Professor

I'm sure Alpine was far from being the only fan concerned about how to replace Alderweireld and in the end it took until the end of the transfer window to do it. Maybe it was unfair to criticise Les Reed because for all I know, the black box system might supply a constantly refreshed list of potential replacements for unexpected gaps appearing anywhere in the squad. But on the other hand it might not, and either way I imagine Les and his team had to work very hard. As I recall, the club thought it had Alderweireld's assurance that he would return to Southampton and he let them down. I can imagine. Les saying to himself, very much what Alpine said, along the lines of "What the hell are we going to do now?" But he and his people got on with doing it and in hindsight it may have worked out better than expected. Toby is still an extremely good CB and we did very well to find a player of equivalent quality. I can't see the point over a year later, of criticising another Saints' fan over an opinion that it was perfectly OK to hold at the time. although it does show dedication to trawl through so many posts to find one to pick on!

I'm somewhat surprised at the readiness to believe the story in The Sun without any evidence. There could be other explanations as to why another person turned up with Mr Clarke's ticket but whether those were checked out, we do not know. The club has pointed out that he had the rules in front of him and an easy option to let them know he wanted a refund. He hasn't been accused of dishonesty but as a principle it must be right for organisations, including football clubs, to work against the unauthorised resale of tickets. Ticket prices are set at what the market will bear and if people don't like that, they shouldn't buy, which in time might bring prices down. To condone cheating might seem OK to some until they are the person cheated on. We should reject dishonesty and do all we can to identify it when it happens.

On past experience, I'd have expected Boufal to play an u-23 game first. Their next game is on Friday of next week (14 Oct) against Arsenal u-23 at Meadow Park, Borehamwood where Arsenal Ladies and the youth teams play but with the Burnley game on the Sunday, I wouldn't think he'd be involved in both. After that it's Inter Milan the following Thursday and Man City on the Sunday. Obviously, Puel has options, including giving him limited game time to begin with but there's not much point trying to guess. It reminds me of being one of the select band of travelling fans who saw Charlie George play in his first season at Southampton when he joined as an injured player and Laurie Mac brought him on as a sub at Highbury. Hopefully, Boufal will have a longer Saints' career than Charlie.

Maybe the OS have employed a trainee from The Grundian to write up comments from players.

Pleased to see only two Saints in the squad, Forster and Bertrand. Many may have felt Charlie Austin deserved a place but its unlikely he would have actually got a game as whoever is England manager seems to prefer not to make too many changes to the squad, or the team. The pride felt by fans in seeing one of their team in the national side isn't the excitement that is once was, maybe because club football matters more to most people or because the England team is only consistent in how much it consistently struggles in major competition. We will have other players called up in this break but the more this squad can rest the better, as long as training continues.

This is a disgusting comment and has no place on this forum. Wanyama has been praised and criticised by Saints' fans, as have most of the Saints' squad at various times. Wanyama was recognised as an excellent DMF although prone to accruing bookings that turned into suspensions. Romeu has filled his boots this season so effectively that the team are not missing Victor. As for Mane, he is missed, although his goal drought of last season was an issue. Redmond, good player that he is, is no Mane, but possibly Boufal will be but there is no doubt that the fee for Sadio has enabled strong additions to the squad, such as Hojbjerg who compliments Romeu very well.

Worth re-posting this. The Radio Solent commentary praised Romeu but having just seen him on MotD2 it was a brilliant performance highlighted by the pundits. Deserves a call-up by Spain although for selfish reasons I'd rather he gets a well-earned rest.

Watching MotD2, the Tottenham/Man City game. Seeing the Tottenham players celebrating the first goal, an own goal by City, noticed Wanyama still putting on a miserable face on the edge of the group hug. At least what we may have thought was poor attitude, seems to have been sold with him. One other thing: I thought goalkeepers were supposed to stay on the line when a penalty is being taken. The City keeper was dancing along the line and then jumping up and down. Is it staying on the line if you aren't in contact with the ground? Maybe refs allow it to give keepers more chance, bearing in mind that many penalties don't arise from a clear scoring chance but has the standing on the line rule been interpreted to allow this?

