BARCELONASAINT

Koeman has also asked fans to be patient as the club look to sign new players, after seeing defender Luke Shaw, midfielder Adam Lallana and striker Rickie Lambert all leave the club. "We are working on it," he said. "Our job is to be prepared if someone leaves the club. "The board knows we need new players. There is no need to hurry. We have a good squad but we would like better players to be competitive."

hurrah 1-0 Jos

I still find it hard to believe that so many supposedly grown ups on here are still all too willing to blame the current board for player exodus. Do you honestly believe that the board have suddenly had a change in stance from last season???.....I for one don't. What i believe i clearly evident is that NC sold a vision to MP and all the players and stated as fact what he was going to do to take us to the percieved next level......the bit he failed to tell them was (i'm playing with someone elses money and she hasn't actually agreed to any of the promises i have made) I have no doubt he hoped to charm KL with his vision and get the ok to spend spend spend. As we all know this didnt happen and he jumped making KL look like she was about to cash in on the club. Of course the reaction to MP leaving has been the domino effect as everyone from MP to the players have realised what NC had promised is not about to come true. Could the board have stopped these players from leaving???.....come on this is the real world and of course they could have made them sit in the reserves but its never going to happen if you want your assetts to be worth something. The board are making the best of a bad situation of which the majority is not of their making. Of course it is human nature to have to blame someone, god knows that culture is all around us and the present board and KL are easy targets.

really enjoyed that and would suspect most football fans would. Keep it up, already looking forward to the next bit.

As much as i find you the ultimate depressing pessimstic git going, it is then posts like this that make me giggle insanely......only you Alpine, only you!

In principle i totally agree with you.....however this is the real world of the Premiership and apart from the mega rich rich clubs like Man City, Chelsea etc there is no way we could afford to make players miss out on premiership games....the players know they have the club over a barrell on this one.....no way we could suspend 2 let alone 4/5 of our players without us being relegation fodder. And you are right, contracts are not worth the paper they are written on!

I've been supporting Saints for well over 40 years and have enjoyed the highs and lows and had my heros in every Saints team throughout the years.....however i have found myself NOT getting worked up at all about what has gone on during the last year. I took the reasonable view that all good things must come to an end eventually and was therefore not surprised or so mortally wounded by events that have unfolded over the last 12 months. NC could never carry on the way he was going and most sensible people saw that. MP bought into NC dream and undoubtedly saw this as a brilliant chance to make it on the worlds biggest stage. Did either of them have any loyalty to Saints....NO of course they did not, it was a job and thats all. The more and more i think about MP the more i honestly think he was a very calculating snake in the grass....I honestly hand on heart do not believe there was anything the board could have done to keep him.....he had made his mind up months before and again i honestly NOW believe he very deliberately made sure we lost to Sunderland in the FA Cup....he knew he was off and i believe he knew that no Europe would mean alot of the players who were already of interest to bigger clubs would have nothing to keep them here at Saints. Yes it's all probably a bit conspiracy theoryist but i wouldn't be surprised if this was exactly what was played out. As far as the players go they are just employees and not one of them has loyalty to the shirt....all this badge kissing stuff is utter crap. I will still support the club.....but long gone are the days when any of the players were my idols.........on a side note, i know from reading the posts that alot of you are totally passionate about the club we all love and support BUT remember THE PLAYERS ARE EXTREMELY WELL REWARDED FOR THEIR SERVICES AND DO NOT JUSTIFY ANY OF US IDOLISING ANY OF THESE OVER PAID PAMPERED PRIMA DONAS!

Moan moan ****ing moan, it's just a bloody football top. Some of you are really pathetic!

Cheers Batman for thepositive post. I will only ever post what i believe is genuine information for fellow Saints fans. Those that have good memories on here will remember that it was me that broke the news several weeks before the Dutch duo were appointed! (Portoloo) I try and keep factual

I don't know who False Libero is and what he/she does for a living but it was spooky that we both broke this news two weeks ago on here on the same day. I don't know if he/she was at the same meeting that day that involved the Ings family, but we have both been told the same news that Dannys Ings was deciding between an offer from us and one from Liverpool. The only plus side in our favour is that he is very close to family members that are here in Southampton.

funny enough this is my feelings as well. Wasn't bothered, i get no joy from watching England play, this has been a brilliant World Cup with exciting attacking football from most teams except England who are awful but what makes it even worse....it is our English players that earn such ludicrous sums of money and yet compared to everything else at the World Cup they are the worst players. There is a certain irony there me thinks!

