Dusic

The Boss said yesterday in the press conference that it is not possible to play the same team.

Might be starting to heat up a bit. According to reports in Portugal we have a bid in for Porto's Sergio Oliveira, Saints officials expected in Portugal to continue talks: http://sportwitness.co.uk/sunderland-join-race-midfielder-4m-bid-southampton/ 24 yr old central attacking midfielder, out of favour at Porto but previously hyped. Can find the original article on the Ojogo site if interested. Bizarre rumour: Yoshida to China http://sportwitness.co.uk/another-key-southampton-player-linked-move-china/

Burnley away at Turf Moor is an ideal game for JWP to come back in for. Said nobody.

Clasie was good tonight in his usual way but its mad that despite a year and half of targetted training and adaptation to English football he still can't last anywhere near 90mins in a vaguely up tempo match. Can't remember watching a Saints player in 30 years who gets cramp as often as him!

Well deserved win but obviously should have scored more. Redmond was excellent though and put a massive shift in. Should have scored another goal at least but he got in great positions and the last chance I liked his confidence to go for the chip rather than just wildly smash at it like Cedric did with his chance. Midfield good, as none of them have a lot of mobility it suits us to sit deep. Romeu much improved from previous weeks. We have given ourselves a chance and showed that all the tossers who go on about Puel are wrong - those were committed players playing for the Manager. Yoshida was good too.

He must be dead set on leaving. Someone must have royally ****ed him off.

Good signing for Everton. Hasnt become a bad player overnight and wouldnt have signed for them 2 years ago. For a January signing, its a good one.

If he is available for less than about £12m then we should be all over Berahino IMO. He needs love but there is a class player there and its now risk given age, nationality and potential.

Won't be going to Palace. Reed said just last week that we only let people go to the top clubs.

Wonder if McQueen might get the nod over Bertrand for this. Just because Puel seems to rotate the full backs more than any other area and has rarely played one in both matches in a short space of time apart from where unavoidable. McQueen for the cup game and Bertrand back in the league on Saturday.

Great start to the season, but has definitely made a lot more errors in the last 10 games or so, at least 3 leading to goals. Palace from the corner, Spurs home, arguably the Beer Sheva fiasco, Norwich come to mind. Especially has an issue of not tracking runners in behind him, which is very key in his position (Watford at home and Palace away last year), or tracking runners from set plays. Is lack of real competition an issue? If we play with one sitting midfielder they need a physical presence and he is the only player we have in midfield who is vaguely strong and has become indispenable because of that and the strong early performances this season. He has generally done well but sometimes because he puts big crowd-pleasing tackles in fans probably don't pick up on the weaker parts of his game. Would definitely hope we are looking to bring in another midfielder with a physical presence and ball winning capabilities in the summer to challenge him.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-4098234/Manchester-United-tell-Everton-pay-20m-Morgan-Schneiderlin.html According to Rob Draper Everton believe VVD coukd be persuaded to sign for them, but that its more realistic in the summer.

One club goal after half the season, not the way it was intended to turn out! If you don't play to Long's strengths then he is a poor striker as has little composure and technical quality. Clearly Puel is here to stay and clearly Long doesn't fit his style of play and can never really be trained to. How does this play out, both now and longer term? Sure he earns a pretty sizeable wage which we are seeing no return on.

A real link via the reliable Di Marzio: Amato Ciciretti http://sportwitness.co.uk/southampton-make-offer-second-division-forward-decision-expected-january-12th/

Abundantly clear from this that Puel is (rightly) going nowhere at this stage: http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/news/15005597.Reed_asks_for_fan_s_trust_in_Southampton_way/?ref=mac We aren't a panic stations, knee jerk club like others. Reed made a decision he felt would pay off longer term, so totally understandable that he allows Puel the time to implement his ideas. Lets hope they back him with an ability to bring in one or two players they want but right now he needs support and an atmosphere that helps the team rather than moaning at everything and everyone.

Duncan Spedding

You don't want to be losing the most creative player you currently have available, no matter how inconsistent he can be.

Puel in. He has been dealt a tough hand in many ways with limited possibilities. Give him a chance to mould his own side.

Chinese transfer window runs until the end of Feb too which is alluded to be Reed's comments of wanting an offer now rather than later on when we cannot replace him. Rather he went there than Everton and they would probably pay the £13m which is vastly overpriced for a player who may decline qiluickly over the next few years.

Reedo clearly trying to flush out offers given the timing of this when in effect he requested a move months ago. Hope someone does come in for him soon and we can replace as not a fan of Yoshida having many more minutes than he does now. If Fonte stays he will likely be phased out but without a replacement. Great signing, great player and until Portugal won the Euros, a great bloke it seemed.

Should add, a family member knows a lady who works at Saints and was at the Christmas Party they held recently at SMS. She said that Puel did a brief speach and said she felt sorry for him due to his lack of English and that a couple of very prominent senior players were s******ing at him on the table behind where she was sat. She felt it showed disrespect and couldn't imagine them doing it to previous Managers.

He was there but not 'in charge' and almost certainly didn't sack those Managers. Reed will have known we were going to struggle to be 7th or above. He won't sack a Manager who is securely midtable as it will shatter the illusions he has built up of Saints as a model club in terms of recruitment and succession planning. Puel will not be sacked at this stage IMO.

Equally suprised if Long kicked off after the one game he has scored in and was lucky to start given how **** he has been this season. These type of stories always come around after a poor run. Might be true, might not be, but it won't change much. Reed has never sacked a Manager whilst he has been 'in charge' at Saints. To do so now would mean admitting he personally made a poor decision, which he won't do unless it is a last resort option and we are not being relegated despite how poor we have been for the most part this season.

http://www.getfootballnewsfrance.com/2017/marseille-to-meet-with-morgan-sansons-representatives-in-the-coming-hours/ Sanson mentioned by a few on here. WBA and Bmth keen.

Reed has never sacked a Manager in his time at Saints. I highly doubt he will now. He will (rightly or wrongly) back his own decision.