SaintJackoInHurworth

I don't know if I should be posting this as a separate thread, nor how reliable this is... nor do I understand why he has not posted this himself as I believe he is a regular poster on this forum(!!).. but I see that Connor Armstrong is reporting that we are in discussions with Atletico Madrid about the possibility of signing Mario Suarez: https://twitter.com/ConnorArmstrong/status/621086005232304128 I also see that this has also been reported on some dodgy looking rumour sites in Spain. For example, this one: http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.todomercadoweb.es/primer-plano/atletico-mario-suarez-cerca-del-southampton-133693&prev=search Anyway, I thought I'd post it anyway. I will let Connor tell us more if there is any more to be known!

Surprised at how positive a response people on here are giving him - especially considering the paddy he threw last season which has ultimately led to this (and reduced his value too imo). Personally, I am gutted he is going and particularly wish he wasn't going to Manure. Last season they were dire and extremely lucky to finish where they did - in my opinion we could and should have finished above them and I think only a huge dollop of luck and some poor refereeing led to them finishing above us. Of the top four clubs they were the team that we had most chance of finishing above, but I fear that having got so close this season, we will not now get another chance like it for a very long time. Also in relation to the response to Morgan leaving, I don't quite understand how people can have been so hateful to Lallana, yet so positive to Morgan. Both have contributed massively to our rise and both went about getting a move last summer in the wrong way. The fact that Morgan didn't manage to get that move doesn't change that. Similarly, a lot of hate has been aimed at Shaw, Chambers, Lovren, Clyne and Toby for leaving, yet all of them except Toby and Clyne have gone to clubs who were in the Champions League at the time they moved to them (Liverpool may not have lasted long in the competition, but let's not forget that they actually finished second in 2014 and competed in that competition last season). Personally, I am very grateful for all that these players have done for us, hope that they can get established in the first teams of their respective clubs (and ultimately get a move to Real Madrid or Barcelona with a large sell-on fe coming to Saints as a result!), but beyond that my only wish for every single one of them is that they and their clubs will finish behind Saints in the EPL table!

Except that we have just signed Martina to play right back for the first few games! I'm anticipating that we will possibly see Targett going out on loan once Bertrand is back from injury, although I do hope he might begin to show his potential and come through as another excellent player that has been developed by Saints.

As the song goes, 'Let's all have a meltdown, let's all have a meltdown. Na, na, na, na! Na, na, na, na!' So... last summer we had complete meltdown but that was followed by our most successful season for many years and one that would have been more successful without a few injuries at key times and/or more strength in depth in our squad. Now it looks like we could be in the midst of another mini-meltdown with the departures of Clyne, Alderweireld, Bence, Limbrick, potentially Schneiderlin and also injuries to Forster and Bernard. But, like last season, we have also seen some potentially significant arrivals and I'm sure we will see several more (and hopefully with them an increase in our strength in depth, which could be further enhanced too by more development squad players beginning to step up a level). So... based on last season's experience, what's the likelihood that we will not only cope with the departures but once again emerge stronger and better and more successful? I'm gutted to see both Clyne and Alderweireld leave (especially Toby) and will be even more gutted if we lose Morgan, but maybe, just maybe, we can surprise the naysayers once more! I certainly hope so! COYR!

You all seem to be assuming that the rumours are right that he has signed for Spuds. What if those rumours are not true? What if the rumours that his Dad/agent has said nothing has been agreed are true? What if we believe the discussion between other football agents and journalists on Twitter that this is just part of the game of how transfers progress? What if the rumours that he has told friends he wants to come back to Saints are true? And what about the assertion that he was not having a medical today by the very same journalist who is now claiming the deal is done? What if he was correct last night but is guessing tonight? Let's just wait and see. Even if it is announced tomorrow that he has signed for the Spuds, he could end up having to sit it out at WHL while the legal experts get to the bottom of it. Or maybe they will allow him to play, but once they discover that AM have broken their contract with Saints, perhaps they will insist that the surplus transfer fee over what Saints had agreed to pay be paid to Saints instead, plus any sell-on benefits, etc. plus some level of fine.

I thought he was a money guy not a legal guy? Still, you can't help wondering whether his departure has something to do with this. Perhaps he was leaking financial details of the contractual agreement between Saints and AM to Spurs and he was found out. Expect to see him getting a job at White Fart Lane next...!

