January 2023 Transfer Window

[gallaghert366@yahoo.com]

24 minutes ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

Exactly. Jackson, despite only being a strong rumour, was representative of the clubs efforts to sign a striker better than Adams, Armstrong or Mara that we’ve needed for nigh on two years. That this has seemingly failed with circa 75% of the window gone by (and a clutch of winnable games), the competency of the Board must questioned. Throw in the appalling entertainment value we’ve endured and the consequences of relegation to all aspects of the club and it’s no surprise supporters are alarmed.

If they don't find someone more able than the current 'strikers' then an away day next season to Hull is a certainty.

[badgerx16]

55 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Any striker better than Adams and Armstrong signed in the last year was the expectation. It's not unrealistic. 

Nor should finding one be difficult.

Edited 24 January, 2023 by badgerx16

[LuckyNumber7]

16 minutes ago, saintwbu said:

Yeah i’ve no doubt we were interested, just saying it’s possible we would have him at the right price but weren’t making him a priority - the ‘negotiations’ had been talked about for a week or two now and even the headlines recently were that ‘talks would continue’. So it doesn’t appear we were going all out to get him in. Let’s be honest, if we really wanted him and were willing to pay what Villarreal wanted, then he wouldn’t be going to Bournemouth. So hoping we’ve got someone else lined up, but I may be disappointed!

Absolutely, we obviously had an interest but maybe just like the experts on here were telling us, the club have decided he's not worth the fee that Villareal want? I mean we were trying to just get him on loan initially anyway and none of the reports have said we're close to a deal.

People moan when we're linked with a player cos he's crap and overpriced, then moan when the club refuse to pay that price. Maybe, just maybe they have now switched their attention to other targets who they deem better value? If Bournemouth want to come in and pay over the odds for him then let them.

I'm not bothered about losing out on him as long as we do get someone in.

[Saint Fan CaM]

8 minutes ago, gallaghert366@yahoo.com said:

If they don't find someone more able than the current 'strikers' then an away day next season to Hull is a certainty.

I think the smart money would go on certain relegation at this point. There’s very little evidence on show to suggest this squad and the inexperienced Manager has anywhere near enough to climb away from the bottom three. Even a new striker of repute would very likely not be enough.

Which has me thinking that the club started preparing for the Championship when they sacked Ralph…that’s why it took a while to finally pull the trigger. The only aspect that might counter this is the appointment of the new Director of Football, unless of course he’s being lined up as Semmen’s successor when we go down, which would be just deserts given the shitfest he’s served up over the last 5 years. Yep, the dominoes are being lined up.

[Saint Garrett]

29 minutes ago, Fitzhugh Fella said:

Two well respected sources confirmed we were after him. As I said whether or not he’s worth it is another matter but he was a target of ours which it looks like we’ve missed. Do we have other targets is now the question and if we do are we capable of landing them? 

It’s not uncommon for clubs to release false names to the media. I’ve got no idea how much we wanted him, maybe he’s our top target. But wouldn’t be the first time we’ve stuck a name out there and gone for someone else…

[saintwbu]

2 minutes ago, LuckyNumber7 said:

Absolutely, we obviously had an interest but maybe just like the experts on here were telling us, the club have decided he's not worth the fee that Villareal want? I mean we were trying to just get him on loan initially anyway and none of the reports have said we're close to a deal.

People moan when we're linked with a player cos he's crap and overpriced, then moan when the club refuse to pay that price. Maybe, just maybe they have now switched their attention to other targets who they deem better value? If Bournemouth want to come in and pay over the odds for him then let them.

I'm not bothered about losing out on him as long as we do get someone in.

Equally maybe after the weekend they’ve decided they’ll up the budget/requirements when it comes to a new addition in that area and now think we need better than Jackson. We don’t have another league game until the window has closed, so whilst we’re all frustrated we haven’t had the additions for the last few games, there’s no point getting more frustrated now until the window closes and we see how everything looks. 

