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Post by Furry Frank The Combat Wombat on Apr 13, 2021 19:10:26 GMT
Maybe the display against WBA was a cunning plan to put off any suitors Something beginning with those 3 letters, certainly.
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Post by spot51 on Apr 15, 2021 8:43:42 GMT
Found this piece on the Athletic which suggests a number of our current starters won't be at Saints next season.
Southampton’s performance on Monday shouldn’t only make players nervous about a chance of featuring in an FA Cup semi-final. It’s become about much more than that.
Some members of Ralph Hasenhuttl’s squad are playing for their future at the club and losing 3-0 to West Brom in the manner they did isn’t going to work in their favour when it comes to deciding who stays and who goes this summer. Although an anti-Hasenhuttl agenda has started to creep in on social media, which is never a good yardstick to measure how a fanbase feels, it’s incredibly unlikely that the Austrian is going to be relieved of his duties before wholesale changes are made to the squad. The former RB Leipzig manager retains the club’s full backing despite recent results and will be given this summer’s transfer window to freshen things up within his team.
While it’s clear that the second half of the season has been poor, there is still plenty of belief in what the 53-year-old is trying to do on the south coast. It is underperforming players who will likely be moved on. The Athletic recently detailed how Southampton hope to attack the upcoming transfer window, yet some within the club wish they were able to act sooner when it comes to making personnel changes.
It should be said, however, that if Southampton beat Leicester in the FA Cup semi-final this weekend, then nobody will be discussing the shambles that was their performance against West Brom on Monday. But when the chips are down, as they have been plenty of times throughout the 2020-21 campaign, Hasenhuttl will not forget who at least attempted to help turn the tide.
If you are being generous, then you could almost forgive Monday night’s display and put it down to human nature. Yes, the 3-0 drubbing to Sam Allardyce’s relegation battlers was a “non-performance”, as described by Hasenhuttl. Yet, should we have expected it? Southampton won’t go down and they aren’t fighting for the European spots. All they have to play for now is the FA Cup. With that in mind, is it not normal for them to have one eye on Wembley’s semi-final tie against Leicester?
“I don’t know,” said Hasenhuttl when asked whether he felt his players were distracted by Sunday’s game. “I didn’t have that feeling when we went out, but with the first duels lost, yeah, you could see we haven’t been that sharp to compete with a team that was fighting for everything. “The best test for the weekend was a strong game here, so the players could get some self-confidence. This was a chance but we didn’t take it.”
At the other end of the human-nature spectrum is the fact that sub-standard performances are becoming a regular occurrence. Think back to the recent games against Brighton and Newcastle. When a reaction was needed, as it was in both of those matches, it didn’t arrive.
Beat Leicester on Sunday, then any negativity will be overtaken with FA Cup final chat. But if they lose, then this week’s results will become amplified, with the season all but over with seven league games remaining — and that in itself is a problem Hasenhuttl and his players have created by rolling over against West Brom.
Despite it being a poor team performance, there were multiple solo efforts that left a lot to be desired. Theo Walcott, Nathan Redmond, Danny Ings and Ibrahima Diallo all struggled to make any kind of impact. Jan Bednarek and Ryan Bertrand were also left wanting in defence. Moussa Djenepo, a second-half substitute, added more verve and guile in attack than all the other forwards combined while Che Adams, who also came off the bench, looked lively throughout his cameo.
To buy into the human nature element of dropping your levels ahead of a big event, you have to perform on the day it matters most. Win at the weekend and the players may be thinking that this performance was just a slightly bitter pill to swallow. Their problem, however, is that nothing points towards Southampton beating Leicester because they haven’t won against a top team since shocking Liverpool at the start of January. The FA Cup wins over Arsenal and Wolves were helped by both sides resting important players.
And would you bet on them showing a positive reaction to Monday evening’s setback? “When I see a player not really investing against West Brom, then he doesn’t have a good chance of playing Leicester in the cup,” Hasenhuttl said ahead of Monday’s match. While this statement isn’t likely to be acted upon, mainly because he’d be fielding kids if he stuck to his word, some players may come to rue very poor performances on Monday.
