S-Clarke

Arsenal just have too many of the same player. Ozil, Ramsey, Cazorla, Wiltshire. They're all the same player. Jinking number 10's, who like to cut inside. I'm not sure why he thinks he can have all of those in one team, it will never work as it will just be a frustrating watch.

What ever happened to Callum Chambers? is he injured? he just seems to have dropped off the face of the earth.

Come on for christ sake, you can't call Jack Cork a goal scorer, it took him 3 years to notch one. He's the same sort of player, he's a deeper midfielder, not an attacking type. He was tried in that number 10 role, I remember Koeman alluding to it - but he wasn't suited.

Oh please stop.

Sometimes you can get lucky, and Beattie only had 1 20 goal season. But using the ''lack of a 20 goal a season striker'' as a bat to hit the club over our signings isn't fair at all. I don't know how you can say I'm sanctimonious, it's just the reality these days, it's just that some people have delusions of grandeur. The only way we will get a 20 goal a season striker is to buy a young, up and coming player who has the potential. After a few seasons he may become that. But I don't believe we're ever going to be in a position to go and buy a ready made 20 goal a season striker.

Yes, because we can afford to have one of them. Christ, what do people expect.

He wanted week in - week out first team football, Morgan and Wanyama, when fit, would play before him. An undeniable fact. He didn't want to sit around for the rest of the season in the hope that either Morgan or Wanyama got injured/suspended so he could play. He made a footballing decision and went for game time, and fair play to him for that. Quite a few players are happy to sit around and pass the time of day whilst picking up top $$$ and are rightly criticised for that. But I hold nothing against him for his decision, top lad.

To be fair that's not much of challenge, is it? 13/14: 8 Southampton 38 54 (GF) 46 (GA) +8 56 14/15 (so far) 7 Southampton 36 48 (GF) 30 (GA) +18 57 So we have undeniably improved from last year. The cold-hard facts are there. Who do we blame for hitting a brick wall? The 'big clubs', TV money, FFP. Take your pick. To compete for as long as we did with that lot is admirable, players aren't super heroes and we were going to dip eventually. The typical over-reactions to our dip doesn't surprise me though, because that's all it is. Over reaction. Toby has played, what, 3 or 4 games in CM - that's not really worth adding to a debate, it just coincided with the poor form of everyone else. I think we've shown great ambition over the course of this season, but why people expect us to become a CL club overnight is beyond me. A club like ours needs to take it steady, slowly, no point in using January to splash loads and loads and loads of money at mega players in the hope of keeping in the top 4 - because that would not have been a common sense decision. The glass ceiling, as i alluded to above, is a real thing. The only way clubs like ourselves have a chance of breaking it is to keep chipping away...year after year, keep knocking, and eventually it may break.

He really believes this **** as well. Maybe if he actually managed a team correctly, they'd actually manage to achieve something. His idea of management is to buy lots of experienced pro's, put them together and let them play. If they can't get results then it's nothing wrong with him, f'sure.

It's not been a dismal end to the season really, we've just hit a brick wall in terms of squad and fitness. We set such high targets in the first half that it was obvious we weren't going to be able to sustain that, the fact we did for so long is a testament to the players. It's been an inconsistent end (not dismal), I'll give you that, but we've done what no one believed was even possible a year ago - we improved on last year. I agree that Elia and Djuricic have been rubbish, but Tadic hasn't. He's struggled fitness wise in the 2nd half for sure, but he made a big enough impact in the first half of the season to be considered a success by most of us. What do you mean, over-hyped Toby? Why has he been over-hyped exactly? He's a terrific player, a little bit injury prone and fragile at times, but a terrific player. If you're not that struck by him then god knows what your expectations are. Overall it has been a surprising season. I never thought we'd struggle, but I didn't expect us to do this well. The watershed moment in pre-season for me was Koeman being appointed, it was at that moment I believed in our ambition again. He's a terrific manager, an honorable and respected person all over the world - we're lucky to have such a high profile guy leading us. Sometimes I wonder what people expect from Southampton.

See, the first time wasn't his fault though. F'sure. He had to deal with a lot and did the best he could in such a short space of time. The way he got them promoted the 2nd year, limping over the line in the play offs, despite having the most expensive ever NPC squad, was a thing of beauty. What a manager. Hate the way he's worshiped by the media. He is nothing but a washed up old man with dodgy knees.

