david in sweden

Ever since clubs were permitted to "import" foreign players (1979), many teams bought in talents from other parts of the world (not all successful) while Saints never stopped trying to bring on our own talents through our " youth squads", (call them "Academy" .... or what you will). Aside from some individual successes over the past 40 years, it was players like Sam who emerged from what is probably the best youth generation that Saints ever produced, as he grew up alongside the likes of; Shaw, Targett, Chambers, Reed and of course those who later went onto to become first team regulars... Ward-Prowse and Stephens. Sam was probably one of the most versatile left-sided players Saints ever produced. Anywhere from full-back to winger, Sam could be relied upon to fill the gap, and also had an eye for goal in whichever role he was given. His eventual promotion to the first team was long overdue, and it was only the ongoing success of Ryan Bertrand which barred his way from becoming a regular starter in the side, but amongst those all-too-few appearances the Euro League games against Inter Milan will stand out in the memories of many fans. Getting recognition for the England U21 side was also testimony to Sam's progress in becoming one of the best in the country in his age group. Sadly it's been a "not-so-happy " ending to what looked likely to become a very promising career, but one that he can certainly take pride in. Perhaps the most impressive fact for many of us was knowing that Sam wasn't "imported" from anywhere, he is a So´ton lad and proud of it. Ever since that influx of "foreigners" into the English game, the number of locally-born players to succeed in a Saints shirt can probably be counted on the fingers of one hand, but in Sam's case we can be rightly proud of someone of whom we can say......." He's one of our own ". I hope that Sam's future will offer him new challenges and perhaps may even be one that is still... " in the game ".

"marginally offside " is still OFFSIDE (!) darn it, but when it's... Harry (wonderful England captain) Kane .... it's called robbery. When it was Danny Ings' sleeve last season .. it's was " clearly offside " and no more discussion allowed (as if you can score with you sleeve).. I agree 100% with all those above who noted the Spurs players cries of pain and injury, but then noted it didn't stop them returning to play PDQ. Totally out of order for overpaid, over enthusiastic head-cases who think their " state-of-the-art-ground " means they should be treated better than the rest of us.

Agree that the double punishment is very unfair. IF ...VAR deems it to be a foul then a penalty should be awarded. Let's face it (except against world-class goalies) ... every penalty kick should be " a certain goal" anyway. Yellows should be restricted to bad fouls and obvious violent play, and all red card decisions should be backed up by VAR. It's more difficult deciding what is .. " a reasonable chance of scoring " . FF made a great save from what looked to be " a certain goal ". Just running on goal with the ball at your feet doesn't mean it's " a certain goal ". Shane Long has proven that dozens of times.

....and what's the betting that they won't be able to find at least one new Covid case before Sunday ?. It's a long way from Newcastle and not an very attractive fixture directly after New Year's Day, and with the possibility of avoiding the loss of another 3 points before the Arab gentleman spends his first £100 million to bolster up Eddie Howe's squad in the coming week(s). Looks like another postponement on the cards.

Any game that Spurs can't win brings a torrent of abuse from their fans / London media about VAR / bad tackles /offside etc. especially where Kane and Son are concerned, but one thing is for sure... There is no difference between being offside and putting the ball in the net... and just being plain offside. Some media drivelled on about Spurs having the ball in the net FOUR times but typically replays of the first showed 4 Spurs players offside from the incoming free kick, whilst Saints held firm onto the back line. Likewise, replays of Kane's "offside goal " show Bednarek standing still - holding up the back line - whilst Kane is facing goal and moving forward. Regardless of position of feet, armpits or whatever, a lot of common sense went into that VAR decision. The reality is that Spurs millionaires side played over 50 minutes against 10 brave men, had 18 attempts in the second half and still failed to get a win.

