am extremely hopeful that Bella-Kotchap will prove to be the first genuinely quality central defender that we have had since Van Dijk and I hope that Salisu will also continue to improve.

Ten days to go and despite being linked with a number of players, none of the rumours seem to be very strong that we might sign those players - in most cases the players seem to have been linked with other clubs who would seem more likely to be successful in signing them. Is this where Saints suddenly make a left-field signing (or several) completely out of the blue? I certainly hope so!!!

You are spot on with this, but sadly too many people cannot see it! Bednarek has been our most consistent centre back for years and a lot of the blame that has been piled on him from last season is just wrong! I'm not saying that Bednarek was without error, but, as I have said numerous times on here, a fair number of the apparent shortcomings of Bednarek last season were actually situations where he was covering for the inadequacies of Salisu and others - not least Salisu's annoying tendency to think that he can play like a wing back and forage up the wing. It was no surprise on occasions that Bednarek was not able to stop goals when he was covering the roles of two or even three players asd well as his own defensive duties. For me, Bednarek is better than Stephens, Lyanco or any of our other back-up centre backs and we would be foolish to let him go without other decent defensive recruits.

It seems to mean Elite Development Squad (E.g. See www.mancity.com/news/eds-academy/shea-charles-eds-v-leicester-preview-63795989)

Hammer... Nail... Hit! Spot on! And don't give me the crap about some sources being more believable than others. Sky, The Athletic, The Daily Fail, The Scum, The Torygraph, even Fabrizio Romano - they all make up stories when they have nothing to write. That's how they make their money! Case in point: The Athletic - the other day they were saying that Forest were in talks to sign Adams, but now suddenly they are going for Emmanuel Dennis! The reality is probably that someone, somewhere, associated with Forest may have mentioned an interest in Adams and suddenly that is changed to become 'they are in talks'. It is all crap and some of our fans need to get a life if they believe everything they read! We have seen it with the media backing for this dreadful government and we see it every season in the transfer window. My advice: Don't waste your money buying them! Again - spot on! I just wish we had more positive fans who would get behind the club and our players instead of criticising at the first opportunity. All we are doing when we do that is falling into a narrative set by the blue few down the road. Sadly, I suspect there are a few of those among us who, embarassed by the failings of their own tin pot club, can only find pleasure by nurturing division and criticism among the Saints fanbase. I'm not saying that we shouldn't ever say anything critical - but it does concern me that there are some fans who never have anything positive to say; and this forum has probably got more than your average number of fans who are that way inclined! Sadly, it is why a fair number of loyal Saints fans cannot stand to read this forum or any of the other ones. Anyway, rant over!!!!! Let's get back to what this particular stream of the forum is supposed to be about - transfer rumours! Anyone got any good ones? Of course, let's take whatever they may be with a little bit of a pinch of salt!!

So, judging by some comments on here, we would be better with Dyche as manager, Lyanco as CB and Adams as our lone striker!!! I just hope the club don't consult this forum to make their plans!!!! It also seems that every rumour we hear is absolutely true in its worst, most extreme form, e.g.: A player is open to transfer = the club are desperate to get rid of him, see him as the worst player in the squad and will sell him for a fiver to help raise the transfer kitty to buy back Danny Ings. We are interested in buying a player = the player must be coming to Saints tomorrow and is rubbish, injury prone, inexperienced and generally on a par with Carrillo. The fact is that even from the most believeable of sources these are just rumours; and where there is any truth in them it is more likely that we are preparing for the situatioin where a player wants to leave because they will drop to 2nd or 3rd in the pecking order and aren't happy with that - especially in a World Cup year. I seriously doubt we will sell any first team player without first bringing in one or two players who will replace them (and hopefully be better than them). Personally, I hope that we will not sell Adams or anyone else until we are definitely sure we are bringing in a player who is better than him - indeed I hope we will not sell him until that player has shown us he is as good as we had hoped.

