Saint Martini

I don't believe we're wasting our time. Wasting our time would be going for squad players instead of clear improvements on our current squad. As long as players and their agents don't flat-out dismiss us as an option we're targeting players that might want to come to us. Wanyama, Damiano and Banega have all been linked to us and so far it seems that all players have/had an interest in coming to Southampton and we seem to have the money to get their clubs to sell as well. No we might not sign any of them but that doesn't mean we're going for unrealistic targets since there was always a decent chance they would sign for us. Lets just hope we manage to make a signing that is a statement of intent (besides Lovren).

Maybe I'm missing something but is this kind of approach more usual for certain Asian airlines? I can't really understand your last comment in relation to the article.

Is 9 for Schneiderlin a sign he isn't an accurate tackler? You have to see it in context, how many of those yellows were last ditch saving another players skin, how many of those we ill-timed in the middle of the park and unnecessary? His tackle successrate would indicate he is an excellent tackler, the yellows don't say anything, for all we know he got them for diving.

Which newspaper/website? I can't find anything.

I think it might mean that Internacionals junior team is playing in some kind of final against Juventude...

Turkish media reporting we're interested in Miroslav Stoch. http://www.fotomac.com.tr/Fenerbahce/2013/06/18/stochun-talibi-southampton?id=a49a9a97-2420-4c32-b4e9-ecd543c8c788

If we look at our latest signings we have a blend of British & foreign signings (British: Clyne & Rodriguez, Foreign: Mayuka, Yosh, Boruc, Gazza, Forren, Ramirez). I'm not entirely sure if we should even count Boruc as he was a panic signing but if we combine the signings with the additions from the academy (Shaw and JWP became regular first team players) then there's a nice mix. If you have to players of similar quality you should always go for the British one first but if the price gets driven up just because he is British or if he is not on a similar level as the foreign alternative then why would you go for the British player? Of course the club has a responsibility when it comes to developing future England players but that is something you mainly do with your academy, not through signing 18-20 year old PL ready players.

You forgot Ben Reeves, he played a few matches earlier in the season and is still U21.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index The 'right' objective answer is Norway. ;-)

This is exactly what I thought when I voted sash. We've played in stripes almost every season since I started following Saints but that doesn't mean that you have to continue with it just because. We have several different designs that can make us stand out more and that also have a historic connection with the club. I'd like the club to go out and have the sash for a few seasons, so that that design becomes the one people identify us with.

Could the date of publication of the articles be added to the opening post? That could come in quite handy later in the summer when the list is a lot longer.

I totally agree, a shame Stoke got a few wins at the end because I would have loved to have seen them go down instead of Wigan. But if they don't change their team drastically they're going to have a difficult season next year. Nah, watch the highlights of Spurs - Sunderland you'll see a ref booking Bale for a dive (when a penalty should have been given) and also not give to blatant handballs that should have led to penalties. Lee Probert was awesome in comparison.

If the choice is between two PL clubs and one finished 17th and one 10th then I'm quite sure most players would choose the club finishing 10th. Even if the other club pays slightly more you want to minimize the risk of a relegation battle and even though there's only a few points difference this year between those positions it will give a feeling of security that I would want as a player. Especially if the player in question playing for his national team, because there's no way he's getting selected if he's in the Championship.

7/10 Not bad considering I'm better at two other languages

We lack pace down the wing without him. With both Davis and Lallana in attacking midfield positions we become very narrow and predictable. I also think it is one of the reasons Ricky hasn't scored from open play for a while. It is one of the decisions I don't really get with Pochettino. Why doesn't he get a decent chance? Its for all to see we're very ineffective at the moment and Puncheon has been rather good at finishing his chances.

You can do what ever you want with your company but since the UEFA decides who gets to join their competitions they can dictate the terms of those clubs that would want to participate. In the end the decision to adhere to the rules is voluntary.

Winning is not that important in development teams. Its about player developement, not results. If you focus on results in development teams there's a big risk you pick physically mature players over players with high technical abilty but that are not as physically mature. In short, I don't really care how many matches the U18s & U21s win as long as players keep being promoted to the first team.

Ross Turnbull ≠ Jordan Turnbull It would be really good to get a centreback through the academy used to play the way the first team plays. Not many defenders are up for grabs that can both defend and have above average passing ability.

I don't see Martin Hunter claiming Forren is a waste of money. That is a valid comment. What is ridiculously ignorant and showing "no understanding of the game" is to claim a player is a waste of money 3 months after having arrived at a club.

Rodriguez: Stop Tickling me!

Swansea are so good at passing the ball. We need to make sure that we don't tire ourselves to much chasing shadows.

There was an interview in a Dutch newspaper a few weeks ago where he commented on his situation. He was very happy how things were going. It was always going to be a big step from Vitesse to Man Utd and so far he is happy with the games he has played and knows that if he keeps improving he'll get more chances next year. Now you can argue he would have been better off at Saints but to condemn a player for just not choosing Saints is too easy. Its not like he went to Russia or Qatar to fill his wallet.

You can argue its not smart to be so vocal about such opinions but we shouldn't kid ourselves, most players want to go to bigger clubs (if we don't become a bigger club ourselves short-term). This is also good, this gives them the ambition to get better every day. If you have players that are content and do not have an inner drive to perform day-in-day-out you become QPR.

In a way staying up this year is better then winning the Championship just because you're higher up the league ladder. On the other hand you have very different resources at your disposal when you get to the PL and when you're there finishing 17th or higher is easier then finishing top-2 or winning the playoffs statistically. Every year in the Championship there are about 8-10 teams that fight for promotion/playoffs (3 out of 8 succeed), in the PL you have somewhere between 6-8 teams fighting against relegation (3 out of 6 succeed). That's why in my opinion getting out of the Championship (and especially with the amount of investment we had last year) is harder then staying up with the investment we made this year.

This is what I don't agree with in your analysis. There is no better alternativ. Fonte is as much of a risk because he's not as good in the air, rather rash in the tackle himself and he has a habit of trying to swapjerseys during the game. Yoshida plays better with Jos then with Fonte which makes my choice for the rest of the season Jos.