sifter

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2707699/JAMES-CONEY-There-no-ambition-Southampton-I-fear-drop.html#ixzz38itiJxS3 With every new bit of transfer speculation about a Southampton player I’ve been trying to stay positive. ‘At least no club demands such consistently high transfer fees for their players,’ I’ve been telling myself. ‘Lots of good players remain.’ But with first Mauricio Pochettino’s departure to manage Spurs, and then Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert, and Luke Shaw gone, now Calum Chambers and Dejan Lovren almost out the door, and possibly Morgan Schneiderlin, Jose Fonte and Jay Rodriguez to follow (like most Saints fans I’m ignoring the impact of Dani Osvaldo leaving) - my patience and confidence is sapping. If anything Saints performed too well last year - not just finishing unexpectedly high up the table, but playing attractive football to boot. Six players went to the World Cup. It was a season that left Saints fans full of optimism. Now we’ve gone back ten paces. In the Premier League where small margins separate mid-table teams from relegated ones - that could be critical. Everyone’s looking for someone to blame. Is it the all those involved in the departure of Nicola Cortese - the chief executive who left halfway through last season? Certainly many things seem to have stemmed from that moment. Or Pochettino’s for bailing as soon as he got an offer from a more fashionable club? I can’t blame the players for being ambitious - least of all Lambert for wanting to finish his career at his hometown club. And no matter how resilient the board, they can’t keep hold of players who no longer want to be there. But you can hold the board responsible for failing to inspire the squad with confidence. If there had been a clear plan and signs of ambition - as in the past five years - then surely many would have stayed. Man at the helm: Mauricio Pochettino left St Mary's this summer to take charge of league rivals Tottenham +8 Man at the helm: Mauricio Pochettino left St Mary's this summer to take charge of league rivals Tottenham Floored: New Southampton striker Graziano Pelle looks on during the Saints' friendly win over Swindon +8 Floored: New Southampton striker Graziano Pelle looks on during the Saints' friendly win over Swindon This is a board that promised transparency and open-ness, so where is the message to fans that behind the scenes the club is signing players? We could have a £100 million plus war chest, what is being done with that? New manager Ronald Koeman has so far signed two players, but how good will they be? Ask most Saints fans I know, what they do when we sign a player and the answer is: “Look on Youtube to find out who they are”. The club has a good recent history of signing players - that is, at least, another reason for hope - but it takes time to build a squad. The flying start of last season is a distant memory already. At this rate, the first league game against Liverpool in three week’s time is going to come far too quickly.

Roy thinks Milner is a better right back than Clyne. I liked Roy until he did that.

Give them to the top class striker we haven't bought yet.

Well said. If only other clubs and the press would agree with you, we could enjoy the world cup in peace.

>>apparently they "didnt spend enough time with the players" Maybe they didn't get invited to Brazil. Not there fault. Club should have paid there airfares.

In the new spirit of open communication with the fans, I sent this: @SouthamptonFC Can someone tell the fans what our football targets are over the next 3 years? Is European football an objective or a hope?

If it wasn't for Junior Saints I might not have gone to matches. First ever game was Arsenal away. 6 Aside beforehand, Eric Nixon played in goal (Shilts was injured). 1985. Do the club still run a Junior Saints or equivalent?

Which player would he liken himself to and/or emulate?

Ditto. 3 saints fans cant be wrong. Redesign your interface imageshack! Thanks for posting. Solid interview and glad he is thinking beyond January.

>>Needs to get to 70 on fifa before I consider him for my team. Agreed. Also disappointed to see Omar Rowe's rating of 57 hampering his chances for a first team call-up.

I've subscribed to star sports but can't see a link for the saints match. Anyone found it yet or just being patient?

It works on iPad (but not as well as PC for me). You will likely need to create a new apple ID with your country set to egypt to get the app.

Powers that be didn't like that question?

