Southampton 1-2 Wolves: Verdict Thread

[Mel Evo]

Doherty, Bueno, Dawson, Hwang, Guedes and Sarabia have all played plenty of minutes for us this season. Plus the two good players who are going to leave, one for free, one for below what his value should be. Hoever and Fabio cost us £44m, whether they're here right now or not. Plus Sasa's £18m.

Then we might sell someone else who we'd rather not, one of André/J Gomes or Ait-Nouri could easily go. We don't tend to turn down bids. Think it's only Kilman in 2023 and Hwang in 2024 where we have, and the latter was based on bullshit commercial reasons that only exist in the head of our idiot chairman.

Do you think other Premier League clubs above us have nearly 20 players they'd like to bin off? With the exception of Manchester United, I would say no.

Given the starting point will be we’re down Cunha, Semedo and AN Other we’d rather keep (although I’m equally ni fu ni fa about RAN now), I wonder how many of this list we’ll be able to get shot of? I’m with you, good riddance to the lot, but we’ll end up with most of them still here. Strange isn’t it, the efficiencies seem so clear but were the one organisation at the moment not keen to make them. Lack of willing mugs an issue for a few on that list I know.

That forward line needs a complete rebuild (exception of JSL). If Mosquera is back I’m more relaxed about the back, based on a hopeful hunch we keep Gomes and Andre this time round.

 

[Jinky]

You are genuinely using Mark as your example to demonstrate you don't have a victim complex?

Oh I know I don’t have a “victim complex”. You said i “made it up”. I’ve provided a screenshoot proving otherwise.

Happy to accept your apology whenever you’re ready, big Tone. OR, you could just stfu, cut out the snide shite and chat about the match.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Vitor has also been entirely free of the hysterics I was assured followed him around like a black cloud

He's called out players a couple of times which is a bit unnecessary, but I suppose he is what he is.

He wants to be here and I think his football on the whole is decent. Definitely knows how to set a team up, and given I've spent a huge chunk of the decade to date watching Bruno Lage and Gary O'Neil teams, I'll take it.

 

[Tony Towner]

Oh I know I don’t have a “victim complex”. You said i “made it up”. I’ve provided a screenshoot proving otherwise.

Happy to accept your apology whenever you’re ready, big Tone. OR, you could just stfu, cut out the snide shite and chat about the match.

I won't do the laughing emoji as that would be hypocritical, but that is wonderful comedy. Bravo. I guess everyone is big to you though?

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Given the starting point will be we’re down Cunha, Semedo and AN Other we’d rather keep (although I’m equally ni fu ni fa about RAN now), I wonder how many of this list we’ll be able to get shot of? I’m with you, good riddance to the lot, but we’ll end up with most of them still here. Strange isn’t it, the efficiencies seem so clear but were the one organisation at the moment not keen to make them. Lack of willing mugs an issue for a few on that list I know.

That forward line needs a complete rebuild (exception of JSL). If Mosquera is back I’m more relaxed about the back, based on a hopeful hunch we keep Gomes and Andre this time round.

I think we might be able to con someone into buying Hwang (not for the £20m we had on the table last summer), while Sarabia will leave anyway, as will Dawson and Forbs. So there's four down.

How we get rid of Johnstone is a puzzler. Clearly not very good, 32 so only heading one way, on big money, we have his fee to pay off on PSR and the big stiff idiot keeps pulling sickies to not even sit on the bench. Awful signing, nearly as bad as Guedes.

 

[Jinky]

I won't do the laughing emoji as that would be hypocritical, but that is wonderful comedy. Bravo. I guess everyone is big to you though?

That’s a good one, that. Highly original too.

I’ll leave you to it.

 

[Mel Evo]

This can't be overstated. Consensus was that without him we were screwed and would be lucky to grub a couple of 0-0s.

We've also won back-to-back away league games on the quiet (and should have got something from the previous away game at Anfield). Haven't done that for over a year, Chelsea and Spurs last February.

Vitor is doing an excellent job, griping about his football just seems odd to me. Lopetegui's home wins weren't any more palatable from a stylistic point of view and he was absolutely pathetic on the road. He got handed absolutely tons to spend in January too. Got a lot more credit than Vitor is getting, both in the wider media and amongst our own fanbase. Vitor also doesn't wear chinos, look like Chris de Burgh and I'd say is unlikely to spend his summer giving interviews to pet journos where he slags the club and the players off.

I love your Julen de Burgh references!

You know I’m more of a fan of Lopetegui than you are. But for me both VP and Loppers are deserving of more praise than they’ll ever get from various quarters. At Wolves they did / are doing a tremendous job.

