Simon3737

People are talking as if Walcott is 34. He’s only 28, the same age as Bertrand. No one suggests Bertrand is a has-been with no re-sale value (or Tadic who’s an ancient 29). As for ‘never going back’, we released Kevin Phillips aged 18 and bought him back aged 30 and he did pretty well for two years *****il the Carphone Warehouse manager intervened anyway). I’ve never been too impressed with Sturridge, but I think he’d improve our options. Prefer him on loan though to see how it goes. I imagine he thinks he’s too big for Saints anyway.

Totally agree. The attacking midfielders failure to react to Gabbi’s runs seems almost wilful sometimes (probably just a lack of football intelligence to notice him though). I’m sure Walcott would work well with him if Pellegrino doesn’t insist Walcott just keeps running towards the corner flag and making high crosses in Gabbi’s vague direction.

Obviously, I have no idea about Kelvin’s coaching skills or how influential his player-liaison role has been, but it seems pretty clear that there has been a serious trust/respect problem between the players and the management/board over the last 18 months. Coincidentally, the period since Kelvin was appointed. Maybe he’s just been a loyal servant of Puel/Pellegrino, maybe he’s been too junior to have any impact on player morale or maybe he’s given the players a route to moan to the board over the head of Puel/Pellegrino (and may have helped persuade Les to sack Puel). Whichever of these three is true, it’s hard to see how he can have had any positive impact on the trust between the players and management/board to have earned himself this promotion. The only way I can imagine he’s had a positive impact is if he’s managed to prevent the players’ attitudes over the last 18 months from being even worse. Hard to imagine!

1) Is he a better wide-forward/winger than Redmond and Tadic?: Yes 2) Does he have a better attitude than Redmond and Tadic?: Yes 3) Will he get more goals and assists than Redmond and Tadic?: Yes 4) Is he less likely than Redmond and Tadic to demand a “move to the next level” after a few good performances?: Yes 5) Will he accept lower/equal wages to Redmond and Tadic?: No 6) Is he younger than than Redmond and Tadic?: No/Yes 7) Would he notice Gabbi’s runs more than Redmond and Tadic (and actually consider passing to him)?: Yes Conclusion: Should we buy him to improve on Redmond/Tadic: Yes (Score: 5.5 out of 7)

To save repeating what I said a few weeks ago, here’s why I’ve voted Out... I also think we need a new manager to motivate the players and convince them that the strategy has changed (and because they don’t respect Pellegrino ... and he doesn’t know how to pick our best team ...or win matches).

Sounds like a loan option!

VVD’s dream of inheriting Jason McAteer’s Number 4 Shirt is fulfilled:

Can’t wait to see him in a Nivea advert! That’s what little kids dream of when they idolise footballers

So, the second half (which we lost 3-2) was a great performance he thinks. Let’s try to lose every half 3-2 from now on! . Europa League here we come!

IMHO: ------------------------------Forster------------------------------ ----------Stephens----------Hoedt-----------Yoshida----------- Ward-Prowse---------------Romeu--------------------McQueen -----------------Lemina----------------Hojbjerg----------------- ------------------------------Boufal------------------------------- ----------------------------Gabbiadini----------------------------

Does this moronic grapefruit have his coaching badges? Worth a try! The fact is manager’s are employed to pick a team and motivate them. If one player cannot be motivated, don’t pick him. If a whole team is unmotivated, the choice is either change the manager or risk changing 25 players and let the manager pick new ones (last time we tried anything like that, we got relegated by Honest ‘arry).

You may well be right. That was kind of my point. Either McCarthy is a capable Premier League ready keeper (in which case it’s surely time to give him a game) or he isn’t (in which case there’s no point having him here and we must buy an upgrade in January who we’d be happy to pick to play if Forster doesn’t improve).

He became a coach/player liaison person in summer 2016 and ever since then our players motivation hasn’t been great has it! May well be a coincidence, but...

