saintwbu

Wenger supposedly never used to talk to the team after a game, and he wasn’t too bad. But don’t let that get in the way of a good rant.

Both Armstrongs, Djenepo and Elynounoussi (appreciate he falls into most people’s ‘bland’ category) would feel pretty luxury compared to what we’ve had on occasion!

I don’t really have a problem with him picking Maguire as he has consistently been good for England, and our selection of CB’s isn’t great. Trent, however, has been shit for England, is playing shit for his club and Southgate has clearly shown previously he’s not a fan yet all of a sudden he’s a guarantee in squads. Can’t help but feel the constant talk of his omission in the public eye, mostly by Klopp, has had an impact.

Yeah he’s the real deal I think, Van Dijk-esque in the sense that I reckon he’d transform a defence of average players. I hate the fact we’ve been conditioned to expect good players to not be here long, but i think it’s fair to say, he’s not gonna be here long.

But it can, or they can just decide not to buy him, like Chelsea did with Ake when he was at Bournemouth. It all depends on the makeup of City’s squad at the time, and what their other outlays will have been in that particular window. Buybacks aren’t guarantees, plenty of them have never been utilised.

Pretty sure Tino and Broja both had good things to say about Redmond helping them settle in too last season

There was a few Göztepe shirts at the Chelsea game the other night. Some stewards went up towards them at one point in the second half, not sure if that was to check they weren’t Chelsea fans given they weren’t wearing Saints shirts!

The two legs of the league cup semi final against Liverpool he was absolutely brilliant. He scored in the first, and had their right back on the ropes all game in the second (Trent?). He was also good in the final. People forget he was our player of the season in Ralph’s first season, and there was relief all round to see him return from injury the following season when he came on at Fratton Park (and scored a brilliant goal). He has had some good times here, and he’s produced some moments of brilliance. But it’s felt for a little while now like a separation would suit both parties. Good luck to him, seems like a nice enough guy and very much a family man. I hope he can earn some good money in Turkey and enjoy his football. Thanks Nathan.

Worth pointing out that we’ve just got rid of Valery, Bednarek, Stephens, Forster, Romeu* and tried to get rid of Redmond and Walcott all in one window, and have barely made a penny on them. That’s a good chunk of our first 11 options from the last couple of seasons, and we couldn’t find anyone to buy them. I think it further demonstrates that just staying in this league under Ralph has actually been an achievement in itself. *Feel bad putting Romeu in there because he’s brilliant, but still counts.

Ralph wanted an attacker, we all wanted an attacker, so it is a bit disappointing to not get a big addition in that area. But we didn’t score many goals last season, we did however concede a shit load, and we’ve definitely addressed that issue. I loved Broja here and really want him back, but numbers wise he didn’t bring anything after new year, so i’d say we’re about the same as we were last season in an attacking sense. We’ve added Mara, Aribo, Edozie and the only player of substance we’ve lost is Broja. We’ve also found a place to get more out of Armstrong, so hopefully we’ll see more of a contribution from him than we did last season. Hopefully the significant strengthening in midfield and defence will be the big transformation from the second half of last season, maybe we’ll see more of the 1-0 wins we saw at the start of last season, which is fine by me. Also was really nice to see some genuine quality brought in to be a backup, in Caleta-Car - when was the last time we did that!?

Bednarek’s comments showing a level of stupidity completely reflective of a defender with virtually zero footballing intelligence whatsoever. Wish we’d just have cancelled his contract instead of loaning him, awful player, awful attitude.

Depay staying at Barca anyway

No 10pm announcement! Hope of an 11pm one running out…

He was Chelsea’s best player the other night and he only played about 20 minutes.

If it gets us a few positions up the table, and as a result a few extra million, why do people care if it’s only a loan?

Definitely seems to have Chelsea connections to be fair

Absolutely love the guy, with the amount of turnover we’ve had in recent years it’d be easy to become detached, but guys like Ori remind me why I love supporting the club. Gave absolutely everything, a real classy operator with a touch of bite to him. So sad to see him go but glad he’s getting a move he wants. Cheers Ori!

A good character and nice bloke, a big part of that great away at Anfield in the cup. Sad to see him go but the right decision for both, hopefully he gets game time at Bournemouth. Cheers for always giving it everything for the club Jack.

3 at the back is fine as a formation option if you have the right players to play it. We currently don’t have a third CB capable of it, maybe we’re trying to sign one. Albeit I still don’t see it as ever being our best formation, it’s definitely one that could be used when necessary.

Wonder if PSV wanted him to go to Leeds if they were offering more, and maybe he didn’t want to so now he stays?

Sounds like Arsenal are going to activate the extension, presumably hoping for a good loan spell that’ll result in a move for a few million.

Would make sense - JWP, Lavia, Diallo, AMN is a pretty athletic and dynamic CM selection, who all bring something a bit different.

SuperSAINT today

What a night. Can’t remember seeing so many people off their seats for balls going out for goal kicks, or catches from a Saints keeper. The atmosphere in the last 20 minutes or so was one of the best i’ve heard. What a performance from every single player, and all the staff. Just fantastic, great to be there.

Didn’t some of our deals this summer have options to extend? Hopefully his was one.