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Episode 445: KEEP, BENCH, SELL!
141 Plays18 days ago
Southampton – Everyone's favourite part of post season! Keep, bench, sell! We go through the team and returning loanee's and talk about where we place them in the teams future!
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Welcome
00:00:13
DailySaintsPod
Hello and welcome back to episode 445 of the Daily Saints pod. My name is Greg and as always today joined my good friend wonderful co-host Zach.
00:00:27
DailySaintsPod
Not quite met with you mate, how are you doing?
00:00:30
Zak
not Not quite. I can't say that I'm a big fan of the British summers, although the amount of people at Bournemouth Beach over the weekend will mean that I am part of the minority. just don't deal well with heat in general.
00:00:44
Zak
So, yeah, less than ideal. But hey-ho, we're here to continue to talk about the downfall of our beloved football club. And bring some of us, Yeah.
00:00:52
DailySaintsPod
Wow, what a take to start us off with. Look, before we get into...
Tribute to Victor Udo
00:01:03
DailySaintsPod
before we get into the the crux of today's episode, uh, it has of course this afternoon come out of the, deeply sad loss of Victor Udo, who was a, a youth player for us last season, uh, and had moved on to Tessie Island, uh, at the shockingly young age of 21.
00:01:30
Zak
knowledge.
00:01:31
DailySaintsPod
it's It's genuinely tragic and thoughts from from us out to all of his friends and family and and everybody around him. at A horrible time.
00:01:44
DailySaintsPod
But yeah, just no no good way for that, is there? That's horrible news.
Post-Season Evaluations
00:01:53
DailySaintsPod
But To bring it back around and bring us the topic, we're going to continue with our post-season content as we look back on the 25-26 championship campaign and and sort of see where we're at. We're going to go with a popular episode from from the end of last season today. We're going to do Keep Bench Sell.
00:02:19
DailySaintsPod
We're going to go through the squad and decide whether we would keep them, bench them, or sell them. It's a simple, it's it's what it says on the tin, right? It's snog, marry, avoid, but football in it.
00:02:33
DailySaintsPod
it Yeah, keep bench sell. Maybe we'll go into it a bit about whether we think that will happen. but We're going to go through the list and we will roll with it. So I'm going to just go top down through position through the list,
Goalkeeper Decisions
00:02:49
DailySaintsPod
mate.
00:02:50
DailySaintsPod
So i'm going to kick us off with goalkeepers. So Alex McCarthy, keep bench sell.
00:03:01
Zak
End the contract?
00:03:03
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, I guess it's kind of that mystery fourth option where it's none of the above, right? Just...
00:03:08
Zak
Yeah, I think the the problem is is selling, we're not going to get anything for him.
00:03:10
DailySaintsPod
expired.
00:03:14
Zak
Benching, I think that ti his time has come for for being on the bench.
00:03:17
DailySaintsPod
Hmm.
00:03:20
Zak
To be perfectly honest, we brought in in so many goalkeepers over the space of the last 12 months. He's had surgery. I just don't... i can't I can't deal with another season where it's going to be a debate between whether or not Gavin Bizzunu or Alex McCarthy starts, because at that point, I will really feel like I've lost my mind. Because at this point, you know it's going to 2057, Greg, and we're still going to be talking about it. like That's genuinely... It's mad. And I think that you know that's no disrespect. I think he's been he's put in some really good performances for us, but he's very much past his best.
00:03:56
Zak
and not what I think that the modern game needs, especially around the managers we've kind of got in, if that's that's reasonable. i don't So yeah, it's no ill will against him, it's just I just don't think that he's good enough to be an I-S-T-11 anymore or really on the bench.
00:04:06
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, no, I i agree with that, mate.
00:04:14
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, no, look, it's it was always going to be a worrying option. And with the the chaotic mess that was always going to happen with the goalkeeper position this summer, even before...
00:04:27
DailySaintsPod
you know, we made it more complicated and more difficult. it's, I don't see a a way forward. Uh, the contract's up. So it just, it makes sense.