This is the key. Redmond is a good player but he's no striker and hasn't been able to fill Mane's boots. On Radio Solent, Adam and Dave were surprised when first Tadic and then Austin went off but Redmond stayed on. Nathan has clearly impressed Claude, but we must hope it doesn't stop Boufal taking his place in the starting line-up.

Long for Redmond seemed the likely change but maybe Tadic was showing more effect from Thursday's game. Seem to have lost some of the initiative for a while after the change. Corner to Saints advantage not taken.

Pino Pagliara, one of the agents filmed by the Telegraph is reported by the BBC news website as trying to withdraw some of his claims. In response the Telegraph has said that the transcripts of their investigations are currently being prepared for the police and the FA. Whilst that makes it sound as if the evidence is being handed over, it doesn't quite ring true that only now are they documenting what the paper claims was being said. Perhaps they should have done that before going to print. Transcripts can be edited or embellished, but it seems likely the authorities will want the raw evidence. The Telegraph may have shown their targets having little or no respect for the rules on player ownership and transfers but whether they have uncovered any criminal activity is another thing. Offering advice on how to get around the rules has been enough for Allardyce and Tommy Wright to be sacked, while we wait to see whether Eric Black's situation is less serious or not. To clean up the game, it's not appropriate for people in football management to condone corrupt practices, even if they don't take personal benefit. How far Eric Black went down that road is the question still to be answered.

This seems to confirm that it is the weakness of the football authorities that has made people think corruption isn't something to be discouraged. doddisalegend was quite right in saying there is no suggestion that Black took any money or bribed anyone but if Black was explaining how it can be done for the benefit of people he thought wanted to do it, that might suggest his morals fall short of the honesty level that Southampton FC require. Coaching someone how to commit a crime is different to carrying it out and might not land you in court but would the club have given him the job if at that time there had been doubts over his morals? If the answer to that is 'no' he might not survive.

It's true that the media add to the problems in football but its entirely mistaken to be critical of a newspaper for doing what the football authorities should be doing. If the FA, the Premier League and the EFL were taking proper action against the corrupt practices, there would be no gap for the press to step into. As it is, we should be glad that the Telegraph has exposed some of the sickness in the game. The other things that Saint Albert is concerned about are matters that the football authorities should deal with and if they fail, perhaps the Government should impose a legal requirement for proper governance of the game.

I would also not be surprised if the suspension suggestion is true. That action wouldn't imply a conclusion had been reached, only that both the club and Eric Black can deal with the matter without the day-to-day job getting in the way. Black is hardly likely to be able to function properly in his coaching role with this hanging over him. On the issue itself, it may not be illegal to tell people how they can get around the rules governing relationships in football but if that is what he did, I doubt that Southampton would want to keep him on as it appears to be a willingness to condone corrupt activities, even if not actually undertaking them.

As a few people have pointed out there still some issues with the new OS. For example, club news is either hidden away somewhere or isn't provided. The latter seems unlikely so I assume it's that its hard to find. Some of the headings used for navigation could be more precise about what is covered in the relevant section and as far as I can see there is no search facility. Trying to see anything more on Eric Black, I can understand that there might not be an update, but I couldn't even find the statement from last night. A small point maybe, but the staff profiles use a similar template to that for player profiles. Providing for statistics on matches and a win ratio for staff, is rather pointless. I also noticed that Eric Black's football nationality, which for the coaching staff is not that important anyway, is indicated by an England flag. I don't think a former Scottish international from Lanarkshire qualifies as being English. Slick as the new site is, I have the impression that some design aspects and some content wasn't sufficiently tested before going live.

If Eric Black uses the Allardyce defence - that it was entrapment and he wouldn't have demonstrated a willingness to break the rules if he'd known he was being filmed, isn't likely to get much sympathy. It's rather like saying you wouldn't have robbed a corner shop if you'd known it had CCTV. I don't think we can assume this will have no adverse effect on the club or the team. Eric is bound to be given an opportunity to defend himself but but the timing is very unfortunate when the team is in such a busy period of games. At the very least it is a distraction for Les Reed and Claude Puel which they will want to be over, one way or the other, as quickly as possible. On the broader issue, you could argue that The Telegraph is doing the FA's job for them. We shouldn't have to rely on newspapers to try to clean up the game but the governance of football in England is fragmented between the FA, the Premier League and the EFL. The three bodies have issued a joint statement this evening, which some might say is arse-covering, but the very fact that it is a joint statement shows that no one organisation is in control.