OK - I voted Saints because... * They are the best at giving me enjoynment when they win (and depression when they lose). * They are the best improved team in recent seasons. * In recent years they have been the best team at developing new talent (though admittedly the other three haven't actually been too bad at doing so either). i.e. we have the best academy. * They are the best run club. * The question asks about them as a club, not which has the best performing team. * Last season I actually think we did deserve to finish above the others in terms of performances when at our best - i.e. our best performances were better than the best performances of the other clubs and if we had maintained that without so many injuries we would have finished above the others. * They have the best kit - all-white and all-red are just boring but put them together in the form of stripes and you have quality! * Southampton is the longest single word in any of the club names. * Historically we were set up with the most community-minded aims. Southampton St Marys was set up by the church to serve young men in the local community, whereas Spurs were set up for the kids of a grammar school bible class, Swansea were just set up for the sake of having a football team alongside their rugby team, while Liverpool were set up by the businessman who owned Anfield, which had previously been the home of Everton. * Our club is in Southampton, whereas the others are not. * Unlike the others, we don't have any stupid bird pictures on our club crest. We are the only club with a proper (slightly) historic, symbolic, meaningful club crest. * We have the best manager. * We have our own way of doing things which is distinct and better than the others - The Southampton Way.

Atletico Madrid have decided to honour their agreement with Saints and Toby will be our player in the next few days. In addition, despite speculation, Clyne is still negotiating his contract and the deal is almost done for him to extend his contract with Saints for a further five years. On returning from England duty this week this too will be completed in the next few days. Oh... and for those assuming Schneiderlin is on the way out, he has declared he will not leave Saints for any more than Champions League football and also wishes to stay in England. Both Man Utd and Arsenal have stated that the price tag that Saints have slapped on him is outside of what they would be willing to pay and are looking elsewhere, while Chelsea and Man City have no interest. Consequently, Morgan has now enquired about the possibility of an improved deal with contract extension. In other news, a goalkeeper is also in advanced negotiations to sign. This one is under wraps, but I believe that Saints have been talking to both Tom Heaton of Burnley and Orjan Nyland of Molde and one of these two (possibly both, but unlikely) will also be unveiled as a Saints player this week. There is also news that Saints are negotiating with both Grzegorz Krychowiak and Jordie Clasie and will sign at least one of them despite Morgan's descision to stay. Finally, Martin Odegaard will be making his anticipated loan move from Real Madrid. What is interesting, though, is that they are negotiating a similar deal to the one they had with AM for Toby - except that there will be a larger buy-out payment to cancel the sale and Real will not be able to sell him for two full seasons should they cancel the deal. ... if Carling... (or maybe Tetleys?)... did ITKers!!!

Surprised no-one seems to have commented on this (unless I have missed it), but now that we have signed Juanmi, I doubt we will be looking to sign another striker, especially as Rodriguez is back from injury now. We've got Pelle, Long, Mane, Gallagher, Juanmi, Mayuka and Seager. While I expect Mayuka will not feature (except perhaps in the League Cup as a substitute!) and that Seager could end up going out on loan to gain experience, that still leaves us with five strikers! If we are going to buy (or loan) any further attacking players then I would hazard a guess that they will be wingers not strikers!

Skacel had one... Ramirez had one... Osvaldo had one (though not as long as Skacel's or Ramirez's!) So, who is going to be the next player to have such a thread and will they be any better? And why is it that when we have a player who some suggest should be out of our league in terms of quality and we sign him, he turns out to be not really good enough?! That having been said there have been some other long threads for players that we have not signed, especially Ever Banega who, of course, has just played his part in helping Sevilla become Europa cup winners.

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/local/portsmouth-city-council-leader-donna-jones-defends-red-and-white-spinnaker-tower-deal-1-6783325 Obviously the leader of the city council thinks Saints play in all red and doesn't realise we play in Red and White! LOL

Only a few minutes to go and it's 0-0. If it stays like that City are confirmed in second place and will have less to play for on Sunday. Hopefully that could help us. As I'm sure someone has said, if we win and Liverpool and Spurs don't win then we finish fifth.

Ward-Prowse - he definitely needs to improve his shooting ability, though he's not bad at free kicks from outside the box. Schneiderlin - so with two more years on his contract we could dig our heels in and keep him until next summer and then if he still wants to go (if the rumours are true) let him go then for a tidy sum in 2016, having developed a replacement during the 2015-16 season? Still, I doubt he will stay if he has only got two years left, so I assume we will have to sign a replacement. I'd love to see us sign Banega, but I guess that's unlikely!