00:04:38
DailySaintsPod
Uh, no ill will, but you're right. Just not, not at this point in his career, going to be and in any position to to be quality enough to, to be in team.
00:04:49
DailySaintsPod
Next up, two probably reasonably quickfire ones, mate.
George Long's Loan Conclusion
00:04:55
DailySaintsPod
George Long, who was, of course, on loan from us to us from Norwich, whose loan ends now, at the end of the season, basically. No appearances, but did the job, was just there to make up the numbers, right?
00:05:11
DailySaintsPod
appearances.
00:05:11
Zak
They're there to make up the numbers right up until Alex McCarthy had like wrist surgery and then suddenly might have ended up making an appearance. So... so
00:05:22
DailySaintsPod
But didn't, importantly.
00:05:24
Zak
could How can I judge on any of the bases if we don't know?
00:05:27
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:05:28
Zak
Like, Sally's not even our player, so him and JB, who I genuinely just kept forgetting, played for us every every single time.
00:05:28
DailySaintsPod
No.
00:05:35
Zak
Every time I saw the name, and then it by the time I remembered, oh yeah, that's that like backup, backup goalkeeper.
00:05:35
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:05:41
Zak
It's now the end of the season. So...
00:05:43
DailySaintsPod
Yeah. Yeah, of course, you're referring to 37-year-old Jamie Jones, who came in on a short-term transfer from Warrington Town for us till the end of the season.
00:05:53
DailySaintsPod
And so as above, right? Just not really enough data to go on, but realistically, the position we're in a goalkeeper, no.
00:05:59
Zak
physical
00:06:02
Zak
No.
00:06:03
DailySaintsPod
i'm not And then finally, from the goalkeepers, Daniel Peretz, of course, on loan to us from Bayern Munich.
00:06:14
DailySaintsPod
Well, I think that it's pretty categorically keep if we can, right?
00:06:18
Zak
Yeah, and by the sounds of like the the media bits that have come out, like he likes the club, he doesn't have bad words to say about it, he says that the situation sucks, but ultimately it's going to be whether or not you know You said he's got to have a conversation, so it's whether or not he wants to come back and do another promotion charge or whether he wants to fight for his place at Bayern, which I think is going to be a massive struggle.
00:06:41
Zak
Or option you know three is that potentially Premier League club sees how impactful he was over his stay with us and goes there.
00:06:42
DailySaintsPod
Hmm.
00:06:51
Zak
He seems to have not mentioned anything about the whole Spygate stuff and doesn't seem to be disheartened by it. He's not one of the guys that put a statement out about it.
00:06:58
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:07:00
Zak
So I wholeheartedly think we should do everything we can to keep him. if he doesn't If we didn't go up, it was always a risk that we
Daniel Peretz's Future
00:07:07
Zak
wouldn't. But also I feel like there's more of a chance that he might come back and stay because of the manner of us not going up.
00:07:08
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:07:13
Zak
It's not like we didn't go up because we didn't we weren't good enough to go up.
00:07:14
DailySaintsPod
yeah
00:07:17
Zak
It was everything that we've spoken about for the last two weeks.
00:07:21
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, absolutely. And look, he, I think I read that he came out in his interview and said, we've experienced a trauma. And so it's going to take some time to reflect on that and, and work out what's next.
00:07:31
Zak
Yeah.
00:07:32
DailySaintsPod
But I mean, most importantly, what I took from it is it wasn't a no it wasn't an out and out.
00:07:33
Zak
That's fair.
00:07:38
DailySaintsPod
No. And I know that.
00:07:39
Zak
So you're saying there's chance.
00:07:40
DailySaintsPod
Yeah. I know that that might just be that little bit of hope that is the bit that finishes you off. But, It's nice that he's at least keeping his options open in terms of coming back. But you're right, if he gets a better offer from elsewhere, who knows? But ideally, for the sake of the format of this episode, keep.
00:08:01
DailySaintsPod
Ding, ding,
00:08:01
DailySaintsPod
we
Returning Goalkeepers Discussion
00:08:01
DailySaintsPod
move on to returning loanies, I guess, mate.
