James Ward-Prowse

[qwertyell]

  On 28/05/2023 at 20:46, Chez said:

Smallbone was the most passive central midfielder I've seen at Saints, so it worries me that we are going to rely on him. He seems to have had a good season at Stoke, so that is encouraging, but we re going to need some more pace, power, aggression and dynamism to complement whatever it is he offers now.

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  On 28/05/2023 at 22:03, EBS1980 said:

3 goals in 46 for Stoke, he’ll fit in perfectly then.

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  On 29/05/2023 at 08:33, bpsaint said:

Glad someone else feels the same way about Smallbone, he was such a nothing player for us previously now all of a sudden a half decent run at mid table Stoke and fans think he’s going to be running the midfield for us. It’s easy to stand out in a side primed for obscurity in the championship,but if we’re serious about bouncing straight back up we’re going to need someone with a bit more about themselves IMO.

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Stoke forums I've read were thoroughly underwhelmed with Smallbone. The consensus was that he had barely a handful of good games and was otherwise an anonymous backwards and sideways passer who drifts through long runs of fixtures without making any impression at all.

Apparently took all their free kicks and corners - and they were nothing special either. 

Maybe a decent squad option for us, but shouldn't be starting. 

Seems like he at least wants to play for us, though. Which is something unique, I guess.

[ally_uk]

You must be deluded to think Prowse is staying... bet the deal was done weeks ago 

[david in sweden]

  On 29/05/2023 at 15:14, Tamesaint said:

Footballers don't stay loyal but why should they when 99% of the population would happily change their employer if offered much more money and a job in a better environment?  To expect young men to behave differently is unrealistic. 

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A good point to note.    If we employed a manager who said he's wasn't ambitious to succeed - we'd sack him on the spot,

but when it's a player who improves above and beyond his teammates and leaves, then he is criticised and abused by fans on line.

Clearly, Adam Lallana improved out of sight in his final season with us, yet drew horrendous responses from some " fans" after he moved.

 

I recall that some others were upset when Graziano Pelle left us ....after he was offered  300,000  a week  to play in China. 

A certain lack of perspective there, I think. 

[Chez]

  On 29/05/2023 at 17:09, qwertyell said:

 

 

Stoke forums I've read were thoroughly underwhelmed with Smallbone. The consensus was that he had barely a handful of good games and was otherwise an anonymous backwards and sideways passer who drifts through long runs of fixtures without making any impression at all.

Apparently took all their free kicks and corners - and they were nothing special either. 

Maybe a decent squad option for us, but shouldn't be starting. 

Seems like he at least wants to play for us, though. Which is something unique, I guess.

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I read that he had a pretty decent season for them and was one of their better players. Not sure that means much. I've been underwhelmed by him in a Saints shirt. We've got Alcaraz, SArmstrong, Aribo and Amo-Ameyaw who can play in the hole. He'll have to fight for his place.

[Lord Duckhunter]

  On 29/05/2023 at 14:14, Tamesaint said:

 

... Of course you would stay loyal to your current employer if someone came to you  and offered to double / triple your money and to work in a much more prestigious establishment. 

I think you are a hypocrite. 

 

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Of course I would fucking go, why does that make me hypercritical. I’m not digging Prowse out for being disloyal, I’m digging the 🤡posting about his “loyalty”. It’s easy to be loyal when nobody decent wants to buy you. Real loyalty would be staying when we’re down. That’s loyalty.

[saintquin]

  On 29/05/2023 at 14:21, Lighthouse said:

I don’t think he’s suggesting players SHOUlD stay loyal, simply pointing out that they don’t and TBH he’s got a point. Tiss was one of the few players who was genuinely loyal to us as he had serious offers to go elsewhere and earn more. I find it somewhat bemusing when people talk about the likes of Benali and Long being loyal.

JWP has stayed with us because he’s a lower mid-table standard player, or a reasonable squad option for a European competitor and up until now, we’ve managed to provide him with the former platform.

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And even he probably would have gone if Saints didn't match that offer!

[Nemi]

  On 29/05/2023 at 15:23, sledger said:

been a great servant to saints but oh how i wish the up tempo all action ward prowse we saw yesterday had popped up 3 months ago then he and saints might not be getting relegated

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The openness of that game suited him quite well. As soon as we come up against a team who sit back and hit on the counter he doesn’t have the ability to break them down and boy does it show in the number of times we’ve been a goal down at home and we’re just knocking along the backline.

