Southampton Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2020/2021

BigMoose

My guess is around 12th - nothing close to recent(ish) seasons of top half, but not new-underwear-needing like last season either. Will spend most of he season in the bottom 3rd but be just about out of the real trouble... Hopefully we'll gel, start scoring and do better than this

zztop

That prediction could be spot on and the other 3 optimistic signs are
Fulham,Cardiff and Huddersfield.

Duzzie

zztop wrote: »

That prediction could be spot on and the other 3 optimistic signs are
Fulham,Cardiff and Huddersfield.

I have very little faith in the current manager or players. We are now on our 3rd manager who appears to be strugling to get the players playing. That cannot be down to the manager alone. There is something seriously wrong at the club, from the top down. It might not be relegation this year but if it isnt, it will be a close run thing. 😭😭😭😭

BigMoose

So Les Reed has been sacked due to our poor form... Rumour that Hughes will be gone if we lose at home to Watford on Sat. While a lot of fans forums give out at Reed, I have no idea what influence he has on the current squad and their effort/desire.

zztop

A couple of weeks out Moose.So we will have 3 managers of the club on this page alone.

zztop

Hassenhuhl ex Leipzig has agreed in principle to join.Sounds good.

Duzzie

zztop wrote: »

Hassenhuhl ex Leipzig has agreed in principle to join.Sounds good.

Also talk of Paul Mitchell possibly returning, i would be happy with that move

BigMoose

Very positive comments about Hassenhuhl, really hope it works out better than the last one we tried with no prem experience... with a bit of luck that was just a blip and this will be more like Ponch/Koeman!

zztop

Top Class press conference.He is going to be hugely popular.Saints to be very safe even though I felt Hughes was unlucky in a few results.Should 4/5 more points.Reckon the Rabbithutch will deliver.

zztop

The first big doubt after another injury time goal and the manager saying he
would leave if Saints are relegated.Not very clever Ralph.

BigMoose

Has he really said that??? Not clever at all...

zztop

Reportedly in a german interview

zztop

What a difference under Hutch.The team seemed capable of getting a
result against anybody. Onward to next season with a view to a safe mid table position and a serious attempt at winning a cup. Long769.

BigMoose

Fantastic change under Ralf! Very excited to see what happens (if anything other than selling!) over the summer and into next season. Will have to bring the kids over for a game early in the new season.

zztop

zztop wrote: »

That prediction could be spot on and the other 3 optimistic signs are
Fulham,Cardiff and Huddersfield.

Better prospects for next season? Transfers crucial.
Will be stuck with Hoedt,Cedric/Carillo/Boufal may be
back.Austin to go.

Duzzie

https://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?60978-New-Club-Sponsor-LD-Sports&p=2734159#post2734159

Worrying discussions about our new shirt sponsorship deal and possible use of the club to launder chinese money. Even talk of the company that runs us being owned by the Chinese government.

zztop

Close season will tell a tale.Chinese owning most things now
including the massive US debt:p

zztop

A whole team or more on the way out it seems

Foster/Mc Carthy

Soares/Stephens/Hoedt/Targett

Clasie/Lemina/Boufal

Austin/Carillo/Gallagher

Only Dnejo and Adams in yet.Going to be a hectic and exciting month.

BigMoose

Isn't it Forster or McCarthy (we dont need 2 well paid reserve keepers - if we got good offers for both I'm sure they'd both go and we'd look for another cheaper reserve, however I'm not convinced anyone will want to pay Forster's big wage), I think Lemina's only on the list if we get a big enough offer not to turn down. Otherwise I expect to see him have a bit longer with Ralf.

I would have liked to see Boufal given a go with Ralf, but I guess the boss has seen enough not to want to bother.

Dont forget Ings has been made perm too... Exciting month indeed

zztop

Its mentioned on SF that the Saints are in Ireland at the end of July?

BigMoose

Yeah, I saw that in the news letter email thing they send out, but cant find any details of where or what they're doing. They're not playing a game here from what I can tell. Would be great to take the kids to see a training session if that's what they're over for.

Johner

My friend works in Carton House and Chelsea are there at the moment. Southampton are coming the 20th or 21st of July I think he said. Might be a week later so I’m not 100% sure of the dates but they’re definitely staying in Carton House in Maynooth.

Duzzie

Bring on the Skates. Ive never been overly bothered by the league cup, but the draw is sure to raise the blood pressure of both sets of fans. I hope that Ralf appreciates the significance and puts out a strong team to batter them off the park

zztop

Happy Halloweeen,theres something rotten in the state of Hampshire........

https://old.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/dn3m3r/postmatch_thread_southampton_09_leicester_city/f57igot/

We’ve obviously had a performance that’s genuinely shameful, it’s so bad that I’ve had several friends text me and ask me if I’m doing alright.

That being said, you’ve got to be off your rocker if you think Hasenhuttl should be sacked. We suffered through Mauricio Pellegrino and Mark Hughes for two years only to finally find a competent manager, we’re not going to bin him after ten games after we waited three months too long to bin Pellegrino.

It’s not like he instructed any of the lads to forget what defending is, asked Bertrand to make a horror tackle ten minutes in, or wrote in the match plan to capitulate after the first goal. What we honestly need is a sports psychologist to come in and work with the lads every day, I haven’t seen such mental weakness since my ex bird locked herself in my bathroom and needed two hours of consoling before making a geography presentation to six people. I haven’t seen such bad defending since my ex girlfriend tried to defend making a tinder account “to make friends” to me. I haven’t seen heads drop faster than my ex girlfriend’s head dropped onto the pillow after a night out when she spent the whole walk home talking about she was going to give me the shagging of my life **** off Valery, **** off Vestergaard, **** off Bertrand, and more importantly **** off Jessica I thought we had something special.