It's great to hear that Rodriguez has signed so that that particular piece of transfer nonsense can be put to bed this summer. It's also good to hear that Clyne is in talks and things looking promising. However, therer is nothing about Schneiderlin and plenty of rumours that he is leaving, so are we to assume the rumours are true? Or is his contract long enough that we can take all of that with a pinch of salt? When does his contract expire anyway? If he is leaving then who should we get to replace him? Clasie? Vilhenna? Banega? Would we get any of them anyway? Or should we just focus on developing Ward-Prowse and Harry Reed? Personally I would rather JWP were developed as a more attacking midfielder and while I'm excited at the thought of Reed developing into a great talent, to expect him to fill Morgan's boots would be a lot of pressure.

As I said in my original post, both Champions League and dropping to 8th behind Swansea are mathematical possibilities, but I don't expect that either is the way that things will pan out. My predictions for the key results involving Saints, Swansea, Spurs, Liverpool and Man Utd are as follows: w/e 9/10 May Arsenal 2 v 0 Swansea Chelsea 2 v 0 Liverpool Crystal Palace 1 v 1 Man Utd Leicester 1 v 1 Saints Stoke 1 v 1 Spurs w/e 16/17 May Liverpool 2 v 1 Crystal Palace Man Utd 0 v 2 Arsenal Saints 2 v 1 Aston Villa Swansea 1 v 2 Man City Spurs 2 v 0 Hull 24 May Crystal Palace 2 v 2 Swansea Everton 1 v 1 Spurs Hull 1 v 0 Man Utd Man City 1 v 1 Saints Stoke 2 v 1 Liverpool This will leave the places from 4th to 8th looking as follows: 4 Man Utd 66 pts 5 Liverpool 64 pts 6 Spurs 63 pts 7 Saints 62 pts 8 Swansea 54 pts Ultimately that will be an amazing result for us, but also a little frustrating realising that we could have finished so much higher if just two results had gone differently! I just hope that if we do finish 7th then Arsenal will win the FA Cup! (PS Of course, if Spurs lose rather than drawing against Stoke, we could end up finishing above them on goal difference!)

However, unlikely, isn't it amazing to think that three games from the end of the season it is still mathematically possible for Saints to finish above Man Utd this season... and to qualify for the Champions League? Who would have thought that at the start of the season?! In fact even a few weeks ago a few people were predicting that Man Utd would be the ones safely in 2nd or 3rd, while Man City scrapped to finally cross the line of CL qualification. On the other hand, it seems to have been assumed for weeks that we would definitely finish in either 5th, 6th or 7th. Yet, following Saturday's results, Swansea are fast catching us up and if we don't watch out we might not even finish in the top 7. Whatever happens, I hope that we can drive on for the last few weeks and achieve Europa League qualification above the Spuds. There is even that little bit of me that dreams of what that fairytale scenario might look like, so here (before it disappears with Man Utd beating Palace on Saturday!) is a little glimpse of that fairytale... > Saints beat Leicester & Aston Villa, Man Utd lose to Palace & Arsenal. Meanwhile Liverpool lose to Chelsea and only draw with Palace and Spurs drop points against Stoke. > Saints find themselves in 5th only 2 points behind Man Utd. > Saints win our final game against City (who are only too happy to help us finish above Utd) and United slip up against Hull. > Saints finish in fourth! OK, you can wake up now... but wasn't it a great dream?!!

I noticed earlier and advert for the Tories on the Saints website. I hope that the club are not getting political and that they have received a large fee for that to appear there. Considering a previous duck-hunting owner of the club got too involved with politics (with the Referendum Party - predecessors to UKIP), I hope that, whatever the political preferences of individuals within the club, those opinions will remain firmly outside of club dealings.

I think it is highly unlikely we could get anywhere near Man City. Their fixtures are significantly easier than United's and they have a game in hand (tonight against Palace, away). In my opinion, they have also got a better squad than any other club apart from Chelsea. That having been said, they have been misfiring lately, so who knows?! Anyway, here for reference are Man City's fixtures: Monday 6th April 2015 Crystal Palace V Man City (draw?) Sunday 12th April 2015 Man Utd V Man City (treble chance - I reckon away win) Sunday 19th April 2015 Man City V West Ham (home win) Saturday 25th April 2015 Man City V Aston Villa (home win) Saturday 2nd May 2015 Tottenham V Man City (treble chance - I reckon away win) Saturday 9th May 2015 Man City V QPR (home win) Saturday 16th May 2015 Swansea V Man City (away win) Sunday 24th May 2015 Man City V Southampton (depends on how much is riding on the fixture, but they absolutely tonked us at home earlier in the season, so don't hold out much hope of us getting a decent result from this one) From those fixtures you would expect Man City to get at least ten points, which would give them at least 71 points. That would leave us needing to get at least 18 points from 7 games just to draw level on points - in other words, 6 wins and one defeat, including beating Man City. Having said that it is unlikely, my previous 'predictions' (not exactly predictions, more projections of a possible scenario) were based on winning all games except the City and Everton games, so you never know!

