Matthew Le God

He is now faster than he was before the injury... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3183174/Southampton-striker-Jay-Rodriguez-nearing-competitive-return-newly-wedded-star-vows-come-better-ever.html

You've lost me. My original post about the line-up was made before the Espanyol game and is a suggestion as to how Koeman could line-up if he wanted to rest those that played in the Europa match on Thursday.

At 20 years old Schneiderlin hadn't played in a single Premier League game, Ward-Prowse has played in 74. Don't take that as me saying Ward-Prowse will be better, but he is vastly more experienced at a high level compared with Schneiderlin at the same point in his career.

The line-up was similar to that in the second half.

Normally if Koeman isn't interested in a player he openly dismisses rumours when asked about them. But when asked about van Dijk today... Alex Smith ‏@Alex_PJ_Smith 55m55 minutes ago Asked Ronald Koeman about £8million bid for Virgil van Dijk. Clearly not in the mood. "I don’t know. Ask Les Reed about that." #saintsfc

- When David Beckham was 20 years old all he had done was play 5 games on loan at Preston North End in the 3rd tier. vs - James Ward-Prowse at 20 years old has played in 74 Premier League games. I'm not saying Ward-Prowse will definitely get to the same level as Beckham. But its amazing how many forget just how much experience he already has at his age. As Pancake said above, some of these comments are reminiscent of writing Schneiderlin off at a young age. Ward-Prowse is already a long way ahead of where Schneiderlin was at the same age.

The implication he made was that Saints think it would affect the price. Given how it is potentially only for two games and not the rest of the competition then I struggle to see how that is true.

He already has a contracted job from Jan to June on a players wage. Why give that up and drop to a coaches salary. Plus Saints already have a number of keeper coaches Watson, Bartram & Flood.

Thats not Kelvin's fault, so he is within his rights to see it through. Especially given the good service he's given the club.

If you were him would you give up a years worth of player wages?

Davis' contract expires in June 2016 and Stekelenburg's loan would have finished. Why would he do that? Coaching who and where?

I wouldn't even know where to begin picking this nonsense apart. :mcinnes:

Perhaps having worked with David Watson for a year he has improved. A lot of Gazzaniga's problems when he played for the 1st team came from poor decision making (and that then affected his confidence) which can be taught, he has a lot of other good attributes to be a decent keeper.

Gazzaniga has done little (if anything) wrong in pre-season. It was Gazzaniga on the bench vs Vitesse Arnhem, so perhaps he is second choice.

His article says van Dijk would be cup tied in Europe which isn't true.

Perhaps Isgrove is on the verge of a loan (or just injured). McCarthy was in the Europa League match day squad rather than Stephens and Turnbull on Thursday, with Stephens at the time close to a loan to Middlesbrough and it seems Turnbull close to returning to Swindon.

Southampton FC ‏@SouthamptonFC 7m7 minutes ago #SaintsFC team against @RCDEspanyol: K. Davis, Martina, Fonte ©, Caulker, Targett, Wanyama, Ward-Prowse, Long, Juanmi, Rodriguez, Pellè. Southampton FC ‏@SouthamptonFC 7m7 minutes ago #SaintsFC substitutes against @RCDEspanyol: Gazzaniga (GK), Cédric, Yoshida, S. Davis, Mané, Tadić, Reed, McCarthy, Debayo, McQueen.

His name is Virgil van Dijk, not Van Dyke... [video=youtube;k_mpaF5-SlU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_mpaF5-SlU

Its not a problem if he isn't a regular starter, he is only 20 years old. The number of 20 year olds that are regulars in the Premier League is tiny, let alone for one in the top half. Given the number of games we could play this season and injuries/suspensions he'll still get a good amount of gametime, as he has for the last 3 years.

McCarthy is 19 years old and will probably captain the under 21s again next season. Turnbull is 20 and Stephens is 21, when McCarthy gets to their age he may need a Championship/top League 1 loan as the next stage of his development. Its difficult for a centre back to break through into the first team of a top half Premier League club at a young age. Its a position where experience and build play a big part and young centre backs tend to struggle in both of those.

The bar for an academy player to reach our first team keeps rising and has done further since he made those comments in 2013/14. In order for an academy player to start in the Saints first team they are competing with the largest number of international players the club has ever had. They will therefore need more time to develop to the level required and well picked loans will help give them first team game time and experience. Saints gave debuts to 5 academy players in the Premier League last season (plus also have Gallagher, Reed & Ward-Prowse who had debuts in previous seasons) and have large number of academy players regulary training with the first team, how many other Premier League sides did that? Let alone that finished in the top half of the league whilst doing so.

He talked about youth player loans during the 2013/14 season on Sky's Footballers' Football Show. http://www1.skysports.com/watch/tv-shows/footballers-football-show/news/9207235/footballers-football-show-les-reed-reveals-secret-behind-southamptons-youth-success http://podcasts.skysports.com/podcasts/SkySportsFootballersFootballShow/FFS_SKYGO_100314.mp3 The alternative for Stpehens is to return to Saints under 21s after a season of regular first team football at Swindon. He needs to be tested at a higher level and returning back to under 21 football and 5th choice for Saints won't do that. Turnbull & Stephens out on loan again, McCarthy & Wood playing for Saints under 21s.

If Koeman uses it for gametime in pre-season for those not starting the Europa League games, then perhaps Saints may line-up like this... Koeman has already stated Rodriguez will start. It could be useful to give the likes of Ward-Prowse, Reed, Caulker, Juanmi, Martina, Long & Rodriguez a game if they won't start on Thursday vs Vitesse or Sunday vs Newcastle.