[hypochondriac]

2 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

It’s not uncommon for clubs to release false names to the media. I’ve got no idea how much we wanted him, maybe he’s our top target. But wouldn’t be the first time we’ve stuck a name out there and gone for someone else…

That is possible but you could have said similar things after we lost out on Delap and Gakpo in the summer and then we didn't sign anyone so the conclusion seemed clear. 

[Ivan Katalinic's 'tache]

Maybe the new business model is for Saints to become 'scouting consultants'? "We find the players for YOU to buy..."

[S-Clarke]

Not focusing on the media rumours too much, as otherwise it will drive you round the bend and send you on a rollercoaster of emotions.

But the reality as we are here today is that we still have no striker, Elyounoussi and Armstrong are still starting in our 11 and there is a week left to the window, given that we knew we needed a striker on August 31st that's pretty shocking to be honest. We moved quickly to bring in Orsic and Alverez (but then don't play them) but the position we needed to move quicker on was a striker, as we're pissing away our winnable fixtures with the same glaring deficiency's in our side.

What has made me really nervous this week are the noises 'starting' to come out from the club (Jones) suggesting that we already have two good 9's in Adams and Mara, kind of setting us up to going into the rest of the season with them. That really can't be an option, as if it is we've given up and I think most fans will at that stage.

[Toussaint]

8 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

 

What has made me really nervous this week are the noises 'starting' to come out from the club (Jones) suggesting that we already have two good 9's in Adams and Mara, kind of setting us up to going into the rest of the season with them. That really can't be an option, as if it is we've given up and I think most fans will at that stage.

It makes you wonder, after Saturday's defeat, that they have accepted the odds for survival are now quite low making any large transfer outlay too much of a risk.  We now require 1.4 points per game for the remainder of the season to hit 40 points, so far this season we have averaged 0.75 per game. 

Edited 24 January, 2023 by Toussaint

[Saint Fan CaM]

1 minute ago, Toussaint said:

It makes you wonder, after Saturday's defeat, that they have accepted the odds for survival are now quite low making any large transfer outlay too much of a risk.  We now require 1.4 points per game for the remainder of the season to hit 40 points, so far this season we have averaged 0.75 per game. 

A turnaround of that magnitude is not going to happen. The more I think about what’s happened since Ralph’s sacking, the more I think we’re preparing for the Championship. As I’ve said elsewhere, this goes right to the top with the sacking of Semmen’s and the new Director of Football stepping in - a perfect choice to provide continuity for all the youngsters we’ve signed…someone who knows how to develop and utilise (read sell) emerging talent. #saintsy

[Lee On Solent Saint]

23 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Not focusing on the media rumours too much, as otherwise it will drive you round the bend and send you on a rollercoaster of emotions.

But the reality as we are here today is that we still have no striker, Elyounoussi and Armstrong are still starting in our 11 and there is a week left to the window, given that we knew we needed a striker on August 31st that's pretty shocking to be honest. We moved quickly to bring in Orsic and Alverez (but then don't play them) but the position we needed to move quicker on was a striker, as we're pissing away our winnable fixtures with the same glaring deficiency's in our side.

What has made me really nervous this week are the noises 'starting' to come out from the club (Jones) suggesting that we already have two good 9's in Adams and Mara, kind of setting us up to going into the rest of the season with them. That really can't be an option, as if it is we've given up and I think most fans will at that stage.

I gave up on our Premier League place as soon as Jones was announced as manager. Anyone on here seriously believe Everton are going to raid the Championship for their next manager?

[DT]

15 minutes ago, Toussaint said:

It makes you wonder, after Saturday's defeat, that they have accepted the odds for survival are now quite low making any large transfer outlay too much of a risk.  We now require 1.4 points per game for the remainder of the season to hit 40 points, so far this season we have averaged 0.75 per game. 

