Nordic Saint

Everybody, including Old Les, knew van Dijk was going to be sold this summer, the same as when Lallana, Koeman and Fonte went. Do we really need several weeks of leaks about what terrible people they are before they are sold? I guess it is supposed to make us fans happier to acept the sales. Personally, I wish we would handle transfers more professionally and discretely. Consistently tarring players and managers who leave as greedy, unpopular with the other players, lazy, threatening to go on strike etc is going to come back to haunt us. I expect there are some arguments between Les Reed and the managers and players as he does seem to rub them up the wrong way but these things should be kept private.

The same thing probably happens behind closed doors at a lot of clubs but with us every player and manager sale involves a kitchen sink drama played out in the press as Old Les's PR team and the player's agent sling mud at each other for several weeks before the sale finally takes place. Things could be handled better.

Really? In that case, you could argue that those figures showed the Dell was the perfect size. With your logic, we'd still be stuck at the Dell, with a 15,000 capacity.

It's been an erratic pre-season but a 2-0 victory obver Sevilla is one of the best pre-season results in Saints' modern history (although a 0-4 defeat to Augsburg was one of the worst). The whole team was led superbly by our new captain, Steven Davis, who really was outstanding, as were Jack Stephens and Romeu. Unforunately, Shane Long looked as ineffective as he did last season and Redmond was even worse. Overall though, an encouraging performance. Pellegrino seems to have realized very quickly that we have to stay back for much if the game to cover our weak defence, and attack on the break. Puel only realized the first part of that. He has also realized that we need another defensive midfielder to partner Romeu, who runs himself into the ground every game but undrstandably flags in the final 20 minutes. I only hope that Ross Wilson is capable of finding a good one.

Only a few seats left. Looks likely to be sold out. Saints' average home league gates in the top flight at St Mary's: 2016/17 30,936 2015/16 30,751 2014/15 30,741 2013/14 30,212 2012/13 30,874 2004/05 30,610 2003/04 31,699 2002/03 30,680 2001/02 30,633 At the Dell: 2000/01 15,115 1999/00 15.132 1998/99 15,140 1997/98 15,159 1996/97 15,099 1995/96 14,820 1994/95 14,685 1993/94 14,751 1992/93 15,382 Some in the think small brigade would have said there was no need for a bigger stadium because we couldn't fill the Dell every game in 1993 and 1994. They're saying the same now because there aren't tens of thousands locked out every game. An upper tier on the Kingsland, taking the capacity up to 38,000, would be filled, just the same as St Mary's was.

We have a record for selling our best players below current market value so the other PL clubs know how to deal with us now. The clubs we sold them to could make a big profit on the likes of Wanyama, Mane and Clyne if they chose to sell them.

The whole highly-publicised Liverpool saga means that Saints fans will now feel good about our best player being sold to Chelsea for 20 million less than we might have got for him at today's prices. In fact his sale could be the main feelgood factor of this pre-season.

The reason its verlooked s that it no longer functions here since Paul Mitchell went to Spurs. We got the last of Mitchell's Black Box signings in the months after he left. since then, we've relied on Empty Box Ross Wilson and Old Les to find players like Boufal, Hojbjerg and Bendarek.

Except for being nowhere near as good at finding talented managers and players as his predecessor, Paul The Black Box Mitchell was. Mitchell is the man who should replace Reed.

We're the 2nd smallest. I guess they included van Dijk in their calculation. I wonder if our main attacking tactic will be high crosses again this year: https://talksport.com/football/premier-league-teams-ranked-average-height-smallest-tallest-170803248991

Except when Paul The Black Box Mitchell was here, we were replacing them with good ones. Now that Old Les has got rid of him and just about everyone else, the club just looks trapped in a downward spiral.

Did anyone else watch Bayern Munich v Liverpool on ITV4 last night. The commentators discussed at length the fact that Liverpool should sign van Dijk. Southampton Football Club wasn't mentioned once in the whole discussion. Mind you, having watched Mane rip Bayern Muinch apart, you can see what a good move it would be for van Dijk. That is the problem: van Dijk is greedy but it would be a very good career move for him, even if he weren't.

