VectisSaint

Premier League Rule A.1.181 (which also governs the Premier League U21 and U18 Leagues) “Under 21 Player” means a Player under the age of 21 as at the 1st January in theyear in which the Season concerned commences (i.e. for Season 2015/16 born on or after1st January 1994). Jack Stephens was born on 27 Jan 1994 (according to Wiki) so is considered an U21 player for the remainder of this season. Like you my initial thought was that he could not be loaned again this season, but there have been several views on this that contradict this.

Didn't Helen Mirren star in that film? I think the answer to your question though is the Director of Football, Uncle Les.

Maybe, but potentially a very different situation: (1) Ben Arfa is not an Under 21 player (he is twenty-eight now). He may have played in an U21 match but as an over-age player. Stephens is still officially an u21. (2) Ben Arfa's transfer was international and so governed by FIFA rules which can be different to FA (3) Stephens' loans are considered Emergency Loans (an FA concept), which may or may not have a bearing on his further transfers. I don't know the answer to this one, but comparing it to Ben Arfa may not be particularly insightful.

Think you must be right, but cannot find out for sure.

Our pet Davis hater, hardly ever posts anything except to have a go, usually unwarranted, about SD. Must say I agree with him on this occasion though, shocking lack of control by Davis, though it was also a bad pass by Yoshida. Unfortunately the radio commentary said it was Clasie at the time. As it turned out though of course the goal was ultimately not our undoing.

How do you propose we do that? We would have to pay him the remaining 6 months of his contract, well unless he considers himself some sort of charitable institution.

Not too concerned about the 5 year plan, everyone knows that plans are often not fulfilled, the best laid plans of mice and men and all that. But what is The Southampton Way? Its clearly never been just about team formations, although there has always been an element of all teams being coached and developed in the same style. But what else is it? It is not just marketing hype, though there is a strong element of that so that we can go sell the Club to the US of A. Its supposed to be about our philosophy, but we don't seem to have one any more, at least nothing recognisable. It used to be something to do with developing our own players through the Academy, them training with the first team, not being loaned out, but all that has gone out of the window since last Summer. Unfortunately things like the Southampton Way are fine when things are going well, but because we have had 6 good years on the trot the Club do not seem to be able to sustain their vision when things go wrong, or maybe its because they have tried to sustain the vision that things have gone wrong.

League debut maybe, he made his club debut in the FA Cup in 2012, second half substitute for Dan Harding. Still not clear what is happening with Jack, he played for our u21s on Monday which I think means he cannot go out on loan again this season, but maybe I am wrong and U21 games don't count.

But unable to coach. Hence why Swansea were bringing in or trying all sorts of people to back him up. Nice bloke but is the last person we need, and we are the last club he needs as well to get back on the managerial merry go round.

Hands up, it appears it was Davis (found it on the Mail so it must be right). Relying on Solent commentary today who said it was Clasie during the match and then all the comments on the match thread confirmed this. Apologies.

It was Clasie. I know its hard to tell them apart from a distance.

Maybe he will give Ron one of his motivational speeches. That might be enough for Ron to decide walk, I know I would if I had to listen to one.

About 2 weeks ago, before Arsenal, that aberration just took the focus away from a situation that had already developed.

What utter ********? Most of the signings were Koeman's (or strictly Koemen's). Thank **** for Romeu.

What attacking players? You mean all those ones who cannot score for toffee?

Maybe he was late. Seems odd to have left him out unless he has an injury, especially now that we have finally found someone who can take corners from our right. Expect the formation to change if we have any sort of injury issue because apart from Cedric we don't have any defenders on the bench, hopefully it won't happen.

No it isn't. That is why I said partly. Along with the 6 defeats. It woulb rank stupidity to suggest we are heading for top 6 but there if you want to believe that is possible despite all of the evidence thats down to you.

Too true, partly why we are heading for a relegation scrap, because we couldn't beat a team that is already resigned to being in the Championship last season.

Maybe "prem opposition" is a bit strong :-)

You should know whenever Chief Helmet leads his little chum always follows. Best just put them on ignore, and hope one day they will go away.

He means "away". Yes they will change for next season because we won't have Adidas from what I have heard on here.

Oooh, nasty...

Did I miss the punishment handed out by Ron to Vic? What was it?

Martina actually. He was brought in as a backup at RB, CB and LB, and it was particulary pertinent for a LB as Bertrand missed the beginning of the season and so Target was the only cover.

It was his second appearance he got injured, not his debut. He had already come on as a sub the previous week and Koeman was impressed enough to give him a start against Everton. His injury was actually quite serious and kept him out for a while, but he did come back much sooner than expected. It was bad timing, it did seem that he might have made a bit of a breakthrough otherwise. Still looks to me to be too slight, he needs to bulk up a bit, but he is a decent player technically. But its another indication that Koeman has changed this season, from last, and is now less inclined to give youngsters a chance, partly because he now has a bigger squad, but partly because he has changed his philosophy.