 

We’re really going to need a penetrative passer in that role next season because 3/4 of the league will be coming to St Mary’s to sit back and maybe nick a goal on the break.

[pimpin4rizeal]

We want 40m apparently..

it’s really hard to weigh up his value tbh.. as a free kick taker he’s probably best in the world it’s a world class attribute that can win you games..

As a in play cm he’s not fast and dynamic enough to be the best n that position but he’s probably solid enough and puts a shift in especially if he was surrounded by other players who can do the things he can’t..

I mean beckham wasn’t the greatest winger that could beat people for fun but like jwp had the delivery and in the right team could make him a match winner 

[STEVEADAMS]

  On 28/05/2023 at 18:52, FarehamSaintJames said:

Christ sake, the bloke hasn’t even left yet.

Still don’t think he will. 👍🏻

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I’ll actually be heartbroken if he goes, he’s Southampton through and through like Matt was. He’s a great player and has deserved better from the club, it’s been a shambles we all know that. This one will hurt the most, he’s carried this club for long  enough we’d have been down a lot earlier if it wasn’t for his goals and some of the comments here are ridiculous 

Edited 30 May, 2023 by STEVEADAMS

[Sussex_saint]

 

  On 30/05/2023 at 02:56, STEVEADAMS said:

I’ll actually be heartbroken if he goes, he’s Southampton through and through like Matt was. He’s a great player and has deserved better from the club, it’s been a shambles we all know that. This one will hurt the most, he’s carried this club for long  enough we’d have been down a lot earlier if it wasn’t for his goals and some of the comments here are ridiculous 

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yep - I did feel a bit emotional the other day seeing him clapped off. some guy created a great compilation of him on twitter, starting of that clip of him when he was 12/13 or something, all the way through to this season. People saying "oh we could do without him" and even the idiots who say "tbh i'll rather see him go", just look to how we performed in the grimbsy game. even look at how we performed when he came off vs Liverpool! If hes gone, hes gone, and you never know - wouldn't be surprised to see him in a managerial role a few years down the line back here ( hopefully not in Lampard style!)

 

[Dellman]

  On 30/05/2023 at 08:17, Sussex_saint said:

 

yep - I did feel a bit emotional the other day seeing him clapped off. some guy created a great compilation of him on twitter, starting of that clip of him when he was 12/13 or something, all the way through to this season. People saying "oh we could do without him" and even the idiots who say "tbh i'll rather see him go", just look to how we performed in the grimbsy game. even look at how we performed when he came off vs Liverpool! If hes gone, hes gone, and you never know - wouldn't be surprised to see him in a managerial role a few years down the line back here ( hopefully not in Lampard style!)

 

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He deserves better supporters, he deserves  better Club but i hope stays

[Lighthouse]

  On 30/05/2023 at 08:27, Dellman said:

He deserves better supporters, he deserves  better Club but i hope stays

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No he doesn’t. Nobody in this squad deserves better than the people who pay hundreds or even thousands of pounds, during a cost of living crisis, to watch the absolute dross we’ve just been served. 

[SotonianWill]

  On 30/05/2023 at 08:27, Dellman said:

He deserves better supporters, he deserves  better Club but i hope stays

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See this is the mentality that made me comment on this thread about the fans who think he's bigger than the club, the "we've let him down" thesis. Load of rubbish.

Edited 30 May, 2023 by SotonianWill

[Give it to Ron]

  On 30/05/2023 at 08:33, Lighthouse said:

No he doesn’t. Nobody in this squad deserves better than the people who pay hundreds or even thousands of pounds, during a cost of living crisis, to watch the absolute dross we’ve just been served. 

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Great post sick of reading twitter and forum posts slagging off fans who have paid a fortune for that dross of a season.

How is it fans fault we kept Ralph?

How is it fans fault we didn’t buy a striker to replace Ings and started without one?

Did the fans appoint Jones?

Did the fans appoint Selles?

Did the fans not pick a striker in games we needed to win?

Did the fans keep picking Ely useless so we had 10 players on pitch with tactics to stop goals rather than score - that went well?

Fans kept turning up to be served up half arsed performances and 5k halibut being waved and losing to Grimsby.

We had blocks closed, stewards searching us yet let in aways with flares, drums and seats in home ends . Told we were lucky to be in the Prem, poor chap had to leave his family and get a free seat and transport.

The one thing isn’t to blame this season is the fans!

 

Edited 30 May, 2023 by Give it to Ron

[Whitey Grandad]

  On 30/05/2023 at 09:26, Give it to Ron said:

Great post sick of reading twitter and forum posts slagging off fans who have paid a fortune for that dross of a season.

