CWD

Pope. I think they were both injured when Burnley went for Hart.

Skacel signs

Yeah just seen that pop up. I hope he does well, the history of Player-Managers isn’t exactly awash with successes but as anyone who watched City documentary on Amazon can attest to, he’s a pretty inspirational bloke.

No chance obviously but people do keep saying we need a leader! Would be an incredible bit of business. I reckon he’ll end up in the MLS or back in Belgium

I love Ralph and I think the job he’s done improving the mentality of both the players and then by proxy us as the fans is incredible. I still think tactically the jury is out somewhat, there’s been a few odd decisions with substitutions, a few questionable starting line ups, and some of our defending has still been poor. My main hope is that we make the most of this preseason to build and work upon the squad to make it into Ralph’s image, so when the season starts we as fans can understand the plan and get on board with what the team are trying to achieve in terms of style. I don’t like to use table position as a definition of success because so much depends on the congestion of the teams around you, as Puel’s season proved, 8th place doesn’t necessarily mean a brilliant season. In my opinion if we can get to 50 points I’d be ecstatic. But any sort of progression and not looking like we’re in trouble, whilst playing with a positive style and competing in every game will be good for me.

Christ if it’s tight enough to make JWP look like he’s got a belly on him, our fans better make sure they’re ordering a couple of sizes up.

I thought we looked pretty good going forward for the first 20 minutes but the usual incompetence in defence meant they had two chances and found themselves 2 up. Since then it’s been pipe and slippers for Arsenal. Big half time talk needed and if we can grab the next goal we might have a chance.

Wow. Only we could score a last minute equaliser then fall apart completely. Wouldn’t happen to any other team. Long has his strengths but he offers NOTHING as a lone striker against a team set up to frustrate. Redmond tried his best but we missed Armstrong for a bit of added creativity. And why was JWP constantly so deep? We’ve managed to lose a must not lose game. Even last year we would’ve got a draw. Pathetic really. It feels like what happened to Swansea last year. They picked up a few decent results when Carvalhal came in but then looked dreadful until the end of the season. The pressure is really on for the next few games.

Delighted if that’s true. Still our best player imo.

Disagree. He was being ripped to shreds by Zaha (understandably). Yes, it was a an attacking move but the two things aren’t mutually exclusive.

Certainly struggled to create anything tonight but I think on balance a draw was a fair result. Sometimes you have to give the oppo credit and Palace did well to nullify our main threat of Redmond and stopped our wing backs getting in behind (goal aside obviously). I felt like Armstrong did well and perhaps could’ve been on sooner. Definitely something to work on as we will have more of these games in the future where the onus is on us to break down a stubborn defence. It must be a worry for RH that he sells his senior RB to put faith in a youngster who is then hauled off after an hour to be replaced with a midfielder a few days later. I like Valero and think he has a lot of potential but it’s mad to put that sort of pressure on him to be our first choice full back.

I’m clearly behind on my WUM vs ITK standings. I thought Cabbage Face and Heisenberg were the same person.

**** off

The biggest thing I miss about our L1/Champ days is the connection with the players. Everyone felt such joy and pride at that moment because we really felt we knew Rickie, and we knew how much it meant to him. I know it's stupid because it's always 11 strangers on a pitch but those players from that period will always feel like old friends to me. Sad but true.

My team: ----------- McCarthy ---------- Stephens - Vest - Yoshi - Bertrand ----- Lemina - Romeu -------- Redmond - Ings - Armstrong -----------Austin ------------- Ings has to start, he was an absolute breath of fresh air when he came on. I think away from home it's best to keep the likes of Moi and Gabbi on the bench, and keep it relatively tight for the first hour or so and bring them on if we need them. I think Austin deserves another chance with a bit of support around him. I said in the other thread I like JS at full back, particularly in a game where we may be under more pressure. Cedric can always be brought on as an attacking sub later on. The team I think will start: ------------ McCarthy ----------- Cedric - Stephens - Vesti - Yoshi (if fit) - Bertrand ----------- Lemina -------- Romeu----------------- ------------------ Armstrong ----------------------- --------- Ings -------------- Austin ----------------

I'm going to echo other people's comments in that I've never seen such a dramatic change in performance after a tactical shift. It felt like the whole team relaxed and seemed to collectively think, "thank god, we can do this now". Every single player improved and we suddenly looked like Koeman's side again. Ings obviously made a huge difference, and him playing in behind a more advanced striker looks like a great move. I was baffled by the first half. We spent the whole of preseason lining up in a 3-5-2 and then go for an odd 3-4-3 formation which left Austin totally isolated, Lemina and Romeu overrun, and Armstrong shoved out wide. And the less said about the three CBs the better, they had no idea what they were doing at times, not sure who should be covering who/where, and we were very lucky not to be behind at HT. Then the changes were made and we went into a 4-4-1-1/4-2-3-1 whatever you want to call it, and instantly we started to picking the ball up between the lines and had so many more options going forward. Even Hoedt looked more comfortable as he had Bertrand back beside him to do the more subtle things and he didn't keep having to picking it up on the left touch line with no idea what to do. I actually like Stephens at RB. Far more solid defensively than Cedric and what we lose going forward you gain from having Redmond/Moi having more freedom. It's a odd feeling because at HT I was pretty low and expecting a long tough season, but actually I've come away at the end feeling oddly positive. I just hope Hughes has learned from this and we don't play three at the back (certainly at least at home) again.

This week is dragging so much. No real rumours to discuss and still ages until Sunday. If anyone else is as bored as me this is a fun little quiz, trying to name the most played players each season of this century. Really highlights the state of the team we had in the Championship... https://www.sporcle.com/games/BelgianGuy/top-xis-southampton-fc I got 81% if you insist on asking.

someone needs to ask why we've heard so little from Gao and what the hell he's done since buying us

I really hope we go with a 4-3-3. it'll set the right tone for the season and will minimise the great pace black hole we have in the centre of defence. I'm assuming Cedric wont be anywhere near fit so it'll likely be one of McQueen or Targett filling in. Although I guess Stephens could still do a job there, and Bednarek has played there too i think. ------------------- Macca ------------------ Targett - Vestegaard - Yoshida - Bertrand ------ Lemina ----------- Romeu ---------- ---------------- Armstrong ---------------- Gabbi ---------- Austin ---------- Redmond Or something like that. I've no idea who makes up the best team at the moment. I still think Austin has to play because he's our only consistent finisher.

Dembele (Celtic) Evans Promes Shaw

For me, this is his issue in a nutshell. He'd be so much more effective 15/20 years ago, but nobody plays with right midfielders any more. I do think he's made most impact on the right of a front three (the cup final springs to mind) but then you need to make up for his lack of pace in who you pick at centre forward. If he plays at CM you have to pair him with someone better defensively like Romeu, or inhibit the natural game of Lemina or Hojbjerg. Essentially IMO he's a good option but not good enough to warrant the reshuffling of the rest of the team that's required if you play him every game.

I've gone stay. I think he just about deserves one more chance to learn from his/the club's mistakes and turn things round. I know it's an unfashionable point of view at the moment but we've still had more good times than bad since he's been at the club. It's still nonsense that we haven't heard from him in so long however.

I think this is the way forward. Give him a chance to prove himself and carry on the momentum, but have other options in line for the future. HOWEVER I just have a feeling that the powers that be are keen on younger managers. I wouldn't be surprised if Hughes was given his bonus and sent on his way and we got Wagner in. (Which would take Reed about 6 weeks I imagine)

Don't get the hype around Mawson. Thought he was very poor on Tuesday and a lot of Swansea fans seem happy to get rid of him.

God I'm bricking it