washsaint

As the title says. Toby was immense today and Bertrand is an upgrade on Shaw (where Shaw is in his career right now). Would love to get both signed up permanently in the next window.

Chez - I am assuming you no longer think we are relegation candidates (after the summer exodus)? Not trying to be snarky as you are one of the posters whose posts I truly do enjoy reading - but we really appear to have upgraded on every player who left in the summer. What a turnaround from the summer! Kudos to all at the club.....watching today never once did I think we would concede despite playing below par and looking very, very tidy up front. Highly unlikely, but could we truly challenge for top 4 this season? Liverpool and Spurs look terrible and that really leaves Arsenal, Man U and ourselves looking like the best of the rest.

What a bunch of pussies on here. We're 1-0 up against Hull who are no mugs (and coming off 2 good results) and this is a very tight game being played predominantly in midfield. Hull have done a good job snuffing out the threat of Tadic and Pelle (so far) but by the same token Saints defending has been excellent and Hull have not really had a chance yet. Those slagging off Long - shame on you! His tireless running off the ball and helping track back and defend. he's never going to be a 'champagne' player but he does a good job for us. And those moaning about Forster are just as bad. Part of the meanest defence in the League and yet still people moan about him. His kicking is solid and you never feel he has a mistake just around the corner (unlike Boruc). Hopefully Saints will be better 2nd half but if results stays the same there will be clear daylight between us and the rest of the division.

Good god there are some absolute planks out there. Anything a gk does will be magnified as there is no hiding place and any little mistake is seen by everyone. Foster is calm, the defense has confidence in him and he does not have boruc type moments of insanity. A great signing who will only get better and people saying he looks nervous don't understand goalkeeping. Anyone would look nervous playing against stoke.....As joe hart did

I believe he signed a 4 or 5 year contract (Targett) last year so LLP's statement is incorrect. Add to that, if he is good enough he will get his chance: most successful clubs have cover in all positions and we are no different. Keeping them all happy is a different matter.

Nuff said. Massive upgrade on Pochettino we have with Koeman. So fluid and playing tactically rather than just 1 way. Loving it

Agreed VFTT....very, very comfortable win despite being the sloppiest I have seen us all season. Never felt we would concede and Toby was outstanding despite Jose, Bertrand and Clyne not having their best games. Stoke offered nothing except kicking our players. It really does feel as though we could make a challenge for top 6 and, injuries permitting, top 4 challenge as there are only Man City and Chelsea that appear a cut above the rest of the division. Big games coming up against Chelsea, Arsenal, Man City and Man Ure.......if we do well against these teams anything is possible!

Getting back to the original question....... I think without doubt our best ever transfer window: by a long, long way! Koeman > Pochettino Foster > Boruc Bertrand > Shaw (at this moment in time) Toby > Lovren Tadic/Mane > Lallana Pelle > Lambert And with 40 million in profit! Unbelievable team, unbelievable manager, unbelievable season. Feel very vindicated with the "wait and see" approach as opposed to the vicious knee jerk reactions by so many on here in the summer.

lol.....shows what a clueless bunch of idiots post on this forum., Forgot some of the absolute drivel and nasty stuff posted on here and this thread is comedy gold!

old nick - would it really hurt you to have anything good to say about our club? All you do is take pot shots - re. your last comments, perhaps you have forgotten that in the dark years the Academy dd not progress as funding was cut. perhaps you should watch the video and find out what Reed says about when Markus took over? Of course the current regime is building on what Lowe, Jennings and Prost started - but to damn them with faint praise by saying this has been happening for years is to do them a disservice. But there again, would not expect anything less from you.

And you do know they have this marvelous inventions called planes that can transport people a long way Hutch?

truly superb insight into how the club operates. Not sure there is anything revolutionary in there but the attention to detail and cohesive, co-ordinated plan gives great confidence that we will continue to churn out young stars. Great to see how committed the club is to developing youth. Although the summer exodus may have left a bad taste, no-one can deny the immense satisfaction of seeing "one of ours" make the grade. The likes of Targett and Reed as good examples.

wow....the little c**k can not stop digging can he? Since when has this big mouth, thick as pig s**T twerp became a self-styled 'rent a quote' idiot. Weston - what on earth has happened to him? He seemed to be a decent guy until he got into the England squad and now he is billy big b*****ks

and the problem with moving england games form wembley is??????? They can barely get half full attendances as it is so moving England games across the country would be a very good thing.

Lallana is an idiot. Is he really thick or does he truly believe what comes out of his mouth? I think it is quite clear he is not the brightest but why does he keep digging his hole deeper and deeper. However, for those saying he showed no loyalty, etc. - there is no such thing (except fans) in football and we got 25 million for him. Which has been used to strengthen our squad quite significantly. So he gets his "dream move" and we get a stronger squad. Need to let it go - he's gone, he has done himself no credit but we march on.

wow.....after all the nonsense posted on here during the summer and the mass hysteria still people claim they said/did nothing wrong. All the bile and hatred at the owners/Les Reed, etc was just fans showing their concern and if they hadn't done it then the Board would not have changed tack. All absolute bo****s and the mass hysterics deserve to be laughed at - as others have said, why on earth would Koeman have agreed to join if he really felt there was a risk of everything falling apart? Thankfully the club is made of better calibre people than some of the spineless, self-entitled, jellyfish on this message board.

Wonderful article....and very interesting that all (bar Pelle) signings were already on the 'wish list' for the club. Sure there will be bumps in the road ahead but enjoying the moment and Saints flying and lots of positive press. Be amazing if we were still top 6 at end of the year: although that is a long shot.

Agreed Goatboy....also thought Sam looked very good when he came on and showed good bursts of pace. Also thought Flannigan at right back looked pretty good and Targett looked excellent. Unfortunately can't see Rowe or Isgrove making the step up. Can certainly see why the U18s are struggling so badly....half their team are playing for the U21s.

The release of Bates feels like a real smack in the chops. No idea what the club is doing........... They talk about Wheater being a much better batsman. really? He average a whopping 32 this season compared to bates' 26......a whole 6 runs better. And (from what I have seen live on ESPN) he is nowhere close in his wicketkeeping skills. Add to this bringing in Tahir for 2 games and shunting Briggs out what exactly are hants' plans for the future? And why would Briggs see his future at Hants after the way he is being treated and seen the way Bates has been treated? And then signing a 32 year old bowler to go with the other 35+ year old bowler we signed earlier this year. What on earth is going on?

What an absolute c**T and I truly hope the little s**t fails miserably at Liverpool. What a little pr**k he has turned out to be and we are well shot.......tadic will be far better than him and not a big headed charlie to boot. Boy, I hope he gets "welcomed" back to St marys like no other player, disrespectful little t**t.

What most people (including people on this board) forgot is that the team spirit was the key to our success: and still is. We are greater as the sum of the parts as opposed to individual players who carry the team. Obviously keeping Morgan was key but, for me, keeping Jose has proven essential as he is the heartbeat of this club and no doubt has been integral in helping the new players settle as quickly as they have.

More and more impressed with Koeman with each passing week. Very interesting that he is moving us away from constant pressing to a more intelligent pressing. Saturday will be very interesting to see how we try and break down QPR - we couldn't manage it against WBA and I would expect QPR to play a similar game. Hopefully the pace of Mane and guile of Tadic will tie Caulker and Ferdinand in knots.

well done hants

If you can't enjoy the good times and are just waiting for the down times to occur then I feel sorry for you. Life is way too short and enjoy every minute - you never know if it will be your last.

What is wrong with Hants? Suspect weather day 4 and not like they had bowled a huge number of overs. If this costs them promotion serious questions will need to be asked.