david in sweden

maybe a good choice, if he can " follow " his U16's to the higher level and continue to improve them.

I 've always said that getting promoted from the Championship is much more tham simply replacing last season's 18, 19 and 20. It's light years away for some. ..... so just think how good a teenage lad must be, who steps up from the Academy for his first team debut? A tough call, but the really good ones can make it.

Amen to that !

IMHO ....MP inherited a fairly good squad in the first place, but had the tactical nous to improve it, which (sadly) Nigel Adkins had lacked at that level. With a clever bit of " tweaking ", he upped the tempo and work-rate and turned a good side ... into a very good side. The Saints team played better, because they could sense some form of glory ....ahead of simple Prem. survival. At White Hart Lane, the impatient Chairman (and their fans) can hardly remember their Glory Glory days, and will be in his back after every poor result. If we beat Spuds at WHL, he may follow one of his predecessors.... sooner than he thinks.

In every successful side there are always " unsung heroes " who seem to be ignored by almost everyone - except the manager. Those who go back far enough may recall that former St.Mary's College schoolboy....Nick Holmes from Woolston, who played over 500 games games throughout Lawrie McMenemy's managerial time, and was used in almost every position on the field during his 14 year career.. and without ever winning an international cap at any level. His well-deserved FA Cup winners medal was a just reward. He was one of Mc Menemy's "road-sweepers"...doing the hard work, so that the " stars " could see the glory. For me, Steve Davis and Jack Cork are in the same mould - I hope they get more credit.

......and did'nt I ....hear / read ....somewhere that RK said they would make a decision about a contract around Christmas time??

a good observation Andoru ....which many people seem to have missed. In the summer, we signed (amongst others) a 17 y.o Arsenal Academy " reject " named Harley Willard....who has already been " fast-tracked " into a recent U21 squad. Young players develop at different rates.

I'd also noted that, but thought it was a bit early season to comment / criticise (I know the OP wasn't that, but you begin to wonder), what has gone wrong? a quick look back 7 or 8 years ago shows a Youth squad which got to a FA Youth Cup final one year, with unknown names like Theo Walcott and Gareth Bale....and that lad who had the heart problem..what's 'is name ..Adam somebody.... but a bigger surprise are the other names in those squads ..who would raise a chorus of..... WHO ?......from lots of people. Whatever happened to them ? Times have changed in the 50+ years I've been a fan. When Ted Bates periodically " experimented " by giving a promising 21 year old a debut game, people wondered if it was too daring a move, but nowadays a 21 y.o. who hasn't debuted is probably going out of the door by the end of season. The truth is that we have a larger proportion of Academy graduates who make a first team debut than most other Prem.sides, after which .....anything can happen to their career. Some just don't make it past the U18 stage, even those others who stay on an extra year may still not get any game time, and are on the move. Our Academy has produced a long string of good footballers, many of whom have made a good career start - even though it isn't at Prem.level -but we may soon see one or two names of " late-developers " who eventually come through and " make it to the top " . When that happens...some will shout ..why ever did we let him go? ...when in fact decisions have to be made, and sometimes we get them wrong. Despite his success with introducing young players, Lawrie Mac made one or two embarrassing decisions like that, as well as many of those managers who came after him. What's the betting that one or two of the lads in those .. presently losing Youth squads ...won't one day play for England? We just hope it's when they are still with Saints. The bottom line is; " a good team is a balance of youth and experience " quote from the late Ted Bates, and we can still only field 11 players out at a time.

After Pochettino's disasterous FA Cup selections (Sunderland last season) Saints fans deserve a cup-run, and with Wenger concentrating on staying in the CL, we should be able to field a side to win this tie. With 7 or 8 (?) Prem.sides already eliminated from the competition, we ought to be in with a shout .....if we can hold our early season form. Here's hoping!

as a postscript to this thread, and after today's games at Leicester (Man.Utd) Everton and Tottenham, I really feel elated..in fact ...I haven't had so much fun for ages. I suppose some people are shocked and think we should feel sorry for them, but I don't . Having spent all that money ..it's just ridiculously funny. AT LAST, along with Liverpool, they have been reduced to being " very ordinary " mid-table Prem. sides...:lol:

........that goes for all last season's deserters too...." the magic " only works at St.Mary's .....

yes looks good . Only conceded once in four League games.. but Tuesday night will be a good test... I know it's VERY early days, but looking at tonight's table ....I asked myself .....Where are last season's top 10 clubs just now?. It may only last for a few weeks, but it's fun looking at the table....over ...and.... over again.

agree here. Jos has gone - on loan yes,( but is OOC next summer). Yoshida blows a bit hot and cold, plays OK sometimes, but then again ....... finally Jose Fonte, (bless him), a great club servant is 31 now ?...and will have to play very well to stay in the frame from now on.

I shouldn't worry too much, you're not the only one, but one of the first to come on and own up to it..... Many decades of following football have taught me that I don't prognosticate on potential League positions until after about game 7 or 8.... ......and so despite our very promising start and MU and L'pool very poor showing, I won't change my methods now, but I'll return to this after the next international break.. nevertheless it's an interesting thread to have ....THX.

almost certainly......but I just hope Cork isn't one of them. If we can find replacements of the quality of Bertrand, Tadic and Pelle....they won't be too much of a loss.

as for Wenger's Arsenal squad.....IMO ...I think Morgan would be a highly desireable luxury..... whereas Victor is an absolute necessity ..

well of course, even before that he did persuade Marcus to put up the money to save the club from extinction.... .....but on the plus side, he put the club on a sound financial basis (even if it was only out of ML's petty cash in the first place). Totally modernised the administration with state of the art methodology, and carried through the planning for Staplewood, and restructured the Academy. Well overdue and necessary. on the other hand (-) ..totally ruthless with his personnel policy. Given time he might have sacked more managers that Daniel Levy.....and made enemies of some of the clubs legendary names. What he did (organisationally) he did well, but the way he did it scared me....his man management skills were the worst I've seen in a lifetime. He may have understood business, but was no football fan. I've seen more of a " human touch " through four interviews with Ralph Kreuger than 4 years with Nicola Cortese.

that about wraps it up, I guess....

...after which, he'll be on the last 6 months of his contract and therefore able to negotiate with SFC / other clubs.

........and the clock is ticking ......

.......how long will it take Brendan to figure that one out, I wonder?

which half of me did you think was bi-polar? or

Oh I know that Charlie, but I had a quiet morning and the idea seemed a good one to float.... (also Looks like Lovren isn't really good enough for L'pool, but that's what happens with clubs who are obsessed with winning CL, and give their managers an open cheque book...)

.....and they'll be a lot of spare column inches to fill before January.....

well, of course not..and TBF ...I don't really expect it to happen, but it's all good-much raking from the media, isnt it?