TBH

[wbfc]

Spoke really well about his season at Turf...I do not think he is the best centre half in the world ..but could have been a Ben Mee type player for the club ...getting better through effort and professionalism and a real club ambassador by the way he plays...

Really well done yesterday TBH

[burnmark]

THB

Good player for us last season and seemed to enjoy his time here and had a good connection with the fans. Time will only tell if he is good enough for the Premier League.

[Pearcey]

A good character and leader. Something we have very few of.

[IanMcL]

Going to be a permanent Saint now.

[dougcollins]

It was an imperative to sign both him and Tella.

The first of a catalogue of errors.

[Bowclaret]

The biggest mistake of the lot not taking Taylor.

Better than anything we have now and I bet we would still be a prem club if we had signed this lad.

A leader ! We badly missed that

[summitclaret]

Him and Muric were the 2 that enabled us to play the way VK wanted. He tried it without them amd looked what happened. To think that we paid almost as much for Tresor as Southampton are paying for THB. Crazy times and we already had too many wingers.

[Woodleyclaret]

Not Premier league standard imo often caught in possession but a good passer
Saints will be straight back down but well done.I think any team who keeps Dirty Leeds has the blessing of most football fans.

[Quickenthetempo]

We will find out if he is good enough for the Premier league.
He stood out massively for us at the beginning of the season as we had never had such a cool in possession Centre half, by the end of the season I wouldn't have him in my first choice line up.
Beyer and Ekdal looked better.

Although both Ekdal and THB had injury problems.

[Carlos the Great]

Anyone who thinks our team is better now than the championship winning team is sadly wrong … we have missed THB .. Tella .. Maatsen and Muric for most of the season too ..

[Rowls]

To Be Honest. Dara O'Shea is just as good, or better.

[Rowls]

But well done and congratulations to THB.

[agreenwood]

Ain’t hindsight great? You can never be wrong.

He played well yesterday and did well for us, but there wasn’t a massive push on here to sign THB last summer. He actually didn’t start in 14 of our final 20 games last season due to injury and we didn’t lose a game he missed. I’m not sure he’s any better than the centre halves we finished this season with.

Southampton had a pretty poor defensive record for a side who have been promoted. There were several teams in the bottom half of the Championship who conceded less.

[daveisaclaret]

I think he's great and would have improved us, but we didn't spend £20 million on anyone and that was good.

[bobinho]

Now I get it!!!!

This is what people mean when they suggest ex players become world class when they no longer play for us. Won’t be long before someone suggests GS should be taking him…

He was ok, better than I originally thought he was, but certainly no leader as suggested earlier, and most definitely NOT the best centre half at the club. Maybe I didn’t really notice him that much because he was regularly outperformed by the lad next to him. Admittedly the most potential, but far from the finished article, and if city thought he’d reach the dizzy heights, he’d be going nowhere.

Good luck to him, seems a decent lad and he’ll probably have a good career at lower PL/uppper Championship level, but it will be for clubs like Soton et al.

[ashtonlongsider]

I was very disappointed when we didn't sign him. Out of the trio of the influential loanees he was the one I wanted to sign most. Miss his killer cross-field passes, he may not have been the quickest but he could read a game well and snuff out danger. Massive mistake not making him a permanent Claret. He'll go on to have a good career at PL level of that I am sure.

[Swizzlestick]

TBH THB would have been too bloody much (TBM).

[Neil]

My memory of the Championship winng season is that there was a hell of a lot of games where our centre halves weren't really tested.

We had about 70% possession of the ball and often spent two minutes at a time when the ball was passed about between the defenders.

Can only think of Sheff Utd when we were truly second best and we struggled more against the teams that did high press us and put crosses in the box.

I think it gave a false impression of how good they actually were.

I don't believe Al Dakhil will ever play top flight football again and even Beyer, who was my player of the season alongside Cullen, looked well off the pace in the Prem.

See how THB gets on when he's under the same pressures O'Shea and his various partners have just faced.