Just to clarify the 'may find themselves down into fifth' remark... Man Utd's next match after this is not until the Sunday. Both Liverpool and Saints will have played on the Saturday (and will therefore have played for a possible 9 points) and while it is highly unlikely that Saints will have done enough to overtake Utd on goal difference, it is possible that Liverpool could win all three of their games (against Newcastle, Hull and West Brom) and therefore find themselves a point ahead of United. With that particular combination of fixtures coming up it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that Utd could be under significant pressure by the time they play against Everton on 26 April. (Anyway, that's my lot for today - hopefully it has been a useful discussion!!)

I'm sorry but there are a lot of people who are, in my opinion, over-predicting how Man Utd will finish the season. I accept that they have ben in great form recently, but with some very difficult fixtures ahead that could well change. They have been very lucky in far too many matches this season, but who is to say that their luck will not run out. Take a look at their fixtures in isolation: 12 April Home v Man City - this is the match Man City need to show their superiority and to reignite their push to finish the season well. With Costa out injured they may even sniff the possibility (however feint) of catching Chelsea. I predict a narrow Man City win. 18 April Away v Chelsea - even without Costa, Mourinho will have his side well up for this match and Man Utd will be unable to cope with them. A clear Chelsea win. After those two games Man Utd may find themselves back down into fifth and with their Champions League credentials under scrutiny. 26 April Away v Everton. With Everton reinvigorated and keen to finish the season strongly - especially against Man Utd, this will be another tough fixture. It could go any way. I have predicted a draw, but who knows?! 2 May Home v West Brom. After three tough matches this should be respite for United, though this is the sort of fixture that Pulis relishes. Nevertheless, I predict a Man Utd win - though possibly only just with more questions about Man Utd's ability to see the job of Champions League qualification through. 9 May Away v Crystal Palace. You would expect Man Utd to win this, but Palace have been a revelation under Pardew. It's the sort of tough match that a team under the spotlight feling the pressure of the struggle to achieve could end up drawing, which has been my somewhat leftfield prediction! After all they won't necessarily win all the apparently winnable fixtures. 17 May Home v Arsenal. With Arsenal finishing strongly and hoping to finish at least second, I believe they will be too strong for United. They will be particularly motivated for this match after past experiences - even without Ferguson at the helm. 24 May Away v Hull. With Hull battling to avoid relegation this match will not be as easy as it might appear. They won't be strong enough to beat United but with home advatage they may secure a draw. The pressure could also get to United.

In the light of today's results, I thought it would be worth revisiting predictions I made before about the end of the season. Unfortunately, we didn't get the draw I (optimistically) hoped for, but it doesn't make much difference to the predictions: Team................P......GD....Pts Chelsea..............38.....36.....92 Man City.............38.....34.....83 Arsenal...............38.....29.....82 Liverpool.............38.....10.....72 Southampton.......38.....20.....71 Man Utd..............38.....27.....68 Tottenham...........38......5.....63 Nevertheless, that one point could well be enough to cost us a Champion's League place. On the other hand, though, Liverpool's heavier defeat than I predicted could make a significant difference too! I've put Liverpool down to defeat both Newcastle and Hull in their next two games, but what if they fail to win one of those games and only manage to draw? It could still leave Saints in with a chance of a Champions League spot. OK, I know I'm dreaming here! My real point is that there is still a long way to go and many things could change between now and the end of the season. In particular, despite of all the talk about Man United looking likely to qualify for the Champions League, I still want to point out that they have to play Man City and Chelsea in their next two games. Lose those two and suddenly their confidence will be much less and, who knows, they could even lose to Everton in the following game. On a more pessimistic level, what happens if we barely win another game this season? Could our current expectations of playing in Europe next season be proved wrong? Finally, I wonder how today's results impact upon other people's predictions? My guess is that most people won't have predicted much different than the actual results we saw today, so it probably won't have much affect. So... how do you see it now?

