doddisalegend

Well personally from what little I've read about our new chairman and his (and KLs) hopes for the club I'm pretty happy with how things have turned out since NC left. No signs of the total collapse of the club that many doom mongers predicted. Seems like every effort is being made to keep MP and I don't think will lose any of our top talent unless they really want out badly, in which case the won't be cheap and will have money to strengthen the team anyway. Honestly the future of the club all seems pretty good to me right now.

Shaw could be replaced, not with someone as good though, in fact with the money being talked about we could probably bring in two or three good players (assuming the money is re-invested in the team) after selling Shaw. I think Adam would be much harder to replace though, as one of the old guard and captain, his departure would have a much bigger impact on the team as a whole than Shaw going.

good news if true. Football is in a world of it's own though MP is on a million a year and we need to offer him more to stay blimey.

Forgot about Berahino I reckon we'd be a good fit for the young man better to come to us perhaps, with our policy on young players, than one of the bigger clubs that will no doubt be interested in him.

We bought Victor, whose stock was high thanks to a couple of decent CL games, for 12 million quid not to many managers are brave enough to leave a new big money signing sitting on the bench. You could turn the question around and ask why even after his recovery Jack continued to be picked ahead of Victor?

TBH I think we all know you have no time for Jack Cork and think Victor is a better option but MP doesn't want to play "ugly" and "grind" out wins he wants to play possession football.So a DM like victor that can't pass for toffee causes a problem in that respect, constantly giving the ball away in our own half doesn't really go well with MPs desire to retain the ball high up the pitch. Having said that sometimes passing is less important than having a brick **** house in front of the back four. I don't see it as a one or the other but more horses for courses meaning there is a place for both Jack and Victor in the team.

I think a lack of squad depth and MPs high tempo style has pretty much knackered our boys I'm expecting a damp squib ending to the season tbh more draws and loses than wins.

I've been out all day so I had look on the BBC and see Three years ago this weekend, Lallana and Lambert were playing against Yeovil in League One, but the England pair were at the heart of their side's good work as Southampton consolidated ninth place in the table. Then I come to saintsweb for more match info to find out that Lambert was awful, not fit to wear a saints shirt and should be taken out back of SMS and shot like an old nag. Funny old game football. Still sounds like it was a **** poor game so I didn't miss much. Can't really expect much for the rest of the season IMO, the team is safe, the players all look knackered the last few weeks (and again today by some accounts), some players have one eye on Brazil and the rest on their summer holiday.

Loic Remy....

So with the season heading towards the final furlong and the likely relegation candidates taking shape (anyone from Swansea, Norwich, Palace, West brom, Sunderland Cardiff or Fulham). Are there any players from relegation threatened teams you'd like to Saints try to sign, ideally at a bargain price as the relegated club tries to cut it's wage bill, in the summer if that team is relegated? I guess Swansea have the best options with Michu and Dyer being good acquisitions, maybe Johnson at Sunderland, always liked Snodgrass at Norwich and perhaps Redmond to.

I think we need to get the FA to bring in an only goals scored by Englishmen count rule.......

Pros - Adam and Luke looked good as did Sterling plenty of good potential young talent coming through for England. Cons - Denmark were **** and we still struggled and we are going to get murdered at the world cup. Somehow good club players seem to go down hill once they put on England shirts. Compared to the way saints play England look shockingly slow and insipid maybe some England players just play better playing along side quality Johnny foreigners to provide the skill.

If we are only allowed to go for managers with PL experience we are not going to have to many options to choose from, Which managers with PL experience are available at the moment?. MPs PL experience has been invaluable so far.................

Personally I think the club has hit a ceiling and will need to spend quite a bit just to stay a top 10 club anything higher would probably take eye watering amounts of money. Players will leave, that's the nature of the modern game, but to stay were we are we need to replace them with decent replacements and re-invest money from player sales back into the team if we do that that and continue to bring good academy players into the 1st team we could easily become a top half PL side for many years. Anyone hoping for more than that is IMO being unrealistic. All this talk about pushing to the next level is pretty mad when you consider how much money the next level would require. Going from league 1 to the PL, great achievement though it was, is probably easier (and cheaper) than becoming a regular CL team.

Players/managers leave it's the nature of football and in general if they leave it's because they want to no point having a manager or players who would rather be somewhere else. More important is how the club deals with the situation. In the past we would try and replace with cheap options if instead we invest the, no doubt large amount of, money from player sales back into the team and work hard to get a good replacement manager there is no reason why MP leaving or some of our players leaving would have to be a disaster. We are not crippled with debts or have share holders who expect a return on their cash like we were last time we were in the PL so for example if we get the reported 30 million for Luke Shaw we could quite easily get 2-3 good players in his place we lose a great player but the team might actually be stronger for it.

look if MP doesn't want to be here then it's best for all concerned if he moves on. If he want's to stay great if not I'm happy the club are making contingency plans to find a suitable replacement.

Last season he managed five goals I had hoped that might mean he would start scoring more regularly.

I don't see J-rod or Adam as midfielders (attacking or otherwise) personally but as part of a forward three.

Our strikers/forwards are getting a lot of stick, not unjustified at the moment TBH, for not scoring/missing chances but between the three of them (Adam, J-rod and Lambert) they have not done to badly this season. We could really do with some more goals from midfield though IMO. So far we have Gaston 1 Morgan 1 Davis 2 JWP 0 Cork 0 Victor 0 That's pretty pants honestly (our 3 central defenders have scored 5 in the league this season). Any reason why our midfield contribute so few goals?

His radio Solent interviews in the build up to the games have been a highlight in recent weeks MPs are a bit boring to be honest, Howe is a bit to thoughtful and articulate to be much fun but then Barker comes on a each week and slates his own team while biging himself up and always providing some LOL moments almost as good as that seemingly really angry non league manager they always seem to interview.

"I thought it would only need small changes to get us back into the top half," Barker told BBC Radio Solent. Portsmouth boss Richie Barker has been shocked by how big a challenge it has been to try to turn things around. Barker was named Pompey boss on 9 December but has won just four games from 14, with his side seven points above the League Two relegation places. "Within the first two to three weeks I recognised the changes would have to be fairly big." He added: "If I'm honest, I thought the team would be closer to the top half in terms of form, in terms of mentality and in terms of technical and tactical ability." http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26385877 looks like he fell for the lies

Saw him against Pompey, like trousers said pompey were poor, but I thought Josh was the stand out player on the pitch great ball control and fast to.

I'd rather get someone who is already proven in the PL if possible probably cost more but not sure someone like another Osvaldo or Gaston who takes half a season or more to get acquainted with the "English" game is much use to use. Personally I'd like to see us push the boat out to land Lukaku, Remy or Benteke....won't happen but that's were it would be nice to aim.

I think some people are expecting this and I really don't think reading the quotes from the man that he is going to be anything to do with the on pitch stuff at all.

Where they would have played to his strengths and he would probably scored a couple to boot.