00:08:07
DailySaintsPod
Falling into this keep bench sale category. Start with Bazunu. Bazunu.
00:08:12
Zak
Yeah, difficult one, isn't it? Because I feel like a vast majority of the fan base immediately screams sell. I still think that he was pretty hard done by, but also the quality that Daniel Proetz kind of showed means that he's going to struggle to get back into the first team and be first choice, and I don't think he's going to want to sit and be back up for the entire year. So at that point, is it not just wiser to sell?
00:08:37
Zak
But I wouldn't be upset if he was on the bench as much as I think other people would.
00:08:38
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:08:42
Zak
because I still think there's a player in there somewhere.
00:08:46
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, I agree with that completely. I think the answer is sell, but realistically, Bench is an acceptable offer there, if if that suits him, I suppose.
00:08:58
DailySaintsPod
Who he'll be playing back up to, I don't know, but i mean the whole goalkeeper situation is was always going to be messy, as previously mentioned.
00:09:05
Zak
Yes.
00:09:06
DailySaintsPod
And speaking of which, also returning on loan after a spell at Newcastle, Aaron Ramsdale keeps hella benching, right?
00:09:14
Zak
If Perutz doesn't join, keep him. And if he's mad about that, he had his opportunity to go and play Champions League football. He had his opportunity to play for a bigger club. And it's not worked out.
00:09:26
Zak
You know, he has a chance to rebuild a career with us properly. However, I think the reality of the situation is that he's going to think that he's outgrowing the club and he's going to end up getting someone like, I don't know,
00:09:38
Zak
Sunderland. No, actually, kind of like Newcastle. That's ridiculous. would I suggest Sunderland? You know, one of these promoted clubs, okay?
00:09:45
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, maybe.
00:09:45
Zak
You know, maybe maybe he goes to Hull. That would be fascinating.
00:09:49
DailySaintsPod
me
00:09:50
Zak
Their marquee signing, being Arthur marquee signing from previous.
00:09:50
DailySaintsPod
Yeah. it's It's a tricky answer for me, mate, because... I find it really hard to separate the two parts of my mind because from a purely football in perspective, the obvious answer is keep. He's a quality goalkeeper and we would be lucky to have him between the sticks. But from the the financial side of it and the like personality side of it, I don't think we're going to want to pay his wages in the championship in a season where we're already going to be
00:10:22
DailySaintsPod
you know, tightening our belts. Uh, so I think it's a sell, which is, is nuts, uh, for me, but, Yeah, you're right. It'll be fascinating to see how the whole goalkeeper situation plays out with this added twist of of no guaranteed option for Peretz.
00:10:43
DailySaintsPod
So, be very interesting. I've already seen transfer links to other young goalkeepers. So, who knows?
00:10:53
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:10:53
Zak
Especially you can now considering our head of scouting is out the door. So does that...
00:10:58
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:10:58
Zak
he For me, that kind of puts any rumours of scouting to bed, really, doesn't it?
00:11:03
DailySaintsPod
Yeah. I mean, the thing is, you don't know with that particular situation how... I mean, that could always and probably was happening way before any of this came out.
00:11:15
DailySaintsPod
But it's definitely going be enough that some people will be like, oh, this is it. The fire sale begins. I just don't know if that's strictly true.
00:11:23
Zak
i I feel like we've lost well too much money to just start selling assets at a point, cut down price for the checks, notes, the whole Spygate debacle.
00:11:28
DailySaintsPod
Hmm.
00:11:33
DailySaintsPod
Hmm.
00:11:34
Zak
It was wild to see it as national news, though.
00:11:38
DailySaintsPod
Well, that is pretty nice.
00:11:41
Zak
But there we are. but think that's that That kind of gives a summary of what we feel about goalkeepers, right?
00:11:42
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:11:48
Zak
Because it's going to be difficult, horrible, horrendous changeover of pretty much all the goalkeepers at some point. and I feel like if we end up with either Perez or Rambo between the sticks, that that's probably a good outcome.