How is it fans fault we kept Ralph?

How is it fans fault we didn’t buy a striker to replace Ings and started without one?

Did the fans appoint Jones?

Did the fans appoint Selles?

Did the fans not pick a striker in games we needed to win?

Did the fans keep picking Ely useless so we had 10 players on pitch with tactics to stop goals rather than score - that went well?

Fans kept turning up to be served up half arsed performances and 5k halibut being waved and losing to Grimsby.

We had blocks closed, stewards searching us yet let in aways with flares, drums and seats in home ends . Told we were lucky to be in the Prem, poor chap had to leave his family and get a free seat and transport.

The one thing isn’t to blame this season is the fans!

 

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Well said.

[farawaysaint]

I mean our fans are in fact shocking, this can be said independently of comments on how crap the team are. When you compare the graveyard of St Mary’s with some of the other teams who were relegation threatened this year it’s actually quite embarrassing. 

[St Louis]

  On 29/05/2023 at 14:21, Lighthouse said:

Tiss was one of the few players who was genuinely loyal to us as he had serious offers to go elsewhere and earn more. I find it somewhat bemusing when people talk about the likes of Benali and Long being loyal.

JWP has stayed with us because he’s a lower mid-table standard player, or a reasonable squad option for a European competitor and up until now, we’ve managed to provide him with the former platform.

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It is a completely different landscape now though. If you read Le Tiss's book, he says the best wage he earned here was something like £5,700 a week, and that Chelsea and Spurs were offering something like £6,300 a week (I cant recall the exact figures, but it was along those lines) and he says that he enjoyed it at Saints so much that an extra £600 a week wasnt enough to tempt him. But he does say that in the modern era if he had been on £50,000 a week at Saints and one of the big guns had come along and offered £150,000 a week, it would have made it impossible to stay. The chasm is bigger than its ever been between the 'big' clubs and us.

Personally I think JWP will leave, he will at least want a shot at making the Euro's squad next summer, and he knows he needs to be playing regularly in the Prem to even have a small chance. But us paying him well already (£100k a week) might give us a very slim chance of keeping him, as I cant see him being paid huge amounts more elsewhere.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

  On 30/05/2023 at 10:29, farawaysaint said:

I mean our fans are in fact shocking, this can be said independently of comments on how crap the team are. When you compare the graveyard of St Mary’s with some of the other teams who were relegation threatened this year it’s actually quite embarrassing. 

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But the team has been so horrific, its hard to get any atmosphere going when you are watching the same shit week in and week out. 

[farawaysaint]

  On 30/05/2023 at 10:44, Lee On Solent Saint said:

But the team has been so horrific, its hard to get any atmosphere going when you are watching the same shit week in and week out. 

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And I fully agree, yet other relegation threatened teams managed it. Why do we have the monopoly on crap atmosphere because the team is doing bad? 

[Chewy]

  On 30/05/2023 at 11:45, farawaysaint said:

And I fully agree, yet other relegation threatened teams managed it. Why do we have the monopoly on crap atmosphere because the team is doing bad? 

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Probably because it’s not just one season, it’s been dreadful in terms of results since Puel left, and the football in Puel’s season was horrible. That’s about 6 or 7 years of utter sh1te I and thousands of others have paid thousands for.

I’m not personally moaning; entirely my own choice. But I think it might explain why the atmosphere is somewhat flat.
 

[waylander]

  On 30/05/2023 at 11:50, Chewy said:

Probably because it’s not just one season, it’s been dreadful in terms of results since Puel left, and the football in Puel’s season was horrible. That’s about 6 or 7 years of utter sh1te I and thousands of others have paid thousands for.

I’m not personally moaning; entirely my own choice. But I think it might explain why the atmosphere is somewhat flat.
 

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We were top of the PL at one point under Ralph, or did I dream that?

[SotonianWill]

  On 30/05/2023 at 11:45, farawaysaint said:

And I fully agree, yet other relegation threatened teams managed it. Why do we have the monopoly on crap atmosphere because the team is doing bad? 

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because all the teams with good atmosphere at the bottom have just been promoted and are yet to join the “prem is boring” stage. 

[cloggy saint]

  On 30/05/2023 at 13:00, waylander said:

We were top of the PL at one point under Ralph, or did I dream that?

