James

IMO we won't unless we slip back into Championship/lower mid table PL obscurity. If we are to continue to be ambitious then we will continue to have our best managers and players taken from us.

Would prefer a yellow away kit but both pretty good!

I'm not sure. If he was going then why not get it over with sooner rather than later? IMO if he isn't gone by the end of the week he's staying.

A very big if unfortunately.

That's a fair point, was banking on the pull of the Premier League.

That would be a real shame. You'd have thought we could possibly compete with them? I'm starting to resign myself to the fact we are going to keep Puel. My major worry is that transfer rumours suggest the squad is going to need major surgery again this summer and I'm not massively optimistic about a tailor made Claude Puel Saints team!

We should immediately sound out Tuchel to see if he would even be interested in speaking to us. Whilst unlikely, he is by far the best out of work manager available.

See we've announced that our pre-season training camp will take place in France (and Austria). An indication that Puel is staying or is it too late to change plans irrespective of the decision on the manager?

Saw that Pellegrino has left Alaves. Wasn't he mentioned on here?

Agreed, not something I've ever observed or associated specifically with Southampton having grown up here.

Not sure I follow.

We didn't play Austin at the San Siro and if we had we might have got the goal we deserved that was, IMO, an error in selection. On the failure to replace Mane, Pelle and Wanyama and the injuries - yes that obviously had an impact but we have to judge Puel on the job he is doing with the players we have available. Will we suddenly spend big in the transfer market to replace the players we sold? No, not likely. Will we have VVD in our team next year? Most likely not. Granted we will have Austin back next year but query whether he will get a game ahead of Gabbiadini. On that basis, we have to judge Puel on the job he is doing with the tools he has available. Am I confident going into next season that things will improve with him? No. Do I think a better manager could have gotten better performances out of the team we did have for the majority of the season? Yes, even Silva would have gotten us more points and more goals at home I think.

If our best player and captain is happy to stay under Puel then I'd be ok with it. Not my first choice as I'd prefer a change but not a bad consolation prize to keep your best player.

Just commenting that he does appear to have lost a bit of confidence and it's down to the coaches to either keep his confidence high or try and restore it.

The problem I have is that in order to build this team we need the money to do it which will probably mean the sale of at least three of our best players. We could basically be bedding in a brand new core of the team and that takes time. If it doesn't click immediately, and this season suggests that Puel teams take a while to get going, and we don't make a fast start the clamour for Puel to go will become too big to ignore and we will generate a situation like 2004/5 where Sturrock was a dead man walking after 2/3 games of a new season. As for this "Puel doesn't have any finishers" - he has had Gabbi since January and since he's returned from injury he's looked as ineffective and short of confidence as Long and Rodriguez. There comes a point where you have to stop looking at the players and turning to the tactics and the failings in the coaching regime. The glimmer of hope I can see is that historically Puel teams have had a relatively uninspiring season (and last season wasn't even that bad) followed by a very good one so let's hope that happens for us if he is staying.

This is a fair point. Puel was up against it from the start as the majority of fans didn't want him from the beginning. Going into last summer I was pretty calm when Koeman left (although was disappointed it was Everton he was going to) as I knew we were an attractive proposition having finished sixth and with a very good team. We could, as you say and if reports are to be believed, have attracted a far higher profile manager than Puel but we chose the cheaper option. It's not fair to criticise Puel for what he isn't but that doesn't make up for some of his failings this season.

He's staying I reckon, what a shame, next season should be fun....

I cannot see us refusing a mega bid for Virgil this summer, just not our style.

If that happens, I reckon a lot on here will take that (it won't, by the way).

There appears to be a divide on this forum between those who spend their hard earned to attend games on a regular basis and those who don't. That's not to belittle those who don't get the opportunity to attend regularly (for whatever reason) but it is certainly cause for a differing of opinion. Pamps, for example, has admitted he doesn't get to as many games as he would like so, in my opinion, that explains why he is more pro-Puel than others on here. However, it is a bit odd that he appeared to stray more towards the "out" camp at the end of the season but is now reverting to type as a staunch Puel supporter now that it looks like he might stay. For me, I've spent a lot of money this year on a season ticket, almost ten league aways, the cup games and trips to Inter and Prague. Would I do it again next year? Absolutely yes. Do I feel like I've gotten value for the money I've paid to watch the team this year? Absolutely not. My anti-Puel feeling wasn't fostered during the recent streak at home when we couldn't score (although I wasn't exactly loving it), it was fostered when we played second string teams against Inter away and Prague away and couldn't even muster a goal when the home performances proved we were much better than both teams. To me, those selections showed a lack of respect and understanding of the club and its fans. We are Southampton, these are our golden years and, IMO, we should have played our strongest team to try and win the European games but the fact is, we simply didn't do that. We aren't Man U, Arsenal, Liverpool etc. who can treat European competition as a given and rotate the squad as we don't have a good enough squad by half to do that. Puel was brought in as a specialist in dealing with the demands of a European season (if reports are to be believed - I know big if) and on that front he failed pretty appallingly, for that reason he's lost my trust and I want him gone.

I don't think anyone thought we would make the top 4 at any point this season and we were closer to the relegation scrap than to the place immediately above us so don't really see your point here.

I agree. I'm not saying I think a manager will convince them, I'm merely repeating what LeG said.

Monk resigning is certainly an interesting development but doesn't really fit with LeG's suggestion that we know we need to get a big name to convince players to stay.

The footballing world also didn't want/think that Ranieri should be sacked but its hard to deny that Shakespeare improved them. I bet your Leicester supporting mate would admit they were watching dross under Claudio at the end.

Why does the best of the rest league suddenly not include Everton? We've finished above them a couple of times in recent years so seems slightly convenient to exclude them from being in our league the season they overtake us?