As expected, one of the reasons QPR got relegated was..... 5: Loss of Redknapp Harry Redknapp stepping down as manager early in February hit the club hard. Chris Ramsey was a willing replacement but lacked Redknapp’s experience at this level to steer the club away from the danger zone. He was also given limited time to do it. Of course it was, of course.

It wasn't to be honest. I've seen a lot worse. Leeds away in the cup a couple of seasons ago, Sheffield United away this season, Blackpool away in the NPC, Arsenal away, Sunderland away last season in the FA Cup. Stop overreacting.

I think in many ways he was a bit strangled last year, we had a mutiny on our hands and we couldn't really focus on massively improving the gaps we already had, we just had to replace and go like for like, so we could at least be competitive. I think some will question some acquisitions, but in the most part - players like Mane, Toby, Tadic, Betrand, Forster are of top, top quality. We'll probably lose maybe 1 or 2 in the summer, but I think the focus will be a lot more on improving what we had, rather than buying replacements to stay at the same level. We've improved every year for the last 5/6 years and that sort of record suggests that the people behind the scenes know exactly what they're doing.

He can only do so much with what he's got though, and it's pretty threadbare at the moment and the players playing seem to be physically exhausted. Sometimes that's football for clubs like ourselves and whilst it looks like Koeman has run out of idea's, I don't think it's the case.

This is the same as last year, the bigger clubs with the bigger squads will dig in around February/March/April and usually pull away. Whilst we're still lingering around, we've lost players, had injuries and whilst the big clubs can freshen it up, we can't - and that's where we begin to fall away. Some of the games this year we have put in an enormous effort, Chelsea at home in the final 15 mins, Chelsea away, Man Utd away. A lot of these lads are probably mentally and physically exhausted. It's clear that Tadic in particular hasn't been able to cope with the physical demands in the 2nd half of the season, I'm still hopeful that after the pre-season we will have a much more consistent player there. He's obviously very talented. The ''glass ceiling'' for clubs like us is a very real thing, and like last year, we've hit it with force and knocked ourselves out yet again. I'll take this every year over a mid-table bore fest though, keeps it interesting for 3/4's of the season at least. It allows us to dream at the very least.

Can't be any worse than Gazzaniga. Sign him up.

Still, you've got no justification for your thoughts. You're not doing very well to dispel your mentalist reputation. One line in particular in your waffle above stands out ''From the start I warned what to expect from Koeman and he's lived pretty much up to what I said back in August''. What did you say in August? ''Koeman will get us a higher finish than last year, with a higher points total. You have been warned'' Some people try to put across extreme views for reaction, but with you I genuinely believe it's what you think. You've always been a character on here but you are turning into a real lunatic with your outlandish views. How are Morgan's fingers by the way?

2 games out of 50 odd. I was hoping his loan this year would establish him in the PL, but he can't even get in Hull's team. Get shot asap, his wages could be used on someone far more useful. We'll take a huge loss on his and Osvalod's transfer fee's, but in one way it's a lesson that so-called 'marquee' signings don't always work out. I wouldn't touch any more players from Italy tbh, especially South American's. Abel Hernandez is another example, seen as a marquee and a coup by Hull for something like £10m - he is **** in this league. But hopefully we're not left with Osvaldo being our transfer record for as long as Delap was.

Based on what, his past achievements? Their performances and totally eclipsed Vargas this season.

Austin and Phillips would add to our squad, that's about it though. Wouldn't go near anyone else at that club.

What a mess Redkrapp left QPR in - but after they are relegated today, it will be all about Ramsey and how he couldn't keep them up. They're probably heading into oblivion right now (they league may not let them in it next year, due to their failed FFP), and it'll be another club that obliterated thanks to Redkrapps doing.

Why are some people so sure Morgan is back by the way? Koeman said he could be available for the City game, but there is a small chance of a surprise that he could feature against Villa. If he is somehow available for Saturday, he'd only be on the bench I'm sure.

If they had, do you think it would be made public? No. HTH.

Did you see what he did to create the 2nd goal? It was his utter cock up that created the chaos. He's an utterly hopeless goal keeper, it's pointless saying otherwise. He needs to go in the summer, he shouldn't be anywhere near a club with top 6 aspirations in the NPC, let alone the PL. He's never been good enough and never will be.