I don't know why so many people on here got so worked up when Poch went and thought this was the beginning of the end.....I stated at the time and stand by what i said then.....there was no way KL was going to let either Cortese or Mopo get one over her and undo everything her father dreamed off. I wasn't sure about her when her father died and had my reservations, but by the end of last season i was convinced she was here long term and she has proved this right today. Thankyou to the Liebber family for your continuing support of our club.

opps lallana....now how do you feel mr big head?

I'm sorry but if they clauses in their contracts for bonuses etc i cannot see how these cannot be honoured...sorry but this does ring true!

Ok you want to elaborate?....Its easy to say he hasn't with nothing to back it up. I have stated this has come from someone within the family circle and certainly not someone that would make things up.

I can confirm what The FalseLibero has written, i have this afternoon had the same info passed to me from an excellent source who would not lie. They have said Ings is weighing up his options between the two clubs but he has a strong pull towards Southampton because of family. If i thought for one minute my source was wrong i wouldn't bother posting this. My source is as close to the Ings family as you can get without being related!

I had the pleasure of taking part in a Sky promotion roughly 12 years ago (might have been more, god where have the years gone) at Staplewood that was all about penalties. MLT was the main man there that afternoon taking penalties and playing in goal. He spoke how he always knew exactly where he was going to place his penalties and how he watched to see if the keeper made an early move. He described how he would just make a slight flick with his foot at the last moment if the keeper made a comittment one way to early. The man was a genius from the spot and i never had any doubt he would score when we got a penalty.

it is really sad how some people hang onto every word out there on the net and believe it as gospel.....some of you are embarrassing bed wetting babies....ffs grow up!!

MLT all day long. Agree with others that his pens were more pressure based.

Lallana wants to keep his England place and a move to Liverpool will potentially see his chances enhanced rather than risking an iffy season with Saints. Thats just my take on it and i believe he had made his mind up to go before the season was finnished.....AND I suspect he KNEW Liverpool were coming for him....the same that RL probably had the heads up from the pool contingent in the England squad....or am i just being very cynical??

Agree with Derry, no point in loaning him out, he could actually be useful this season. However if they want to buy him then i would let him go. No doubting his talent but his temperment???...Unfortunately the writing was on the wall the moment he opened his mouth when he signed and said he had come for the money!!.....I had hoped he might actually show his worth as well....but far too little on show.

sadly Roy is correct, there are an elite few any they go to any lengths to protect that gravy train they are on. Think about it, how many players have Chelsea bought that would be first teamers in any tean outside the top four but have never or nearly never played for Chelsea first team. They buy these players to stop the other sides getting them and these players are happy to sit on their bums getting fat cheques each month for nothing. You may think i'm being cynical here but its true. We will never ever be a big team.....but hey ho i accepted that years ago and i don't want to support a team that buys itself Championships and Cups....that is empty victories as far as i'm concerned.

On this point i do agree with Alpine. There is not much point in the other clubs competing and to be fair it has been like this since Sky became involved and some may argue before that even. The top clubs get richer and the smaller clubs just struggle to survive. What is it that keeps us all watching and following teams like ours that will always be one of the also runs???.....Its the David/Goliath thing.....its human to want to see the underdog have its day and thats what keeps the rest of the footballing world going. Personally i can see no joy in spunking hundreds of millions of pounds to buy a title......would you really be proud of that.....i wouldn't.....but maybe my values are not the same as others.

The blame culture is really true and alive on this forum......it must be the Dons fault, it must be Poch's fault, it must be the new boards fault......ffs grow up! Before our fantastic last season would Liverpool have been interested in Lambert, Lallana and Lovren.....of bloody course not and these players would probably have been going nowhere had it not been for the past season. Ricky has earned his right to his move and so has Adam who stayed with us through thick and thin. If Lovren goes its because he has had an excellent season, his value has increased and he gets Champions league football......please don't anyone tell me these players would have happily stayed. In many ways we are a victim of our success and all our board can do is get what they feel is the best prices for players wanting to go and invest that money wisely......instead of being so negative why don't some of you look on this as a knew and hopefully exciting era.....believe me you might actually have a nice weekend instead of raising your blood levels!!

maybe he is not wearing a nappy like so many on here!