This was my suspicion too, that we are resigned now to the drop, and therefore any big outlay on a striker is pointless. If so it is massively disappointing, and the management are pretty inept not to have realised the needs early on, and then compounded it by snuggling up to their stupid bloody algorithm countless times, and appointing a wurzel of a manager when we needed real, proper experience.

[Saint Garrett]

8 minutes ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

A turnaround of that magnitude is not going to happen. The more I think about what’s happened since Ralph’s sacking, the more I think we’re preparing for the Championship. As I’ve said elsewhere, this goes right to the top with the sacking of Semmen’s and the new Director of Football stepping in - a perfect choice to provide continuity for all the youngsters we’ve signed…someone who knows how to develop and utilise (read sell) emerging talent. #saintsy

I think if they were preparing for the Championship, they wouldn't have hired Jones. Were not going to be a long ball underdog in the Championship next season. I think there is a bit of protecting the assets, by not signing 32 year olds on expensive contracts, but if they were serious of staying up, they'd have had a few players ready to join at the start of the window in prep for this big run of games, (Forest, Everton, Villa, Wolves, Brentford, Leeds, Leicester). We should have been looking at at least 5 points from Forest, Everton and Villa, and we have 3.  Maybe we would have got 5 or 6 if we had a striker in on Jan 1st. 

The owners have massively gambled on our safety, and at the moment, the cash out offer is incredibly low!

[Saint Fan CaM]

5 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

I think if they were preparing for the Championship, they wouldn't have hired Jones. Were not going to be a long ball underdog in the Championship next season. I think there is a bit of protecting the assets, by not signing 32 year olds on expensive contracts, but if they were serious of staying up, they'd have had a few players ready to join at the start of the window in prep for this big run of games, (Forest, Everton, Villa, Wolves, Brentford, Leeds, Leicester). We should have been looking at at least 5 points from Forest, Everton and Villa, and we have 3.  Maybe we would have got 5 or 6 if we had a striker in on Jan 1st. 

The owners have massively gambled on our safety, and at the moment, the cash out offer is incredibly low!

Understand your point, but I don’t think Jones is seen by the club as a long ball tactician…just someone who instructs his GK to mix it up a bit with better distribution - supposedly Bazunu’s strength. So in short I do think Jones is a safe bet appointment in the event of relegation - perfect preparation for a tough first season in the Championship.

When an organisation wants to change out top management and bring in preferred candidates, the moves will be planned and executed over months if not years. It’s kind of a win-win…Jones keeps us up, he’s a hero and we get a very suited DoF. We go down, we’ve got the best Manager for the league and a ready made DoF to re-build as new CEO. Think Shields was another piece in the jigsaw but that didn’t work out as planned clearly.

[OldNick]

Good god, Im a glass half empty person but reading some of the posts on here you'd think we are 10 points cut adrift!! I dont think we will need 38 points this season. We are only a few points away from getting out of the bottom 3. If we were 3 points clear of the drop we wouldnt be saying we're safe and 3 points behind doesnt mean we are doomed ffs.

Yes we need some more players, the talk coming out of the club doesn't sound as if we are going to buy much but lets see.

If you were SR you are not going to let the investment go too easily. and so will be working on staying up. Jackson lookd a nonsense signing to me anyway. I liked the look of the Japanese Celtic player.

Ps I read that Ings has got injured

[Millbrook Saint]

1 hour ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

The ironic thing is I bet most on here hadn’t heard of Jackson before this month. Or Hojlund before the start of last week. And unless you’re a kid playing FM probably not Alcaraz either.

So in terms of players we’re linked with I’ve stopped listening to the bedwetters on here crying when a player goes elsewhere because in the grand scheme of things it means bugger all to me. 🤣

And also WE ARE BOTTOM OF THE LEAGUE. We are not a big team, we are not enticing or attractive to that many players. 😅

Some on here still act like we’re a Europa League team, and we simply aren’t anymore. We are not getting that calibre of player as easily.

