KWP at LB and then JWP on the right. Much more solid than Djenepo on the left. Lewis Payne has been playing well at LB for the B team. Also Olufunwa at RB. Oh wait we released him and now he plays for Liverpool
A couple more that shoud have been asked... "Ralph, Martin, why does Che Adams want to leave? It seems the only realistic destination would be to a club in a similar position to ourselves, so why?" "What caused Broja's supposed bad attitude?"
I am confident, to a degree that I have not been in a number of years, that the people making decisions at the club know what the **** they are doing and have a sensible vision for how to make this club better. But that's certainly different than knowing that it'll work.
This is the main question I felt that was only touched on. The comment about needing to change the coaching staff so that the players could hear fresh opinions and voices was quite telling. Given the performance of our defence, you can appreciate why this was necessary without knowing too much about football but i still think the one voice that needed to be changed more than any other was Ralph's. The Fan's Forums have increasingly become irrelevent and it just struck me as an excuse to trot out soundbites. Given the nature of PR these days, there is no way that this forum can be as "open" as it was when it was first initiated. I am not sure what people expected the likes of Ralph and Semmens to say. Ralph was certainly the most candid but I cannot help but wondering how fans will react to his remarks about Che Adams if the forward is sold. The comment about younger players making mistakes was intriuging too. Brojas performance in the second half of the season was explained and I think the response to the questions underscored that there is probably little interest in re-signing him. I did not have much anticipation of anything more than a PR spin exercise despite the protestations from Adam Blackmore about giving the fans the opportunity to put their questions to the panel from Southampton. Most of the questions were good but some of the responses had to be annodyne. Ultimately, despite the good intentions of Radio Solent, the representatives from the club were all quite guarded by necessitity albeit Marianne Spacey- Cale did seem more candid than the others. The decision to feature of both the men and women's teams struck me as quite inspired and , if anything, did demonstrate how "progressive" the club are. Unlike some in here, it did not really change my perception of Ralph. He still comes across as a genuine bloke and obviously passionate about the club. My issue is that there is a disconnect between what he is trying to acheive and what is actually happening. The fact that the performance at Spurs followed the same template for much of last season struck me that, despite the best intentions, there is still someway to go before we witness the fruits of this summer's adjustments. I think that the result against Leeds will probably be a disappointing draw and a lot of what was said last night will strike a hollow chord. I am sorry but I remain to be convinced at the moment that we have changed things sufficiently to see any kind of improvement.
Did they confirm he wanted to leave? If not then the phrasing of the first question is odd since it is rumoured he wants to leave. Because the reply would be “what makes you so convinced that he does?” As to the second question - that seems another ridiculous question to ask because it is so easily deflected - “you’d have to ask him”. And that answer might well be the right one because they might not know. Perhaps the club should know but if he didn’t share then they would never know
Was that the exact order it went? Or was it that his contract was expiring and he had an offer on the table from Liverpool and so he was “released” and then joined them I don’t know for certain but I know which sounds more likely I mean, technically, Brentford released Christian Eriksen and he then joined Man United. He appeared on their end of season release list and everything.
No idea to be honest. Not that it particularly matters. If he is good enough for Liverpool's academy/B-team, then perhaps we should have given him more opportunities last season. For example on the last day of the season when there was nothing to play for and yet we still played Salisu as a full-back.
You're right about the Broja question. No way we'd get an honest answer. Might be able to gauge something indirectly from whatever Ralph said about it, but it would only be more conjecture. Regarding Che, I mean, surely it has to be a case that he wants to leave. If it is that the club simply want to sell him (our only decent striker) then that would require even more scrutiny from the fans.
I expect the contract situation is a factor with Che. Which would also be any suggestions of Diallo leaving have cropped up today as well. If clubs want to pay fees for players before they enter the last year then the club presumably want to consider this. The Che one is more problematic because of who he has been linked to of course. But there aren’t many teams who would want him that aren’t in and around us. There are probably around 8 teams in and around the bottom with maybe a couple more who can be pulled in. And then he won’t be going to a traditional “big 6” club. So if we want to sell him I can’t think of many clubs I’d be completely comfortable selling him to who would also want him.
He should watch some of his performances back. He’d probably understand better about the playing time.
I am extremely upset that the MD of the club didn’t say exactly what I wanted him to say in exactly the way I think he should have said it. Because I can only think in binary terms, and can’t countenance the fact that it might just have been a slightly clumsy response, that one has to give a bit of leeway when people are speaking live and answering questions they may not be precisely prepared for, I am going to rage about how awful the club is on Twitter. This is actually helpful for me, because for reasons beyond my personally limited intellect, I am looking for any reason to moan about the club. I believe if I use the #saintsfc hashtag, it will gain me more likes and retweets, and I can find likeminded people who will reinforce my binary views. Semmens clearly hates all fans, and Ralph is clueless. Yours, Angry Saints Fan (please follow me on Instagram).
I think you have hit the nail on the head - with anything that happens the tendency is to only focus on the parts that suit your agenda. If you are Ralph in you will look for the positives and if you are out you will look for the negatives. Just like political opinion to be fair. Anything can be spun either way and it takes a lot more analysing than a token face value glance (dare I say knee jerk) to get to the bottom of it. In my agenda based and non knee jerk opinion of course
I just think you have to actually try pretty hard to get annoyed at Semmens after that. I mean, yeah, it maybe wasn't his best performance, but let's ignore ALL THE OTHER TIMES when he's come across incredibly well, and all the very good work he's done to keep this club going, just because he didn't answer a question immaculately. People are getting annoyed with the way he answered the fan who goes to all the game by zeroing in on his response that he also goes to all the games and misses his kids - it's clumsy, yes. But the response that he gets paid to go, arggh let's get angry, is just wilfully missing THE WHOLE POINT of his answer, which was that everyone gets equally pissed off when we perform badly, and that includes the management and ownership of the club. It was just badly worded, but it's a live event ffs. And I mean, really, really wilfully missing it. As in it must actually take an effort to be that angry! I'm just bored of people who are actually making an effort to try and be angry at everything, anything and everyone.