Players are fighting for their future and the reasons to keep them are dwindling with each poor performance.
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Post by channonite on Apr 18, 2021 19:48:25 GMT
The limo exit from the FACup this evening will only firm up Ralph's feelings about several players. It's going to be a difficult summer for the club.
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Post by arfurdent on Apr 23, 2021 7:22:15 GMT
From the BBC: Roma are set to meet Jannik Vestergaard's representatives as they work on plans to sign the Southampton and Denmark defender, 28, who is also wanted by Tottenham and Juventus. (Tuttomercatoweb - in Italian)
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Post by spot51 on Apr 23, 2021 8:03:06 GMT
From the BBC: Roma are set to meet Jannik Vestergaard's representatives as they work on plans to sign the Southampton and Denmark defender, 28, who is also wanted by Tottenham and Juventus. (Tuttomercatoweb - in Italian) Roma (not Snakes) and a great lifestyle - wish I'd pissed off to Italy when I had the chance...
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Post by arfurdent on Apr 23, 2021 8:12:02 GMT
From the BBC: Roma are set to meet Jannik Vestergaard's representatives as they work on plans to sign the Southampton and Denmark defender, 28, who is also wanted by Tottenham and Juventus. (Tuttomercatoweb - in Italian) Roma (not Snakes) and a great lifestyle - wish I'd pissed off to Italy when I had the chance... not as great a place as you might think. The male toilets at the San Siro Stadium do not provide toilet paper.
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Post by spot51 on Apr 23, 2021 8:27:43 GMT
Milan is not proper Italy - they consider themselves as Northern Europe.
Down south (where the Mafia run things) is much more relaxed.
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Post by saintpaddy on Apr 23, 2021 8:42:58 GMT
There is something very wrong at the club and my belief is it begins with Gao. Why he ever bought the club is a mystery and to hike the price for the club when he had a potential buyer is beyond me. I have followed the club since moving here in the early '70's and have never known us to perform like this. Although neutral regarding Ralph I can see where the fans are coming from because our current form is not acceptable and he has never appeared to have a plan 2.
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Post by saintsfan73 on Apr 23, 2021 9:54:27 GMT
There is a limit to what Gao can blamed for.
The reason Ralph’s playing model is failing us due to flogging the squad to death due to having no depth.
The reason for this is the huge amount wasted by Reed on players who, in a lot of cases, we are still paying the wages of today.
The big worry is how poor our academy and u23 teams are as we need these to be providing our back up players.
As usual, our biggest issue is that we still haven’t replaced Cortese and our long term plan is no more detailed than ‘don’t get relegated’.
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Post by arfurdent on Apr 23, 2021 10:39:22 GMT
There is a limit to what Gao can blamed for. The reason Ralph’s playing model is failing us due to flogging the squad to death due to having no depth. The reason for this is the huge amount wasted by Reed on players who, in a lot of cases, we are still paying the wages of today. The big worry is how poor our academy and u23 teams are as we need these to be providing our back up players. As usual, our biggest issue is that we still haven’t replaced Cortese and our long term plan is no more detailed than ‘don’t get relegated’. I think you have that spot on
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Post by melrose on Apr 23, 2021 17:08:57 GMT
There is a limit to what Gao can blamed for. The reason Ralph’s playing model is failing us due to flogging the squad to death due to having no depth. The reason for this is the huge amount wasted by Reed on players who, in a lot of cases, we are still paying the wages of today. The big worry is how poor our academy and u23 teams are as we need these to be providing our back up players. As usual, our biggest issue is that we still haven’t replaced Cortese and our long term plan is no more detailed than ‘don’t get relegated’. I think you have that spot on We all knew this was going to be a worry, and that anything but perfect luck with injuries was going to spell trouble, especially in defense and battling midfielders. So I don't know why we let Voskins and Vallery go on loan and bought no replacements. It was bloody obvious. As far as I can tell we have 19 'first team' players, if you include the likes of Stephens, and 2 of those are out for the season. One reason could be that the type and quality of player we need (and their agents) took a good look at Saints and the raging storm gathering over the Solent and said, thanks but no-thanks. I used to think you could pull through with a few fully committed championship standard battlers, but you can't any more- see Fulham, WBA and Sheff Utd. Beyond the first team we do not even have that. All over the news that Bertie has played his last game for us and Vestergaard is off. Probably along with Ings and JWP. Don't know about Ralph, but his star still seems pretty high. We are in such a mess. To stay up we will have to get something out of Fulham I think - I can see them getting six points from Burnley and Newcastle at home and nothing from Chelsea and Man Utd away. So It will all be down to that match. Honestly can't see another point from anywhere else for us against Leicester, Liverpool, Leeds and West Ham. Our last 15 reads 2-1-12. Mess.
