washsaint

Really good article - lets hope this summer is uneventful with 2 or 3 in and only 1 first teamer (wanyama) out

My apologies....thought you were showing Newcastle up as to what happens when you buy cheap and look to sell big.b

Oh, and we have the strongest squad in years. Yet that isn't enough for some.....we bought poorly last summer, blah blah blah (yet still lucked our way into 6th because it must surely be all luck right?), net spend, blah blah blah. We had a better team when Pochettino was here, we were stronger last year (despite getting 3 points more this year), we never replaced Schneiderlin (yeah right). We now have, on the whole, 2 strong players in every position and the wage bill will have increased significantly as we now have more squad depth with quality. I would take our position over most other clubs in the country. Financially sound, owners that care and a system that is working and is not over-reliant on any one individual

wtf you on about? Newcastle were one of the highest net spenders in the League last year. Our club has a method in the way it moves forward. Some of you lot on here are seriously deluded.......

Dear lord, meltdown because some ITK'ers post 5 players want to move. Heck I'd love to move to a job paying double on the California coast but just because I want it to happen doesn't mean it will! Surely the Board have done enough these past 2 years to show that the Club is about just that (the Club) - no single player, manager, coach, etc. is irreplaceable. For those saying give Koeman a 100 million to spend and let him do what he wants: that would go against the Southampton Way and would inevitably store up trouble further down the line. Every summer the same people throw their toys out of the pram and yet, year on year, we continue to improve. Chill out, enjoy our European adventure, highest Prem points total, highest Prem position - for the second year in a row. But obviously the Southampton Way is completely flawed according to our resident experts. And you can lay money on Old Nick appearing to say we have no ambition and moan about everything under the sun. If you can't enjoy this period in Saints history then I would suggest that you never will!

Jeez....you lot are a bunch of old women. Most successful season for years and now Long and Tadic are no longer the whipping boys you have to find some other scapegoat. Soares did OK: good in some games, bad in others (like every other player) and will no doubt improve in his second year. A good buy and plenty of promise for the future. Thank god this little message board is not a wider reflection on society/our fanbase. Ungrateful clowns.

A beautiful ride out in Brandywine country (Wilmington, DE) today. For the second weekend in the row wind played havoc.....with 20mph+ winds. Lots of hills and lots of wind but stunning countryside made up for all that. And a very well organized Fondo - with beer and BBQ at the end! Finding out that Saints are in Europe again, Spurs imploded and Skates lost just capped off a great day!!!

What a bunch of bedwetting pansies on here. If nothing else, you should have learnt your lessons from the last 2 years: namely, the club is not dependent on 1 player/manager/person. Even if there are any legs to this story (and why would Everton be a step up - we have finished ahead of them twice and are on an upward curve while they are going backwards) the club will have a plan in place. Still guess all these players signing long extensions is a horrible ploy by the Board to make as much money as possible in the summer.

I well remember going to WHU for the last game of a season (quite!) a few years ago. Saints were winning and West Ham fans invaded the picth and ran to the Saints end. Supposedly reported as all good natured but it was anything but and effectively Saints let them score to tie the game to prevent any more trouble. Still....suppose West ham invented football and everyone loves Upton Park (s***hole that it is) and they certainly didn't fleece the UK taxpayers with their move. F****** hate them

All the best for a speedy and full recovery

Wow....what a performance and VVD is bloody immense. Truly tying him down for 6 years sends a real statement and means we don't have to sell.......I would already say he is probably the best signing since Keegan! Wonderful to see Spurs lose and hopefully even lose 2nd place! You have to think that Liverpool now need to win all 3 of their games to overtake us (as we should beat Palace) and 6th is a real possibility now. Dulldays - do you still wish we were more like Everton?

