Chez

Or save a ridiculous number of penalties? Haven't we got a keeping coach? Unless their is an actual job opening he will depart, for now.

Thank you for saving me from getting into a debate with the resident statto. Very well put by the way. Excellent post.

Bilic said a few days ago that they had no interest in Austin. Pardew said the same. Austin himself burned his bridges with Newcastle by snubbing them in the summer. Perhaps there aren't as many options for him as first thought. Wait until the summer and might be able to get a bigger wage by turning a transfer fee into his signing on fee. But his wage demands will still be large, his goals return will start to fade from the memory and his reputation for injuries may have increased. Add to that, he completely wipes out any chance of an England squad place by staying at QPR, so as much as he says he will wait until the summer...I'm sure of the wage is right he won't hesitate to move in this window. But will we pay that massive wage? If he's still the sharp,and ruthless player that I saw tear us apart whilst at Swindon then I hope so.

Why in earth lateness and other similar 'crimes' don't result in club fines, rather than being dropped from the team, is beyond me.

We made two very poor mistakes that cost us, but we dominated the first half and gave everything throughout. For me we looked the better side overall, although Zaha was perhaps best player on the pitch. So,yeas, I thought we played OK, certainly better than in many games this season.

We have played well in the previous three games without reward, so I was reasonably confident we would get a result last night. The difference between those games and this? Well we played a little better and the opposition were considerably worse. Focusing on us, there were some fantastic performances from a few players and some good ones from everyone else. Long ran more than I've ever seen him do so before (and that's saying something) and Davis and Romeu covered almost every blade of grass between them. I can see on this thread that all three get lots of praise, but I want to highlight the performances of the two centre backs. Ighala is a much better player than I gave him credit for. I knew he was big, powerful and quick, but he also has a touch and a great tight turn. In the opening exchanges he, and to a much lessor degree Deaney, looked dangerous, but Fonte and Virgil really got hold of them. They both got tight, were physical and didn't give them any room at all, and for me that provided the platform for our display. We gave them no out ball and not a sniff at goal. Both won headers, got foot ins and the ball was turned over time after time allowing us to dominate. Forster - great to have him back, but I felt uneasy when seeing him kick on that surface. He looked a little sluggish when going down for the two easy saves, but maybe they were so easy that was international. Kicking was below his best. I hope he is back to full fitness, but I'm nervous and thought he looked a little nervous too. Bertrand - looked comfortable in that left centre back/left back role. Very composed and made a lot of good decision in when to pass and when to go back to the keeper VVD - I think only Radhi Jaidi has been seen in a Saints shirt and won more headers. Brilliant display last night to add to many other good performances. Fonte - Not as quick on the turn, which makes him a little vulnerable, but made a few vital tackles when stretched. If we can keep both fit they may even improve as a pair. Targett - given and used the space very well in the first half. Two or three terrific crosses and also showed good composure in tight areas. Saw less of him second half and I felt he was easily out muscled on the odd occasion, which is my biggest criticism of him. The fact he starts at left midfield does raise question marks over our other midfielders, but it worked well. I thought the five at the back worked well on Saturday. There lots of moans and grown on here about it, but if it means to snuff out the opposition and get to see a lot of ball that is a good thing. Soares - Showed everything that is good and bad about his game at the moment. Great on the ball, pace to cause problems (and get himself out of jail), helping us going forward greatly, but he got caught in possession in bad areas, caught out of position and didn't win a single header. Classie - Woeful first half display. Every pass went wrong, didn't get tight enough to opponents and he got caught the wrong side of the ball on several occasions. The longer the game went on the better he got. Second half his passing was much more effective (as it has been the last few games), he became a pest defensively and was influential. Romeu - Another decent display. I was particularly impressed when he spotted the danger of squared ball that looked like it was setting up a player on the edge of the box. Very good reading of the play and determination to prevent the chance. I also liked his left foot striker. Excellent power on his swinger. I have to say he also got caught the wrong side of the ball a few times with Classie in the first half, they need to watch that, but for most of the game and especially in the second half they ran the show Davis - did what Davis does best. Ran and ran, showed his great first touch so many times you don;t even notice it, kept things moving by creating an option and making runs. He created chances too. He's a terrific player. You just have to play the right players with him in the right formation. Mane - I compared his effort in the first half with how he charged around at Chelsea earlier in the season and on that basis he didn't look up for it. But perhaps he was pacing himself, because he certainly got involved. One or two times he was almost too quick and the ball went behind him. The chances missed were frustrating. I imagine he pulled his hair out having been subbed for Tadic who then scored with a powderpuff shot. We have to ensure we get the best out of him. At the moment he's getting in positions. but not quite delivering. Long - His effort was essential to this victory. He was terrific. Worked and worked, won headers, got down the channels and scored a beauty. He won so many headers its not true. More than Pelle would perhaps? Give him time to think and he is not clinical, but if he doesn't have time to think he looks like a striker. I thought he should have got a hattrick. The misses and chance he didn't make his are what lets him down, but he could have missed an open goal last night and I'd still be happy with that he did. One thing I must say is that RK should have subbed him and not Soares at the end. He was on his knees and that's when injuries occur. Very poor management. Subs: Tadic, scored and kept the ball. Not sure there is much more to add. The formation meant we didn't have to worry about his defensive efforts. Pelle - as soon as he came on we hoofed it long and Watford won most of those headers. We need to play to his strengths, not fall back into a long ball side. Not his fault. You do see a drop off in closing down too though and there he could do more, especially when coming on as a sub. No excuses for tiredness of pacing one's self. Yoshida - not sure why Martina didn't get the nod. He played well against Palace. Having done so he did fine. Not sure why fans start grumbling when he comes on. He's made the odd blunder, but overall he has served us well as a reserve centre back. He's not first choice, but I certainly don't grown when I see his name on the team sheet.