Willie C. is worth keeping - for the rest of this season. He won't cost a fortune and his experience alone can be a bonus for the others on our books. He's hardly on the same pay-grade as our two " regular " keepers, and at 40 is most unlikely to be offered any sort of " longer-term " contract. Harry Lewis hasn't had the opportunities to play first team football, and the fast-improving Jack Bycroft is still a bit young to move up. With FF, AMc and HL all out of contract next summer, this means we will most likely be losing at least one, if not two of them, and end up bringing in a new face after the summer.

This is one of the sites that " creates a storyline " and then it has a domino effects on those columns who copy each other. Maybe because it mentions ... a Tottenham player, but in reality we wouldn't be able to pay him enough - even if he came on a loan / free transfer.

As if suspensions and injuries weren't enough, our back line was so disjointed. Not a left-footer in sight. Lyanco is still finding his way into Ralph's planning, but he is no worse than anyone else ( perhaps aside from Salisu). Stephens and Bednarek are both right-sided defenders, as is Walker-Peters (normally RB). Diallo shows some good ball control, but he is no Romeo and we miss having " a hard man " in centre midfield, and we really do miss Stuart Armstrong's creativity in midfield. Just now we can put aside the idea of playing those who are " on form " , it's just a case of picking anyone who is fit enough to play. Sad to say, but in many of our games, it hasn't been the fault of defenders, but strikers who can't put the ball in the net. Just one goal in half a dozen of our drawn games would have given us another 12 points (on top of our present 16).

A valid point. Perraud is another option, In which case, where do you play Walker-Peters ? ......and if you return KWP to the RB spot (his best position).... where do you use Livramento? ......and if you move Tino up as an attacking player ...who do you take out of the middle? With injuries to our first-choice strikers, maybe we could try Tino as a striker....Or ?... Or ?... Or ?

W..ee..llll ! , when you have both regular keepers injured ....at the same time....ER ..should I continue, or ?

A good question for the historians (take note David and Duncan).. On Saturday .......at 40, Willy C. will probably become the oldest player to have ever played in a Saints team ...or ?

Emergency loan was sanctioned for just such an eventuality with a key player (e.g. goalkeeper) and if approved, a club with our injury situation can sign a goalie - even between transfer windows. BUT in this case, Caballero is already a " free agent " after leaving Chelsea in the summer, so surely, in theory ......Any club could have signed him - at any time. Otherwise it can be construed as " restriction of labour" (job opportunities).

sounds good, but it was Scottish Championship ..........and not quite on a par with the Premier League.

Agreed on that point Chez, but last season's start was exceptional for Saints - by any stretch of the imagination. 16 points from the first 15 games is still better than most of the starts since we retuned to the Prem. Our biggest concern may not rest with our defensive performances (still one of the best in the bottom half), but our abysmal scoring record so far. We weren't that good last season - even with a half-fit Danny Ings - but we must get past the barrier of only a managing one goal a game.

There are rarely big crowds for midweek games (especially) with late kick-offs. It's the travel time to-and-from that presents most problems. OK if you live in So'ton and can get yourself to the ground on public transport or by car, but quite a few fans live outside the city, and some even further out in the county, and finishing work then travelling in is almost impossible, especially if you are dependent on trains, which may end up being cancelled. ( Noted: those Albion fans who were relying on a quick trip back to Brighton ended up being re-directed via Clapham - and then needing to change trains). Many of the Saturday crowds include schoolkids, and even for those who are season-ticket holders it can still present domestic problems ....(example) .....Who stays home with younger siblings - when only one parent can travel in? , and at this time Covid may also play a role in the decision-making. There may be a minority of disappointed fans who stay away periodically - in protest, but overall I think they are very few . I think the question you raised about pricing is quite another issue - and most often expensive for those who are unable to attend SMS regularly.

On several occasions in the past Saints have outplayed Brighton without coming away with the points. Certainly Potter has grafted a good side together, and we might see they are more of a challenge than many people think. Aside from any media nonsense about.." a South Coast derby ", this is a game that we must win to consolidate a mid-table spot and stay clear of the drop zone. The remaining 5 games in December, (3 of which are away) are against London sides and unless we find some goal-scoring acumen, we could come away empty-handed, as none of them looks to be anything like....." an easy fixture ".

