Professor

Lower league player declining to sign new contract as he thinks he's capable of better, and he might be for all we know, so the Red Top Press link him with any cheapskate Prem Clubs they can think of. You don't see the Mirror linking players like this to any top 6 club. Its an insult by The Mirror to take Southampton's name in vain. My guess is that the best Grigg can hope for this summer is a Championship club.

Pochettino did say (in Spanish) that he'd play 23 if he wasn't restricted to 11. JP is currently behind Ramirez in the pecking order and plays a different game to Guly. If we had been chasing the game on Saturday, JP might have come on to add more up front but at 3-1 up Guly for Lallana made sense.

Sorry BS but its not for you to say 'end of'. The thread will stop only when opinions dry up or it's closed by the Mods. Gaston was good, not just in the first half but for the 56 minutes he was on the pitch. Subbing him for Davis was no discredit to Ramirez, just a very good decidion by the manager to consolidate in midfield at 2-1 up with 30 minutes to go and the choice of who to take off was limited. Ramizez is clearly one of MP's preferred starting 11 and deservedly so.

Saints could be the best team to be relegated from the Prem since we were last relegated in 2005. Something needs to be done and losing your temper with a referee after a poor decsion that hasn't affected the outcome of a match, is not that thing, espacially when you don't speak the same language as the ref. Shuffling the pack isn't doing it and if New Manager Syndrome played a part for the first 2 or 3 games, that seems to be fading. Cortese's timing on the manager change made no sense with the new man unable to influence any new signings in the Jan window. With a lot of pundits expecting Southampton to lose the next two games its important that we don't, but what to do? If any of us on here knew the answer, we'd deserve to be in the manager's office instead of Pochettino but is is looking as if the person who should be there is the bloke taking the club to an Employment Tribunal. If the merchants of gloom are correct and we do lose the next two games, it is probable we will be in the bottom 3 with 7 games to go. If Pochettino saves relegation after that he will be a hero, if not we could be looking at a new manager for next season. And Cortese should walk to Adkins' house, wherever he's living, to apologise.

Makes you realise that professional broadcasters are employed as such because they are actually good at the job.

Doubt if he could take any other job while he has his compensation claim in the Tribunal as it would undermine his case. But what another appalling decision, Reading sacking McDermott. If Poyet wants to keep his job at Brighton, best thing he can do is avoid going up......Oh!......think he's working on that already. Thought. If Saints are relegated, will Cortese sack himself?

We all know there have been countless occasions this season when players of other clubs have surrounded the ref but finding the video evidence may be a lot more difficult. SFC may need to ask Sky if they can look it all out, at a cost. The appalling decision by the ref who missed Holt having time to do a double somersault in the air before his dive came down to ground level would have provoked a reaction from every saint, including all those in Heaven but provocation is not a good argument, whereas inconsistency by the FA would be a strong defence if it can be demonstrated.

No Chapel Arms and no burger vans. Can't see that happening. Replace burgers with Pie in the Sky.

Cortese can't do that without a total loss of face. Adkins would be unlikely to want to work for Cortese again. Adkins' coaching team, such as Crosby and Wilkins may no longer be available. But when Adkins was sacked to bring in Pochettino was it done so that the team should win only one of the next 6 games and slip down the table towards the relegation zone? Cortese is paying two managers at present, but does he have the wrong one actually doing the job?

Absolutely agree. Totally wrong to go onto the pitch. The decision had been made, wrong as it was, and the incident was over. Neither had it affected the result, so going to confront the referee in public could achieve nothing. That is bad judgement that reflects badly on our manager, unless of course, he was explaining to the referee that a penalty should have been awarded against Saints for Shaw pulling back Snodgrass within yards of our goal, earlier in the game.

Disagree completely. It's "Should Have". The word 'of' is not a verb so you cannot 'of' something and we could not 'of' won or lost.

