SaintJackoInHurworth

Bloo - I think you need to understand who you are asking to support your petition and give it time. I also think you could have been more careful with the name of your petition and the way you presented it. Let me explain... 1. You have asked us to sign a petition entitled 'alwaysbeblue'. As a club that plays in red you are kind of asking us to sell our souls in the way that Vincent Tan has sold your souls. If it doesn't work for you, why expect us to do something very similar?! 2. To add to this you also have to understand that Southampton FC has one of the most bitter local rivalries in sport with a hatred for our near neighbours P*mpey - a team that emphasises itself as a club that play in blue. So not only are you asking us to declare that red is bad, but you also want us to sign to say that blue is better! That is not just selling our souls but downright pimping them! 3. You launched your petition to us at 8pm and then at 10pm, after only two hours, you decided that you have given us long enough to read and respond to it and react to a few who made critical comments, in a completely ungracious manner, completely undermining any desire you may have to reach out to Saints fans for our support. 4. You then proceed to show complete ignorance of the fact that Southampton FC went into administration a few years ago and yet show no empathy for the predicament we have faced in recent years and our own frustrations about playing in the 'wrong colours'. So let me make some suggestions.. 1. Change the name/wording of the petition to something like 'Let fans of Cardiff City support their team fully by playing in their traditional colours.' Most Saints fans will identify with that wording far more readily. 2. Allow time for Saints fans to respond. This should be at least a day if not several. 'Bump' the thread occasionally to keep it current. I hope this helps and that it yields a much better response than you have had so far.

Forgot to say... if you want some names of players I'd love to see us sign, I'd have to say Astori and Banega, though I don't think central midfield is a priority. Nevertheless, Banega seems like an awesome player, so would love to see us sign him if we could afford him plus a centre back and striker, allowing for the sale or loaning out of Osvaldo and others.

Not quite sure why so many people want to see us release Isgrove! He was supposed to have been excellent for us in close-season last year. While he may not have had the experience we would have hoped for while out on loan, I could see him coming back and being nurtured back to confidence and then bursting onto the scene next season. Of course though, at the same time, he is getting to an age where he does need to start to make that step up to the first team. As for a budget of £35M, I think that is possibly a little optimistic in the light of the extra costs for our training ground. I would think we would be more likely to have a budget up to £25m including costs of wages. I would expect us to release Guly and to sell Osvaldo. As for Ramirez, that remains to be seen, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him leave, though hope he will stay and be phenomenal for us next season! I would like to see us buying a decent centre back, a striker to replace Osvaldo and either a keeper or reserve keeper. I would also like to see us bringing in some players with development potential where there are gaps in our academy ranks. So, for example, if Turnbull and Stephens fail to step up to the next level, then we may need some other young centre backs with potential (though we also have Mugabe and McCarthy, so maybe we are ok for the moment in terms of potential future centre-backs).

OK - it could well be all but mathematically confirmed tonight that we will finish eighth, if Newcastle lose to Arsenal. It would leave a situation where we would have to lose every remaining game 6-0 and Newcastle to win every game 6-0 for them to then finish above us. So what does this mean for us in practice? We have already been told that we will have our biggest ever Premier League points tally, but that aside what else will it mean for us? * What will be the financial payout for finishing eighth? * With Man United only finishing one place higher, what impact might this have upon our ability to hold on to our best players? * What benefits might it have in terms of our ability to attract signings? * It places us as the top team outside of the top seven 'big clubs', so as the 'best of the rest' how might this affect how other teams approach games against us in future? * Might there be any other implications whether positive or negative in finishing eighth?

Two great posts there - that first post sums it up for me - and the second could well confirm what a shrewd move it is in Stephen's case. I hope that Isgrove will face similar success during his loan spell to that which Stephens has already achieved in his first game on loan. I have long since been disappointed that we have not used him this season, following his brilliant displays in pre-season. My only disappointment with the move to loan out these players is that, if we are not planning to try to qualify for the Europa League, then why couldn't we have given them the chance to play for our first team? Indeed, why didn't either get to play against Sunderland in the cup? Neither was even on the bench for that match! Was there a fear that if they achieve too much too early we could be faced with other sides snooping around them before they get established in our first team? Anyway, I hope that they will both be successful and that next season we will see them both competing for a first team place!

So... Spurs did indeed lose! As I said, then, a win against them could well put us in contention for sixth place behind Everton (who have got to be favourites for fifth now), especially following Man Utd's defeat to Liverpool. Let's not forget too that Man Utd have a tricky fixture at home to Man City to look forward to a week on Tuesday. Not that I'm saying we would be successful in this, but it could, amazingly, put us right back in the mix! If we really did want to qualify for Europa League then the chance could be there! However, having seen both the woeful performances against Sunderland in the cups and in the light of Pochettino's derogatory comments about the Europa League, it seems clear to me that the highest he thinks we should be aiming for is seventh (now that it is clear that at least one of the FA Cup finalists will not be a top six team). With that in mind, I am half expecting another woeful performance in this match. Lose this and we can be fairly confident of finishing no higher than seventh and Poch will be happy. Of course, if Poch has made up his mind that he won't be here next season or if Krueger or Liebherr have managed to convince him that getting European experience (perhaps for our younger development players?) might be worthwhile, then maybe we will make an effort.. It will be interesting to see.

