egg

I was at last night's game. We were shocking, not one player did himself justice except perhaps Jones at the back. Debayo at lb was terrible and put in the worst corners I've seen in ages. He was by no means our worst player but I'm singling him out cos of the deadballs. Not much to say about the others. Gallagher - the kid had a terrible time after his breakthrough season and went on loan to get some playing time and regain his confidence. Sadly he barely got a kick and on that performance (albeit shoved out wide) he's come back worse than he left. Stevens doesn't appear to have progressed either. The club had high hopes for Sims and Hesketh but they look miles away from being able to step up.

Reed isn't good enough IMO. He's too ponderous on the ball. By that I mean that he doesn't know what to do with the ball until he receives it and then he's slow to use it and doesn't use it very well. He's also ill disciplined and picks up far too many bookings. In saying this I don't think he's any worse than Romeu who has similar failings. I would rather have seen Reed play a bit part role than have signed Romeu to have that role. Ron's message was blunt but if he feels that none of the current crop look like they are going to be premier league player, then throwing them in is a pointless exercise. With that said I find his treatment of Hesketh and Seager odd. Hesketh was deemed good enough to start at Burnley and unless he's failed to recover fully I'd expect him to still be good enough. Seager has been in and around the match day squad but not used and been told that he's part of a crop of players not considered good enough. Even if Ron's judgement is correct, you have to question his man management.

Seems pretty clear tbh. If he goes it's because he reckons we lack ambition. If he signs an extension then he's confident that he'll get £££'s to spend. This replicates his 'I'm not a project coach' interview recently. I've got no problem with that - the man's got ambition and only wants to stick around if the club do as well.

He's playing right back for Wycombe at the moment.

Call it a crossroads, t junction, glass ceiling, junction or whatever. The point is (and you made it well in your initial post) is that we've found our level but on occasions have punched above it. We've reached a point where we will struggle to move up a level, whether that be due to revenue, ffp or something else. Personally I am a realist and am quite happy for us to be a lower top half club and enjoy the odd moment of glory. Some fans, but more importantly some players and managers, will not settle for that.

Ffp cap wise I'm pretty sure we're above Leicester, Watford, West Brom and Norwich. Unsure about Palace. We've defo been punching above our weight but there's a limit to how we can compete with the big boys. While I agree with you on squad fillers what choice do the club have? We can't fill the squad with top players on top wages as the cap will be breached. We could do a cortese and get a few 'stars' in on mega bucks and supplement them with cheap academy players but a) the stars come with egos (gaston excepted but as much as Ron likes him he needs to get his massive wages off the books to bring players in) and b) the current academy crop aren't good enough. Thus we're stuck with cheap to mid range options - I wouldn't be happy if I were Ron.

If only it was that easy. Financial fair play holds us back meaning that even if we had the cash, we can't just chuck massive wages around. As fitzugh fella says we find ourselves at a difficult crossroads as a club and it's understandable that the manager would find that frustrating.

I'm confused. You agree that the team is weaker this year, but you don't think that sending our better development players on loan is a factor? Do you agree that loaning other players out will make it worse? Do you agree that weakening the development squad hinders the development of the remaining players? I agree with you that the talent pool is worse now. The club know that. I posted on here last year that those within the club feel that we had a lack of talent in the 16-18 year old category. Whether it's a scouting issue I don't know but I doubt it's coaching. Nobody will convince me that Jason Dodd and Paul Williams are any better than we have now.

The reason the u21's are struggling is that the defensive platform are all on loan. Sending more players on loan will weaken the team further. That will slow the development of the remaining players who will not benefit from playing in a weaker/struggling team. We've avoided loans previously and I suspect we won't rush to loan out many other development players.

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/article/20151130-under-21-report-norwich-city-7-2-southampton-2829203.aspx

That's a loaded question if ever there was one! Turks has mentioned one financial 'fact' which I have corrected.

No. Lallana manipulated his departure and showed no class. The club were annoyed with him and let it show. Cortese ran amok and was given the rock or the hard place options Turks outlined. The terms of his departure included that he wasn't hung out to dry by the club but I'm not surprised he's out of the game still. Turks has good knowledge on this subject. The only thing I would correct him on is the staplewood overspend. It was £24 million, not £20 million.

Spot on Del, but sadly the masses will never accept it. The £24m overspend on staplewood would have got anyone the sack anywhere else. The fact that the owners gave him such a dignified departure says a lot about the class of the people who are now at the helm of the club

He's not far off. Slightly less than Osvaldo but still a massive wage.

I'm not talking potential here, although judging by Juanmi's performances to date I'm not surprised he's had limited game time. I'm talking about the two players performances yesterday. Juanmi's was poor. Gaston's was very good.

Agreed. Juanmi hasn't shown anything so far. Gaston looked good today, especially his run and pass for the Pelle air kick .

Long will be with the Ireland squad, otherwise I think you're about right.

This. I challenge anyone to name a player who has been more exciting.

Blimey. About £100m "worth" of that lot are no longer at the club or not in the team, and that's not counting Moreno who's only on the fringes. Shocking waste of money, the fool is on borrowed time.

Correct. I was down near malaga the week before last. The malaga fans love him and think that with a run of games he'll be brilliant for us. They can't understand why he's sat on our bench.

Depends on the terms of his contract. In most players contracts that I've seen each game missed from an injury in the field of play (or anytime after being selected in a match day squad) is deemed to be an appearance. Not applicable here but it's a clause that some players have (and no doubt still do) abuse.

I agree. Reed is ready for first team football now, no dispute imo. We overlooked last season preferring an out of position Toby and in doing so disrupted the back four. Bizarre decision and on that I don't bow to Ron's greater footballing wisdom. Reed ought to have been given a fair crack this season but instead we sign Romeu who imo is no better from what I've seen of both. It'll be interesting to see who comes in for Romeu when he gets his first ban, which judging by his cards to date won't be long. On the conflict point it's known at the club (Less Reed included) that we have limited talent in the breakthrough age range. Reed apart, and perhaps with the exception of Hesketh and Debayo as the season develops, I can't imagine Less Reed expects Ron to use any other youngsters this season except sparingly in the cups.

It might be a nothing article but it is accurate. It's hard to argue with the Romeu one as well.

What's (the not world class) Morgan got to do with a comment about Romeu!? Odd.

He had a good first half but faded second. Whilst he likes a pop from a range where he's unlikely to score , he's ill disciplined. His yellow was harsh but the tackle didn't need to be made. He pushed his luck after that and was very lucky to stay on. The ref played an advantage rather than blowing up in the second half when he hauled the man down. Had the ref blown it was a certain second yellow. Don't get me wrong, he looks decent but I'm not persuaded that he offers more than Reed could .