IMHO: -----------------------------McCarthy----------------------------- -----------Yoshida-----------Van Dijk-----------Hoedt----------- ---------(Stephens)----------(Hoedt)---------(Yoshida)--------- Ward-Prowse-------Romeu---------Hojbjerg---------McQueen -----------Gabbiadini--------------------------Boufal----------- ------------------------------Austin------------------------------ I’m not sure if Van Dijk will play for us again, so I’ve suggested alternative back 3s. I don’t think our reserve full-backs are good enough defenders, so I’d go with a back 3 with attacking wing-backs who won’t need to defend too much. I’m generally a fan of Steven Davis, but I think his position is the one to sacrifice to fit in a third centre-half. I’d like to see Gabbi tried on the right, so long as someone actually notices his runs and passes to him! Austin picks himself now and we simply have to give McCarthy a try. If he’s that bad, we must buy a decent Premier League ready keeper in early January. Prediction 4-1 or 0-3 depending on the players’ attitude. I’ve got a feeling it won’t be close.

Actually... http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/5564048.Wadsworth_was_the_real_reason/?ref=arc

What Mr Gao doesn’t know about the attributes of Premier League Senior First Team Coaches isn’t worth knowing!

This!

Totally agree. I fully supported the idea of keeping him back in the summer, but it’s turned out to be a disaster. It’s demotivated many other players (unjustifiably in many ways, but still). Our team spirit has been terrible for 18 months now (except the League Cup run). Keeping him was designed to send a message to the rest of the squad. It certainly did that! It’s made many of them furious (as they were anticipating being allowed to move to a bigger club after year or two in the Saints shop window). It’s nice to think a massive pay cheque and luxury lifestyle should be enough to motivate professionals, but they are pampered millionaires, not robots. Obviously, it is essential that we get a good price and re-invest wisely (although, I suspect a large chunk of the money has already been earmarked to fund Mr Gao’s debt from buying the club).

So 3-6-1 and loads of wide players to put in crosses to a striker who’s no good with crosses! Maybe it’s a genius move to confuse Chelsea so much, they lose... If we lose the next 2 games, we could be behind Palace and Huddersfield by Christmas.

I think the problem is that Les changed the successful formula 18 months ago. His decision to start signing players (and Koeman he hoped) up to long contracts was a fairly radical change in his ‘formula’. Unfortunately, this change in approach has been a disaster as it’s demotivated the players. They want playing for Saints to be a stepping-stone/shop window. I wish they wanted to commit to us for 5/6 years when they signed extended contracts, but their agents just encouraged them to sign, take the pay rise, and still move to a big club after a season or two.

I agree with all of that. Boufal and Bertrand are forming a great partnership.

Yep! The players seem to have suddenly started caring and working hard again. Remarkable improvement over the last 3 games. We’re one more clear the air meeting away from a European place.

Or 4 points from last 3 games. Good enough for 51 points!

IMHO: ------------------------------Forster------------------------------ Cedric-----------Van Dijk------------Hoedt------------Bertrand ------------------Romeu--------------PEH------------------------ ------------------------------Davis-------------------------------- ---------JWP----------------------------------Boufal-------------- -----------------------------Gabbiadini---------------------------- I’m not convinced we need to rotate loads of players just because it’s 3 games in a week (Puel’s obsession with resting players didn’t exactly work out too well!), but I think Austin probably isn’t as fit as the others, so I’d save him for a sub appearance, then a start at Bournemouth. If we rotate too much, the team will lose momentum and our goal difference could get badly reduced. I think Gabbi deserves a chance as he’s done nothing wrong. Maybe his runs could catch City out (if someone passes to him!) I think Tadic did much better against Everton, but I think someone needs to make way for Romeu to return (to help PEH and Davis try to hold City back, with JWP helping out sometimes too). Assuming Lemina is not yet fully fit, I’d save him for Bournemouth and let PEH hold his place. I’m sure he’ll be motivated to perform against his old manager too. I think we all expect Forster to concede goals against City, but if he messes up easy saves again, I’d try McCarthy against Bournemouth. I admit Forster did nothing wrong against Everton, but that doesn’t say much. It would be crazy to give McCarthy his debut against City anyway, but if the management don’t trust him to ever play, we need to sell him in January. I’ve got a feeling we might score a goal (but still lose). Finally, please no Nathan Redmond! Maybe a spell in the under-23s is the way to go. It seemed to help PEH a lot (who’s only a year younger).

To be fair, Aaron Lennon was very unlucky in having to play out of position Right Back which flattered Boufal and Bertrand and later Tadic and Long. Overall, very positive performance though!