I can offer some Insight and Clarity on this Today. He's at a Crossroads in his career, but because he's Fit and can Beat a man, he will strike Accord with fans. Hope he has his Passport, because once he gets to the City, he will be in his Element and will become a Legend.

Likewise. Adding to your comments, he's a very erratic passer. One decent ball that makes him look like Morgan, then three or four **** ones that makes him look like Wanyama.

Was there a better alternative? There are not loads of top class keepers available for a season loan or who would sign for us knowing Foster would replace them once fit.

Targett has the first touch to make it, but right now the combination of being physically lightweight and not pacey makes him a weak point whenever he plays, which was all the time at the start of the season. For me a season out on loan to toughen up would have been the best thing for him. That said who would have covered Bertrand? It's not like we could have got a top class full back in for one season, or even half a season whilst Bertrand was recovering from injury. Which in a nutshell shows how tricky it is to manage a squad, which is exactly why I tend to taper any blame.

as someone that gives Targett plenty of stick, I'd like to I concur with your assessment of Tadic. With the ball, pretty decent player (and to be honest the side struggles to keep the ball or create chances when he doesn't play), without it, pretty poor. Returning to the Caulker post, this is good news. I wasnt expecting a world beater, but I was surprised at just how slow he was, especially on the turn. Hopefully that will free up some wages for us to get another loan in ourselves.

You are right, in recent times I have tried to avoid taking sides, lay overall blame at a doorstep or offered a solution. I am not sure I can offer answers, explanations or a way forward that hasn't been offered by other more knowledgeable posters. I don't know enough or feel there is a silver bullet. My comment about squad management was specifically about the left back situation, and for me the misevaluation of Targett in preseason as being good enough for the premiership, even as a back up, this season.

Gotcha, in which case we are most definitely still playing the 'Southampton way' with RK at the helm.

What way? What the **** does: play the Southampton way mean?

Obviously the £2m grant provided by the football trust in 1995 to help pay for the new Fratton End and the other work required to turn **** Park into an all seater stadium wasn't enough, so they want another hand out.

At the moment it almost does from me... We have taken a huge risk with Targett. We didn't sign a left back even though we knew Bertand was going to be out for a while, and IMO it backfired massively. Targett was a liability at the start of the season. He was incredibly weak and having him in the side totally unsettled the back four, had players covering his inadequacies and IMO cost us points. Thank god Bertrand got back reasonably soon. People are massively overgenerous with Targett,because he is young and has come through the academy. If we had spent transfer money on him, which as the youth development costs £2m is it a year supposedly, means we actually have, then he'd be slated right left and centre. IMO he is not ready yet and needs a season in the championship to toughen him up.

Academy players maybe, but I'd of thought the young pros would be involved. If not in every session, certainly quite a fair bit. Targett for example has played a fair bit of under 21 football but must have been visible to RK. It would be interesting to get a definitive answer to this.

I think you are rewriting history to suit your argueMent. He looked at home from the first minute of his first game. Physically and mentally he looked not only string enough to play, but actually to offer something positive to the side.

How is it that teams at the bottom beat teams at the top? That happens all the time. That's football. If we had made the mistakes we made leading to the goals yesterday in that arsenal game the result would have been very different. The formation didn't lead to that terrible pass by Davis or save by Stek.

Did Seager play in that game and if so how would you evaluate his performance and can you describe what sort of play he is? Does he has the strength to hide the ball up, speed to skin a defender, does he win headers, how is his first touch and movement? I see so many calls for him to get ten minutes at least, but does he even justify that?

A lot of new faces that haven't been here a year, so a long list is never going to be possible, but Gazza and JWP have improved since this time last year. Also, how do you separate the effect of a loss of confidence from any improvements made to ability and performance through coaching? One more thing, do you expect senior players to get better every single year? Is Fonte for example meant to be better every single year because of good coaching? Form and confidence and team performance effect fans appreciation of a players performance and ability far more than coaching. Actually one more thing. Is it good coaching that has made Messi better? Coaches can only do so much.

The Southampton way is just marketing tosh. How on earth can you base a clubs footballing philosophy around a single formation. Ok it makes sense for the under 21s to play in the same formation as the senior side, but RK must be able to by change his formation when he feels it is required.

Oliver Burke at Forest is a genuine talent and exactly the sort of young attacking player that we are missing coming through our set up at the minute. Lewis Cook at Leeds is another player we should be looking at.

Which others? The less we see of Targett the better. So it's basically Reed and Seager. I agree with you about Reed, but I've seen posts on here saying he's not done it at u21 level and therefore hasn't deserved to play ahead of Romeu and JWP. So that leaves Seager.

This Seager lad better be good, because he has become the best young player ever on this forum. If he was a Shearer he'd of got his chance by now, but I suspect he's not. As with all young players they get a chance every day to shine on the training pitch. It's not all five a sides.They will have the chance to play against first team players in attack be defence and even full 11 vs 11 situations. If Seager is running Fonte ragged and smashing the ball past Forster etc., then RK will see that. Good players stand out.