S-Clarke

Congrats!

A tactical masterclass over both legs, you have to say. I'm now going to go back to drinking.

Lol. BREAKING: Sky Sources: @SouthamptonFC defender Virgil Van Dijk fit to play EFL Cup semi against @LFC . More to follow. #SaintsFC #SSNHQ

I'd take Benzema

Ah that's good news, bit of a late Christmas present for us all!

Yeah, totally. Have never been a massive fan of the ‘turns permanent after x amount of games’ deals. Those sort of deals have screwed many clubs up, similar happened with Sunderland and Ricky Alverez. They returned him as they didn’t want him, but Inter said…hang on, he’s played x amount of games therefore he is yours. It went back and forth for a while, but I think it ended up with Sunderland paying Inter the ‘fee’ and Inter keeping the player and sending him elsewhere. Cockup galore. But then that’s why Sunderland are where they are.

Clearly Napoli are holding out for the maximum they want, which they're entitled to. At the end of the day the club know he will need to be gone by the end of the window, so if someone doesn't pay what they want then they will come up with compromises all over the board. I can still see a loan on the last day being agreed.

Played really well today, marshaled the defense when VVD went off and played like a captain. We do need to replace Jose though, we're 1 or 2 knocks away from absolute carnage.

Really hard to make a huge judgement as there wasn't much going on in their attack, Romeu kept most of their efforts at bay. Couple of dodgy passes out from the back and a couple of bits of miss communication when himself and Yoshida went for the same balls, but it's hard to really come to any conclusion on that.

Really good effort today, we genuinely wanted it more and were a hell of a lot more hungry than Leicester. From the off we actually attacked them with a purpose and we really made the most of the fall back positions. We played with width and stretched the game, that made a huge difference. I think Danny Simpson must have been on the lash last night, we had him on toast all of that first half. The overlaps from Bertrand were terrific and that's a huge strength in his game, hope we see more of that. Cedric put in one of his best displays for us I thought, defensively resolute and attacking with purpose. The left and right back slots today were absolute key to the outcome. I know PEH will get some moans because of those shots, but I thought he played well in that first half. I love the way he can carry the ball through midfield and playing him in a more advanced CM role is perfect for him, I don't believe he'll ever be a holding type, but as a midfielder who can run with the ball between the line's he's probably one of our best. JWP stepped up massively today, very good on the ball but equally as good off it - always making himself available for a pass and picking up the holes all over Leicesters midfield, which to be fair was an absolute flaming mess. Jay held the ball up well, really well at times, and brought the wide players into the game. Pleased he got that goal and he's getting a run in the side at last, looks to be getting back to the original Jay-Rod again. We needed that though, reminded me a little of the WBA home game last year around this sort of time which flipped our season around - let's hope of a similar outcome this time round.

To be fair, I’m as positive as most but that is easy to pick apart. We’re not doing well, we’ve lost four in a row, we’re 14th in the league and knocked out of Europe. I don’t consider that doing well. It’s certainly not an absolute meltdown as some are saying, but it’s certainly not good either. Why are people now trying to make out that Jose was this error-prone centre half and we’ve carried him for the last 2 years? He was one of our best CB’s, one of the best in the league and we will miss that. He has not been making mistakes for the last 2 years. This month is certainly going to be a pivotal time.

Brilliant for us and a leader all the way from L1 to our top 6 finish last season - let's just forget the last 6 months! Best moment was his goal at Brighton - epic scenes. I also think one of his best achievements was how he overcame the dip in form in the NPC and calls for him to be replaced upon promotion, to turn into one of the best CB's in the league. Shows how determined the guy is and was. Will always go down as one of the best CB's we've ever had.

He's a decent pro, but I don't think I'll be the only one who is sat here a little dumbfounded and miffed if he's our main CB come the end of the transfer window. In a season whereby we don't score goals, let's not weaken our defence.

I would agree that the club are right to invest into the academy and that is probably what they are doing, but let us remember this is a long-term thing. Investment into the academy now isn’t going to improve our first team now, it may do in the course of a few years…but I don’t want to see us get into a position where we start to ignore the ‘here and now’ – we’ve done that before and it sent us to L1. We have replaced players that we have sold; there is no argument there – not sure why people keep saying we haven’t replaced Mane. I think the likes of Boufal will come to the fore next season and Hojbjerg is just crying out for a run in the side. Redmond is a good player and does not deserve anywhere near the criticism he gets. If anything its Claude’s comments at the start of the season, which painted Redmond in an odd light and made fans expect 20 goals etc. Still think that was quite a big OG by Claude.

