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No, we don't. It's January: we need to buy a better goalkeeper or get one in on loan. We'll be spoilt for choice as most professional goalkeepers out there are better than him, including the 3rd choice goalkeepers at most Premier League clubs. We also, of course, need a better centre forward.
The spine of our team is one of the weakest in the Championship. With our resources, it shouldn't be difficult to improve if anybody involved in our recruitment department has a clue what he's doing.
We got a very good new manager bounce, as the first few teams we played under Eckert weren't prepared for his tactics of counterattacking down the flanks; they are now, and they are exploiting the spaces our wing-backs leave behind them.
The players are what they are: mediocre Championship players. We are especially weak in the most important positions: goalkeeper and centre forward. But, we also need better full-backs and a ball-winning central midfielder. Shea Charles' return might help a bit. Until he got injured, he was our most consistent player.
Quite honestly, our entire recruitment department needs replacing from top to bottom and so do most of our coaches.
The Pompey fans will soon be cheering the Arsenal goals again, and asking Declan Rice for his shirt. I already see more Arsenal shirts than Pompey ones in Portsmouth.
The Bournemouth fans are certainly noisy now. Their scouts keep unearthing new gems like Kroupi. Their recruitment is so good.
Bazunu's save percentage this season is 64.6%; McCarthy's is 56.5% . Bazunu also averages more saves per game, with 42 saves in 18 games, than McCarthy who's only made 13 saves in 7 games, yet McCarthy has been tolerated here for years. Of course, for a top goalkeeper it would be over 70%. Pity we couldn't have kept Ramsdale. I hope Peretz turns out to be good.
One thing those stats do show is just how few saves McCarthy makes. I don't know where this myth that McCarthy makes more saves came from.
No matter how bad you think Bazunu is, McCarthy is clearly much worse. He should have been released at the end of last season so that he could never appear for us again.
Yes, opposition defenders are so sure now that it's going to be yet another high one lobbed into their box, that they leave the near post totally undefended. A quick forward, if we have one, could dart forward unchallenged for an easy tap in from a corner played along the ground to the near post.
Yes, even when Walker-Peters was our right back, opposition managers knew the way to beat Southampton was to attack our right flank, often by doubling up, and put crosses into our box. They all do it now. We do the same at the other end but have no centre forward to get on the end of the crosses. Why we persist in sending in high crosses and corners is beyond me as much as it is beyond our aerially challenged strikers. Every time our corner takers put their arms up to let the opposition know that it's going to be another high one, I groan - I groan a lot. A few low crosses and corners to the near post would be far more effective for us and would really surprise them.
That's probably the one area where we are showing improvement. Harwood-Bellis and Wood are winning more in the air. We lack full-backs to stop wingers getting the crosses in though, especially on our right flank which opposition managers target, and, above all, we miss a big centre forward who can head the ball into the net. About the only time we threaten is when Harwood-Bellis and Wood come up for corners, but that leaves us exposed to counterattacks.
What I've noticed in this division is how many of the goals result from crosses and corners, so what you need to succeed are big centre forwards who win everything in the air and wingers who can deliver crosses to them.
The problem is that we don't have quality players in the key positions. The spine of the team is even weaker than last season. You can spend as much as you like on decorating a house, but, if its foundations are weak, it's still going to collapse.
The lack of a proper spine: goalkeeper - centre half - centre forward - is our main problem, although the underlying cause of that is Sport Republic's recruitment. I haven't included centre midfield here because, when he's available, Shea Charles is our most consistent player.
Sport Republic buy a lot of flashy young midfielders, hoping to sell at least one or two every year for a big profit (and they have succeeded in their objective), whilst disregarding teambuilding, which, as everyone knows, starts with the spine of the team. Teams that win the Championship have a strong spine with tall, strong, physically dominant players - who are not necessarily the most skilful.
SR's recruitment is all style and no substance; not what you need in the Championship.
As I've been saying for years, Ayoub El-Kaabi would be ideal for us, but, sadly, Sport Republic are never going to buy a striker in his 30s, no matter how many goals he scores. They'll get another unproven youngster for his potential resale value.
Was Ballard ever really given a chance here? He has 10 goals and 3 assists in 15 League One games (including a hat-trick against our cup opponents, Doncaster). He had 33 goals and 7 assists in 39 games for Saints U21. He's scored goals for England at U18, U19 & U20 levels. - the sort of form which, as Pat has pointed out, had it been for German teams would have attracted Sport Republic. He's one of those rare players who averages a goal or assist in nearly every game he plays. They are going to look very silly if he continues scoring at international level.
A group of us, who'd travelled up by coach, went in the North Bank (and sang) because it was too cold to stand in a blizzard on the frozen terracing of the Clock End. It was the most one-sided scoreless draw I've ever witnessed, but somehow we managed to stop that great double-winning Arsenal team scoring.
HOME: 1964 Saints v Plymouth 5-0
It was my first ever Boxing Day game and a memorable one as Saints put on a scintillating display, in front of my visiting relatives, with a goal from the young Martin Chivers and a hat-trick from George O'Brien.
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