washsaint

Oh for those halcyon days of the 80s and 90s eh? Surprised you were happy with a 2nd place finish as, being a winner, I would have thought that wouldn't have been enough for you. And how many cup triumphs or League winners/Euro competitions did we have in those glory days? If you cannot be happy finishing in the top 8 for 3 years in a row then that is sad. And heh, if you don;t like the way the club is being run you could always support Man City or some other ambitious club. But being a 'winner' I'm sure you've got enough money to buy the club. Yeah, the disgruntlement is so high that our first home game of the season sold out for the first time in years...........

Glad to hear things seem to be going OK VFTT: hope the treatment is not wiping you out too much and that you get back to full health soon. Look forward to seeing your insane rides appearing on Strava again soon!

Agree Ron.....I would be amazed if anyone (fans, Puel, club, etc) are truly happy with what we currently have. Sure the club is working around the clock to get things over the line but we don't seem to really publicize what we are doing which makes it frustrating for us fans and it easy assume nothing is happening. Plenty of concerns based on the 1st half Saturday but, conversely, plenty of positives to take from the 2nd half. Remember we got destroyed by Everton at home first game last season and the sky was falling in after that!!!

A voice of sanity amongst the panic, bedwetting and Football Manager fantasists. Bravo sir (or madam).

But Ron, I am sure Pied has not been brought in as first choice RB but as competition for Cedric. Same way Koeman brought in Martina as competition. I agree we are 2 attacking players light and possibly a CB (even if Fonte does not leave) but am keeping the fingers crossed that we will bring in these players before the end of the window. It seems most clubs are struggling to bring in reinforcements due to the stupid money sloshing around and everyone wanting a piece of it and the associated premiums. The club deserves are trust and goodwill - lord knows they have earnt it in recent years. I also think we might be surprised by at least 2 Academy players making a breakthrough this year. Now we have a manager that is interested in them this should act as a major boost to these younger players knowing they will be given every chance to make the breakthrough. Hesketh, the striker and possibly Valery all look very good amongst others.

FFS, what kind of alternate universe do you inhabit? So Everton kept Stones and other clubs keep hold of players wanted by the truly big clubs? Don't think so. Which lesser teams have won trophies over the last 20 years then (and you should really be looking at the last 10 years since the money really went obscene)? Very few - maybe 5 or 6 in total I would think. So we fail to reinvest in proven quality (whatever the hell that is, suppose you think Ramirez and Osvaldo were proven quality and Stoke supposedly have yet finish beneath us every season) yet somehow have managed to improve our league position consistently and have now qualified for Europe twice in a row. There really is no satisfying some people.

And that is what so many of the Football Manager fantasists just don't get FF. We are really, really fortunate to have such a good owner and we should be thankful we are living within our means to give us the greatest chance of financial stability and evolving success. We are never going to be able to compete financially with Man C, Man U, Liverpool, Chelsea, etc. but as we showed last year (and the year before) it is not all about how deep your pockets are. All this drivel about us needing to spend more to show 'ambition' and whining about how unfair it is we don't spend more. Will temper that with saying it is a few 'fans' on message boards and so hopefully not a reflection of the majority of fans.

Most brutal ride I have ever done today. It was not particularly long (48 miles), steep (2.6K of climbing) or fast (16.6 mph) but it was a killer. Temperature got up to 100F (38C) and really humid with a heat index of 110+ (43C). Riding with the B group they decided to go out at an average pace of around 20mph+ (faster than the A group) and then 20 miles in most blew up and bailed. Truly not a pleasant experience today and am not in a hurry to repeat that!

Oh ffs, we have just secured 6 of our first team to new long term contracts with hopefully Cedric to follow. If Fonte wants to go, more fool him. Is he really going to get much playing time at United and how much goodwill will he have burnt with Saints once his career finishes? He signed a new improved contract only 9 months ago and now he wants to break it? Sod him, tell him he's going nowhere and let him rot on the bench as he will have no sellable value once his contract ends anyway.

CB was right. You really are not the brightest and come out with utter crap consistently. I'm glad we're run the right way - or have you forgotten what happened when your idol Mike Wilde took over? That ended really well didn't it? Unbelievable........

You'll love the Di2 system. A bike I rented in Oregon had this setup and it was bloody fantastic! You can simply keep your finger on the paddle and it automatically changes through the gears without having to take your finger off the paddle. Nice - proper jealous!

Romeu has been godawful - almost let them in again. If his name was JWP this forum would be in meltdown. Tadic outstanding

JWP playing very well - great run just now but there was noone to pull the ball back for. Been impressed with Targett too and Tadic in places. Rest, meh

Redmond very, very poor so far.

Really, really poor. Tadic looks so threateing out wide (great run just now) but even when we get the ball in the box there are no Saints players there to attack it. Romeu has had a mare and we keep trying to p;lay everything through a really congested midfield. Not pretty and very uninspiring so far.

Well this is truly awful.........only bright way of looking at it is that we got tore a new one first game of last season by Everton. But this is worrying and absolutely no threat. I just don't understand this formation - its too narrow and we are not moving the ball at pace. Play Austin up front and play as a real attacking unit as opposed to this useless false 9 formation.

Well this is truly awful.........only bright way of looking at it is that we got tore a new one first game of last season by Everton. But this is worrying and absolutely no threat. I just don't understand this formation - its too narrow and we are not moving the ball at pace. Play Austin up front and play as a real attacking unit as opposed to this useless false 9 formation.

romeu......terrible play. Right now though the formation means we have no real threat up front. Very early but that was terrible play.

But your comments about speakig through an interpreter and not wanting to be there also applied to Pochettinos time here and that wasn't too bad was it? Certain that is what Barry was alluding to. As to how he projects at a press conference - so what. It is whether he has the buy-in from the players that counts (same as with Pochettino and the language barrier or otherwise). All things seem to indicate that he does and that is more important than whether he 'entertains' the public. Or are you saying someone ;like Redknapp would be better because his press conferences are more entertaining?

bloody hell......coming back to read some of the comments, pre-season, etc. make me realize why I tend not to post on here any more. Sure there are things we need to improve on and I'm sure the club is working on the areas that need improvement. So many wet blankets on here and I think no matter what the club did it would be wrong. Championship Manager afficiandos extolling the virtues of players that quite clearly would not fit our system or mean we have 3 or 4 choices for every position. Quite incredible really - did any of you moaning whingers notice that Espanyol beat Everton after playing us? You do realize most teams have not strengthened in the summer yet? For the last 3 years we have been toothless up front - with the exception of small clusters of games where we have score a few - yet suddenly it is all the new managers fault. Quite incredible and 'I want it all now' mentality that never used to be associated with Saints fans. Thank god this forum is not representative of the real world.

Blimey, so he was also the GK, defender and midfield. Quite some player and should have gone for way more than 100 million if what you say is true.

Funny that, we have barely anyone that would get in a top 6/7 team, yet we finished 6th last season! What is wrong with people?

Maybe, but Saints consistenly do it....... Bertrand replaced Shaw Tadic replaced Lallana

where has all this replacing 7 players come from? We have lost 3 (2 of which had plenty of bench time last season and 1 who was out suspended for many matches and one who only played well when he wanted to impress) and Juanmi who never really figured. Who are the other 4 (Steklenburg was only a loan)?

nice....were you affected by all the delays? Sounds like a good event: not sure about the 20,000 riders though!!!