Nordic Saint

Heading was one of the many things he didn't do much: tackling, shooting and long passes being others. He averaged 1 goal every 13 games, which for an attacking player (inside forward as he was known in those days) was pretty poor. He had a stuttering run and looked like a middle aged dad playing football. It's hard to believe he'd only just turned 27 when he joined us. He was one of those unathletic people who would't get into professional football nowadays but in the 60s it was a much slower game. I think it's fair to say, fans rarely take to attacking players who don't score goals.

Well, that's hardly surprising as they were appointed by the same person. The next manager would very likely be the same too.

Sharp is a real goal scorer. He's averaged a goal every 2 games throughout his career. We could see him in the Premier League next season if Sheffield United get promoted.

Did you see them on the Lost in a Dream tour at Southampton Guildhall? I thought they were good. I'm going to see them again at Portsmouth Guildhall next month. They've got a better support act for the A Deeper Understanding tour: The Barr Brothers. Their new album, Queens of the Breakers, is worth listening to.

A league table of best run clubs would be different every season. This season, so far, I'd say these 5 would be above us: Wolves, Man City, Tottenham, Watford, Burnley... If we manage a 5th consecutive top 8 finish, youd have to say over that period we'd be one of the best; if we end up getting relegated, we wouldn't be. I'm not sure the club has been as well run this season and last as it was in the previous 3. We'll see. Football is a results driven game. The Boufal goal has certainly made us all feel more optimistic.

Because the other goalkeepers at the club are worse. McCarthy, for example, is even more error prone and makes some comical mistakes. Forster used to be a very good goalkeeper. I remember how relieved we were to see him come back from injury to replace Stekelenburg. Even now, Forster probably has one of the best clean sheet to game ratios of any goalkeeper we have ever had at the club in the top light. Some people think his decline is due to injury but I think it may be due to the influence of goalkeeping coach, Dave Watson, as all of the goalkeepers at the club have got worse. Forster usd to push shots wide of his goal. Now he parries them all forwards, which has led to a few goals conceded. He also seems to have lost his spontaneous reactions and stops to think before kicking, which can lead to panic situations. My guess is these changes are down to the coaching. Before writing him off, I would like to see how Forster performs under a different coach.

Yes!!!! Brilliant! We've won a home game! If we keep the journeymen, like Long and Redmond, out and the class players like Boufal and Gabbiadini, in, we'll be fine.

At last there is some hope of a goal now with Long off and Austin on.

So, the question is, did Koeman just benefit from Pochettino's work and ride the crest of a wave? Would we have achieved the same results, or even better, whoever the manager was who succeeded Pochettino?

ITALY'S FIRST FOOTBALL NEWS SITE Gabbiadini: ‘Tottenham the most surprising club, Benitez my favourite manager’ 20 October at 10:41 Southampton star Manolo Gabbiadini has released an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport to discuss his experience in the Premier League. Six goals in the first two games in England, what happened then? “I picked up an injury, I was happy and I had settled in well. Then something changed, we played in a different way, we were more defensive and everything became more difficult. The last one was an important season.” Why did you chose Southampton? “There were other options but I wanted to come to the Premier League. Southampton is comfortable, you are close to London and from there I can go to Bologna with three flights a day. I also thought about it when I moved here. I love Bologna. I played my first important season there and I met the girl who has now became by wife.” Why did you struggle with Napoli? “It was an important moment of my career. I was living in an amazing place, Posillipo, surrounded by amazing people and good friends. It was a honour for me to play for Napoli. They have a great manager. Sarri is my favourite manager alongside Benitez. I was also on very good terms with Mihajlovic and Pioli.” What about the national team? “The Word Cup is my objective, the azzurri shirt has something special. We have 51% of chances to qualify for the World Cup. It would be a disaster for players of my generation.” Most surprising Premier League club? “Tottenham but right now Manchester City are doing great, Guardiola has accepted some habits of English football.”

It's getting almost as bad as McMenemey's time at Sunderland, although I don't think Everton fans hate Koeman quite as much as Sunderland fans hated McMemeny or even as much as Newcastle fans hated Pardew. It's such a shame to think what might have been.

I like Austin too. He is a proven goal scorer and given a run of games as a starting striker, he will score goals. If we need to sell one of our strikers, I'd rather we sold Long.