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For about 36 hours.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

  On 30/05/2023 at 11:45, farawaysaint said:

And I fully agree, yet other relegation threatened teams managed it. Why do we have the monopoly on crap atmosphere because the team is doing bad? 

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Agree with that too, Everton/Leeds etc all managed to build up a positive atmosphere, but it could be argued that the teams they were watching showed some fight, urgency and determination. All we got were a shrug of the shoulders and a promise of doing better next game. 

[SotonianWill]

  On 30/05/2023 at 13:55, Lee On Solent Saint said:

Everton/Leeds etc all managed to build up a positive atmosphere

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😂😂

[East Kent Saint]

  On 30/05/2023 at 10:29, farawaysaint said:

I mean our fans are in fact shocking, this can be said independently of comments on how crap the team are. When you compare the graveyard of St Mary’s with some of the other teams who were relegation threatened this year it’s actually quite embarrassing. 

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Er I think you have forgotten that over several seasons there was little chance of seeing our team actually win at home , what twice this season ? The question is why any fans bother to turn up week after week .

[S-Clarke]

  On 30/05/2023 at 13:55, Lee On Solent Saint said:

Agree with that too, Everton/Leeds etc all managed to build up a positive atmosphere, but it could be argued that the teams they were watching showed some fight, urgency and determination. All we got were a shrug of the shoulders and a promise of doing better next game. 

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Was that before or after they frightened their directors out of the stadium after threats of harm?  

They put on an atmosphere on the final day, but I think it's easy to treat those sort of 'winner takes all' games as one off finals and support them with that mindset. Everton have been proper toxic in the stands all season though.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

  On 30/05/2023 at 14:28, SotonianWill said:

😂😂

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You don't think they didn't? Certainly before relegation was confirmed Leeds fans were pretty decent. I don't agree with what Everton fans have done with threats against their board etc, but they made Goodison noisy. 

[Lee On Solent Saint]

  On 30/05/2023 at 14:49, S-Clarke said:

Was that before or after they frightened their directors out of the stadium after threats of harm?  

They put on an atmosphere on the final day, but I think it's easy to treat those sort of 'winner takes all' games as one off finals and support them with that mindset. Everton have been proper toxic in the stands all season though.

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Exactly, I don't agree with what they did and in general I think their fans are awful. But we had several "cup finals" over the past six or seven weeks, and the players couldn't put in a performance to get the fans going. The original point was that we as fans shouldn't be made to blame for a lack of atmosphere when the shit we have been watching is so poor. The team have to provide something on the pitch. 

[Lighthouse]

We can debate all this ad nauseum but looking at the table; Arsenal, Brighton, Fulham and City have all had fantastic seasons. Bournemouth too, relative to their resources. None of their stadiums are known for being a cauldron of passion and it hasn’t stopped their teams from playing with passion, purpose and a positive mindset. If anything I’d say places like SJP, Goodison and West Ham are more likely to develop a negative, toxic atmosphere than SMS. Fans running on the pitch, berating players, throwing their STs  at the manager, chasing players cars down the street etc. doesn’t help the situation.

As the Scouser said to the toothpaste, deodorant and shampoo salesman; I’m not buying it.

[Lighthouse]

  On 30/05/2023 at 14:50, Lee On Solent Saint said:

You don't think they didn't? Certainly before relegation was confirmed Leeds fans were pretty decent. I don't agree with what Everton fans have done with threats against their board etc, but they made Goodison noisy. 

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And yet they only stayed up because of a completely freak result, away from all their fans, at the Amex, and a GK who’s far better than any other in the bottom half.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

  On 30/05/2023 at 14:56, Lighthouse said:

And yet they only stayed up because of a completely freak result, away from all their fans, at the Amex, and a GK who’s far better than any other in the bottom half.

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That may be the case, but at least when it mattered, their players actually stood up and showed that they had some fight in them. What did we get? Same old shrug of the shoulders each week, and another club generated E-mail saying we know what we did wrong and we will learn from our mistakes. 

[Turkish]

 

He could be our Totti, Buffon, Del Piero, Nedved etc

Edited 30 May, 2023 by Turkish

[Lighthouse]

  On 30/05/2023 at 10:43, St Louis said:

It is a completely different landscape now though. If you read Le Tiss's book, he says the best wage he earned here was something like £5,700 a week, and that Chelsea and Spurs were offering something like £6,300 a week (I cant recall the exact figures, but it was along those lines) and he says that he enjoyed it at Saints so much that an extra £600 a week wasnt enough to tempt him. But he does say that in the modern era if he had been on £50,000 a week at Saints and one of the big guns had come along and offered £150,000 a week, it would have made it impossible to stay. The chasm is bigger than its ever been between the 'big' clubs and us.

