I'm really interested to find out whether Ralph sees PEH as his captain, or his stand in captain for Bertrand. I don't think I know a single Saints who wants to see Ryan get the armband back when he returns, but until he plays, we don't know.
Midfield is suddenly a strength again. Definitely makes our decision-making easier...a decent right back, a very good CB and a striker are musts between now and the start of next season, particularly if we want to eventually migrate to Ralph's preferred formation, but it no longer feels like we need upgrades at almost every position.
Yeah, if I could have two players this month it would be a striker and a RWB. We're not going to be signing three players this window, so a CB can wait until the summer. Cedric and Charlie can be moved on this month, or in the summer, I don't really mind.
One does have to wonder if Austin, Elyounoussi or Hoedt will play again for us if they cannot make the bench even before we strengthen.
The thing to remember is that if we hadn't signed Hughes we may not have got Ralph. He decided to take a sabbatical for a year, so would probably not have considered us if we'd gone for him in the summer. He changed his mind and wanted to get back into management after a few months....which coincided with our interest. It is of course possible that we could have got someone else instead who turned out to be a genius, but all in all I'm happy with how things turned out.
I thought I'd mix it up from my usual style of writing three paragraphs where a single sentence would do! You can definitely explore a lot of different reasons for our support being the way it is, and several of them have merit and add to the causes of things being where they are now. However, to oversimplify and examine one thing in particular - in the last few years our fans have fuelled the self-fulfilling prophecy of 'X player hesitates on the ball, is afraid to lose it, turns around and passes backwards -> the fans moan and groan -> X player gets the ball and forces a quick, bad decision -> the fans moan and groan -> X player hesitates momentarily on the ball -> the fans, all now convinced of the fact that X player only ever passes backwards or ****s up, moan and groan -> X player passes backwards or forces a pass forwards'... Rinse and repeat. Look at the way our fans were on Redmond's back endlessly despite it being obvious his effort was never suspect, and he was a hugely emotional and confidence-driven player. Thankfully Ralph has come in and broken the cycle by injecting some positivity, and I thought hey, maybe the belief and patience is gonna come back a little bit. And yet nope, there we were in the first half at 0-0 having hit the post twice and forced an excellent save, whilst conceding next to no chances... Cue a bit of a struggle for rhythm, a few passes backwards and instantly back we were to impatient and short-sighted moans and groans when players were trying to slow things down and get a foot on the ball. Thankfully all it took was a JWP wonder goal and a fluke OG to get the fans back in it! Just gotta keep doing that.
I think the fact Gallagher was considered an attacking option on the bench ahead of Austin and Elyounoussi says a lot, personally. Ditto Ramsay with hoedt.
The thing I am most happy about (apart from winning) is JWP finding his feet again. I really really wish him the best.
I'd also add another wide player in the summer in addition to repatriating Boufal (which looks more likely given Ralph's comments); Elyounoussi is probably a summer sell or loan, assuming someone wants him. Agree that a CB seems less likely in this window, and it's wonderful that we can wait for the right player there rather than buying whatever is available to bolster ourselves against the possibility of relegation.
Of course fans fuel the feelings on the pitch - they feed into and out of the action. When the team is up, the fans are up and vice versa. It seems to me that most premier league grounds are now like this - and that we criticise saints fans so regularly because... well... those thare the fans we see most of. Saints away fans are excellent. So are most club's away fans. The way modern football is organised makes it much harder to motivate a large home fanbase in the same way. Personally, I think Saints fans reacted in the same way as any other fan to the negative dross we have had to watch the last few years. I see no evidence it is a Southampton thing. Maybe, however, it is an English thing...
He is almost always more effective when he plays with Pierre in the same team, it just has been rare that it has happened regularly since Puel left ( I should know, i have been banging on about it since then!).
I'd add something: the club clearly understands that our fans want pressing, attacking football, and they understand that in no small part because of the way fans reacted to Poch's style (very well), and how they reacted to Puel (not at all well). So much so that, when they brought in Pellegrino, they tried to sell him as being the pressing, attacking manager we wanted, as ludicrous as the idea might be. So, what happened when fan relations were at a nadir and they needed a new manager? They headhunted someone who played pressing, attacking football, and the fans have responded well. I'm not defending the slagging of players, but it's worth noting that the general discontentment seems to have gotten us what we wanted...and what we needed.