I wonder if we'll ever find out what went on. The media black out in the club since he returned from the Euro's was very odd, you'd expect a club to make a big deal out of a returning European Champion...but we got nothing, very little mention of him all season via the club media. Cedric got his interview though. The lack of game time in the EL was also fishy as hell. Although his absence didn't have a direct impact on us failing to qualify, it seems incredibly odd to not play him in a single minute of any of the 6 games. I think he was only on the bench for one of them. My general assumption is that Fonte arrived back in the summer and the club were ready to give him the big fanfare, but he came back demanding the world and turned into a little too big for his shoes. The lack of EL appearances is probably just us wanting to maximize his sale should a big club come in for him, not that the club would ever admit that! £9m for him is a good deal financially, but it's only a good deal for the football club if we reinvest and go again - let's not go backwards by relying on Yoshida as our main CB. The last thing we need to be doing in a season whereby we don't score goals is to weaken our defence. Let's see what the club have up their sleeves in the next week or so....

I don't think we'll be replacing Fonte. These comments seem to suggest that Yoshida is our first choice now. http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/news/15037394.Gardos_hoping_for_Saints_chance/

onte said: “I signed for West Ham because they are a great club and a very big club. They have a lot of fans and I have known for a number of years how passionate they are. “The manager was also a very big influence. I thought that he really wanted me and that he sold me the project and the ambition of the Club. “I also have part of my family living in London and they are big West Ham fans. It just made sense for me at this stage to join West Ham. It is a new challenge and a new beginning and I am looking forward to it. “With the way that West Ham is going we can only look to be challenging in the top eight. “I told the manager in conversations that we want to win and we want to win trophies. The ambition is big and we need to aim high. “West Ham are a massive club and it is an exciting challenge and it should be for everyone. We all need to get together and start working.

That's a bit mental by Stoke, not sure why they've done it at that price. 6 months he's free. Up to £15m for someone who is free in 6 months? really? no thank you.

Seriously, Micah Richards? That just screams of someone wanting anyone, just anyone, please just sign someone, i don't care who...! Seriously though. I'd be seriously annoyed if we try to get by without replacing Fonte, no matter how it's spun by the club that will be seen as a lowering the quality of the squad. If there aren't any good enough replacements out there or are affordable to us then don't let fonte go. Simple.

Then you don't sell fonte....

I'd expect this one to come to a head in the final throws of the window. Player power will come to the fore in the end, I doubt as a professional he'll want to rot in the reserves for another 6 months. I think Liverpool are rightly holding out to see if they can get that bid now, but if they can't...then I can't imagine them blocking loan deals towards the end of the window.

To be fair, he was the only one busting a gut in the final throws of that game. For the final cross alone he deserves all the praise. I think the referee even said thanks.

The backways/sideways passing has really come about through a lack of confidence (it's easier to play it safe rather than take a gamble with a pass forward) and general imagination in the middle of the park, you'll notice that the gap between the front and the midfield is often too big. That comes about because the game is too slow through the middle and because the midfields are all pretty much the same sort of 'safe' type of player. This is why I've always thought that a proper attacking central midfielder is what we need, someone who can fill that gap between the midfield and the attack and has the imagination to spot the runs and the movement. I think that would make more of a difference to us than a striker, although I wouldn't say no to a striker as well!

I don't think there's loyalty in football in any sense, so I wouldn't expect it from the club. It's a business, if they don't feel that it's business sense to offer him the terms he wants then that's it. Loyalty won't come into it. Personally I think 80k for the next 2 years + is a lot of money for a club of our size. That sort of wage should be going on the Virgils etc, not players who are declining. Man City/Utd etc could probably stretch to that, but I don't think we're big enough to take that sort of risk. If this does happen - not that I've seen anything concrete yet - then I'd expect us to get another CB in sharpish. If the club decide to rely on Yoshida as his replacement then they have also given up on this season - no disrespect to Yoshida, but he's a great squad player, if we want to be where we were last season then we need better players than him in the 11 on a regular basis.