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Post by orde on Apr 23, 2021 19:46:06 GMT
How the F do the same players have just about the best record in the league the second half of last season and the first half of this season, then turn into the keystone cops?
Either Hassenhutl has been figured out and can’t adapt, the players are overly tired, or it’s something else. Ings hasn’t been what he can be lately. The first half of this season is partially down to JWP performing above what is perhaps sustainable. Minomino had 2 good games then disappeared. And what has happened to the best academy in England? Where is the black box? And if Cortese is so frickin amazing, why hasn’t he done anything in football in almost a decade? Tottenham was nuts to ditch pocchetino, but I’m glad they did. Wish we could get him back.
I know this is just MLS, but you know who has had success at every stop between Colorado, Dallas, and Miami? Oscar Pareja. I was so pissed when Dallas let him go.
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Post by saintsfan73 on Apr 29, 2021 8:56:55 GMT
Players we need to sell/tear up the contracts of:
Lemina Hoedt Gunn Long Elywotsit
Players likely to be sold or leave as Free agents:
Bertrand Big Yan Ings
Players we really wouldn't mind who left if we could upgrade:
Redmond Theo (on loan but not sure he's worth a contract unless on v. favourable terms to us) Djenepo
Gaps in squad: LBs x 2 RB Backup CM Attacking MF Striker
The issue is we can't afford to bring in squad players, these should be coming from the Academy/U23s but our teams are the worst in their divisions in both of these so no realistic chance of this. Ralph has mentioned how annoyed he is in having to play players out of position when injuries hit.
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Post by arfurdent on Apr 29, 2021 9:03:43 GMT
Players we need to sell/tear up the contracts of: Lemina Hoedt Gunn Long Elywotsit Players likely to be sold or leave as Free agents: Bertrand Big Yan Ings Players we really wouldn't mind who left if we could upgrade: Redmond Theo (on loan but not sure he's worth a contract unless on v. favourable terms to us) Djenepo Gaps in squad: LBs x 2 RB Backup CM Attacking MF Striker The issue is we can't afford to bring in squad players, these should be coming from the Academy/U23s but our teams are the worst in their divisions in both of these so no realistic chance of this. Ralph has mentioned how annoyed he is in having to play players out of position when injuries hit. so basically fecked
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Post by Sir B3na1i on Apr 29, 2021 9:37:25 GMT
Players we need to sell/tear up the contracts of: Lemina Hoedt Gunn Long Elywotsit Players likely to be sold or leave as Free agents: Bertrand Big Yan Ings Players we really wouldn't mind who left if we could upgrade: Redmond Theo (on loan but not sure he's worth a contract unless on v. favourable terms to us) Djenepo Gaps in squad: LBs x 2 RB Backup CM Attacking MF Striker The issue is we can't afford to bring in squad players, these should be coming from the Academy/U23s but our teams are the worst in their divisions in both of these so no realistic chance of this. Ralph has mentioned how annoyed he is in having to play players out of position when injuries hit. I actually think we've got a CB problem again. For all their good work at the start of the season Jan and Jannik have been pretty poor lately. Admittedly that's influenced by a lack of cover from Romeu but not to the extent it's they've been shown up. Salisu looks decent, but I would be clearing Stephens out to free up a spot in the squad for an improvement
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