Loppers gets sht on the home front because he fcked off and left us in the lurch, OK, but his issues with Jeff don’t just seem correct with hindsight but have come round to nearly send us down again. He got us out of a massive hole even though he was supported in the market.

VP is going to get undervalued because too many dimwits in the media went all in for GON as he was either their mate, was an archetype for them, or essentially they’re a bit racist. It’s also hard to escape the fact that the opposition are about as bad as it gets (conveniently forgetting GON had reduced us to the level).

On both occasions, although in slightly different ways, we absolutely stank of relegation. Staying up comfortably when you reek that bad is no mean feat, no mean feat at all. Let’s hope we don’t treat the guy who managed it a second time as poorly as we did the first time- whatever you think of his chinos!

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I'm fine with Julen calling Jeff's bluff and walking. What was in the brochure clearly didn't match up with where we ended up once we'd confirmed safety in 2022/23. And Julen deserves credit for saving us (BUT we gave him a lot of money to do it).

It's his unsanctioned interviews with Ballbag that I can never forgive, that's blatantly unprofessional. He did it twice as well.

 

[Mel Evo]

How we get rid of Johnstone is a puzzler. Clearly not very good, 32 so only heading one way, on big money, we have his fee to pay off on PSR and the big stiff idiot keeps pulling sickies to not even sit on the bench. Awful signing, nearly as bad as Guedes.

Terrible deal for him, terrible deal for us. A Trump of a deal.

 

[Jinky]

Julen always came across like he was doing us a favour being here.

I don’t get that impression with Vitor.

 

[Mel Evo]

Julen always came across like he was doing us a favour being here.

I don’t get that impression with Vitor.

Meh. VP has been even more brazen about the point being any port in the prem. I’m not bothered either way FWIW, just nice both times to have professionals at work given what preceded them.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Meh. VP has been even more brazen about the point being any port in the prem. I’m not bothered either way FWIW, just nice both times to have professionals at work given what preceded them.

Makes you worry what will happen if/when Vitor goes...

It's a big Molineux welcome for Russell Martin. Or Scott Parker.

The penny has to drop at some point. If you have a decent manager, you can't fuck them around. They'll just go.

 

[prawnking]

Julen always came across like he was doing us a favour being here.

I don’t get that impression with Vitor.

I think that's harsh on Lop, not like he was Hoddle or anything.

I think he was fine being at the club, he just wanted to push on, felt he needed a warchest to do that and walked when the goalposts changed.

As DW said, it's the unprofessional manner of the Ballbag bleating that sticks in the craw

 

[Templeton Peck]

VP has done a brilliant job. We were 100% down and we may have even finished bottom under Gaz. We were very fortunate to beat Southampton at home.

 

[Kenny]

How we get rid of Johnstone is a puzzler. Clearly not very good, 32 so only heading one way, on big money, we have his fee to pay off on PSR and the big stiff idiot keeps pulling sickies to not even sit on the bench. Awful signing, nearly as bad as Guedes.

The fact Spurs had him as an option in January shows clubs still rate him to a degree.
I would expect a few clubs to try and get him on the cheap.

 

[Mel Evo]

VP has done a brilliant job. We were 100% down and we may have even finished bottom under Gaz. We were very fortunate to beat Southampton at home.

The wider media, and many of our own fans, will never truly appreciate how bang on this is. We were as shambolic as it was possible to be.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

The fact Spurs had him as an option in January shows clubs still rate him to a degree.
I would expect a few clubs to try and get him on the cheap.

PSR screws us here though (as it has with Guedes).

So we handed him a four year deal. £7.5m left from a PSR point of view then come the summer.

Anything under £7.5m and we have to write it off as a straight loss on the balance sheet. We'd be lucky to get £2m.

So do you bite the bullet and take the loss - which has an impact on everything else - or do we say we can't afford to do it?

I'm not slagging off the rules, to be clear. Don't buy fucking dreadful players is the rule.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

The wider media, and many of our own fans, will never truly appreciate how bang on this is. We were as shambolic as it was possible to be.

I would say pound for pound we were worse under Lage. He still had Neves, Moutinho, Adama, Coady, Boly and Raul at his disposal (he chose to get rid of two of them).

 

[Kenny]

PSR screws us here though (as it has with Guedes).

So we handed him a four year deal. £7.5m left from a PSR point of view then come the summer.

Anything under £7.5m and we have to write it off as a straight loss on the balance sheet. We'd be lucky to get £2m.

So do you bite the bullet and take the loss - which has an impact on everything else - or do we say we can't afford to do it?

I'm not slagging off the rules, to be clear. Don't buy fucking dreadful players is the rule.

I would say, despite having eyes that almost work, we will get £7-£10m for him.

 

[Lupo]

Vitor was happy! He said in the interview on WM he wanted a pint!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1900976540349067340