Some on here need to accept that. 👍🏻

What a load of crap, regardless of whether we've heard of the player, or we think he's good enough, the club clearly wanted him but have spent so much time 'negotiating' and trying to play hardball Bournemouth have come in and are looking likely to have got the deal done.  Bournemouth are only a couple of places above us, so hardly going for Europa league.

The club will try and sell this as he wasn't the player we were after, whilst the 3rd or 4th choice player we inevitably get will be lauded by the club as the one we wanted all along, whilst said player goes on a scoring run like Adam Armstrong.

The club is an embarrassment at the moment, they need to stop fannying around and realise we are are not in a strong negotiating position and clubs will want us to pay over the odds for players, if they had done this properly in the summer we wouldn't be where we are now.

I still think they don't believe we'll be relegated this season, the lack of urgency around the club is astounding, unless of course they want us relegated.

[OldNick]

2 hours ago, SuperSAINT said:

 

Unusual wording where it says 'Nico has accepted the terms of the contract.'

[Lee On Solent Saint]

1 minute ago, OldNick said:

Good god, Im a glass half empty person but reading some of the posts on here you'd think we are 10 points cut adrift!! I dont think we will need 38 points this season. We are only a few points away from getting out of the bottom 3. If we were 3 points clear of the drop we wouldnt be saying we're safe and 3 points behind doesnt mean we are doomed ffs.

Yes we need some more players, the talk coming out of the club doesn't sound as if we are going to buy much but lets see.

If you were SR you are not going to let the investment go too easily. and so will be working on staying up. Jackson lookd a nonsense signing to me anyway. I liked the look of the Japanese Celtic player.

Ps I read that Ings has got injured

We aren't staying up with Jones as manager. People can call me a bedwetter and wet fanny as much as they like, it's not going to happen. 

[OldNick]

1 minute ago, Millbrook Saint said:

What a load of crap, regardless of whether we've heard of the player, or we think he's good enough, the club clearly wanted him but have spent so much time 'negotiating' and trying to play hardball Bournemouth have come in and are looking likely to have got the deal done.  Bournemouth are only a couple of places above us, so hardly going for Europa league.

The club will try and sell this as he wasn't the player we were after, whilst the 3rd or 4th choice player we inevitably get will be lauded by the club as the one we wanted all along, whilst said player goes on a scoring run like Adam Armstrong.

The club is an embarrassment at the moment, they need to stop fannying around and realise we are are not in a strong negotiating position and clubs will want us to pay over the odds for players, if they had done this properly in the summer we wouldn't be where we are now.

I still think they don't believe we'll be relegated this season, the lack of urgency around the club is astounding, unless of course they want us relegated.

To me, any transfer negotiations that seem to go on for a long while rarely ends well. It alerts other clubs and may also mean the player isnt that committed to join us. Rarely do Brightons transfer targets get into the press before they have signed them. Cortese made sure the same happened with us, keep it quiet and then pounce

[miserableoldgit]

Am I the only who absolutely hates the transfer window? For some clubs quite exciting but for Saints fans ultimately always a source of extreme frustration. When was the last window when we all said "That's been a good window.....we got it about right?" The last window started off well until we ended up not getting the striker that we were crying out for and were expecting. Seeing our supposed targets  going elsewhere is soul destroying.

[Hatch]

What time shall I log back in to hear news of the Shane Long signing ?

 

 

[OldNick]

2 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

We aren't staying up with Jones as manager. People can call me a bedwetter and wet fanny as much as they like, it's not going to happen. 

Are you a time traveller? Your judgement is that we wont and you may well be proved right. Perhaps start a petition to get the PL to cancel the rest of our games as we are down

[OldNick]

1 minute ago, miserableoldgit said:

Am I the only who absolutely hates the transfer window? For some clubs quite exciting but for Saints fans ultimately always a source of extreme frustration. When was the last window when we all said "That's been a good window.....we got it about right?" The last window started off well until we ended up not getting the striker that we were crying out for and were expecting. Seeing our supposed targets  going elsewhere is soul destroying.

