Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd

Funny how people are slating Stephens. It's a far cry from the praise that was heaped on him following a impressive performance against Liverpool. The Telegraph said "The centre of Southampton's defence has been decimated with Jose Fonte sold and Van Dijk going, but Stephens has been a revelation and was part of an impressive collective defensive display against Liverpool." ESPN said, "If Hansen watched his beloved Liverpool being dumped out of the EFL Cup by Southampton on Wednesday night -- robbing Jurgen Klopp of the chance to win his first trophy in English football -- his words "You can't win anything with kids" would have come back to haunt him again. For Southampton's 1-0 victory, securing a 2-0 aggregate scoreline, was built on a rock solid defence, with academy graduate Jack Stephens very much at the heart of it. This time last year it is unlikely anyone outside of Hampshire would have heard of Stephens, who is now looking forward to a big Wembley final before even making his full Premier League debut. In fact, when the team sheets were released a little over an hour before kick-off with injured captain and star player Virgil van Dijk absent, Liverpool fans were buoyant at their chances of overturning a first leg deficit to set up a likely capital showdown with Manchester United." Then there's the winner he scored against Watford in the FA Cup and the equaliser he bagged against Brighton. Some fans have a very short memory. He's not a league 2 defender, FFS.

Just received shipping notification for my order.

Until I saw this thread I had completely forgotten about him. It didn't even register that he wasn't in the French squad.

I remember seeing us score 8 in a pre-season friendly in Sweden when Paul Sturrock was in charge.

For £20m you'd want Ings and Sturridge. Even then you'd only get half a season from the pair of them.

I know Ben. He's my neighbour in Chester. Looks like he'll be going out on loan for the season. Stoke are very interested.

I think you'll find he's referring to James Maddison who has just moved from Norwich to Leicester for £20m.

Read a very interesting piece about Bertrand's exclusion from the WC squad. Southgate and Holland said their decision not to take him had nothing to do with his playing ability, it was based on his mental state and his frame of mind following a difficult season at Saints. They wanted everybody onboard with the right attitude and didn't feel his head was in the right place.

Certainly feel more positive than I did this time last year.

Shame they didn't go with the yellow / blue sponsorship as in the mock-up. This looks much nicer and is far more subtle than the red logo. Ahh well, nothing we can do about it.

I don't understand why people can't look at this in a positive manner. He's cost £7m, which in today's market is not bad business at all. Just because Maddison had a great season at Norwich and went to Leicester for over £20m it doesn't guarantee anything. He could have a nightmare season, he could set the Premier league on fire, although I doubt the latter with Puel running things. In fact, they've taken a much bigger gamble than we have. As other have said, we need a Davis replacement and I would assume that's what Armstrong is. If Tadic goes for £15m then I wouldn't be overly concerned. We'll make a small profit and let's be honest, he hasn't exactly been consistent for us. It looks to me that we're setting up to play a different way so I have no issue with changes being made to accommodate that. Sell Tadic and Boufal and replace with one decent player and I'd be more than happy with that. I've always felt that with Tadic, Boufal and Redmond we had too many similar, inconsistent players. Losing 2 of those 3 would be no bad thing at all.

They do if they've got a black and white TV.

Absolutely. They've also axed extra time in the League Cup. I can remember when there could be a couple of replays if cup games were undecided.

Can't see him coming given the list of other clubs that are interested.

I can't help but feel that Puel left one hell of a mess behind and MP just wasn't the right man to put things straight.

Probably a 2. If I look back over my 40 years as a Saints fan it's had the occasional high point but has mostly been a series of disappointments. Runners up in the league in '84 was great but nobody remembers runners up. Lost the 2003 FA Cup final. Lost the 2017 League Cup final. Beaten in numerous semi-finals. Even when we were promoted from League One and the Championship it wasn't as Champions. It's a sorry state of affairs when the highlight of your Saints supporting life was seeing the club win the 2010 JPT over Carlisle Utd. Would I change any of it? Of course I would, but life as a Saints fan is never straight forward and in a strange way that holds more appeal than following a club like Man Utd, Liverpool or Arsenal.

I'd be inclined to let Bertrand go and keep Targett and McQueen. Assuming somebody actually wants Bertrand. I certainly don't see a top 6 club coming in for him but could see a move to someone who is prepared to pay silly wages... Like WHU.

It's a shame about Berahino. He showed so much promise a couple of years ago. Maybe he just needs a fresh start? Although there definitely seems to be a big attitude problem. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/02/22/saido-berahino-has-not-scored-two-years-went-wrong-striker-earmarked1/

My feelings too.

Good. I'm not a massive fan but what I saw in his 8 week tenure was enough to make me feel more positive than I have for 2 years. He re-installed some team spirit and got us playing the best football we've played in two years. If he brings some stability and a few mid-table finishes I'll be happy.

Jokanovic was my choice after Puel went. If Fulham don't come up then we'd me missing a great opportunity by not approaching him.

£50m is **** all in the current climate. If we want to compete then that's the going rate. No disrespect to any other club, but the likes of Cardiff, Brighton and Huddersfield will probably spend close to that this summer.

Could the delay be something as simple as Hughes being on holiday? ... Just a thought.

Just been chatting to a mate who is a Stoke supporter. I asked him for his views of Hughes and asked if he's really hated by the Stoke fans. He had the following to say... We should have stuck with Hughes. He probably would have won more than Lambert did. Injuries to key defenders were the main problem and you can't blame the manager for that. Had we had a settled back 4 it would have been a very different story. The fans were annoyed at the money spent and what they got for that. Was that Hughes' fault or somebody else at the club making decisions??? Either way, that's not the way Saints conduct their business so he didn't feel this would be an issue for us. He'd been to a couple of Hughes' training sessions and said they were superb. Drills etc. were second to none. However he believes that he used to leave individual fitness to the players themselves, which resulted in a number of them simply not doing what they should have been, hence Lambert coming in and addressing fitness as soon as he arrived... He said that he's sure Hughes won't make that mistake again. The one thing Stoke did try to do was keep Bowden as everybody at the club seemed to rate him very highly. Probably nothing here that's going to set the world on fire but it was interesting to get the views from a Stoke fan.

If they're stalling on Hughes then I would hope it's because they're waiting to see if Jokanovic gets Fulham promoted. If he doesn't then I'd try and get him. Other than that then we should stick with Hughes. He did enough to warrant a deal.