Personally I think JWP will leave, he will at least want a shot at making the Euro's squad next summer, and he knows he needs to be playing regularly in the Prem to even have a small chance. But us paying him well already (£100k a week) might give us a very slim chance of keeping him, as I cant see him being paid huge amounts more elsewhere.

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I kind of see that the other way around. For someone in a low income, unskilled job an annual rise from £20k to £22k is absolutely massive, yet a consultant neurosurgeon jumping from £180k to £200k isn’t really going to change all that much. Obviously tripling someone’s wage is different but I don’t think that’d be on the cards with modern PL money. I think SR would push the boats out to keep him and offer £120kpw and Chelsea or Spurs wouldn’t offer him that much more.

[S-Clarke]

  On 30/05/2023 at 14:54, Lee On Solent Saint said:

Exactly, I don't agree with what they did and in general I think their fans are awful. But we had several "cup finals" over the past six or seven weeks, and the players couldn't put in a performance to get the fans going. The original point was that we as fans shouldn't be made to blame for a lack of atmosphere when the shit we have been watching is so poor. The team have to provide something on the pitch. 

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It's different when it's a one off game though isn't it, you know what you need to do, you know what you need others to do - no other games to fall back on, do or die. Fans will always rouse up an extra atmosphere for that, as you saw at Leicester and Leeds up until 1 min into the game.

Sadly we never got ourselves in the position to create that sort of scenario, so whilst we had lots of 'must win's, they weren't in the same context as a final day show down.

[Lighthouse]

  On 30/05/2023 at 14:59, Lee On Solent Saint said:

That may be the case, but at least when it mattered, their players actually stood up and showed that they had some fight in them. What did we get? Same old shrug of the shoulders each week, and another club generated E-mail saying we know what we did wrong and we will learn from our mistakes. 

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No they didn’t, they’ve been dreadful and easily as weak minded as Saints all season. They completely downed tools at home to Newcastle. Half the ground had left by FT, the team could easily have lost 7-1 with better finishing and a marginal offside.

Pickford is the difference. That’s it, Pickford. Period. They have England’s #1, we have two Championship standard keepers. They say a decent GK is 10 points a season, they finished 11 ahead of it.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

  On 30/05/2023 at 15:08, Lighthouse said:

No they didn’t, they’ve been dreadful and easily as weak minded as Saints all season. They completely downed tools at home to Newcastle. Half the ground had left by FT, the team could easily have lost 7-1 with better finishing and a marginal offside.

Pickford is the difference. That’s it, Pickford. Period. They have England’s #1, we have two Championship standard keepers. They say a decent GK is 10 points a season, they finished 11 ahead of it.

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They stayed up. I think that suggests they showed more than us. I can't stand Everton either, but they had more fight in them, even if it was just Pickford. And they were able to pick up points from the teams around them, which is something we failed to do.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

  On 30/05/2023 at 15:04, S-Clarke said:

It's different when it's a one off game though isn't it, you know what you need to do, you know what you need others to do - no other games to fall back on, do or die. Fans will always rouse up an extra atmosphere for that, as you saw at Leicester and Leeds up until 1 min into the game.

Sadly we never got ourselves in the position to create that sort of scenario, so whilst we had lots of 'must win's, they weren't in the same context as a final day show down.

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Sure its different, am just fed up with posters on here jumping on the fan base for being so passive and accepting of everything. Bottom line is what we have been watching for x number of seasons has been pretty shit. It's extremely difficult to get enthusiastic about watching us at the moment. I don't think I've ever been so far removed from the club as I feel now. Nobody on the pitch cares, bar one or two players, and certainly nobody at a senior level was too bothered, or if they were, made too many mistakes. 

[Lighthouse]

  On 30/05/2023 at 14:59, Turkish said:

 

He could be our Totti, Buffon, Del Piero, Nedved etc

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As much as I admire that, staying at Juventus when you’re already multiple WC, CL and Serie A winning global superstars really isn’t much of a sacrifice. They’d all gone out and proven themselves at the top level, earned more money than they’ll ever need and knew they’d be back at the top level in pretty much immediately. Totti I would say was akin to if Kane chose to spend his whole career at Spurs. Commendable and no doubt he’d have bigger offers but he’s still paid very handsomely at a club in and out of the Champions League.

