Nordic Saint

He's 65 this year so my question would be: When are you retiring? He gets great credit from some on here for good things which happened at the club in the past, but this season he is getting things very wrong, including his activity in the transfer market and his managerial and coaching appointments. It's time for him to step down gracefully and be replaced by someone younger, more in touch with modern football people and the current transfer market: someone who's still going to know what he's doing in five years' time. I think he's perceived by many football people as an arrogant, interfering old man, who'll take the credit for their work - he even tried to take some credit for Leicester's league title, saying they'd just copied the Southampton way- and that is going to put good managers and players off joining the club or even the current ones staying here.

Well, now that he has got rid of everyone on the staff who actually did a good job at the club, which is in fact just about everyone who was here, including coaches, managers, players and backroom staff, this Machiavellian old chap is now in almost total control and I don't think there's anyone who can get rid of him or even stand up to him: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/les-sacked-for-giving-turkeys-xmas-654543

He was the best midfield player in our team so if what you say is right (not that it is) what does that say about the rest of our midfielders? He is arguably now England's best midfield player. Liverpool could sell him for twice what they paid for him if they wanted to.

Dodgy refereeing decisions are always going to go the away team's way at the Northam end. The initial reaction of the crowd behind the goal has a big influence on refs in 50/50 decisions. Nearly a minute of 3,00o Spurs fans baying for blood finally made up Dean's mind to award a red card. It would be interesting to see a statistical breakdown of how many penalties and red and yellow cards go the away team's way at the Northam end. At least at the Chapel end, although there will be almost no crowd reaction at all, it doesn't favour the away team.

What would be the point of sacking Puel when Les Reed has said he chose him as the perfect fit for our club? Being cynical, I'd say that means he was an easy-going chap who would do as Les Reed wanted him to do. Ultimately, Reed did not like Pochettino and Koeman's strong personalities and independence of thought and their objections to his high turnover transfer policy. I'm not sure any manager with a strong personality would want to work for Reed now anyway. Reed is 65 next year so hopefully he will retire gracefully. Whatever he may have achieved in the past, his decision making in the last year has been poor and he seems out of touch with modern football people and the current transfer market. We need someone for the long-term future. Are we supposed to keep Reed until he's 70 or 75? I'd replace him with Paul Mitchell, our former Head of Recruitment, who was the master of the black box responsible for selecting our best players and managers. He is young and intelliegent and he will be available when he sees out his Spurs contract in a year's time.

If we'd had Wanyama, we'd have got a draw tonight. If we'd had Mane, we might even have won. Against the top teams with skilful attacking midfielders, we need a defensive midfielder who can get stuck into them, break up their play and stop them at the halfway line like Wanyama used to do. Instead we gave their midfield the freedom of the pitch, to do as they pleased. I though Puel might see that and try to put it right in the second half but I guess he just doesn't have a single midfield player left in the squad who can do that job. Up front against the top Premier League defenses, you need a striker with lightning pace and skill like Mane or great physical presence like Pelle. We haven't got those either. Our dealings in the transfer market since our head of recruitment Paul Mitchell left have really weakened the squad. We should try to get him back when he finishes his Spurs contract.

What's happened is England goalkeeping coach Dave Watson. He's turning a very good goalkeeper into a mediocre second division goalie like himself. He even managed to mess up Joe Hart's career, and as for his impact on our younger goalies... well none of them are ever going to play in the Premier League by the time he's finished with them. Get rid of Watson and Forster will be fine again.

On 20 October 2016, Nice won 1-0 away to Red Bull Salzburg in the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League. That was Nice's first-ever UEFA club competition away win, having previously gone 15 UEFA club competition away matches without a win.

I'm not claiming to be ITK

He is one of the PR boys so it sounds like Les has decided to sell Fonte in January, even if the rest of the message is spurious. We usually get all of these stories about how a player is 'spitting his dummy out ' and how his team mates will be glad to see the back of him just before he is sold. I guess we'll be hearing the same stories about van Dijk in the summer.

So this is the spin we're going to get from Les on the sale of Fonte in January, is it? He's still going to sell van Dijk as well in the summer so that excuse really doesn't wash.

Do we care? It's just another trophy we'll be resting players from.

