Do we sign Theo?

Don't get me wrong Djenepo is frustrating but I would rather him lose the ball trying to take a player on rather than giving possesion back through a sloppy pass as most of the team tend to do.

 

Said on another post; he wasn’t really expected to play virtually every min up until yesterday’s injury. He would have benefited being rotated with Stu & Redmond but an injury & CV19 put paid to that. He’s no spring chicken & a few mins off each game would have paid dividends. As above, providing he’s not asking stupid dosh, he’s a good addition our squad.

 

Maybe yes. But there comes a point when you need to do more than try to beat you man, and fail consistently.

However, just watching the WHU v Pool game, I'd rather have a Moussa than a Divock

 

Yes because he’s better than many of the attacking mid signings we’ve made. Boufal, ellyanouso, Djenepo etc

 

The fundamental flaw in your post is that his form hasn't dropped. IMO he never was a natural finisher - for me, its all about his pace. Sign him.

Incidentally I though Redders had a good game yesterday. Djenepo not so good but its his first game back. He's young and still learning and will eventually be a big star for us (he said, fingers crossed)

 

I won’t get into a tit for tat, but I’ll answer your question. You actually said “not many have impressed during this poor run of results”... and this is the bit I disagree with. As a team I think we’ve played very well mostly with some players being very good during that time, Diallo, Bedders, KWP, Che, JWP.

As I typed that earlier post, I nearly added a comment to say something like that isn’t just aimed at your post but also a few other posts that have been suggesting we’ve not played well.

I also think we have played better in some of those games than the earlier ones. We were poorer against United and Brighton, off the top of my head. We were very good against City, Liverpool, Leicester.

 

The Pellegrino era of no risk non-football seems light years away from what the team is currently serving up. It is a results business but even the best teams have periods when they are not at their best due to injuries and suspensions and individual form and it is a long season.
There is still an issue with squad depth particularly at RB and LB which should've been resolved by now and is costing us on the pitch and that is my only gripe with the club as it stands.

 

We really weren't bad against Villa either, by the way.

 

Indeed I am amazed how much Walcott has played. I think perhaps he should have been rested on Saturday but perhaps we had no alternative.

A committed squad player who is a known quantity for free is priceless for a club like ourselves.

 

My opinion on Walcott seems to be inline with the consensus on this thread. Our finances combined with Walcott being free (and potentially wages that aren't bank-busting), means we should probably sign him permanently on a 2 or 3 year deal.

If we don't sign him, we have to pay probably £10m-£20m, plus similar wages to what he'd earn, on another player. That money would be better spent filling squad depth or signing another striker.

Walcott has been solid if not spectacular. However the one thing that annoys me with him is that his end product is often quite poor. I agree with some posts above that he would really have benefitted with some time off, but we couldn't provide him that and that is most likely why he's picked up this injury.

 

Funny you mention the Brighton performance. I've just about calmed down about Saturday's VAR farce and was thinking back to it. We were the ones who arguably benefitted from a wrong VAR decision there, while the Villa ones went against us. Probably for another thread, though.

When you talk about our performances being good, I'd agree. However what has annoyed me lately is the way we've attacked. Particularly against Villa, I felt we were slow going at them. We looked scared to run at them or take them on and instead sort of ambled through their half. Redmond is often culpable of this, but against someone like Targett he should be relishing that fight. Maybe he's down on confidence but I just feel we are slow to go at defences at the moment.

 

I remember when opposition attackers used to tear Targett a new one!

 

Forgetting the emotional side of Theo being back at Saints, he is an intelligent, hard working and skilful player who always seems to give his best. His decision making can sometimes be questionable but his overall game is a good fit with us, and he is clearly very popular within the club. Theo is also a nice guy, and we do have a team full of players who are actually nice people, and they all seem committed to what Ralph is trying to create here. Theo is a great fit so yes we should do our best to sign him, and I think we will.