Badger

Found this amusing. Feel sorry for Ranieri and the calls for him to go after last season, but that demonstrates the fickleness of fans.* * at other clubs that is, not ours.

Result was just what the Doctor ordered. Needed boost to confidence ahead of our trip to Anfield, just hope it isn't undone by VVD's injury and not being available on Wednesday.

Neither did I. Wish I hadn't seen that record before the match, we know how obliging we can be for teams turning round their bad fortune, or players having not scored for weeks.

Is he a team mate of Gashton's?

Agree,although we'll have to see if new leaders emerge, especially after VVD if he leaves in the summer. At the moment though we do appear to lack leadership, on the pitch, on the touchline.We can only speculate on the boardroom.

That ended well at West Ham didn't it?

Best - his part of the climb from L1, and seeing both the team and him reach new levels. Worst - agree with Nordic, this season has gone a bit sour, amidst various rumblings of the 'Billy Big B ... ' , and rumoured falling out with various parties. Will also miss his song, okay a bit tiresome after 7 years, but at least it was different.

A disappointing end to his time with us having been such a stalwart in our climb from L1, the last of the nucleus of the team that have seen us climb two divisions and into Europe. Whether its a good deal or not will depend entirely on what Saints do next to replace him. Will be fondly remembered for his time with us and being an integral part in our climb up the league. Shame it turned sour towards the end.

Bertrand is an interesting option. Keane - no chance. Leeds bloke - would they even consider selling whilst in contention for the play offs ?

I think we were linked with Simon Kjaer before but nothing came of it. On the subject of whether to replace Fonte or not, I too think it would be foolish to rely on VVD/Yoshida, and only the untried Stephens, and unsure of Gardos as back up. Of the names mentioned Schar stood out for me. He was highly regarded as an up and coming prospect at Basle, and linked with Chelsea, Arsenal etc. Now he's had a year or so in a stronger league he may be ready for a step up to the Premiership.Not sure if we'd prise him away in January though. Hoffenheim seem to be a bit of a German equivalent of Saints bringing young players through, and giving 'imports' such as Schar their chance in a stronger lead. Perhaps we should look to them to replace Celtic as our main 'feeder club'.

Worrying.

I expect Puel is just an innocent bystander in this caught up between the Reed - Fonte feud.

Yet Solent were saying his agent had advised him to accept Saints offer. Agree that bridges appear to have been burnt. Great shame that a player that has been such a part of our rise ends his time here in this way. Although I read that he came back from the Euro's a changed player, I go along with someone elses comment above that the whole episode tends to support the fact that things are not right behind the scenes. Whether that is Reed, Puel, or as widely suggested Black, its a great shame. Just hope this is prevented from spiraling out of control.

Wouldn't worry, as I don't suppose Reed will want to either

Did his best to f^ck it up

Age 29, I'm not sure the club would entrust the role to him. I do wonder though if perhaps its the DoF or Sporting Director role that needs to be upgraded with a younger version, as someone pointed out on another thread yesterday Reed is 65 later this year. Reading an article about the Red Bull franchise (Leipzig in particular), and Rangnick appears to have overseen a pretty impressive growth and scouting there.

Wasn't Kelvin meant to have had a player- liaison sort of role ? Even without that I can't believe the rumoured issues with Black have not been brought to the attention of the hierarchy (Reed at least).

Pathetic.

Noted this comment on his twitter feed: Obviously influenced by brotherly bias. I wouldn't be so sure. AFCB apart, his finishing is about as feeble as everyone else.

Let's hope so.

All too familiar story though ... What did Napoleon say about his generals ?

Don't we have an England goalkeeper to rely on ?

Not if we can't score goals, and habitually concede soft ones we won't. All very well people making lame statements such as "bit unlucky today", "played well today but..", "on another day we'd..." . Today follows a familiar pattern of matches at Palace, Hull, even Everton, where we do nearly enough until we get near their penalty area, or the opposition have a shot at Forster. As we all know - bar Reed it seems - we need a striker, and a goalkeeper who can use his hands more effectively wouldn't go amiss either. Shame about McCarthy not being available as I expect he'd have taken the position over the last few week.

That's what goalkeepers do - make saves that matter. Wish someone would tell our lumbering giant.

Return of Javi ?