doddisalegend

Lol Jesus could you imagine if we replaced Puel with Steve Bruce .? Not that we will of course.

Doubt it didn't Les sack Pardew just after we'd destroyed Bristol Rovers like 4-0

Maybe Les would rather sort out the clubs summer transfers without the inconvenience of a manager telling him what the squad needs or trying to get les to sign players he wants...

Looks like Gabbi hasn't been told that the players are unhappy. http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=BDIGeneric&aid=C98EA5B0842DBB9405BBF071E1DA7651530FFE51&tid=08B1DD0329A3478BBD3F3747C973C285&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.skysports.com%2ffootball%2fnews%2f11700%2f10883203%2fsouthamptons-manolo-gabbiadini-unfazed-by-goal-drought&c=7150557853520269227&mkt=en-gb I am happy and the team is happy as well. When I arrived I was in front of 90,000 people playing at Wembley, it was very positive for me and my team-mates, it has been a very positive season."

People keeping saying he had no choice playing the youth of course he did managers all over the PL play senior players out of their natural position rather than throw on an untried youth.

Our team is no where near as good you seem to think it is. Replacing the likes of Morgan and Victor with Clasie and Hoj and having JWP as intregal part of our midfield. Going into a season with Austin, Jrod and Long as our strikers . I'm pretty surprised we haven't finished lower tbh.

I read interview with much maligned Eric Black a while back who said you have to do everything to keep a modern PL footballers happy because if they can find any hint of excuse they will take it this seems like one of those excuses to me.

Oh that would be epic getting fans to pick the team and formation....one question though if we get relegated do the fans sack themselves?

But what if you don't like his choices....

Pretty much agree I'm not convinced many other managers would have got much more out of the current team given the squads obvious short comings given a poor summer transfer window.

I imagine if we had a manger who could do that its because he got some better players in....

A few years ago Coventry came up with a scheme wear the fans could text a premium line number with the names of the subs the manager should make in the second half with the players with most votes getting the nod. Sadly they never rolled out to match days personally I think it would be an ace thing for our club to do.

preference for delaying the naming of his team until shortly before kick-off has also raised eyebrows and left some feeling it prevents them preparing properly for games. Is it only me that thinks professional footballers should really be prepared to play football on a match day with out needing a lot of notice....

Will they though? If you are a club chairmen who has a manger who keeps you in the PL every season playing defensive football like Pulis is he not worth more financially to your club than the fans. We are in a time when PL TV money dwarves anything brought in by match day going fans. From a purely money view having happy fans in a lower league is worth less than having upset fans in the PL. It's another reason PL clubs are so keen to attract the match day tourist types I reckon.

Isn't this exactly what Sky and the PL want though the big six and their worldwide army of plastics dominating the league. The rest of us are just here to make up the weekly cannon fodder for the big boys. Yeah you'll get the occasional anomaly like last season but they wouldn't want that on a regular basis. If it helps it at least we've done our bit by providing two managers and ten odd players to this seasons top seven....

I think people need to look at the bigger picture with regards to points rather than just the manager. Had we kept Mane, Pelle, Victor and Fonte this season would they be worth and extra 15pts between them over the course of the season? European football more often than not has an impact on English teams ( especially mid sized PL teams) league performances. Losing a player of VVD quality and your top scorer to injury for half a season each is also going to cost you points. We actually had a proper cup run this season to more games and another distraction frim the league The big teams have also raised their game this season some have improved and the others are certainly no worse than last season. When you factor in these things added to the poor quality of lasts summers transfer a drop in points is hardly surprising I'm not saying the manager has got everything right this season but I think he has a tougher job than many people give him credit for.

In the end all people remember is the league position couldn't tell you many points we had in previous seasons with out looking it up but I can usual remember where we finished in the table.

Interesting reading a similar thread on the Stoke forum http://oatcakefanzine.proboards.com/thread/268557/renewed-early-bird-today

Mark Lawrenson reckons Southampton are guaranteed a top-half finish and can make sure of a top-eight finish with a win, which underlines that they have had another very good season. Think that's how most outsiders will see it in the end of season round ups, in the press, over the next week or so.

His last prediction of the season Southampton v Stoke Southampton are guaranteed a top-half finish and can make sure of a top-eight finish with a win, which underlines that they have had another very good season. Stoke's form has been heading in a downhill direction for a while now but the nature of the last day of the season always throws up some unexpected results, and I think this game will provide one of them. Lawro's prediction: 1-2

Short term until the next slightly barren run...

I renewed with no hesitation but like I've said before going to the footie is about more than just the football. People are free to do as they please if they aren't enjoying it then fine don't do it...but the point still stands if people are this quick to walk away there will never be any need to expanded the stadium with such fair weather fans.

You can see why talk of expanding the stadium is so pointless the slightest hint of a less than stellar season and people (are allegedly) ready to jack it in...

So Long and Tadic (assuming they are still here next season) are going to spend a lot of time banned? Mane better watch out to although now he is at Liverpool refs probably see fouls on him differently than they did when he was wearing red and white stripes..

He went at it with Zlatan at the cup final he certainly isn't afraid of sticking up for himself which is a good thing we knee a few more players with a bit of back bone.