The9

I think Adkins did very well to keep a side motivated and positive when it had practically no experience and was making individual errors and getting punished on a weekly basis (Fox's header at City, Fonte dwelling on the ball against Wigan, the entire defence hoofing it back to them with Mayuka up top when home to Man U and 2-1 up, Arsenal away generally etc). Though the fairly early 4-1 win against Villa was the signal to me that actually we were just having a bad run of fixtures rather than having a bad team, it took some skill to get them out of that awful schedule still with the confidence in their ability to prove they were good enough. Playing well and still losing can be every bit as crushing as just playing poorly, if in the wrong hands. As you said, Adkins completely had a handle on it by the time he got sacked.

This would work better if he came across as angry to anyone else.

For the sake of argument, let's say "after 80 minutes" is "late"...

I'd say Koeman has already dropped a bit of a clanger with the defensive West Brom side (especially given that we only sqeaked past them by one goal last season), but that it was understandable given that it was his first home match in the Premier League, and all the recordings in the world aren't going to prepare you for the reality of it. What's nice is that in the 2 seasons we've been up, we've gone from a clueless side at the top level that got ambushed and owned by an experienced and clinical Wigan side in our first home game, to an experienced Prem side ourselves. We're usually able to make the right decisions to close out a game - even the majority of the signings without Prem experience are at a level where you know they know exactly what to do to see through a tight contest (eg Alderweireld). Admittedly we've been at that level for a good 18 months, but it's worth noting that Koeman won't need to teach them that, compared to the job Adkins had on his hands.

Shame the prancy green-booter was injured for yesterday so none of you got to see the faux-Ronaldo stepovers with no end product. They were completely outclassed yesterday, and are now outside the play-off spots.

Just "should of" =

There is this too.

I hate to tell you this, but even the parents of some of our U16s are already of the mindset that Saints are a selling club and merely a stepping stone to the big money - there is absolutely no chance of us keeping anyone if they retain that attitude (and if we continue to sell).

Dunno, you'll have to ask Big Ron. Not that one. The U18s seemed to be big on Hesketh last season but I wasn't so convinced, whilst Sims looked a class apart every time I saw him play - which admittedly wasn't ALL that often, but it was a handful of times with the various streams/broadcasts.

Good luck getting this to page 2!

I've seen enough of Sims to decide he's bloody awesome, though not seen as much of the U18s games as I'd like this season. I couldn't tell you anything about Slattery yet.

There is no way a pedant is going to allow this misrepresentation of the term "pedant" to go uncommented upon. It does not mean what you think it means.

Josh Sims, Lallana with pace. One day we'll sell him to someone for over £40m. Feel free to bookmark.

Given that it was obvious that to anyone that he'd sign for them under pretty much any circumstances, he may have been the last one to hear about it. IIRC Saints were pressurised to accept the offer in a fixed timescale before the World Cup by Liverpool too.

Even though I usually reference the recording of Saints fan songs I did in around 2011 which showed we had about 40 songs and under 10% of them mentioned Portsmouth, I take issue with your point, and offer "Duh-duh-duh-duh... Graziano" as evidence.

I think as much as anything the threat from the counter to the press was still there, the difference with Wanyama in front was in mopping up the second phase after the break approached the area - i.e. he got back to intercept crosses or passes on the edge of the box towards supporting attackers. I didn't think we had that much of a high press for a lot of last season anyway, we still had players in advanced areas positioned to stop easy escape, but there wasn't the immediate surge towards the ball that we had for much of the first 6 months of Pochettino's term. I assume we're still discussing that because it's quite tricky to pin a particular "style" on Koeman so far due to the flexibility in positions.

You should be given a megaphone and a podium on match days and stand in front of the Northam conducting.

I'm not embarrassed by it - the poster probably should be though. Now where's that picture of Kirk off Corrie and his dad?

He knew of Lallana, Lambert and Shaw coming in, had a go at keeping Lovren but he'd made his mind up, and clearly didn't have a problem selling Chambers for £16m. Krueger said in his Sky Sports News interview that he was impressed with Koeman's patience, they'd had some difficult decisions, and that he appreciated that it wasn't what he was expecting when he arrived but basically that he was a pro and would get on with it.

I honestly don't give a toss about where Saints players come from - it's not like any of them are actually local, and this summer has proven beyond all doubt that it doesn't get you any more loyalty from players than signing them. Supporting individuals is clearly a mug's game. I do think that investing in an academy that can be profitable, and occasionally produce first team players is a fundamentally sound philosophy and business model which we should continue to pursue, though for those reasons alone. In summary, Academy players are cheap.

He has at least two. The one to the tune of Brown Girl in the Ring (aka "Morgan Schneiderlin lalalalala") and "Morgan Schneiderlin Football Genius" as nicked from Chrissy Marsden and various others. Think that one began sarcastically in the Championship pre-relegation.

Question now is "why would he think that would change"? "It hasn't happened SO FAR" suggests he thinks it might, if it's contractual it won't.

Well you could have said that 3 weeks ago and saved us hours' worth of typing.

That's not even the point, the point is the babyish bleating about compensation on behalf of someone else for something neither club actually has any great control over.

And if he's not putting in the effort in training he won't be getting it back even IF "Forster makes a real c*ck-up in several games, or gets a serious injury". That's kind of the point, it's his job to be at the top of his abilities in case the people who are paying him need to call on him. Otherwise players would all get paid on a match only basis.