The summer just gone apparently, 'we won the transfer window,' according to a few on here

[wild-saint]

4 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

We aren't staying up with Jones as manager. People can call me a bedwetter and wet fanny as much as they like, it's not going to happen. 

Do you think we would stay up with the same set of players we have now and a different manager and who is that man? 

[Saint Fan CaM]

2 minutes ago, Millbrook Saint said:

What a load of crap, regardless of whether we've heard of the player, or we think he's good enough, the club clearly wanted him but have spent so much time 'negotiating' and trying to play hardball Bournemouth have come in and are looking likely to have got the deal done.  Bournemouth are only a couple of places above us, so hardly going for Europa league.

The club will try and sell this as he wasn't the player we were after, whilst the 3rd or 4th choice player we inevitably get will be lauded by the club as the one we wanted all along, whilst said player goes on a scoring run like Adam Armstrong.

The club is an embarrassment at the moment, they need to stop fannying around and realise we are are not in a strong negotiating position and clubs will want us to pay over the odds for players, if they had done this properly in the summer we wouldn't be where we are now.

I still think they don't believe we'll be relegated this season, the lack of urgency around the club is astounding, unless of course they want us relegated.

Of course they don’t want us relegated, but they have to prepare for that eventuality. They will be taking actions that will attempt to keep us up, without ruining the club financially should we go down. In fact I reckon they started those actions with the sacking of Ralph and the appointment of Jones.  Waiting until May will be too late to act.

[OldNick]

1 minute ago, wild-saint said:

Do you think we would stay up with the same set of players we have now and a different manager and who is that man? 

Oh dont start that, we will get a string of managers. Dyche probably, a man who plays long ball but 'We dont play football that way' if the posts after the Forest game are anything to go by

[Chez]

1 hour ago, badgerx16 said:

Nor should finding one be difficult.

Doesn't the fact we signed Che, Armstrong and then Mara in the first place, prove that it can be rather tricky to sign a decent CF?

[Lee On Solent Saint]

10 minutes ago, OldNick said:

Are you a time traveller? Your judgement is that we wont and you may well be proved right. Perhaps start a petition to get the PL to cancel the rest of our games as we are down

Yes, am Marty McFly. 

[Chez]

9 minutes ago, OldNick said:

To me, any transfer negotiations that seem to go on for a long while rarely ends well. It alerts other clubs and may also mean the player isnt that committed to join us. Rarely do Brightons transfer targets get into the press before they have signed them. Cortese made sure the same happened with us, keep it quiet and then pounce

I agree, although agents seem to reveal everything to the press these days, so its not easy to keep things quiet.

The latest Brighton transfer target, Mykola Matviyenko, has been widely reported in the press and that deal has rumbled on for a while now - I think the link to him first came up about two weeks ago. 

[Lee On Solent Saint]

18 minutes ago, wild-saint said:

Do you think we would stay up with the same set of players we have now and a different manager and who is that man? 

I think we could have and should have done a lot better than employe Jones. I happen to believe that a more experienced manager with top flight experience would have got a bit more out of some of these players. Yes, they are limited, but when you have limited manager in charge of them, it's not going to end well.

[DT]

35 minutes ago, OldNick said:

Unusual wording where it says 'Nico has accepted the terms of the contract.'

relegation clause?

[Millbrook Saint]

33 minutes ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

Of course they don’t want us relegated, but they have to prepare for that eventuality. They will be taking actions that will attempt to keep us up, without ruining the club financially should we go down. In fact I reckon they started those actions with the sacking of Ralph and the appointment of Jones.  Waiting until May will be too late to act.