Not a Southampton fan but that comment is gold.

BigMoose

I've stupidly bought flights and tickets for me and my boys for the Everton home game...

zztop

Great news Moose especially with your winning record:)

zztop

Home too WATFORD and Norwich this week
6 points are it certainly looks like goodbye.

BigMoose

Not going very well so far, were lucky not to be 1 down in under 2 minutes again! And are 1 down as I write. Still dont think I’d sack Ralph though, although after the utterly inept performance against Everton I put my kids though I’m not sure why... Actually for 15 mins at the start of the second half they looked good, but the rest of the game was dire, worst I’ve seen in a long time and I’ve witnessed some utter dross under recent managers! For some inexplicable reason I’ve decided to put the kids through their first away game in a couple of weeks at Villa...

zztop

Awful stuff but the result will do. Defence will have their work cut out on Wednesday with those speedy Norwich players.Have to avoid a loss.At least Mooose the Saints are playing better away.

zztop

Back in the doodoo.

BigMoose

It was another poor game. Possession given away too easily, little happening up front other than the disallowed goal. Don't think their keeper had much to do all game... Still, hoping for a better away performance next Sat!

zztop

Powerful combination Ings and the Moose.There are 3 worse teams than Saints and would be in a comfortable position if the home form was better.

BigMoose

Was a great game to go to!! Just about makes up for going to the Everton game! Good first away game for the lads too. When we press forward we looked dangerous, but there was still too much tentative passing it backwards and you just knew sooner or later someone would loose possession in a dangerous position and it happened every time! They need the confidence to press forward and some improvement at the back so they can pass it about and not lose the thing straight away each time. Shame Long didn’t get one, but he worked hard. His pace made the first.

We would indeed be in a comfortable position if our home form was better. There’s teams only a point or two ahead of us that you’ve not heard any worries of a bad season from...

zztop

How sweet was that,3 points from Leicster.:P

BigMoose

This has been the strangest season! Can’t say I’m expecting much from the next 3 games but wasn’t expecting much from yesterday. Wolves home, a drawer? Shame it’s at home... Palace, as it’s away would like to think we’d get at least a point and who knows away at Anfield!!

zztop

Wolves involved tonight against Man Utd which should give Saints an added advantage for the weekend.Palace dont score a lot of goals and Saints with a full squad could end up in the top half soon.Fingers crossed.

zztop

Looking very impressive since the restart and a great win over City.Need
to get Walker P signed and hold onto the best players even if Hjoberg is off.

BigMoose

It's been a fab restart for us! I was worried as we're always crap at the start of a new season so thought the break wouldn't do them any good... Definitely needed new underwear watching the end of the City game though!

Completely agree re KWP, he seems very good. Let Hojbjerg go as part of the deal to keep KWP if he doesn't want to be here but make sure we keep the rest. Delighted that Adams finally has his first goal, really hope that will open the floodgates for many more. I think he'll do well next season.

zztop

So the new season starts with the same team squad less Hojberg.Fancy a finish from 8 to 10.OWTSGMI.

BigMoose

Normal "first game of the season" service is resumed then... Hope he can sort them out quicker than last season! They've shown after the lockdown break they can start well.

zztop

Shambolic against brentford but sure it can only get ..............

BigMoose

:eek: how can the same set of players turn so lethargic and useless in just a few weeks?! I guess you can drink a lot of beer and eat a lot of pies in 3-4 weeks... Last night sounded like another Leicester in the making! I was too tight to pay the tenner to watch on the Carabao site, so listened to the Radio Solent commentary on the Saints website instead. Sounded dour.

Duzzie

BigMoose wrote: »

:eek: how can the same set of players turn so lethargic and useless in just a few weeks?! I guess you can drink a lot of beer and eat a lot of pies in 3-4 weeks... Last night sounded like another Leicester in the making! I was too tight to pay the tenner to watch on the Carabao site, so listened to the Radio Solent commentary on the Saints website instead. Sounded dour.

AFAIK it was pretty much our strongest team too. Does not bode well for the season. It is early but with Spurs on Saturday, we could be in for a bad result there.

BigMoose

It was indeed the same team bar one new lad. For the first goal the commentary said the defense were all looking clueless at each other as to who was meant to be marking the lad that scored... not looking forward to the weekend! But I guess Ralph has turned them around before, so in Ralph we trust...!

Duzzie

BigMoose wrote: »

It was indeed the same team bar one new lad. For the first goal the commentary said the defense were all looking clueless at each other as to who was meant to be marking the lad that scored... not looking forward to the weekend! But I guess Ralph has turned them around before, so in Ralph we trust...!

Perhaps they were social distancing???

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54193770

zztop

Defending too high and mc Carthy was sweeping!!Adams didnt even jump for the header for goal 2. Ings missed 2 very good chances and Adams shot was turned onto the post.WP looks dodgy after a good start.Will be destroyed by Kane/Bale unless system changes.

zztop

Top of the league........
Best tweet on official site
STOP THE Count with pic of league table.

zztop

3 months later an absolute shocker.Down to 12th.If the club borrowed 80m
at 9% its in a bad way.Will be back in top 10 when injury crisis lessens.

BigMoose

I was given a "stop the count" t-shirt from the saints store for Christmas from one of the kids... But last night was just awful. Now we have Bednarek suspended for how many? How long until Vestergaard and KWP are back? Ings really off the boil. I could go on! We need a good win on Saturday to put this behind us (again) but not remotely confident!