david in sweden

stroll on ...joke right ?.....this will become the reverse thread of those who always say .....we DON'T sign players early enough, and always wait till the last day ......

:yawn:Mmmmm.....had a long sleep-in did you?

.....you may still be right, Dibden. we'll see soon I'm sure.

Well does that surprise me -or not?, I wonder. For folk over here .... he was " the Swedish David Beckham " when he started out as a teenager, and always looked superb in his club games. His advancement to the national squad made a big name and he became a sort of iconic figure. His final game for Elfsborg (before moving to SMS)..produced the goal of the decade (I should think) ..a left wing solo run and a blistering left-footer ...but from 40 yards out ! Goalie hardly moved !

....are you sure?

well the game against the Faroe Islands (WHO ? ).......I hear you saying. A former Danish dependency in the Arctic region (pop. +/- 50,000) they are (like San Marino and Andorra always the bottom of their group, in which scoring a goal can be the subject of national celebration. well anyway....after scraping together a side that head been hit by two suspensions, two "expectant " fathers, assorted injuries and drop-outs PLUS 3 other players who were injured in training before the game ...Sweden managed an fairly unspectacular 2-0 victory with two goals (inevitably) from Zlatan Ibrahimovitch, the first a deflected freekick .and a late penalty and looked anything but convincing. The previously mentioned Kim Källström made a pathetic showing before Anders S. came on and steadied up the midfield and might have been MOM had it not been for Zlatan's goals. Everyone is on tenderhooks as Sweden are one of THREE sides in joint second spot (on 11 points) and with 2 upcoming away games in Dublin and Kazakstan the future looks pretty ominous for the Swedes to qualify for Rio. However, Coach Erik Hamren's real problem is in finding another striker good enough to play alongside Zlatan, (who is a one-man goal machine) and who is rapidly approaching the Swedish record tally of 49 international goals by a former legendary player and which dates back to the 1950's). All in all Swedish fans are having a good old moan, which puts them in the same bracket as a lot of English fans at present, I guess.

and the other "sad " thing was that Steve ended up with ......just 99 goals in 217 apps+12 subs for Saints. Almost 0,50 goals /games -a fantastic average. He certainly deserved a place in the 100 club, if anyone did.

it's not enough to be a good player and worth a place, you've got to earn it and be better than the fellow who's got the shirt..... If he thinks he's good enough then....who would he replace?

well now 'Arry says" he is committed to QPR." .....when have I heard that phrase before? Doesn't he mean that he should be committed by QPR.......at least as far as I can see their chairman's the one who ought to be " sectioned " for allowing himself to be taken in ...........

.....and MP chose the most experienced one, in two games that hung in the balance, and at a time when we weren't safe. (good call) ..... don't just throw the guy in for the sake of it. Had we been 2 goals up and made a subbing, then maybe YES, but against Liverpool when Jos was injured early on, and the West Brom game when everyone was **** and we conceded 3 goals ..not a good time for a debut. I think that MP was ....." happy with the back four " (as you put it), and kept faith with them.

.......in which category:?

of course (in theory) that is correct, but I go back to my original comment. We lost only 2 of our last 10 games, were within 5 minutes of earning a point at Spurs, so why would he (MP) want to change the line-up just to please some fans? Forran was on the bench in 6 of the last 10 matches, and in 2 of those Jos was subbed with Fonte, an far more experienced player - good decision IMHO). I wouldn't start " experimenting " when we still weren't sure of safety - especially as we drew 5 of the last 10 games. Had we lost 1 or 2 of those games we might have been down instead of Wigan. I don't know why people want to criticise players who haven't played - just because they haven't played. His time will come. ...it's the manager 's decision (thankfully), and security was a priority right up to the beginning of May. Fonte looked better after he came back in March, after showing some very indifferent form prior to that .....(thankfully when Jos and Yoshida were the first choices).

...sounds like most of our football clubs - doesn't it? ......they " remain British" , but are not actually British-owned......

Almost 30 years in Sweden...but I still get back to see a few games, otherwise it's Saints Web, News now..and watch matches on one of the streamed threads, which occasionally show U21 games, too... so I rarely " miss" a game even if when don't get to SMS. Also enjoy those those You Tube posts showing match highlights and goals.

well of course, no side is totally static, is it ....it's a squad game . but at the moment we have; Clyne, Shaw, Lallana, Cork, JWP, Rodriguez, Puncheon and Lambert as regular names on the team sheet, although I welcome the " foreigners" we have ; Boruc, Schneiderlin, and Steve Davis in particular. If /when we sign more "non-English players " they will most likely replace other foreigners.......Fonte, Jos, Ramirez.... ? I don't think that any other Prem. side team has quite so many regular ENGLISH players as we have at present ?-----certainly none of the " so-called " successful sides. I think I'm right in saying that the majority of the " next-generation " Academy lads to surface will be English-born....so I don't think there is so much to worry about - do we ?

