david in sweden

Agreed, but what is his best position in this line-up ? Seems to me he and Ramirez are almost playing the same role...we had no width at all yesterday, and Puncheon should have been higher up and playing wide.

Shaw doesn't seem 100% yet after his injuries.....and of course we want to see our youngsters coming on, but it's hardly the time to debut a youngster when we are struggling to keep a clean sheet. If we were mid-table and wanted to experiment - then OK, but we need experience.....Does anyone know if Alvarez is OOC and able to sign now ..or ?

I really didn't expect him to be offered a new contract as I thought they had " someone " else up their sleeve for next season. JP has been almost invisible in some recent games. At the tail end of last year he was playing wide on the right, but now he seems to have dropped deeper and hardly get a touch.

unfortunately for him, the story was over even before he left Saints, but Newcastle (Pardew) didn't see it. The lad needs help (big time) ...if anyone is prepared to offer it.

as MP said.......in the second half, Newcastle had one shot ..and got two goals ! For all their possession they didn't achieve more, and were handed the points (no pun intended)...and the penalty wasn't even a penalty (see other thread).

AGREED ..and perhaps a few more goals will convince everyone it was a good decision.

MY assessment. YES - both have / have had ...the title " Chairman". I'd substitute the word " determined " instead of " stubborn ", and if you have a vision you must be single-minded, and not be swayed by other negative opinions and criticism. This may lead to the assumption that they have limited people skills. I think Cortese probably " lacks skill " with people who have limited abilities / old-fashioned ideas. I wonder if Lowe would have " made -up " with an errant Puncheon.. and kept him on?. (Rumour had it) that Lowe turned down Didier Drogba...because he thought he had "an attitude". Huge EGO's ?....Ego is a strangely-used word meaning different things to different people. Without getting too psychological, I'd say that RL was a prime example of someone who liked to call the shots in his way, and be seen to succeed and accept the glory. He made some every positive decisions (actually doing something about SMS, the Academy, taking positive action in managerial crises; DJ / Hoddle and Strachan. but he was clearly an acquired taste, and when things went wrong (post Strachan) made some poor judgements. I don't think the Woodward appointment was a bad idea, but it was bad timing as the entire concept was clearly way over ' arry's ' ead, which that led to his murmurs of disapproval. Many of the " Woodward ideas" were subsequently adopted at a later date. After HR's departure, Lowe clearly lost the plot, in the financial area (poor signings / salaries / transfer fees). Neither Lowe (a committed hockey fan) and the criticism that he wasn't " football " or Cortese seems to have much of a " footballing " background - ....except that Cortese had been used to dealing with very rich people in the sport sector for more than 10 years, and would have realised what " big money " was about, and must have seen clubs driven to bankruptcy through poor decision-making / lack of financial control at Board level. Cortese has (unless I'm mistaken) ..given only THREE/ FOUR interviews (?) in 3 years since taking over running the club, and seemed to be very low-key despite his driving ambition. Not the anticipated behaviour pattern from someone with a (supposedly).. " big ego " . Who made that statement, anyway ? Recently, (after the MP appointment) NC stated (something like) " .....if I have to suffer some personal criticism for the sake of the club's success, then I will do so " I could never see Rupert Lowe making that sort of statement. Rupert Lowe saw himself as the Chairman of a Premier League club. Nicola Cortese (I dare to suggest) sees himself as the Chairman of a leading club in Europe, it's just that we haven't achieved that level yet....but many people laughed aloud when he made that statement.... whilst Saints were in the relegation zone of L1. Many of his " decisions " were at first, unpopular at " fan level ", but few of them have affected the clubs success - quite the opposite. Similarities? ....perhaps not so many...

We all have opinions, but this is one area where I have some expertise - namely language /communication, as I have worked with around 50+ different nationalities in the last 25+ years. My assessment of MP's language skill is based as much on his body language as listening to him ..(which you can briefly hear in the first item on OP).. with Guillem Balague. Many " students " quickly become used to the sound of their teacher's voice and sometimes even adopt their dialect / accent, but actually understanding someone else - even if they are speaking YOUR language can be far more of a problem for some. Many Britons have trouble understanding people from other parts of the UK. (esp. Geordie, Glaswegian, Irish, and people from other parts of the world who speak - prime examples; Pakistani, some African and Caribbean dialects etc), so we can assume than although MP does understand English to some degree - when spoken by those with whom he is familiar, but it depends a great deal on the accent / vocabulary used by the journo / interviewer. As he is obviously a perfectionist-type of personality, he's not going to allow himself to be embarrassed in a situation where he has to reply to " loaded questions " from a fast-talking hack ...and have to continually repeat. " I'm sorry, I don't understand you, can you repeat that .. ". He does understand a lot, of course, as was witnessed in the after-match interview following the Man. Citeh game. Even at the start of a positive comment from the interviewer, he smiled broadly - even before the statement was completed - and then began to listen to his interpreter before replying. He understood the compliment quite well, but formulating a suitable reply... is probably a bit beyond him - at present. It has been stated (on here) and by players, that he communicates reasonably well in training, and he was seen to give some fairly clear instructions to Rickie Lambert (a real Scouser) ...during the MC game, which is not surprising as a large part of the " football vocabulary" used is probably fairly basic in any language. I think we may well see him conducting an interview on his own by the end of the season, but don't be surprised if he sounds like " Manuel ".. QUE ?

