Matthew Le God

So what players should he have used today? That doesn't make any sense. The rotation from league game to league game is minimal.

I've a feeling Rodriguez will be sold in January. Sims appears to have moved above him in the pecking order. Sims has been preferred over Rodriguez for 3 games now (started vs Everton, came on instead of him vs Arsenal & on bench instead of him vs Palace).

A Clyne/Wanyama price drop situation can't happen to van Dijk until the summer of 2021 when he has 12 months left on his contract, which ends in 2022. He'll be sold for a huge fee long before then, probably summer 2017.

The Telegraph reported the deal for Sadio Mane is a figure which could rise to £38.5m. Not very many players in world football history have gone for more. Which other players are you claiming we sold "far too cheaply"?

We've been scouting Sporting Lisbon's Ruben Semedo for a long time and I'd guess he is being lined up to replace van Dijk when he eventually goes... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yYSbtgGjAA Could possibly be a very Portuguese defence with... Bertrand Semedo Fonte Cedric as first choice back 4 next season.

Please enlighten us all by explaining how saying that... - we are in the top half of the Premier League - in the semi final of the League Cup - have a good chance of making the last 32 of the Europa League with either a 0-0 draw or a win vs Hapoel Be'er Sheva ... is "spin" as you put it??? :mcinnes: (I guess you will either ignore my question or not answer it and go off on another tangent)

Redmond isn't really playing as a striker, for many weeks now he has been playing mainly on the wings of a 433. Austin sometimes switches with him during games and Redmond is central, but largely he is playing as a winger with a lot of freedom to rotate with the other 2 attacking players.

UPDATE: - League Cup semi final - top half of the Premier League - good chance of progressing to Europa League last 32 Plus... Cedric Fonte Ward-Prowse Hojbjerg Sims Austin ...kept fresher for the Crystal Palace game in 2 days time than if they had started last night. The Arsenal build-up thread yesterday was a nightmare to read. So many clueless posts were made when the team was announced. :mcinnes:

I very much doubt that is the reason, more likely Puel wants to keep his best right back fresh for the Premier League. As fullbacks in our system are required to do a lot of running.

A chance at what? No reason or need for him to play instead of van Dijk, Fonte or Yoshida in Premier League or European games.

I'm really struggling to see what attributes Martina has that are better than Cedric. Cedric is significantly better than him at everything.

Tadic had a bit of string holding his badly broken nose to his face on Sunday, he hasn't been training and would possibly be a big risk if he plays anytime soon...

- top half of the Premier League - good chance of progressing to Europa League next round - League Cup quarter final to play Squad rotation has helped results like today's happen and keeps players fresher.

They are pretty much standard is most transfers.

If it does happen Saints will get a decent % of the money.

In a transfer market where a decent season int he Championship as a striker gets you valued at £12m to £15m, then £11m for Rodriguez is cheap.

No it wasn't. Don't be so ridiculously overdramatic! We've been completely dominant (78% possession, 8 shots to 2) of course the final third play hasn't been great but it is a long way from a poor performance.

We play on Sunday, Everton's squad is completely fresh for it with a week to prepare. By rotating 7 players tonight it helps us remain at a similar level of freshness. Really is pathetic that every single one of your posts is this daft (probably deliberately, but you never know with you alpine and dalek!)

Fonte was injured in the Liverpool game, Puel has stated this and you could even see he was when watching the match. If they didn't want him cup tied for the Europa League then he wouldn't have been the main centre back sub for the Inter Milan game home & away and the Sparta Prague game at home. Saints fans continue with this daft conspiracy theory but it makes no sense. If Yoshida or van Dijk were injured in those 3 games then the club was clearly willing to use FOnte so clearly weren't keeping him from being cup tied.

Fonte was on the bench vs Inter Milan home & away http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/37847418.app http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/37688282 and Sparta Prague... http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/37302387 So the club were prepared to consider using him in the group stage if Yoshida or van Dijk had to come off. If they didn't want him to be cup tied then they wouldn't have used him as the only centre back on the bench as there is a possibility he'd need to come on. The only matches he hasn't gone to is away in Israel and tomorrow.

You appear to be making excuses to eliminate any credit going to Puel. ROmeu this season is playing in a different role for Puel than he did for Koeman, Romeu is the lone DM. Can similar excuses not also apply to the players you say were..."noticably improved under Poch and Koeman very quickly"? Which players are you talking about? If it is Shaw & Chambers for Pochettino then why does your McQueen excuse apply to them?

Do you not think McQueen & Romeu have gone up a level compared to last season? I think Yoshida looks better under Puel as well.

Utter nonsense. 1) Which "rubbish players no-one wants" have we signed in the last few years? 2) How do you know the players we have signed weren't wanted by other clubs? Just because it isn't in the public domain, don't jump to conclusions.

It is a positive sign we have players clubs like want our players, not a negative thing. The time to worry is when we don't have players those clubs would want, which doesn't look like happening. If we want Saints to have players of the quality of van Dijk then it is inevitable rich clubs would want them, as players like van Dijk are good enough for the very top level. Football has a transfer pecking order and I find it bizarre some Saints fans continue to think we can keep players of van Dijk's quality long term if clubs with significantly more resources than us make an offer. Saints have been doing similar to other clubs... Celtic for example with Forster, Wanyama & van Dijk. The transfer market has a pecking order and we are not (and probably never will be) above Liverpool & Man Utd in the transfer pecking order even if we finish above them occasionally.

Why do you start threads like this and make no attempt to link to the quotes in question? The club (unlike you & alpine_saint) is aware of its position in the transfer pecking order and knows it can do well bringing through academy players and buying promising players in their early 20's, developing them and benefitting from them and if they do attract rich club interest the reinvest wisely in replacements. Why are you already so dismissive of Austin being Pelle's replacement or Redmond/Boufal replacing Mane? Are you not one to give people time (I think we all know the answer to that)? ............... Alpine for the last 10 years every thread you start, every post you make is painful to read. It is hard to recall you ever posting anything positive about the club you support and for the last 7 of those 10 years we have seen nothing but success! How about you give the club some credit and consider perhaps they know a lot better what to do than your negative ramblings on this forum for the last 10 years!