It certainly is. At the end of last season he was posting this: 19-05-2017, 12:43 PM #1806 Alain Perrin Location Swindon Ultimately the club (Uncle Les et. al.) will make the decision that they believe is best. On one hand I think we should give Puel a chance and whilst the quality hasn't been there on the pitch I think he has managed a difficult season well (lots of games, compressed schedule and unfortunate injuries). However our points total isn't great (although I'd point to the Christmas period as being a critical factor - we had a really poor run coupled with the worst schedule of all clubs). I do think there's a danger that managers aren't given enough time to deliver. Whilst you can bring in a Conte to manage a bunch of world class players - if you're in the next pack down like Saints, you have more of a building job to do. And that takes more than one season in my opinion. Only the club can know what the player relationships are like (all I see is some on-pitch bickering which could be a bad sign) and if they think there are issues there I think he'll go. ----------------------------------------- Now, because at this point in time it's not looking like a great decsion, he's trying to shift the blame to the fans.

Les Reed sacked Puel. Nobody else. Do you really think Les Reed makes decisions because on what fans post on a messageboard? Some fans liked Puel, some didn't. Most thought that he had done enough in getting us to 8th place and a cup final to deserve starting this season with us. Les Reed didn't.

Very good attacking performance. The finishing was excellent. Sam McQueen could be just the goalscoring midfielder we need. Ward-Prowse always looks so much better when playing with his age group. There are however goalkeeping problems runnning right through the club, which reflects badly on either our recruitment or goalkeeper coaching.

True. Puel should have been given a second season but it was Old Les's decsion to sack him, not the fans'. Some of us liked him, some didn't. Most thought that, following the sale of Mane, Pelle and Wanyama and lack of adequate replacements, he was left with a severely weakened squad so the fact that he still got us to 8th and a cup final meant he at least deserved to be here for the start of this season. So, what we think or say on here will make little difference as everything at the Club now seems to be decided by Les Reed. Anyone blaming fans' opinions expressed on here for decsions made by Les Reed must think he is incredibly easily influenced and I doubt that.

Nuno Espírito Santo. But, you know with Old Les making the decisions, it's unlikely we'll get anyone better than Puel. I said at the time people were calling for Puel to be replaced that it would only be a case of out of the fying pan into the fire,as the person making the decision would still be the same. Remember, our best manager Pochettino, was scouted and selected by Paul Mitchell and Cortese, not Ross Wilson and Reed.

I know he's had some shockers recently, including today, but I wouldn't write Forster off yet. I still remember what a good goalkeeper he was before Dave Watson got to work on him. Watson has been coaching all of the goalkeeepers at the club and from what I've seen of them it doesn't look as though any of them are any better. It would probably be cheaper and more effective to replace Watson rather than Forster. Otherwise any new goalkeeper we buy is likely to deteriorate in just the same way Forster has under Watson's guidance.

"bi tch"? You really are a pathetic old man. Obviously, you don't have any friends but if you have any family left, they'd be ashamed of what you write on here. As for doing nothing but moaning and being miserable, these are my posts: https://www.saintsweb.co.uk/search.php?searchid=4320054 And these are yours: https://www.saintsweb.co.uk/search.php?searchid=4320053

The moaners won't be satified until we are in League Two, playing in a nearly empty stadium so they can say, I told you so, and that's never going to happen so they are doomed to remain forever miserable.

It's very obvious to some on here that they are all in fact 'plastics' and 'day trippers' who have travelled half way round the world from Japan to watch Watford and Swansea.

Sunday's game sold out. In spite of lack of goals and poor results, Saints' fans continue to be among the most loyal in the country. https://southamptonfc.com/news/2017-10-14/tickets-sold-out-southampton-newcastle-united-1718

We've had some great home performances against Newcastle in recent years and usuallly beat them by at least 2 clear goals. Newcastle do not and never have travelled well. Our last 4 meetings at St Mary's: Saints 3 Newcastle 1 Saints 4 Newcasle 0 Saints 4 Newcastle 0 Saints 2 Newcastle 0

Fans are still selling out both our home and away games. But, 200 million more in her bank account plus still retaining a 20% share of the club certainly looks like a great deal for Kat.

Weren't there some figures published which showed we'd spent more on players than we'd received in transfer fees for those we've sold over the last few years, which would explain why the club is in debt and borrowing money from a bank again? Ultimately, the revolving door policy does not appear to be paying off, either on or off the pitch. Yes, we are still in the top flight but that's no more than you'd expect for a club which gets the 12th biggest gates in the league.