Can honestly say I have no idea who would be the best pick out of those being named, but having watched the last few Southampton games, I know who I want to stick around for this and next season.
Downes seems to have lost interest, Dibling knows he’ll be off to a better club, which for our best two players is a shame.
In the worst of times, I have really liked what I’ve seen from Manning, Wood, Fernandes and Archer. They at least seem to care, which is a bit of a shame as some of our less naturally gifted players (excluding Mateus) and ironic with two coming from Swansea.
However there’s a good spine to develop back in the Championship, that’s the benefit of buying youth and taking the punt – those that are too good, we sell for much more (Dibling £25m+, Fernandes £20m hopefully), and those that can become good, have time to grow.
In winter I expect we sell a load of deadwood to find room and get a couple in for the new manager. I really hope they want to work with Paul, the times he has played he’s been brilliant at offering us that outlet, given us something we haven’t had since Pelle, and the crowd really get behind him. He just needs a goal.
I expect we get rid of KWP while he’s still worth something, ABK, BBD and Sulemana in January, with Ugo and Cornet going back home.
Come summer, Ramsdale will go, THB will likely go to a yo-yo club in the PL this time (Leeds, Burnley again), Paul and Sugawara will probably go to Turkey, Downes may well go, but there’s a spine of players who have shown fight that we can work with.
Bazunu, Bednarek, Wood, Edwards, Manning, Bree, Aribo, Smallbone, SAA, Archer, Armstrong is a pretty good championship side, with a couple of additions and another 18 months’ development maybe we’ll be ready for the PL in 2026. I just worry we end up with a cheap option for a manager who fails to put any good into the players until they’re binned off too.
Written by SaintGGsy December 19 2024 21:43:16