Has Claude been watching the Forum? Good prediction of the line up by David in Sweden except Hesketh starting in place of Tadic. A surprise but a very bold move. Also, just what Colinjb hoped for but Hesketh getting even more than just a sub appearance. Also agree absolutely with The Cat about 3 academy graduates in the team, with 3 more on the bench as I think its fair to count Stephens in that number. Local talent, or locally nurtured talent has been one of the features of SFC that I've always felt proud about, right back to the days of Terry Paine, John Sydenham and Martin Chivers. One other comment about the four left at home; someone mentioned these may be the players who need more time to recover from last Sunday's game. Something in that I think and that Claude is looking at the fitness of the squad overall. That he will have four rested players for the Leicester game is an added bonus because those involved tonight have limited recovery time after the flight back home.

It's a matter for EUFA that Israeli clubs are admitted to the competition and IMHO Saints are right to go along with what the governing body decides but that doesn't mean that individuals aren't free to protest if they disagree. Football, and sport in general, is always involved in politics as shown by the exclusion of countries from major sporting events on political grounds every so often. It was an English writer, Evelyn Beatrice Hall who, over a century ago penned the well-known phrase "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it". That applies to manji's comment and equally to the response by unionhotel but as fans I expect both want the same result from the match.

High hopes that Dom Gape will become a first team regular for Saints. He is 22 now and this loan spell could be the making of him although I see that according to the report by SFC Media on the new OS he's playing for the choirboys. Let down by spellchecker once again.

I've never regarded Rickie Lambert as a defector because his Saints' career was drawing to a close and the fee offered was arguably, more than he was worth, but this thread seems the best place to post a comment. Its always sad to see a player who has had an excellent career, hanging on as a squad player or slipping down the league structure. The Liverpool move that Rickie hoped would be a dream way to end his career proved to be a disappointment with very little game time followed by the sell on to WBA. That was another move that didn't fulfill expectations and led to his going on loan to Cardiff, now struggling near the bottom of the Championship. Maybe he would have done better to hang up his boots once it was clear West Brom wouldn't be using him but perhaps another year's salary was a factor. In this evenings match, Rickie was injured and substituted early in Cardiff's home match against fellow strugglers, Derby, which Cardiff went on to lose 2-0. Seeing how the SFC found a suitable position for Kelvin Davis perhaps something similar would have been done for Rickie given the exceptional role he played in the rise from L1. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and hopefully the injury tonight isn't serious, but it is a shame that Rickie made that decision to leave Southampton.

I'm uncertain whether I miss Mane after seeing how well his replacements did yesterday, both Tadic and Redmond, especially with Boufal still to come. I don't miss Mane's miserable attitude or his reluctance to pass to team-mates better placed and I still remember the lengthy goal drought. The performance yesterday on top of the previous 3 games suggests the fee the club got for him has improved the squad and collective team co-operation.

Can see Shane Long scoring today. It's not statistically valid but striker's goal droughts do come to an end. My Brighton-supporting pal was lamenting on Friday that Glen Murray was no longer worth his place, then he got both goals yesterday against Barnsley. Long will have learnt from the recent near misses and should get it right today.

The media love West ham because they are one of the 'big city' sides but also because of Moore, Peters and Hurst. If we are lucky maybe the three of them won't be in the side.

Claud's update on JRod and Boufal is good in two ways; positive on both likely to be available for Burnley game immediately after the international break; and that he seems to be more willing to give updates on injured players than has been the case in the past. Both of them badly needed as it will be back to games every 3/4 days after the break so would also be good to see Gardos get his first run out in a reserve fixture. With those three in contention the squad looks very strong on paper. Then comes the hard bit, delivering the performances, but as fans we tend to worry until the final whistle.

Puel speaks good English for someone who hasn't lived or worked here as far as I know. His interviews are dull because he has a limited vocabulary and I'm sure that if he was speaking in French he would be saying a lot more and with more expression. Being exposed to the language every day will be a big help in bringing on his English but hopefully he isn't just relying on picking it up and is also getting professional help. Its not just about communicating through the media, but also being sure he gets complex messages over to the players, many of whom also don't have English as their first language. Eric Black will be helping but direct communication with the squad is obviously better.