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have played over 60 games a season for their whole careers. Our poor lads can't cope with more than 30 games when they are 19 and 20 so they have to be rested?

Yes, it was great to win that trophy. I'm just frustrated tonight that we didn't make more of an effort this year in the Europa League or the Football League Trophy. Why bother with the early rounds if you're going to field a weakened team in the later stages? I really hope we field a full-strength team in the League Cup semi-final. If we win that, it will be the highlight of this century for me as a Saints fan. We're also in with a shot in the FA Youth Cup. I'd like to see us win that too. But any trophy would be great. We should target the easier trophies to win and build the winning habit from there.

We are Southampton. We don't care about winning trophies so we never win them. Reading fielded 6 players who've played for their first team this season and only 2 of their Academy players; we fielded our U18 team. Whenever we get anywhere within sight of a trophy, we field a weakened team. Reading have won 2 Championship trophies in the last 10 years and they clearly intend to get to Wembley and add this cup to their trophy cabinet as well. if we'd fielded Sims, Reed and McCarthy tonight or even our U21 team, we'd have won. At least we won the Premier League Cup this century. I'll always remember that.

This season should see out 13th top 8 finish so it's nothing particularly unusual. I think our average finishing position in our 40 years in the top flight is 11th. This season will also see our 14th major cup semi-final, again not so unusual. What is unusual compared to other clubs which get crowds of our size, is the lack of trophies. We have massively underachieved in terms of trophies won, even compared to Portsmouth, which is a smaller club. Maybe we've just been unlucky but it's nothing to do with being small and unable to compete. That is just defeatist talk from same fans who come out with the 'we should know our place' line and be ever so 'umble, perhaps so they don't feel disappointed again when we fall at the final hurdle. Maybe the lack of expectation from our fans and club owners is one factor in why we have underachieved.

http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=2244&d=1481047685

No.

Pompey fans have all been registering on this site to vote for themselves as having the best atmosphere in the country and Saints as the worst. The poll is so easily manipulated, it's ridiculous. But anyway it is now their big claim to fame. We could of course change it very easily and they'd be devastated. Could we be that cruel? Well, I already knocked them off top spot with just 1 vote: http://www.the92.net/

I agree with the OP. The media already call it THE South Coast Derby. There really is very little interest in fourth division teams nowadays and I have no desire to end up in the 4th division with them. We've hardly ever played Pompey in the past anyway and it's very unlikely we'll play them again in the next few years.Time to move on.

He certainly has. He was perfect in his last 2 games v Middlesbrough and Stoke: a European champion at the peak of his game. It's no coincidence that we get so many clean sheets when he plays: 4 in the last 5 games he's played.

Can't stop smiling. Brilliant result and a great performance: the complete opposite of last season's debacle. It may not be a derby game for many on here but it most certainly is as far as I'm concerned and that makes the win that much more satisfying. Saints' goal highlights video for this season is going to be a real cracker. Rodriguez's 2nd takes its place in the pantheon of great goals alongside Boufal's 2.

We can't stop teams at the halfway line like Wanyama used to do, especially when the top teams tried to put us under pressure, so they run straight through the middle, leaving Fonte and van Dijk working overtime as the only line of defence. It's particularly noticeable in the 2nd half of games, when Romeu has run himself into the ground with little or no assistance in tackling from midfield team mates. Wnayma is yet another great player who was ridiculously underrated by some Saints fans, who like to stereotype players based on their appearance. He is currently on course to be Tottenham's player of the season

Romeu is doing the Schneiderlin job which Clasie was bought to do. Nobody is doing Wanyama's job and that is one of our problems.

Some people on here have some real anger issues. People don't 'deserve abuse'. Abuse 1. the improper use of something. "alcohol abuse" synonyms: misuse, misapplication, misemployment, mishandling; More exploitation, perversion "this law is not going to stop the abuse of power" unjust or corrupt practice. "protection against fraud and abuse" synonyms: corruption, injustice, wrongdoing, wrong, misconduct, delinquency, misdeed(s), offence(s), crime, fault, sin "the scheme is open to political control and administrative abuse" 2. cruel and violent treatment of a person or animal. "a black eye and other signs of physical abuse" synonyms: mistreatment, maltreatment, ill treatment, ill use, misuse