I was gutted when you nicked Alderweireld from under our noses. I'm glad to see the back of Van Dijk. Such is the difference in professionalism between the two
good thing for man city that we diddnt get him in the summer or wed be running away with the lge at this point im sure
If a player's not willing to play, is unhappy and is disrupting the dressing room, then it doesn't matter how good they are. You're better off shipping them out and bringing in someone who wants to be there and will give 100%. The real test here is whether Southampton have already agreed deals with the money that Liverpool are giving you. You desperately need to strengthen in January or you'll be dragged into the relegation fight, I fear. The team seemed broken on the weekend, until he chucked on some subs and started going for it a bit.
Yeah, we started trying to play once the game was already lost. That's been a feature of this season unfortunately. Our squad needs major surgery tbh. We won't get that in January, but hopefully a couple of signings in key areas will be enough to keep us in the division until the summer.
Is it the squad or is it the manager, though? I don't think that your players are that bad. Forster looks quite ****ed since his injury, but most of your other positions have decent players in them. Shane Long has shown that he's capable of doing a good job, for example, but he looks a broken man at the moment.
It's hard to put your finger on what the problem is tbh. We do have good players, but the squad is pretty unbalanced - and so far this manager shows little sign of turning them into a team. Not sure he's the root of the problem though. I think several seasons of losing our best players, & changing managers, has finally caught up with us. I'm firmly in the Shane Long fan club btw, but you won't find many Saints fans who share my opinion. Oh, and the atmosphere at St Marys is rancorous, which isn't helping. I've been a Saints fan for well over 40 years though. I'm used to frustration, disapppointment and defeat