3 pages and 131 contributions as at 17.40 07.03.2013 suggest it was. Always hard to understand people who criticise a subject for discussion, because if you don't like it, surely you don't post! Thanks for the reminder about Billy Sharp, though as he did well for us last season so his eviction from the squad was inexplicable, given that no explanation was offered to the fans. What seems wrong about the transfer-in record is that the manager appears to have little or no say on whom is recruited, but is then required to carry the can if the bought in players fail to perform. Not just Saints and Adkins, but Chelsea and Torres comes to mind. Maybe the problem is the rich owners imposing their will on the football professionals they employ but seemimgly fail to respect

I don't rate him, see him as error-prone and thought his signing was very strange at the time. Early in the summer, Adkins had said he wanted two Prem standard CBs after which nothing happened until after the season was underway when Yoshida was brought in at the last moment, and initailly played out of position. The second CB turned up in January after we stole a march on Liverpool and signed a player who may not even get a game for us this season, the way things are going. LIverpool must be finding it hard to get over that. We might have done better with Del Trotter buying our players, except he's probably working for West Ham.

That suggestion is in The Sun!!!!!! Don't waste any more time on it.

Since Jan 2012, by which time promotion to The Prem was looking probable, Transfers-in have included:- Tadanari Lee Maya Yoshida Nathan Clyne Steven Davis Jay Rodriguez Gaston Ramirez Paulo Gazziniga Emmanuel Mayuka Artur Boruk Vegard Forren Of those 10, Boruk, Yoshida and Clyne are regular first choice players. Rodriguez is moving towards regular selection, while Davis and Ramirez seem to be in and out. That leaves three not being picked and Lee out of the club, initially on loan. Two of our recent opponents, QPR and Newcastle appear to have achieved more with their inward transfers. Is SFC's recruitment team performing well enough?

Last week I expected Saints to win. This week I expect them to lose. I was wrong before so lets hope for consistency with the outcome of my forecasts. Imagine if Saints were in the Championship next season with Brighton in The Prem. Doesn't bear thinking about, even with Pompy in L2.

Although I was never totally convinced by Adkins, I can't see what is better since he went. One new player, purchased pre-Pochettino, and not played. Same mix of the squad. Maybe a different use of Subs but hard to see if anything much has been achieved by the change and apart from Man City the results could even be getting worse. Once again the need to use a transfer window to bring in enough players who are better than what we have, has been missed. Relegation still a possibility.

So SFC are paying two managers, but maybe they have the wrong one working with the team.

Back to the game - the anxiety shown by some on here is understandable but Saints are playing too well to lose this game. last week's loss at Newcastle was an incorrect penalty decision followed by a fluke of an OG. Nothing there to suggest the team is not playing to mid-table form, or better. Two clear goals win against QPR.

Club newly promoted to the Prem makes a positive move to strengthen its team by smashing the club transfer record to bring in a Uraguan international playmaker and goal scorer. Only he turns out not to be worth a regular place in the team. Ramirez wasn't bought for his potential, he was bought to have an impact this season and it hasn't happened. That's not the player's fault as he can only play to his ability but it does raise a serious question about the judgement being made on players purchased. Who is making the decisions? So much for Chapter One. Chapter Two - Vergard Forren........

Cangratulations to Rupert Lowe for signing him originally and for hanging on to him through the bad years when other good players were sold in the failed attempt to avoid administration. All those rumours that he was only going to be here for a year before going on to Arsenal or elsewhere proved to be entirely wrong.

Norwich are my surprise prediction for the 3rd relegation spot. You heard it here first.

The only admiration I have for Lawrenson is that for someone with no personality, whose own football career was so long ago that most fans have forgotten he ever played the game, is that he somehow persuades the BBC to pay him to do a very poor job. His predictions are no better than if you were to ask a little old lady in the street. They equate to the same outcome you would get from guesswork.

What evidence does the Mirror reporter have for claiming that Wham and Ncastle have any 'interest'? There's none in the report which is as weak a piece of speculative writing as you co0uld ever see. If sFC wants to keep Puncheon they will make him an offer when the time is right, which will probably be before the end of the season. If they don't, they won't. In the meantime, no club in the Prem can make an offer and none can approach him without SFC permision. Maybe Cortese should file a complaint against the Mirror for trying to unsettle a saints' player by naming specific clubs. If Punch were to be available its fairly certain there would be wider interest than just the two mentooned, who might not even be in next year's Prem anyway. We've become so used to a badly run press that people just shrug off the dishonesty of newspapers but when there is proper regulation, things might change.

Now that Lee has gone on loan to FC Tokyo, does this mean that Mayuka may get a chance off the bench? He may be our only striker cover now unless the likes of Hoskins or Seidi are considered ready. If there isn't cover from a young reserve, isn't three strikers a bit thin with quite a few games still to go and not yet out of the relegation mix?