Chez

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.

Yep. Play them, which is what Koeman did yesterday with Targett at left back and he got made to look a mug by Zaha.

Agreed. That might point to good coaching, a great team work ethic and a large group of decent players. What the first team needs is one absolute top notch player to come out of the batch of youngsters. If you get a Shaw and 10 others not fit to lace his boots that's probably preferable.

I thought Classie had an a good game yesterday. His passing was excellent, and I was especially impressed at the number of times he looked to play it forward to players between the lines. The other part of his game, the off the ball stuff such as closing down, getting goal side, tackling, hustling and winning second ball was much much better. He still can't win anything in the air of course, but he was much more effective. If we can add the right players around him, with some height, then he could be a good signing for us.

The board gave Rodriguez an extra five years when it was unclear if he would ever make it back to his best, so who knows what they are thinking of doing with RK...

You cant integrate youth into the first team if they are not good enough to get in the side. I'm not a fan of Koeman. Whether he is a good coach or not is hard to say. Only players can really tell you that. His eye for a player is certainly in question, but the more I see of Classie the more I like him and he was his big signing of the summer. It could be argued that he has shown too much faith in youth. Targett is miles off the level required in the top flight, yet he is second choice left back. JWP has his detractors, I personally think he has improved as this season has gone on, and he gets a lot of game time.

Agree with pretty much all of that, except you evaluation of Targett. Even his throw ins were ****.

Did it swerve at all? Only excuse I can offer.

Personally I think there is room for a player without the best technical skills but with the work rate and ability to win the ball back, which is why I liked Cork so much. I don't rate Reed anywhere near his level. Id have given Reed some playing time,off the bench based on what he did last year, but if he has receded as has been described of his displays in the under 21s then RK perhaps doesn't have a choice. Targett really is that bad at the moment. Slow, weak, totally one footed and not that great with it. He is gormless. Add to that The number of times he got forward today only to hit his cross straight at the first defender defied even my worst expectations. Would he get in any championship side? He needs toughening up. A season out on loan not our reserve left back. Appalling squad management. He cost us points earlier in the season in my opinion.

Reed did OK running around a lot at the end of a few games, but from what I have read he hasn't shined at under 21 level this season. If he looked the best midfielder in training and practices matches don't you think he'd get games? Targett is woeful. Would you prefer we didn't sign Bertrand to let him get game time? Blimey. I don't see your logic. If Shaw was coming through right now do you think Koeman would ignore him? Seager isn't ready. People calling for him to get in the side just sound desperate to me.

My case in point right here. Even when RK make it quite clear that Seager is not ready we still have fans demanding they play. RK picked Targett today. He picked youth. And what do you know Targett was ****. It's not the route to the first team that's the problem it's the players.

You make some very good points. He's under pressure due to results and he's under pressure to pick youngsters as that has happened before him. I think you are right he could have said there is talent but it's not ready, but I suspect the local journalists will come back with, "but what about Reed. He looked good in his twenty minute cameos." he is setting these people straight about what options he really has. He's protecting himself for sure, but sometimes people need to be told the cold truth. Is it his fault we don't have anyone coming through?

My point was that the scouts probably weren't consulted on him

The path hasn't been shut, RK has just pointed out what many people already know that the latest batch are not good enough. He wants there to be no doubt that he is not scared to play young players, but he will only do so if they are good enough. And they aren't. It's a hell of a lot easier to bring young players into the first team in league 1 and the championship. The players don't have to be as good. To get into a prem side they need to be absolute top notch.. If you have a Shaw coming through its a no brainer. Get him straight away. But if Targett is the best young player then you are ****ed. The guy is lightweight, slow and a long way from being premiership level yet. He wouldn't stand out at championship level and neither would Reed. No one has been misled. When you sign for a pro team as a youth their are absolute no guarantees given about opportunities in the first team. How the hell can there be? If players are good enough they will be get games.

Agreed. What also annoys me is when fans start suggesting players are not putting the effort in or aren't playing for the manager or showing poor body language when we are losing games of football. I don't see any of that. I said this a lot last season. It's a very fine line between winning and losing at this level. Losing a pacey fullback that gets centre backs out of jail, or a midfielder that wins a lot of headers might be enough to move you the other side.

Three. The failure to see the ball of play or at least consider it might not go and make sure you get over there to close the opponent down early. Woeful goal to give away. Both were.