VectisSaint

Level with us on points if they win tonight.

It might be funny if it was true, but it isn't. Koeman actually said that Martina is available for backup of CB and hinted this would be his preferred choice until Gardos is back (which should be soonish). I see Stephens is still training with the first team matchday squad though (though he had a mare last night).

I know, it was so stupid an idea, and based on all the talk that had come out with regard to Rangers wanting to sell. Be honest, you really didn't think it was serious either.

No-one (except perhaps for a couple of silly blighters who think football would be better in the Championship) actually want us to go down. But a good many can see that our current form and our inability to score makes it a realistic possibility. It would be a disaster if it happened. I still think it won't happen but we really need at least 4 points this week. My view: Villa, Sunderland and Swansea

Shocked that Liverpool have got him on loan, Rangers were reportedly only interested in a permanent deal. From Liverpool perspective he is only covering Lovren so the fact that he is crap is not really an issue for them. Hope he plays for them against us later in the season.

Yes, starts in 1 hour according to OS/YouTube. Don't expect anything useful in it though. Useful stuff is usually in the second part which is embargoed until 10pm (?). The live bit in an hour will probably concentrate on burning questions about Van Gaal.

So, as expected his loan has been terminated (was saying this was happening a fortnight ago), now we have a free loan spot for the rest of the season. On the down side we have one less homegrown player which might impact the number of players we can nominate in our PL squad for the second part of the season.

This

Not sure why you are getting obsessed recently with "wasting" salary and loan fees. Nothing was wasted, it was a loan to provide cover for our centre backs because at the time we only had Fonte and Yoshida and because Gardos was out for a long time. He was never meant to be first choice. He came in on occasions as planned, and actually did very well at Man City when Fonte had to go off. He had a disaster against Liverpool, and really was awful, but its not a waste of salary or fee, its just normal operations to ensure that we have a suitable squad to meet our commitments. If things had gone well he would never have played a game. I agree that getting rid is now good news though, he clearly is never going to be good enough and we have gardos coming back soon and even Stephens who is no worse (despite his awful performance in the u21s last night).

They are if they think he is going there on a loan. The only way Caulker will leave is if Rangers can sell him. Its just made up nonsense. More plausible are the noises being made about him being sold to Palace or Boscombe.

No, it's been ****, with the odd exception here and there (Arsenal and perhaps Chelsea).

Don't think it was Gazza's fault at all. Bad defensive positioning right in front of him and it looked like it took a deflection of our defender, so it could go down as an own goal, but only seen one replay. WE should have scored 4 or 5 (at least) but end up losing to the team who are bottom of the league. We really are becoming a soft touch at every level.

The Southampton Way Better team but can't take our chances then give away soft goal. Took a deflection off of Jones.

Really wish they would stop calling him Heskey though...

Terrible challenge by Stephens.

Except that 4 of them started on Saturday in the FA Cup.

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.