Which team does McNulty support? I would guess at Man Utd as he is overly optimistic at how they will do and overly pessimistic about Man City's chances. Of course he could just be a pessimistic City fan! Anyway, here are the key Barclays Premier League Fixtures for rest of season for sides in the top 7 - assuming that they will remain in the European qualification places (i.e. assuming Swansea, West Ham and Stoke don't catch up) together with my predictions... Saturday 4th April 2015 Arsenal V Liverpool 2-1 Everton V Southampton 1-1 Man Utd V Aston Villa 1-0 Chelsea V Stoke 2-0 Sunday 5th April 2015 Burnley V Tottenham 2-2 Monday 6th April 2015 Crystal Palace V Man City 1-1 Saturday 11th April 2015 Southampton V Hull 2-0 Tottenham V Aston Villa 2-0 Burnley V Arsenal 1-2 Sunday 12th April 2015 QPR V Chelsea 0-3 Man Utd V Man City 1-2 Monday 13th April 2015 Liverpool V Newcastle 2-1 Saturday 18th April 2015 Hull V Liverpool 1-2 Stoke V Southampton 0-1 Chelsea V Man Utd 3-1 Sunday 19th April 2015 Man City V West Ham 3-1 Newcastle V Tottenham 1-1 Saturday 25th April 2015 Southampton V Tottenham 1-0 West Brom V Liverpool 1-2 Man City V Aston Villa 3-0 Sunday 26th April 2015 Everton V Man Utd 1-1 Arsenal V Chelsea 2-2 Wednesday 29th April 2015 Leicester V Chelsea 1-3 Saturday 2nd May 2015 Chelsea V Crystal Palace 2-1 Hull V Arsenal 1-2 Liverpool V QPR 2-1 Man Utd V West Brom 2-1 Sunderland V Southampton 0-2 Tottenham V Man City 1-2 Saturday 9th May 2015 Arsenal V Swansea 2-0 Chelsea V Liverpool 2-0 Crystal Palace V Man Utd 1-1 Leicester V Southampton 0-2 Man City V QPR 4-1 Stoke V Tottenham 1-1 Saturday 16th May 2015 Liverpool V Crystal Palace 2-1 Man Utd V Arsenal 1-3 Southampton V Aston Villa 3-0 Swansea V Man City 1-2 Tottenham V Hull 2-0 West Brom V Chelsea 0-2 Wednesday 20th May 2015 Arsenal V Sunderland 4-0 Sunday 24th May 2015 Arsenal V West Brom 3-0 Chelsea V Sunderland 4-0 Everton V Tottenham 1-1 Hull V Man Utd 1-1 Man City V Southampton 3-1 Stoke V Liverpool 1-2 This would leave the final table looking like this: Team................P......GD....Pts Chelsea..............38.....36.....92 Man City.............38.....34.....83 Arsenal...............38.....27.....82 Southampton.......38.....21.....72 Liverpool.............38.....12.....72 Man Utd..............38.....25.....68 Tottenham...........38......5.....63 OK - I've probably been overly optimistic about Saints results and overly pessimistic about the results of Liverpool, Man Utd and Spurs, but it's not beyond the bounds of possibility is it?!!

Hopefully by the time it gets to the Cup Final we will have already qualified for Europe in 6th place or higher. If we can get 19 points from our remaining games then I reckon that should be enough for us to achieve that. I believe Man Utd will get no more than 15 points from their remaining games and they may possibly struggle to even get that much, as they have to play against all of the other top 7 clubs apart from Saints in their remaining fixtures. I can't see them picking up more than two or three points from those games and they can't surely win every one of the other games (including one which is away against Everton).

Incidentally, for those that suggest that the statement 'The Stripes Are Back' is only a reference to Adidas, perhaps it is worth remembering this: And then there's also this: In other words, ever since Saints started using the #TheStripesAreBack hashtag last summer it has been a reference to a striped kit. The one thing that is interesting about our current kit and the marketing for it, however, is the presence of the diagonal stripe through it. I wonder if this, together with Turkish's absolute assertion that we are going with a sash kit, acts as some sort of hint that maybe we are going to go with some sort of diagonal sash stripes on next season's kit?

There is another possibility... that the new kit is both stripy and sash style - i.e. some trendy stripy design from one shoulder down. A couple of years ago when some people were saying that we should stick with the sash and others were arguing for a return to stripes (prior to us having the horrible Liverpool/Forest pinstripe design) I suggested that possibility and using my very limited graphics software (i.e. Paint) I tried to produce a vague mock up of that idea. So, if they do go with that I think they should give me some royalties!! lol