Latest news with #InthatNumber
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Fan scorecard: Ideal signing? Overriding emotion?
Season Rating: 1/10 - and that feels generous. It is really difficult to score anything higher. Considering we were on course to become the worst team in Premier League history, the standards were very low. We eventually surpassed that low record on 10th May with three games left. We knew it would be difficult, but even the most pessimistic of fans had never envisioned just how bad it could get. Happy with your manager? Another difficult one to judge, because we have gone through three. All had their share of issues with team selection and/or style of play. We look forward to the tutelage of Will Still next season. Unsung hero: Hero is a strong word for anyone at this club right now. The only two players that come near that title are Aaron Ramsdale and Mateus Fernandes. Those two are gaining all the plaudits from the fanbase. The unsung hero needs to go to the fans. The support has been incredible throughout the season still, and we continued to sell out the away allocation. It is not easy going to St Mary's with the conclusion pretty much set in stone. Still, we stay loyal. Players you would most like to sign: The consequence of relegation means the inevitable loss of star players. The whole defence is about to be raided. Kyle Walker-Peters has confirmed his exit upon the end of his contract. Jan Bednarek, Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Yuki Sugawara are most likely following him. You can add superstar keeper Aaron Ramsdale to that mix also. It is very obvious we need to rebuild and bulk the entire backline and goalkeeping core. With a youthful defence left over, it is imperative we replace with experience. Michael Keane and Ben Mee are free agents this summer. Someone of that ilk will suit me. Right now, my overriding emotion from the season is: For a long time now we have been wanting the suffering to end. Sadly, the overriding emotion right now is relief. There is also a huge sense of belief heading into the new season. This new era is long overdue. Do you agree with Ray's answers? Pick one or two categories and send your views Find more from Ray Hunt at the In that Number podcast
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Pick your Southampton player of the season
We asked our Southampton fan contributor for their four candidates for player of the season and you can now select your top one. Aaron Ramsdale The biggest shock of our season was the signing of Ramsdale. At £25m from Arsenal in August, it was very much against the grain under this current ownership group. Considering Saints have conceded 84 goals (and counting) he has managed to earn an England call-up. Even with a third relegation on his CV. Mateus Fernandes There are many misses in the market in recent years, but Fernandes isn't one of them. The 20 year-old has become an instant fan favourite with the locals for his eye-catching performances in the middle of the park. Unfortunately, following relegation consequences, he will be one of the casualties - apparently attracting interest from Juventus. Paul Onuachu Since arriving in February 2023, the 6ft7in Nigerian has had a handful of games and been sent out on loan for our whole Championship campaign last season. He was out of favour under Russell Martin, but started Ivan Juric's first game. Since January, when fit, he has been a solid edition to the squad and has become the club's top-scorer this season with four goals. Tyler Dibling Back in August, no-one envisaged the then 18-year old would have made an impact on this Premier League campaign. But that is what he has done. The most exciting player on the ball we have seen in some time. In a season full of despair, he continues to get bums off seats when driving forward. Attracting interest from all over the league, his future is bright. Unfortunately, not with Southampton. Pick your 2024-25 Southampton player of the season from our shortlist here And tell us why you're picking who you are, or why you'd have gone for another player not on the list, here Find more from Ray Hunt at the In that Number podcast
BBC News
29-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Rusk brought improvement but 'no Plan B' from the bench
After saving a point at West Ham to equal Derby's worst Premier League points tally record, could we build on that positive and overtake that mark of 11?For the most part, yes. We saw huge improvement in performance and for large portions of the match, we looked capable of competing with Premier League outfits. Even European-chasing ones. The vibes are as good as they have been all season. Simon Rusk has them playing with more desire, and personally, I am enjoying watching them more since he took temporary charge. We have yet to concede in the first half under his ceding possession to Fulham, we struck inside 15 minutes with virtually our first attack and kept them without a registered shot on target in the first though, Fulham got what they needed - like so many before them. An injury-time dagger from Ryan Sessegnon condemned us to another defeat. The 27th of the campaign and 14th at home. Another goal in stoppage time to see the point(s) snatched away. That is now 28 points dropped from winning positions and an all-too-familiar pattern from a season where we have conceded 11 goals after 90 minutes. That is almost one every three games and highlights our bench is not capable of saving games for us. Contrast that with the past two home games against Aston Villa and Fulham where they have had four goals and an assist coming off their benches to make all the is no 'Plan B'. When fatigue strikes, who can save points off the bench? If we sort this out, then things will improve. All we ask is to stay in games and be competitive. We will go in to Leicester with a slight wind in our sails and with something still to play more from Ray Hunt at the In that Number podcast, external
BBC News
22-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Display at West Ham 'a sign of things to come'?
We did it! One whole weeks of mounting pressure, we finally have something to smile about. A very hard-earned point on the road at West Ham and coming from behind to level the record-low tally set by Derby is a point that feels like a win. Unlike the Crystal Palace heartbreak. After recent collapses to Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur, we were all starting to wonder whether we would hit that 11-point target. The new challenge is to surpass that. We have to fancy our chances in the final five games boss Simon Rusk has Saints playing with more confidence and we would certainly have been worth a lead at half-time. But once again, we could not capitalise on our chances and conceded in the opening stages of the second are all hoping this is a sign of things to come. Can we become harder to beat? Just maybe we can play with more freedom now that pressure has released. Hopefully the home form can turn around to give fans a reason to keep bums on our 11 points this season, six points have come away from home and a meagre five at St. Mary's Stadium. We need to energy from those travelling no doubt that the point at London Stadium is something to build on and with Fulham at home this weekend, can we see us play like we're not already relegated?Here's hoping we can see St. Mary's stay full until till the final whistle for a change. It should now be a case of how many points we can get to make sure we head into the off-season with as much momentum as more from Ray Hunt at the In that Number podcast, external
BBC News
15-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'Pressure building each game' to hit 12-point mark
Another standard week from Southampton Football Club. Another loss and another collapse to condemn us to our 26th league defeat - a 3-0 humbling at home to Aston search for those two more points rolls on to next week. Will we get them under new interim boss Simon Rusk? If the Villa game plan was anything to go by, then it is not looking was clear from the off on Saturday that Rusk had set his team up to defend at all costs and scrape a 0-0, drawing conclusions that he must get these points by any means necessary. Does that ever work?During Rusk's first stint as interim back in December, he took charge against Fulham at Craven Cottage. The set-up was a carbon copy of last weekend's. Three at the back, a four-man midfield and two strikers, but with relative success. We played out a 0-0, which in the grand scheme of things, turned out to be one of our biggest positives from this whole against Villa, it failed. However, it took the Champions League quarter-finalists 73 minutes to break the deadlock. We did soak up Villa pressure for large portions of the game and faced 25 shots and heavy is no reason to assume Rusk will switch things up for the remainder of the season and should expect more of the same at West Ham next. For a team that has conceded the most in the division and our lack of goal threat, this may get even we reach that magic 12-point mark, we may see Rusk play a more exciting brand of football. Maybe the likes of newly-debuted Jay Robinson will get more minutes. But it is a very difficult situation for the interim boss. The pressure is building each game, and with Manchester City, Arsenal and a Goodison Park swansong on the agenda, games against West Ham and Leicester may be our last more from Ray Hunt at the In that Number podcast, external