Did not realize our record was so similar last 3 seasons. Guess the unanswered question is how, or even if, we can push on to the next level.

omg......now you can see why Martina ha splayed recently. Cedric has been worse than abysmal. COmplete liability. Him and Davis have been pathetic

Cedric and Davis have been abysmal. We should be out of sight but yet again poor finishing lets the other team have a glimmer of hope. Story of our season really - Villa look abysmal but we have not been clinical enough.

While folks might be disappointed with this season it is worth considering the following: 1) This will be only the second time we have had 3 consecutive top 10 finishes in the top flight 2) Anyone who was there for the opener against Everton would never have thought we would be as high as we are and Everton as low as they are. It was terrible 3) Each year our best players are cherry picked by the glamour clubs (not lower level clubs) yet we still remain fairly consistent 4) We are still 8th despite losing 8 out of 10 games during the middle of the season 5) We still have a (outside) chance of matching our points tally from last season It just shows how expectations have changed that people will consider themselves disappointed with an 8th place finish! This season has been strange: great performances interspersed with terrible performances - but it is clear we need a creative midfielder as opposed to yet another winger who will flatter to deceive. Hopefully we can continue to progress next season despite the likely departures of Wanyama and Mane.

Beautiful ride out in the countryside of Northern Virginia......Blue Ridge Challenge that while only 55 miles has over 4,000 feet of climbing including one section that averages over 7% for around 2.5 miles. Gorgeous day for it and almost zero traffic. Really lucky to have so many great rides near me and less than an hour away from the mountains. Worst part of the ride (or best depending on viewpoint) is a rally steep section where all you can see is the road going vertically up with no bends, no anything just straight up into the sky! For anyone that hasn't done it - I really recommend a proper bike fit. Had one done when I bought my new bike last Fall (Autumn) and it has made a world of difference - particularly to my climbing. Smashing PBs by the minutes in the mountains - the bike fit and a hard winter on the turbo trainer have made a huge difference. Really aiming to do Mount Evans in Colorado this summer - the highest paved road in the US.

clasie has been awful so far. Newcastle are there for a real beating if we can find our finishing - which has been our achilles heel forever.

Amen to that........why are so many of the few left on here so keen to write off our young players (Targett, JWP, etc) and almost take delight in saying they won't make it? Absolutely pathetic

Garbage - absolute garbage. Our season is over so at least try some of our younger players to see if they have a future here. They sure can't do worse than the likes of Pelle, Tadic and co

Wow, what an absolutely awful performance - particularly after such a bad showing midweek. Koeman should be heavily questioned too - tinkers all the time, leaves the heap of s**t that is Pelle on, no matter how bad he plays and has nus playing negative, dour football with zero cutting edge. Absolute s***e

Saints are so slow and ponderous with zero cutting edge. We are a very poor side to watch these days and that run we went on disguised our many shortcomings

sunderland have a good break all because of the immobile statue that is Pelle. Awful

Fonte has not been great this season but Koeman's tactics are all wrong for this game

Weather here in Virginia today was incredible - 60 degrees and no sign of snow! Fantastic to get outdoors after being stuck on the Turbo Trainer for a few weeks. I had never used a turbo trainer before this year and the plans from Strava (and videos) have been fantastic. Can definitely feel the difference it has made to my fitness and looking forward to getting outdoors more. First 2 centuries signed up for - a nice flat one in maryland (Chesapeake) first week of May and then Delaware Gran Fondo (hilly) 2 weeks later. Really looking forward to this season - my daughters soccer team has qualified for Nationals in Denver in July - trying to sweet talk my wife in letting me take the bike out there and do Mount Evans.

Excellent win - have to say that our style has disappeared. We are a boring side to watch - but 6 clean sheets in a row can't be argued against. Where would we be in the table if Forster had been fit all season? Listening to him on NBC he was immense the way he organized the back line. Romeu will be some player for us as will Clasie. JWP was excellent today, Virgil was a steal and is at least as good as Toby (how many headers does Virgil lose, if any?). Hopefully we can really push on for a top 5 finish which would be astonishing after our long, terrible run.