It was a little tongue in cheek saying they want us relegated, the problem is, they should have taken action last summer to attempt to keep us up, I'm no football expert, but even I could see we needed a striker, the worst thing to happen to us was Che scoring those 2 goals early on, I reckon the club thought he could be the man after that.

We now seem to be in a limbo where we want to spend to try and stay up, but not too much in case we go down, meaning the players we need are out of reach.

 

By the way for those saying how great Brighton are, found this article today, which pretty much sums up the premier league https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league-big-six-southampton-brighton-2101622

 

[badgerx16]

25 minutes ago, Chez said:

Doesn't the fact we signed Che, Armstrong and then Mara in the first place, prove that it can be rather tricky to sign a decent CF?

Last season, 38 players, including JWP, scored more PL goals than our #1 striker. At this point in the current season 26 players, again including JWP, have scored more. They are out there, even if many of them are playing in midfield. All we need is a player to score as many as Che, but who then additionally converts a quarter of the chances he fluffs.

[OldNick]

16 minutes ago, DT said:

relegation clause?

thats what I wondered, I assume we would have put the same in ours. Bournemouth may of course offer a larger signing on fee. The loyalty bonus always makes me smile. 'loyalty ffs'

[Pengi]

Bournemouth have a 'new owners' bounce. Just like Everton had one once

[jayrivers]

21 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

Last season, 38 players, including JWP, scored more PL goals than our #1 striker. At this point in the current season 26 players, again including JWP, have scored more. They are out there, even if many of them are playing in midfield. All we need is a player to score as many as Che, but who then additionally converts a quarter of the chances he fluffs.

How many of those 26 players play for teams in the bottom 6/7 clubs out of interest? Zaha, Barnes, and Maddison I expect are 3 of them. 

[woodsaint1]

1 hour ago, Toussaint said:

It makes you wonder, after Saturday's defeat, that they have accepted the odds for survival are now quite low making any large transfer outlay too much of a risk.  We now require 1.4 points per game for the remainder of the season to hit 40 points, so far this season we have averaged 0.75 per game. 

40 points hasnt been needed since 1998 (except for a freak season in 02/03) and it wont be needed this season either. Based on recent seasons 36 points might be enough, or even less which seems about right given where clubs are sitting after 20 games. That would be 1.16 points per game which is very achievable, but only if we get the last week of the window correct

Edited 24 January, 2023 by woodsaint1

[Saint Fan CaM]

21 minutes ago, Millbrook Saint said:

It was a little tongue in cheek saying they want us relegated, the problem is, they should have taken action last summer to attempt to keep us up, I'm no football expert, but even I could see we needed a striker, the worst thing to happen to us was Che scoring those 2 goals early on, I reckon the club thought he could be the man after that.

We now seem to be in a limbo where we want to spend to try and stay up, but not too much in case we go down, meaning the players we need are out of reach.

 

By the way for those saying how great Brighton are, found this article today, which pretty much sums up the premier league https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league-big-six-southampton-brighton-2101622

 

We may never know why a striker was not brought in back in the summer, but once the results in the new season were clear Ralph’s time had run it’s course, they had to start to act. Find a manager that could potentially keep us up, but one that would be happy and capable of stopping freefall in the Championship, including keeping players on-side that would otherwise jump ship. They tried to get a very tough decision or series of decisions right and it could be said that nothing has ‘failed’ as such…from a business perspective they’ve prepared us for the drop which now looks highly likely.

[Millbrook Saint]

3 minutes ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

We may never know why a striker was not brought in back in the summer, but once the results in the new season were clear Ralph’s time had run it’s course, they had to start to act. Find a manager that could potentially keep us up, but one that would be happy and capable of stopping freefall in the Championship, including keeping players on-side that would otherwise jump ship. They tried to get a very tough decision or series of decisions right and it could be said that nothing has ‘failed’ as such…from a business perspective they’ve prepared us for the drop which now looks highly likely.