Seems many varied reactions to McCarthy's performances, yet much is made of the good saves he makes, but maybe people should remember that a goalkeeper is paid good money to be there and make great saves, but there should be a better analysis of how goals are conceded. Saints have concede 8 goals in the last 3 games and the majority of those can surely be put down to " keeper error ". Ever since he arrived there have been comments about McCarthy's propensity to concede goals at his near post, and it's something that the coaching staff have seemingly failed to cure him of. As long as he is at the club, we must accept that AM will be Ralph's first choice and as soon as Fraser Forster leaves the club his successor will suffer the same fate, and become " a permanent bench player" . It has been said that a keeper - is only as good as the defence in front of him - but (as now ) that is not always the case.

Obviously that one session wasn't enough.......

I guess that we were both in the generation to appreciate the likes of O'Neil, Case and Walker, but even they never picked up so many yellows as Romeo has done. In many cases they just got straight reds. I won't disagree with another contributor who said Romeo was a good deal for £5 million - indeed he was, but he has slowed up somewhat from previous seasons. He hasn't hit the form he had previously, and has already been subbed off 5 times (of 12 games) this season. Just a modest 3 yellows so far, and with luck he may earn a "get-out-of-jail" card, IF he avoids the other 2 in the upcoming 8 games before the New Year. I'm not advocating that we drop him in favour of anyone else, but was merely noting that he doesn't seem to be contributing in quite the same way.

Romeu doesn't have the pace to combat fast-running youngsters, his passing is frequently off-target and he always looks as though he's just waiting for his next yellow card. We need a "hard-man" in that spot, but sadly Jimmy Case's playing days are long gone. I totally agree that Diallo had a poor game, and although his fancy footwork looks good, his final pass often went astray or fell short of the target man. JWP started at right back and allowed Tino make forward runs in first half, but after moving to MF after HT he reverted to " his normal game " ......would you have replaced the team captain whilst the score was still at 1-1 ? Tactically, it all went wrong in the later stages when we continued to play " keep ball " even when chasing the game at 1-2. We saw Broja come on (for Elyounoussi,) but he did no better than Mo ....and after a while I even forgot he was on the field YES......McCarthy made a good save (you quoted) but Krul's fingertip save was the real heartbreaker.

Che Adams had two tough games for Scotland and surely tired quicker as the game developed. I'm afraid none of the subs. worked out very well. Romeu is beginning to show his age, and the game had started to get away from us after HT. Lyanco DAJFU, but it was a goalscorer we needed.

S.N.A.F.U ...again ! We were the only team in it for the first 45, then we melted and came away with the only positive stat. of 63% possession. We had 12 shots to 1 in the first half, yet managed only 1 goal. It's even worse when considering that in the last 5 Prem. fixtures we have had 73 shots ...and managed just 6 goals. Some more dubious refereeing decisions (and I can't be fined £20 grand for my comments).... Where was VAR when you needed it ? I really have tried to think positively about the prospect of having Alex McCarthy as no.1 keeper next season, but it just won't wash. If Forster must go.... I'd rather that we bought TWO new keepers before deciding to give AM a new 3 year contract. It's hard not to blame him for both goals yesterday. Now we've got over our recent "easy" fixtures against bottom-end sides, the next 5-6 games will truly reflect our real Prem. ranking.

Norwich - theoretically the weakest side in the league, but I bet he'd like to play against Liverpool on the 27th ...

The U21's normally get hammered in these sort of Cup games, but are now leading 3-0 after 60 minutes OK we know Crawley are League Two, but it's a real lift for Dave Horseman's side that is normally full of teenagers.

.....unless he continues to score for us , and their injury problem isn't solved by then..