Matthew Le God

True and often when Koeman is asked about a player he isn't interested in he dismisses it - like with Leon Goretzka. He hasn't done that with van Dijk.

Fonte and Koeman didn't initiate the discussion to be about van Dijk, journalists asked them both a question directly about him.

Jordy Clasie starts for the under 21s tonight... Southampton FC ‏@SouthamptonFC 23m23 minutes ago #SaintsFCU21s team against @MCFC: Gazzaniga, Gape, McCarthy ©, Wood, Debayo, Clasie, Reed, Hesketh, McQueen, Isgrove, Barnes. #saintsfc

Which I think was a mistake by a poor manager in Gareth Southgate. Why aren't the players you mentioned (who are peers of Ward-Prowse) playing in the Premier League at the moment? If Saints were to loan him there would be no need to send him to the Championship as he'd get regular football at a bottom half Premier League side, but they won't loan him out as he is a useful homegrown squad player in a season they could have a lot of games. He might not be a starter for us, but he is good enough over a season to get a large amount of Premier League minutes to aid his development.

None of them have remotely close to the Premier League experience Ward-Prowse has. For example Chalobah struggled to get into a poor Burnley team and has has played 4 Premier League games. Ward-Prowse is already at a level of ability above the Championship. I'm not saying he should be a regular starter for Saints who came 7th last season, but he is of a good enough quality already to play in the Premier League.

Why would it have to be in the Championship? He could easily be a regular starter for a bottom half Premier League team. Doesn't really matter anyway, because it is very unlikely to happen and would also leave Saints without one of their homegrown central midfielders in a season they could have a lot of games to play.

Had Targett not jumped and instead left his leg planted in the turf then he could have had it broken. Even McClaren admitted it was a red.

A loan in the Championship would be a regression for someone already with 74 Premier League games under his belt. He has shown he is good enough for the Premier League, okay not as a regular starter for 7th placed Saints yet, but he will still get a good amount of game time this season for a good Premier League team.

If he signs I think van Dijk may possibly cover Wanyama in central midfield. Koeman was willing to use Alderweireld in that role and van Dijk appears to be very comfortable on the ball.

and back to this image we go... Can you not understand how what you say on this forum for the last 9 years is constantly jumping to negative conclusions you have no evidence for? When you get picked up on that you rinse and repeat.

He put no caveat on it being "pussy-footing and p*ssing about", he was definitive about that bit and that is the jumping to conclusions I was referring to. The caveat he used is that the "pussy-footing and p*ssing about" that he has taken to be the case "could still" lead to nothing.

ffs there aren't enough McInnes' in the world for you! :mcinnes::mcinnes: Four will have to suffice for now.

I was talking about the posts in this thread, the discussion you jumped in on was who was the Schneiderlin replacement. You have also just said that "everything the club has said suggests we're keen to strengthen the position". What are you claiming the club has said this summer about additional central midfielders and do you have links?

Yes http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/33839045

It appears you can't comprehend English either.

Well you appeared to imply I said that they wouldn't sign another central midfielder. When all I actually said was that Clasie is the Schneiderlin replacement, you then leaped in to say the club want another central midfielder.

What has the club said that suggests that they are looking to bring in a first choice central midfielder?

Why do you think Clasie hasn't joined us to be Schneidetrlin's replacement? Koeman has said on a number of occasions that he is the replacement.

Yet again proving you can't comprehend English... Do you not understand how "might" and "possibly" are caveats and are not definitive? Plus as I said in the post before yours...

We also didn't have Schneiderlin's replacement in the team on Sunday due to injury.

You must be the forum champion of making up bull****, because I said no such thing. Under Cortese it did look like the club was considering ground improvements, with him commissioning designs from an architect firm to expand and develop St Mary's. As Cortese has now left things have changed and we are now more aware that the situation between Liebherr and Cortese possibly wouldn't have resulted in the funding for such a project.

You are the forum champion of jumping to conclusions. How do you know what the situation with van Dijk is?

It was four, Matthew Mills also played for Forest tonight.

It doesn't have to be a goal to have been a well taken free kick. Even ones which miss can still show good technique. It doesn't have to have been an assist for it to have been a good free kick. It doesn't even need to have a teammate get a touch for it to be good, if it is consistently hit into a dangerous area then that is what you want from a free kick taker and he does that better than a lot of players. I think its pretty clear that he has very good technique for direct free kicks, free kicks which are crosses and corners. It appears the poor ones are sticking in people's mind and they ignore all the good ones he does which far outnumber them. He takes Saints free kicks & corners and ones for England under 21's for a reason... he is good at them compared to his teammates at Saints and peers at international level.