twitch?.....what twitch ?

Nah !....with Schneiderlin, Cork and Lallana on form....he might make the bench.

ugh ? ...what was Norm's contribution then ....I didn't see that.?

ugh? ..wot's futball maniger then, Tokyo? ....I don't do computer games.....

it's the standard reply for players who've recently arrived and still not up for it. Forran's last league game in Norway was in November. remember Billy Sharp went from playing for Donnie every week to the Saints training schedule, and then to the bench and it took him weeks to even get a start.

the more the merrier. He's the manager who got us relegated from the Prem...... after 27 seasons. At least Lawrie McMenemy distinguished himself by sticking to the job and going on to win the FA Cup... and another promotion.. whilst he was manager. After we went down, we were sentenced to 7 years hard labour in the lower reaches of the FL, whilst....'appy 'arry moved back down the road ....and quietly bankrupted them for £135 million - who did he think they were.......Chelsea?. I don't know what it will take to make me like him, but I haven't come to that point yet .. sorry ' arry .

well good for you, but sorry ...he can't play yet, he's not " Poche fit "

Where are you coming from ? accept 1 point? NO !!!!!!!!! I want a big win with at least a 3 goal margin ....not just because it's QPR... but because of their manager. IF....they survive, I don't want it to be at our expense, thank you .

the media ignore almost all Saints 'players - unless they are playing badly, or (like Shaw) are playing so well.....that they must surely be transferred out of the club in the summer. No-one has bothered to compliment Schneiderlin (except Saints' fans) until some statistical nerd turned up the fact that.... " he had made more tackles than anyone else in Europe....". OK..I know it wasn't exactly that, but similar figs. and now they are waking up to the fact that he is a V.G. player...but the French still won't choose him for their national side - will they ? THE NEXT STEP will be ...Arsenal manager Wenger is likely to make a £5 million " swoop " for his fellow countryman, who he says ....." iz a play-eer hu I 'ave longg admirred.." Sorry. Forget it, Arsene. Down on the South Coast, we all know that you got a good deal with Theo and Alex O-C. ...and so do you. But this time around... the starting price is £20 mill....plus add-ons ... when he does get picked by the French ....and a 25% cut of the fee ...when he moves to PSG.

we only need one.. the day they signed the contract to avoid our bankruptcy....nothing else matters.

Pace, pace, and (an apparent lack of it)...has always been used as an argument against RL, but seeing the high tempo games since Pochettino took over has surely put that one to bed. Lambert has played 90 mins. in all 5 games since the changeover...AND at a pace that shook Alex Ferguson, pulled two goals back v. Chelsea and got praiseworthy comments from AP. I don't see the Welbeck / Defoe (already 31 - I think) combination being the long term future as England's strike force. I can recall a Div. 2 striker from Wolves (Bull?)..getting a few England games way back when...so surely Rickie must surely be worth a chance in his present form....even for a season.

except that most of the teams he's scoring against....have these types of international players in their defences....so what's the argument.?

.....make sense?...that is a bit extreme Ken Tone, .......next .....you'll be trying to convince us that some of them went to Journalist School

.......just about the most ridiculous story I've read for a long time. Now that all the hacks have started to come out of the woodwork...and admit his talent ....somehow they think we'd sell him for a little bit out of Chelsea's petty cash box. ...and even MOTD " experts " have noticed him, but they should know that £10 million couldn't buy his right boot - let alone his left.

ooooooooo

True......but they've played more games than Lambert so you'd expect that surely? However, I'd think that a goals per game ratio would show Rickie in an even better light, statistically-speaking.

oh..... so that's it. Thanks for the heads up on that one Lighthouse. I knew there was some logic somewhere. Can we be sure that players from those countries will be represented in Brazil, though.......?.