[Turkish]

  On 30/05/2023 at 15:44, Lighthouse said:

As much as I admire that, staying at Juventus when you’re already multiple WC, CL and Serie A winning global superstars really isn’t much of a sacrifice. They’d all gone out and proven themselves at the top level, earned more money than they’ll ever need and knew they’d be back at the top level in pretty much immediately. Totti I would say was akin to if Kane chose to spend his whole career at Spurs. Commendable and no doubt he’d have bigger offers but he’s still paid very handsomely at a club in and out of the Champions League.

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Incorrect. Totti won stuff. 

[Turkish]

[Lighthouse]

  On 30/05/2023 at 16:07, Turkish said:

Incorrect. Totti won stuff. 

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Which kind of backs up my point. Staying loyal to Miss Sweden when you have an opportunity to sleep with Miss World isn't exactly hardship.

[Turkish]

  On 30/05/2023 at 16:52, Lighthouse said:

Which kind of backs up my point. Staying loyal to Miss Sweden when you have an opportunity to sleep with Miss World isn't exactly hardship.

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Have you seen Miss Sweden! 

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

Must admit, thought there was a good chance he would stay until saw him clapped off against Liverpool. Problem is, with Leicester going down, clubs that might have considered JWP are more likely to be chasing Maddison - which puts JWP exactly where the press have put him, West Ham or a club of a similar ilk. Still, if someone's prepared to pay £40m, there's a lot that can be done with that in the championship. The whole Burnley rebuild didn't cost that much.

[kitch]

  On 28/05/2023 at 20:12, Dusic said:

Essentially all four of our CM options will leave (Lavia, JWP, Diallo, AMN) so I would say its the key position for recruitment as even with Smallbone back will need to sign 3 before the start of the season.

Don't think there are any genuine academy prospects in the #6 type position either so recruitment here will be massive.

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If Russell Martin is indeed the man, I can see him trying to bring Matt Grimes along in his backpack tbh.

[SaintsFan86]

  On 31/05/2023 at 14:37, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

Must admit, thought there was a good chance he would stay until saw him clapped off against Liverpool. Problem is, with Leicester going down, clubs that might have considered JWP are more likely to be chasing Maddison - which puts JWP exactly where the press have put him, West Ham or a club of a similar ilk. Still, if someone's prepared to pay £40m, there's a lot that can be done with that in the championship. The whole Burnley rebuild didn't cost that much.

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If West ham win there Europa conference final and progress to Europe then for JWP it isn't a bad step. He wants to taste Europe again.

[S-Clarke]

  On 31/05/2023 at 16:14, SaintsFan86 said:

If West ham win there Europa conference final and progress to Europe then for JWP it isn't a bad step. He wants to taste Europe again.

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If he wants CL football etc, then this is probably his last opportunity to get that move I'd say. If he sticks with us this window and brings us back up, he'd back in the PL with us but pushing on 30 - we're not going to make Europe in our first season back, and he'd have less suitors in Europe looking at him at that point.

I think he's got to take the chance and I'm fairly sure there is a Premier League CL club sniffing.

[saintant]

  On 29/05/2023 at 19:52, Nemi said:

The openness of that game suited him quite well. As soon as we come up against a team who sit back and hit on the counter he doesn’t have the ability to break them down and boy does it show in the number of times we’ve been a goal down at home and we’re just knocking along the backline.

 

We’re really going to need a penetrative passer in that role next season because 3/4 of the league will be coming to St Mary’s to sit back and maybe nick a goal on the break.

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Step forward Matt Grimes of Swansea.

[OldNick]

  On 30/05/2023 at 15:08, Lighthouse said:

No they didn’t, they’ve been dreadful and easily as weak minded as Saints all season. They completely downed tools at home to Newcastle. Half the ground had left by FT, the team could easily have lost 7-1 with better finishing and a marginal offside.

Pickford is the difference. That’s it, Pickford. Period. They have England’s #1, we have two Championship standard keepers. They say a decent GK is 10 points a season, they finished 11 ahead of it.

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They also had Decoure who made a massive difference scoring some crucial goals. (amazing how Frank put him in the reserves and blanked him, very much the same as he did to the Chelsea centre back. Both came back into their teams and made massive differences)They also had some last minute goals in games they didnt deserve a point. One of them in the 10th minute of injury time. All made that little bit of difference in the end. Dyche did ok but I dont see him as a wonderful saviour.

[Mr Brightside]

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/22543808/james-ward-prowse-southampton-transfer-wolves/amp/