Goalkeeper Situation Overview
00:12:01
DailySaintsPod
Hmm.
00:12:01
Zak
I'm kind of with you that I think that Rambo is going to be too expensive to keep and Perez is entirely up to him. I have, however, do feel like if we don't get those, I don't think Baz will be our starting goalkeeper come the start of the season. I just feel like that's not going to be the case.
00:12:17
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, it kind of feels a lot like we tried that and decided that that didn't work and that's what happened in January.
00:12:22
Zak
Correct.
00:12:23
DailySaintsPod
So it's it's not going to be, I think, how it plays out. One of the key positions to watch is the summer goes on, though, for sure. One of, I think, three, but I'm sure that we'll talk about that at length maybe in another episode. Right, moving on slightly further up the pitch in squad number order because it's the list I've got. So it's going to be a bit all over the place, but we're just going to deal with it. All right, it's it's okay. We'll get through everyone eventually.
00:12:53
DailySaintsPod
Mads Rorschlev, mate.
00:12:56
Zak
fla who Who's...
00:12:58
DailySaintsPod
Starting with the the tricky ones. Keep Bell or Bench.
00:13:01
Zak
who He's not going to be sold because no one's going buy him. He's been out the entirety of the season with an injury. We only ever saw him sort of being deployed, what, under Will Still?
00:13:11
Zak
Did he get injured before Andre even took over? If I remember rightly, it's been that long, right?
00:13:15
DailySaintsPod
I can't remember, mate. I think so, yeah.
00:13:17
Zak
like you got i think he... He picked up an injury quite, quite you know, and we kind of expected to maybe see him a little bit more. And then he just it turned out that injury was a lot worse than first feared.
00:13:28
Zak
I wondered if he kind of disappeared off the earth. But then it turned out he there was a couple of times he was spotted in crutches at the dugout and near the tunnel.
00:13:34
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, he had to have surgery on his Achilles, which is a tough injury to come back from, especially in a a position where running is one of the key things you offer, right?
00:13:37
Zak
so So, yeah. Yeah.
00:13:45
Zak
Yeah, and's that's I think one of the problems we've got is that depending on who is managing the club, obviously at the moment, Tonda is still the manager of the men's team.
00:13:46
DailySaintsPod
It's tricky.
00:14:06
Zak
you know I do feel for the guy, though, because obviously he came probably from Brentford, hoping to get a bit more first-team football and solidify a place. And you know it's not really even
00:14:14
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:14:17
Zak
a lot of people have kind of forgotten he's here simply due to circumstances.
00:14:19
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:14:20
Zak
This is like when Ross Stewart first got injured, right? After he'd appeared once and I had to remind you who he was. And now, you know, were we're're we're basically watching Scotland because of him.
00:14:30
DailySaintsPod
And and like even in the appearances we did see him in, it's hard to have judged him because the whole system was frankly poor and he was out of position as like a wingback.
00:14:41
Zak
Yes.
00:14:44
DailySaintsPod
But there was some some promise in there. So guess based off of that and based off the injury, it's probably bench with the hope that that becomes a keep rather than a sell.
00:14:55
Zak
Yeah.
00:14:55
DailySaintsPod
But... time will tell on that one and not really enough data to assess is kind of how I feel.
00:14:58
Zak
Yeah, I think I believe so. Great.
00:15:02
DailySaintsPod
Going from that to the opposite, not much more data is out there to be viewed than minutes Ryan Manning has played in the 25-26 season.
00:15:10
Zak
Keep.
00:15:13
Zak
Keep.
00:15:14
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:15:15
Zak
he was a close call for He was a close call for the Daily Echoes player of the season.
00:15:15
DailySaintsPod
Crazy, right? Hmm.