Yup, I agree, I just wonder if the club had given Ralph the striker he was telling everyone we were getting if he'd still be here, I'd imagine any motivation he had disappeared the day the transfer window ended and there was still no striker, must be pretty demotivating when you're promised the tools to do your job, then not given them, especially when it's your reputation as a manager on the line.

[Wade Garrett]

The Jackson situation is a familiar one for us.  Nothing much changes.

I don’t really give a fuck any more.  What a complete shitshow Southampton FC is.

[Danbert]

14 minutes ago, woodsaint1 said:

40 points hasnt been needed since 1998 and it wont be needed this season either. Based on recent seasons 36 points might be enough, or even less which seems about right given where clubs are sitting after 20 games. That would be 1.16 points per game which is very achievable, but only if we get the last week of the window correct

It's achievable even we don't get anyone in - we're no better or worse than the other teams at the bottom of the league, we just happen to be bottom at this point. Of course new players would help, but they'll help much more if they're "oven-ready." I liked the look of Jackson but I don't think he falls into that category.

[DT]

We have 15 points from 20 games. Not sure how people think we can get even 21 from the remainder with this bunch unable to keep them out or score at the other end.

[Nolan]

5 minutes ago, DT said:

We have 15 points from 20 games. Not sure how people think we can get even 21 from the remainder with this bunch unable to keep them out or score at the other end.

Winning 7 games from 18 is not impossible if we play like we did against City or Palace.

[DT]

Just now, Nolan said:

Winning 7 games from 18 is not impossible if we play like we did against City or Palace.

Me winning the lottery is also not impossible, but sure. If only we could!

[Give it to Ron]

7 minutes ago, DT said:

We have 15 points from 20 games. Not sure how people think we can get even 21 from the remainder with this bunch unable to keep them out or score at the other end.

We have Janny B back

[jayrivers]

5 minutes ago, Nolan said:

Winning 7 games from 18 is not impossible if we play like we did against City or Palace.

This is the thing, since the city game we held our nerve against Everton and did what we needed. We lost to Villa, in a game where (I was there) we really deserved something. And they are the in form team in the league at the moment. Only Arsenal have gotten more points since Emery took over than Villa have. I think there needs to be some context to that loss. I don't see why it's all doom and gloom after Villa. It's frustrating, but nothing has changed really. We are a much better organised team who defend a lot better overall. We caused more problems for Villa than they did for us, and the ref lost control of the game. It was fine margins in the end. If we keep up with the improvements and add the players we need, then I still have hope. 

[Toussaint]

31 minutes ago, woodsaint1 said:

40 points hasnt been needed since 1998 (except for a freak season in 02/03) and it wont be needed this season either. Based on recent seasons 36 points might be enough, or even less which seems about right given where clubs are sitting after 20 games. That would be 1.16 points per game which is very achievable, but only if we get the last week of the window correct

Fair point, but even at 36 points we need to start winning a few. But the point remains, we are bottom, we are over half way through the season, there must be a consideration at play whether we go all out for survival or just attempt  to survive with more or less what we have.  

[badgerx16]

32 minutes ago, jayrivers said:

How many of those 26 players play for teams in the bottom 6/7 clubs out of interest? Zaha, Barnes, and Maddison I expect are 3 of them. 

If Che could actually convert the chances he gets we wouldn't be in the bottom 6/7, let alone the contribution of AA, another "star" that underwhelms. ( I will reserve judgement on Mara until he has actually started a few more games ). Without JWP's goals we are toothless.

[Hodgey]

It is easier to stay up in this position, than go up from the championship. SR must realise that (they even bang on about it being the 6th best league in the world). So even if they have to pay over the odds for players to improve our team, it’s something they should do. Window not over yet, and I’m not that bothered about Jackson but Rasmussen needs to pull something out of the bag, and if a striker is impossible / how about a top class keeper. It’s not just scoring goals that makes the differentials