Was today a wake-up call to some of our fans that Salisu is not yet all that some of our fans think that he is? Yes, he has potential, but once again he was at the heart of our collapse! Criticise what Ralph says as much as you like (and he clearly needs to accept a significant amount of the blame for what happened today), but in this one area he is right - if Salisu had not been so abject defensively for that goal we would still have been in with a chance in this game. I really think Salisu can become a quality player and I really hope he will, but he has got to improve sooner rather than later! Firstly, he must improve his discipline and stay in defence - he is not a makeshift extra striker who can abandon his duties to stroll upfield when he feels like it! Secondly, he needs to improve his concentration. Thirdly, he has got to sort his feet out - what a mess he made for that own goal! Fourth, he must improve his positioning. It is all very well for him to show skill in the tackle in crisis situations, but too often those crisis situations come as a result of his many other short-comings! Fortunately, these are mostly things that should improve with coaching, training, experience, etc. but it does concern me that other players are being criticised when they are having to cover for him and his failings. Bednarek, Stephens, Valery, maybe even Bella-Kotchap have all had to suffer playing alongside him and have been criticised, yet at times the difficulties they have had have been compounded by having to cover for him. Maybe if Salisu could improve then those other players too could have the freedom to improve themselves and get the fans off their backs.

I think this could well turn out to be almost prophetic after today's result! Ralph has certainly come out and said that we must sign better players. Maybe this will indeed raise the bar on the sort of signings we make in the next few weeks. Clearly, at the very least, we need both a decent striker and a decent central defender. I guess the question is how do we get such players? The clues to this may be in the signings we made under Poch and Koeman: Tadic, Pelle, Aderweireld, Van Dijk were all quality that we signed (or almost signed in Toby's case!) and maybe they should show us the way to sign quality. I suggest signing like Davis and Stu Armstrong are also decent examples, if not quite on the same level as the other four. What is significant about those players is that they were either players struggling for game time in top teams in major leagues (TA) or they were players doing well in top teams in slightly less major leagues (DT, GP, VVD, SD and SA). All/most of them had experience of playing in winning teams and in playing against top European opposition. For me this suggests we need to be looking at more players playing regularly at TOP teams (i.e. ones that qualify for European competition or equivalent) in Scotland, Belgium, Holland, France, Denmark, USA, Switzerland, Portugal, Turkey, Greece, etc. Alongside this we can also be looking (as we have been doing with English sides) at those top young players struggling to break into the first team at TOP sides in TOP leagues: Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, At Madrid, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, AC Milan, etc. So who are the top up-and-coming central defenders and strikers at Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord, Club Brugge, Union St.Gilloise, Gent, Anderlecht, Celtic, Rangers, PSG, Marseille, Monaco, Copenhagen, Midtjylland, Silkeborg, Brondby, Zurich, Basel, Young Boys, Trabzonspor, Fenerbahce, Porto, Sporting Lisbon, Benfica, Braga, Olympiacos, PAOK, etc.? I know we have looked at players at some of these clubs, but maybe we need to broaden our search?

I predict none of the predictions are right (except for this statement in itself and maybe one or two predictions about champions, sacked managers, etc.). That aside my prediction for the final table is: Man City Liverpool Chelsea Spurs Arsenal West Ham Man Utd Palace Newcastle Villa Wolves Saints Leeds Brighton Forest Leicester Brentford Everton Fulham Bournemouth Like others have said, Lampard will be among the first managers sacked, though financial constraints could cause them to delay until it is too late to do anything about relegation - not that they are going to be able to afford to buy anyone in January anyway! Other sackings will include Scott Parker at Bournemouth. My biggest doubt about the above placings is Fulham who have a manager who knows how to get the best out of a weak squad. However, they do still have a fairly weak squad, despite a few purchases that may help them. That having been said, I post this with Fulham having lead Liverpool until a few seconds ago!

Just going back to the actual topic of Saints signing someone... I tend to agree with this: With that in mind, maybe ally_uk has got the right approach (see below). I must admit I have done similar things myself in the past. I mentioned a few names that came out of doing so a week or two ago. Like ally, I focussed on top scorers in other leagues (especially younger ones) and I also looked at younger players from clubs like Man City and Chelsea. Even so, Saints will still bring a rabbit out of the hat that none of us have foreseen and I am looking forward to when they do! That having been said, I must admit I was momentarily fooled (and excited) by the fake Twitter post about Kalajdžić and would be excited if we did manage to sign him!