00:15:20
Zak
That's been announced today. It was Taylor Harwood-Bellis. He was in that short list. He was a really big surprise package for me during the Premier League and then has continued on to bring that form directly into this squad. He's played under a multitude of managers and been able to adapt to pretty much the demands of all of them and has been consistently one of our top goalscorers. not only just from the fact that, you know, he's got a really good free kick delivery. I'm not saying he's ever going to be on par with James Ward-Prowse, but he's been a fantastic deputy to what we needed.
00:15:54
Zak
And yeah, he's managed to play every single minute in the tank. And yeah, there's been a couple of times where people have blamed, you know, specific goals on him, maybe losing his man.
00:16:04
Zak
But I think that the attacking threat he's offered kind of counteracts that, in my opinion. And yeah, just a phenomenal player.
00:16:09
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, and he books he looks a lot less exposed in that sense in a for back four instead of a back five, right?
00:16:10
Zak
So keep...
00:16:17
DailySaintsPod
So it's kind of a particularly interesting one.
00:16:18
Zak
Yes.
00:16:22
DailySaintsPod
But yeah, I mean, 43 appearances in the league for us this season, which is it's almost all of the games.
00:16:28
Zak
We need to but you need to know about how integral that he's been to the team.
00:16:33
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, eight goals, six assists. Just, yeah, no-brainer keep for me, for sure. Solid part of the foundation of the team.
00:16:42
Zak
Agreed.
00:16:44
DailySaintsPod
Right, next up, Jack
00:16:52
Zak
Difficult one. The leadership qualities he's shown gone through this season, right? After last season in Premier League, we kind of questioned why he was captain for a lot of it you know And I think that it was difficult to kind of remain in a team under someone like Juric, where by the sounds of it, he wasn't the only one that had clashes.
00:17:02
DailySaintsPod
e
00:17:14
Zak
He showed a lot more this season immediately with, you know, opening the scoring on and opening the winning account on the first day against Wrexham. The team was in a better place when he was in it.
00:17:26
Zak
But then obviously the last couple of games towards the end, obviously picked up an injury in what, like open training? And then another injury just before the same injury, I think, just before one game we, I think we drew to Charlton, was it that game?
00:17:35
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:17:40
Zak
And then obviously sea since then, we've not really seen him and he was on the bench. and But I think that his ability to be able to get on with any level of hierarchy, right? And his ability for leadership is important. I don't know whether he'll be starting every game going forward, especially, but I would definitely keep him at least on the bench and probably remain as club captain for the foreseeable. That might change if we end up going for an entire culture shift and everybody wants to go.
00:18:08
Zak
he may He himself might have got to a point now where, you know, i don't i don't think that. I doubt that. I think he'd probably be happy to end his career here.
00:18:16
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, I think I agree with that.
00:18:17
Zak
Yeah.
00:18:37
DailySaintsPod
So it it it speaks for itself. You're right, whether... you know, the recovery from that particular injury or just his sort of, I guess, ability to play that many physically intense matches over that period of time, you know, is probably reduced now that he is...
00:18:56
DailySaintsPod
i mean, I refuse to say getting old because he's still only 32. Like, it's younger than me, mate.
00:19:04
Zak
Yeah, but your body your body still, your body takes a strain is my point, right?
00:19:05
DailySaintsPod
Yeah,
00:19:08
DailySaintsPod
yeah but it was definitely...
00:19:08
Zak
He's similar age to our manager, for goodness sake, you know?
00:19:11
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, it's definitely like, you know, post-peak for sure. and And a position where, you know, going to have to be taking care of yourself a bit more. But yeah, I think he'll still be an important part of the team. And I also think that the desire for him to to drag us as a team through this horrible situation and pull us out the other side is, it seems like the sort of person that that he is and what he'll want to do. So i agree. Keep.
00:19:37
DailySaintsPod
Next up on the list then, as you mentioned, the Daily Echo Player of the Year, Taylor Harwood-Bellis.
Taylor Harwood-Bellis Discussion
00:19:46
DailySaintsPod
It's just key, surely.
00:19:48
Zak
Yeah, it's not really much of a conversation there, is it? I'm already seeing the vultures circle around. West Ham fans seem to think that he's already been signed for them already. What is with them signing our players? Always baffling.