[Im_not_Robbie_Blake]

At least we won't have THB, JBG and JBL in the same team, not to mention TBH.

[JimmyRobbo]

Anyone who thinks our team is better now than the championship winning team is sadly wrong … we have missed THB .. Tella .. Maatsen and Muric for most of the season too ..

I'll bite.

I think we're better, now. Certainly more talented.

We do lack leaders, though. The value of strong characters turns mediocrity into winners.

[dougcollins]

Ain’t hindsight great? You can never be wrong.

He played well yesterday and did well for us, but there wasn’t a massive push on here to sign THB last summer.

Well, there was from me. Him and Tella,for different reasons.

There's is still no natural leader at TM with the calibre of THB.

Whether O'Shea is better or not.

[cav]

England Under-21 centre-back Taylor Harwood-Bellis has enjoyed a remarkable couple of seasons, winning back-to-back promotions from the Championship - at Burnley and now Southampton - while on loan from Manchester City.

The 22-year-old defender joined Southampton on deadline day last summer in a loan deal that included an obligation to buy, with the clause coming into effect if the south coast club secured promotion this season.

"I can't put it into words, it's different because I know I'm a Southampton player now," he told BBC Radio Solent.

"I wanted to stay here and to know that we'll be in the Premier League and there's not even a discussion to happen now [with Man City] and to just turn up for pre-season, I can't describe that feeling."

He added: "It's surreal, both in completely different ways, I couldn't have asked for much better.

"Last year was so special, with a special football club [Burnley] that I loved to bits. This year is exactly the same, with a little more edge because I know I'm here to stay."

- BBC Sport

[warksclaret]

We have been an absolute shambles in defence and people on here saying Howard Bellis was not up to playing for us. He was outstanding for us last season, outstanding for Saints this season, and captained one of the best ever England U-21 teams .We must have some incredible defenders

[AGENT_CLARET]

We have been an absolute shambles in defence and people on here saying Howard Bellis was not up to playing for us. He was outstanding for us last season, outstanding for Saints this season, and captained one of the best ever England U-21 teams .We must have some incredible defenders

His two Good seasons have come at Championship level, let's see what he does in the Premier league

[ksrclaret]

His two Good seasons have come at Championship level, let's see what he does in the Premier league

Can’t be any worse than Burnley did without him in the PL

[ClaretPete001]

THB was only 21 last season - O Shea is 25. Not really a fair comparison.

I think he will be a very good player.

[boatshed bill]

TBH, IMO, THB wge 4 EPL

[jlup1980]

I liked THB but he wasn't our best CB in the Championship - that was Beyer, and we paid a significant sum to make him a permanent signing as soon as the season ended. THB also wasn't part of the best pairing, as that was Beyer and Ekdal in my opinion. Personally, I thought THB stood on the ball too long and slowed the game down too much. We looked far more progressive with Beyer and Ekdal as they moved the ball quicker or broke the lines by carrying the ball forward.

The most important thing to consider is how little our defenders were challenged in the Championship though. All our defenders from last season have come up short in the PL and for that reason I can only see THB being the same. It all depends how they set up though.

The reason Dyche does so well with his CB's is he gives them a lot of protection from CM. I suspect Mee, Tarky, Keane etc would all struggle in a VK set up as they'd be left far more exposed. Branthwaite is the next one. He's being touted for a £60m move this summer. It's ridiculous. As soon as he's put into a top 6 back 4, with little protection ahead of him, he'll look half the player he currently does.

[claretonthecoast1882]

Comes as no shock that some think Championship performances would be repeated in the Prem.

Southampton have been decent for most of the season and Adam Armstrong has done well for them. His last 4 seasons in football read as

23/24 46 games 21 goals
22/23 30 games 2 goals
21/22 23 games 2 goals
20/21 40 games 28 goals

Wonder if anyone can guess which 2 seasons are in the Prem and which 2 are in the Championship.