James

I disagree with the sentiment of hating Fonte but he really hasn't handled this well at all. He will lose a lot of goodwill for behaving as he has, the same as Lallana did. Rightly or wrongly he will be abused by some sections of the crowd.

The captain should be one of the first names on the team sheet. JWP hasn't earned the captaincy yet.

The point is, he isn't liked by some of our best/most senior players. It's far easier to replace a manager than it is to replace three decent players.

What a terrible decision. Shocking really.

Replaceable for £6m in today's market? I highly doubt it. Even Gardos cost £6m two summers ago. We will need to shell out £10-15m at least on an upgrade over Yoshida. I can't see us doing it in January.

Massive loss, our defensive solidity (in the main) is the only positive thing about our play at the moment. As it stands (assuming Fonte doesn't play again), we are an injury to Van Dijk away from playing Yoshida and Stephens in a Prem game. Still, at least Jose will be nice and fresh for his new club having hardly played.

Yes, they did.

Fonte has to be stripped of the captaincy whatever happens. Can't have the team captain wanting out. Let him sit in the reserves if nobody bids high enough.

Terribly timed from our so called captain, we are a week from our most important game of the season. Don't let the door hit you on the way out Jose, you aren't what you once were.

Ultimately the club's value is in the playing squad so I suspect player power will prevail if this is true. As others have said, not even Mourinho survived once he'd lost the dressing room.

Fair enough, as I say, not doubting you just surprised he said it.

Whilst I don't doubt what you say, I'd be extremely surprised if Long thought CP was the best he's played under given his poor form and lack of game time. Who knows though?

I read the OP as referring to Fonte, Long and Bertrand but obviously not clear. JRod also made noises about being frustrated at being rotated out when he needed games to find form post injury so could be him too. Hoping this isn't true in a way as I'm still not sure it would force Reed to pull the trigger and we won't get any decent results with a lame duck manager and a squad in revolt.

The parallels with our downfall to relegation are a little concerning. Sturrock got some ok results but the senior pros didn't like him and we suffered a few heavy defeats then we persevered too long with Wigley (the cheap option) and we were down. If this is true let's hope the board act quickly and make the right choice re replacing him. Might make sense to make a move given two of our options (supposedly) Silva and Rowett are linked to Hull.

Nice theory re Adkins but doesn't he come from Liverpool? Maybe a case of a local going to watch a team he was once closely associated with.

Thanks for posting. It's plausible for sure but depends if it's an Armageddon relationship ending bust up or a team having a few heated words after some dropped points at home (which, to be fair, you'd expect after a performance like WBA).

If it's impossible to win then why bother turning up at all? Hopefully it's just lost in translation but not a particularly inspiring or competitive attitude there.

Agreed. Now that our defence is looking a little shaky it won't yield any points.

Why was he on the bench at all them?

Just because it's not your view doesn't make it knee jerk. Leave Brexit out of a Saints debate as well mate, you're making yourself look silly.

This is the most concerning thing. See the Blackmore question on this and Puel responded that he was happy that the rest of the team had kept their shape to prevent a counter attack. It's "play not to lose football".

Some people come on here for a decent debate and to discuss all things Saints rather than read drivel.

Hope you're right. Concerning though that the players we do have don't seem capable of raising their game to either play for Puel or adapt to his system.

Up there with one of the most moronic posts I've seen on this forum. Congrats Jeff.

No, because almost any team can be improved. My point is, the tools he has are not as bad as many think and Claude has even admitted that he's happy with what he's got. If that's right then it's fair to judge him now in my eyes.