Thanks terry. That did the trick. Fingers crossed it all comes together tomorrow at 3pm. Looking forward to it.

Thanks for the help but unfortunately I'm hitting brick walls. I can't change my region because my billing details aren't recognised as valid for Egypt! Using puffin I get geoblocked. How did you change your billing details using a uk credit/debit card? Has anyone successfully accessed paid aljazeera content using an ipad browser?

Have followed the instructions and have an overplay account and Al Jazeera sub. When I click download ipad app, I am old that I must change from the Saudi Arabia store to English store to download app. Have any of you downloaded the ipad app successfully? Did you follow any additional steps to get the app?

38, now living in Basingstoke. First home game was opening game of 1986/87 Vs QPR (We won 5-1, Colin Clarke hat-trick) First away game was 1985 Vs Arsenal (We lost 1-0, Eric Nixon played in goal, Shilton was injured). Was a junior saint for 67/87 season, then Milton road (nearly always right behind the net) and more recent visits to St Mary's to sit wherever I can.

Advertised for streaming on usagoals.com - 2pm KO.

Are any of you playing in a decent FIFA 13 club or even an indecent one? Been playing LM for a club with a bunch of scots but looking for a club with accents I can understand. Gamer tag is n2l chlamy.

Went for a straight Saints win but cant see that its added £25 to my stake even though I entered the code. For anyone ITK, Is it added to your betting slip or just added on if the bet comes in?

I wouldn't rule out Shaw playing Left Midfield. With Fox behind him.

Best wishes from me. Nicky was a good player. Donated.

Back from the game. First time I've seen us play since promotion Gazza: Looked confident and alert throughout. Looks good with his feet and made a good save from a poor shot first half. He flapped at a cross second half. 7/10 Clyne: Always looking to get forward, with Saints moving to a back 3 when in posession to give him license to run beyond Puncheon. He made similar runs to Puncheon and probably contributed to Puncheon having a good game by giving their defence someone else to think about. 7/10. Fox: Didn't get forward as much ass Clyne but his delivery when he did was good. Always makes himself an option and defended well. 7/10 Stephens: Not tall enough to win balls in the air, lacked strength in the tackle and not experienced enough to read the game to compensate. He wasn't awful, clearly has promise but too early to pitch him against world class strikers. 6/10 Jos: Commanding performance, wins momt headers and good disstribution. 8/10 Hammond: More than most from last season, he needs to compete hard for his place and he had a very good game playing just in front of the back four. Strong in the tackle and played simple passes effectively. 8/10 Chaplow: Lots of energy, won some great tackles. Solid performance. 7/10 Guly: Played wide left and was a bit isolated at times and didn't see much of the ball. Looked dangerous at times but bad end product and his man marking was very poor at times giving their right side players opportunity to get behind us. 5/10 Puncheon: He was very involved. Never quite looks like he has full control of the ball but he injected pace into the attack and looked bright. 8/10 Lallana: Didn't have a great game. Poor touch at times and didn't really influence the game in the areas he needs too, playing in what should be the right position for him. 5/10 Sharpe: Looked very bright, full of running and took his goal well (no frills, just side foot it in). 8/10 Notable cameos: S Davis: Reminded me of Jimmy Case in terms of the way he sat in midfield and was always backing up the player on the ball. Looked strong in the tackle. 7/10 De Ridder: Woeful. He had a great opportunity to stick a cross in shortly after coming on, but feigned, tried to get past the defender and lost posession. He also had an opportunity make the keeper work from 8 yards or pick out one of four players in the box and side footed it harmlessly wide. He needs to do more than run fast. 3/10

I'm wondering if he is more cover for Lallana rather than Fox. Having Buttner on the left might open up the opportunity to play 4 - 4 - 1 - 1 with Lallana in the Hole.

wikipedia says 'Rodriguez is now a part of Cardiff City's ranks after the transfer of £5.5million was completed today.' Seems like wikipedia knew before the clubs even knew. Crazy.