Are you saying you know better than Old Les? "Southampton executive director of football Les Reed has claimed that the club boasts the best array of midfield options in the Premier League." "We now have the perfect blend of positional strength, experience and dynamic youth in our midfield slots. There will be healthy competition, but also the required depth and robustness for our challenge in the Europa League. I believe as a group we probably have a choice from the best pool of midfield options in the Premier League." Les Reed http://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/southampton/news/reed-southampton-have-best-midfield-in-pl_276561.html Next, you'll be saying it would be unwise to start next season with Stepehens and Yoshida as our first choice central defenders.

Clasie was playing but you probably didn't notice because he didn't do much. The St-Etienne players found it very easy to brush him aside so he hardly touched the ball. Regarding the rest of our players' performances, the level of negativity on here is ridiculous. They played well and showed good levels of skill and fitness for a pre-season game against stronger oppostion than they faced in the previous 2 games. I expect they'll do well against Augsburg and Sevilla too.

That was an excellent performance against decent opposition. I thought nearly all of our players had good games, especially Targett, Ward-Prowse, Stephens, Pied and Davis, who seems to be unpopular on here but who for me is and unsung hero, a bit like Marsden used to be. I'm looking forward to the Augsburg and Sevilla games.

JWP is excellent at sending in pinpoint crosses and corners to tall opposition defenders. He's almost as good at that as he is at placing free-kicks a yard high and wide of the goal.

That's Old Les for you. http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/15377566.Van_Dijk_not_for_sale_insists_Reed/ http://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/southampton/news/reed-southampton-have-best-midfield-in-pl_276561.html http://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/southampton/news/reed-champions-league-realistic-for-saints_235957.html http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/15005364.Reed_backs_Puel_for_Saints_success/

The days when we sold players and replaced them with better ones ended when our head of recruitment, Paul Black Box Mitchell went to Spurs. We need his 'Black Box' brain back. He is a very talented man and would be the ideal replacement for Old Les, who reaches retirement age this year. I sometimes wonder if Les is just a cuckoo in the nest who has got rid of nearly all of our talented administrators, managers, coaches, scouts, players and staff and whether it would be a happier more stable ship with somebody new at the helm.

In the first 19 games last season, in which Stephens played no part, we conceded 19 goals. In the 16 in which he started, we conceded 24. So, we went from conceding 1.0 goals per game without him, when posters on here were saying Fonte was having a poor season, to 1.5 with Stephens. A 50% increase in goals conceded! Obviously, a major cause of that was the absence of van Dijk. But, it just shows how poor our defence will be if we have to rely on Stephens and Yoshida this season.

Obviously, selling our 2 top goal scorers, Mane and Pelle, in the same summer wasn't a wise move. But this video sums up just how poor our current strikers are at converting goalscoring chances. My solution would be to sell Long ( I know this won't be popular with some posters who regards him as something of a folk hero because he runs about a lot) and replace him with a better goal scorer. www.umaxit.com/index.php/videos/by-the-numbers-where-did-southampton-go-wrong-last-season

Let's hope we don't become the best of the rest after all the Premier League teams. If we do, there will still be posters claiming we can't possibly afford to compete with them.

If we'd had a not for sale stance last summer and had kept Mane and Wanyama, that would have shown real ambition. I think they were less keen to leae than van Dijk appears to be now and we wouldn't have needed to spend anything on new players. The Club could have afforded to keep our best players then. IF van Dijk is sold, our squad is going to look a hell of a lot weaker than it did 2 years ago. That is not progreess. It isn't even standing still. It's decline.

Anything positive that happens at SFC is always down to LR: it's one of the mongboard's 10 commandments. Unfortunately he now seems to have got rid of all the staff, administrators, scouts, managers and players who really achieved those positive things.

Judging from the comments about Fraser Forster on here a lot of our fans have completely forgotten just how good Fraser Forster was before Dave Watson got to work on him. Forster used to be very good.

At Tottenham since Paul Mitchell went there.