00:20:02
Zak
However, obviously he would be one that, you know, if you'd asked me this question at the beginning of the season, probably would have a different answer to you, to be honest.
00:20:02
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, truly bizarre.
00:20:11
DailySaintsPod
yeah
00:20:11
Zak
And even, to be honest, the the early parts of the season.
00:20:14
Zak
And, you know, you were struggling to even get in the team after a while. But he's, yeah, he's just been phenomenal. He's scored goals. He's been at both ends. He's defensively gotten stronger. he we We did an episode a long time back on whether or not he would even be like future captain material. and I think that that's really been sort of those qualities have been shown. He seems to really enjoy it here.
00:20:36
DailySaintsPod
He's really matured as a player towards the back end of this season. There's a lot less moaning and shouting. There's a lot more intent in his message and a lot less throwing his arms around blaming other people. There's a lot more leadership from him and and it became essential in that later run when he was given that captain's armband and I i hope that it will continue i think that he's really stepped into the season and proved proved his worth for sure hmm
00:20:36
Zak
i think that
00:20:57
Zak
Yep.
00:21:11
Zak
I think he's obviously there's been a little bit of difficulty and that's that's more, I think, his age and everything that's gone off are off the pitch. And, you know, he's tried to apologise for the binoculars thing, which obviously at the time they didn't really know much about.
00:21:20
DailySaintsPod
e
00:21:26
Zak
They were probably playing into the banter as much as fans.
00:21:29
DailySaintsPod
He is a player who buys into all of the noise.
00:21:29
Zak
There's the...
00:21:35
DailySaintsPod
He is a player that, if there's a negative noise in the crowd, will play worse because of it. he will But in the same way, he feeds off of the buzz and the energy.
00:21:40
Zak
Yeah.
00:21:44
DailySaintsPod
He is happy to put himself out there and do that, and that is... Part of many of his strengths and some of his weaknesses and doing silly things like that.
00:21:54
DailySaintsPod
I think it's hilarious. I think there's always a place for in football. Even with the chaos it caused, I still think in hindsight it's funny because because of the the storm they'd whipped up.
00:22:06
DailySaintsPod
And it is unfortunate with what happened. But but not only that, stepping up with goal contributions this year, seven goals, two assists, is...
00:22:14
Zak
Yeah, this is also true.
00:22:17
DailySaintsPod
it's, they're big numbers for a centre-back. Like, that's mad.
00:22:20
Zak
Yeah.
00:22:23
DailySaintsPod
Just a really important part of the team this season and one I hope that we are able to keep. You know, the keep from the perspective of would we keep is automatic.
00:22:34
DailySaintsPod
The keep of are we going to be able to I hope so. Yeah.
00:22:40
Zak
Yeah. Let's see.
00:22:43
DailySaintsPod
Yeah. But look, yeah I mean, halfway through the defence, but that's just about we've got time for, mate. So it feels like the the place to wrap it up.
00:22:55
DailySaintsPod
We've got far too many other defenders to talk about to get all the way through it. It's going to be... a
00:23:00
Zak
It's going to end up being like a three-parter this point, right?
00:23:02
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, but look, that's fine. It's got lots to talk about, lots of players to get through, and and all the good stuff to come, as well as the spatterings of news that may come out of the club at some point. But...
00:23:18
DailySaintsPod
that's That's part one. Join us for for part
Listener Engagement and Conclusion
00:23:20
DailySaintsPod
two. Let us know in the comments on the socials if you agree with our picks. We are Daily Saints Pod absolutely everywhere. TikTok, X, Blue Sky, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube. Hit us up. Let us know because we'd love to hear your opinions. It's what drives us to do it. And look, not all opinions going the same, particularly in this transfer period. not all the the players will have endeared themselves to everyone as much as maybe they have to us, or vice versa.
00:23:53
DailySaintsPod
So let us know, and we look forward to hearing him from you. But until we are back with part two, everyone, hope you have a wonderful day, and we will see you then.