...Are you're suggesting that our U21 side is a good squad ? Clyne has played more Prem.games than most of them put together....... (joke of the week, surely ?)

yes that's correct. Anders Svensson (37 in July) is being touted as the new answer to Sweden's midfield problems. Forget his age...... if he's good enough........and just now - he looks fitter than David Beckham did last year. Around about the time that Anders returned to Sweden (from Saints)... he became the subject of a " hate campaign " from some of the top journos in the Swedish Press saying he was past it, and should be replaced by the up-and-coming Kim Källström. Despite good club performances, Källström seldom delivered and blew hot-and-cold when it came to international fixtures, and now looks to be out of the reckoning ....and who's most likely to become first choice - YES you've guessed it - ANDERS .....already with his 130+ Swedish caps, he is only a handful away from the Swedish record (of former goalie Thomas Ravelli's 143).... and is about to play the Prodigal role in Sweden's fast-disappearing World Cup campaign, having lost 1-2 in Austria this week. Could it be he'll make a real comeback, instead of playing the eternal sub. role of late? . ...WATCH THIS SPACE .

good choices..... I'd go with that, too.

SWEDISH COMMENT; Jacobsson was already past his prime before coming to Saints, (yet two/three years earlier, he and Michael Svensson had been the rock of the Swedish defence) Nilsson (to be fair to him)...looked really good (in Sweden) as an attacking midfielder, but after being selected for the Swedish squad was suddenly "press-ganged " into the RB spot because of a massive injury crisis. He played well for a few v. good games against easy opposition....and suddenly Saints thought they'd bought a good RB .(WRONG !) However, I wouldn't disagree with your judgement (in their time at SFC).

........and the rest ...as they say .. .is History!

being " good enough " to get a cap, also means you have to be better than the fella' who's got that spot at present...and that's a lot harder.....it's down to the manager and the "media pressure" .and to be fair, playing well for Saints doesn't necessarily qualify you to play for ( England / your country). Especially difficult for foreign players in England (unless they're really world-class), the manager will most often select " domestic players " first. Ask yourself why is Morgan is not in the French squad?........ However, I wouldn't want to argue that (anyone) on the OP list didn't play exceptionally well for large parts of their career, but that doesn't always mean they get selected. If it did ....the likes of MLT and Beattie would have had lots more caps.

I agree with that part...but he did pick up a knock in training sometime in the Spring, if I recall correctly(?) but was selected for the bench on 7 occasions... however, we did enough to win points in 5 of those 7 games... ......the two games we lost were Spurs away (when we conceded in the 86th minute)......and WBA ..when, to be fair ...half the team could have been subbed. - and we still wouldn't have won ! . perhaps it's just down to the fact that MP didn't feel he needed to use him?

there is a LOT of difference between the standards of the Norwegian League and The Prem...even if he was a top player ..there was no way he was going to walk into our first team. So maybe not so surprising then, whatever happened to the phrase ..." one for the future ?"

I'd go with Parkinson, Jaidi and Colleter.... but " the local boy " supplying MLT " on his debut " ...????? is that " the local boy's" debut? ...or MLT's debut ?........I'm going for the first option and so I'll say... Paul Rideout (he was reasonably local I suppose) -and they did play at about the same time.

Of course, I'm a bit disappointed, but it's fair to say there have been extenuating circumstances; not starting from day 1, family bereavement, illness etc. and moving to a new country, new culture/language can take some adjustment for a young man. It's easy to praise foreign strikers who score with ease, but Prem. midfielders need a v.high standard of fitness and he has seldom lasted an entire match, and clearly is still trying to adapt to the rough and tumble of Prem. He has shown some great touches and class movements and a couple of top class finishes. Inevitably the £12 million price tag has singled him out as someone who seems to be expected to play like a " Superman " , Cortese has a difficult decision here, and it's a sort of Catch 22 scenario. IF Ramirez wants a move back to one of the Italian clubs clammering for his signature, we'd certainly recoup the original fee - and probably a bit more. On the other hand, if he grows in reputation and becomes really top class - then we were too impatient and will have lost a good player, (but at least he wouldn't be moving to another Prem.side) IF he stays, and continues this "wayward " form then his worth to the team... and his fiscal valuation will drop and he'll just become another " wannabe " who didn't make the grade, and cost us a lot of money to find out. Like everyone else, I'd like to see him perform brilliantly in the Prem, but somehow it's difficult to picture that just now. In the short term, the first option may be the best (for all concerned) and we can search for someone else with a better track record .