Ridiculously, if Spurs lose tomorrow and we win this we will find ourselves again considering the possibility of European qualification as we would then be only 5 points behind them and thus with the chance of competing for sixth place behind Everton in fifth. For that reason I suspect we will do no more than draw this game as Poch has made it clear he doesn't want to play in the Europa League. Assuming, of course, that Poch does want to be with us still next season!

Surprised that this hasn't been commented upon by anyone else, but has anyone else had the thought that maybe what happened with Pardew headbutting that Hull player may hold some clues as to why we sacked him? He clearly has anger management issues and I find myself wondering if it was an issue of failing to control his temper that led to us sacking him. Just a thought....!

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but if it is looking like Fabio Quagliarella could be leaving Juventus in the wake of Osvaldo's arrival, might we be attempting a swap deal? Just a thought!!

This... plus the shocking defending... plus a few scuffed shots that trickled in... plus as someone else mentioned he looks a bit overweight. Only towards the end of the video clip is there anything that could be described as good quality forward play. I think the YouTube videos for Ramirez, Osvaldo, Skacel and Banega were all better than this! Is he better than Bill Sharp, Lee Barnard, Jason Puncheon, Guly and Jonathan Forte? He might be better than one of those, but I'm not convinced about the others on the weight of that video!

I hope we do sign a centre back - Hooiveld and Yoshida have been rubbish whenever they have played for us this season and we need players who are good enough to play well whether they are first choice or have to bide their time on the bench for a while. Fonte on the other hand has raised his game every season since we signed him back when we were in League 1. If we signed a quality player to play alongside Lovren, then Fonte would be good backup. As for a keeper, Boruc and Davis are ok for the moment - it's just a shame that both got injured at the same time. Nevertheless, I wouldn't complain if we were able to sign someone better. In midfield we have a lot of players and many of them are good players or players with great potential. Nevertheless, we have been unlucky with injuries recently and that has demonstrated that a midfielder who can provide both cover in front of the defence and some attacking intent would be a good addition. For that reason, I still think Banega would be a great addition. He would give us a lot more flexibility in terms of who we play, playing alongside just about any of our other attacking players. Finally, I think it would be good to see us giving some thought to the development of the next lot of young talent during the second half of the season. In particular, Lloyd Isgrove had a great pre-season and it would be great to see him get a match at some stage this season.

OK - back from the match a while ago, so here's some thoughts... * Sunderland were woeful - if they don't improve significantly they will be relegated. * Great debut performance by Harrison Reed - one of our best players on the night - made important tackles on a number of occasions. * Danny Fox cannot defend to save his life and should never be played as a full back again - by all means play him as a winger, but not as a full back. Both goals came as a result of his failure to pick up Sunderland's player beyond the far post on our left where he should have been defending. * Gaston Ramirez is a player of quality but is completely lacking in sharpness and will to fight for his place in the first team. I have been a big fan of his ever since we signed him, but tonight I saw a player that was not up for it and a player who tries to guess what his fellow players might do instead of being able to pick out that defence splitting pass to one of our players. Sadly, I think his future may lie elsewhere. * In just the few moments he had on the pitch, Lallana showed he is getting back to his best - he was the most quality player on the pitch for those few minutes. * We lack width & pace - especially without Clyne and Shaw. I find it startling that we let Puncheon go out on loan. He could have made a significant difference tonight. * I am concerned that Rodriguez may never achieve his full potential. He has a lot of improving still to do and his rate of improvement is not what I would expect of a player playing regularly in the Premier League. * It was great to blood a couple of youngsters tonight in Reed and Gallagher, but if Pochettino had decided to play with a reserve squad and develop youngsters then I would have liked to have seen a couple of others maybe also given their chance - Matt Targett and Lloyd Isgrove in particular. That having been said maybe too many youngsters would have been a difficult challenge for the players. Overall, we did not deserve to lose the match as we bossed possession (despite what some statistics seem to be suggesting!) and Sunderland were woeful. If we had not had Fox at left back we may not have conceded either of those goals and could have won.

Whenever I see a thread like this one it prompts me to think we should have a thread somewhere where we name and shame trolls, attention-seekers and P*mpey fans who masquerade on here as Saints fans. I'm not saying this just in reference to the original poster although he certainly seems to fall into one of those categories with the rubbish he has posted. I am also referring to others who have backed him up like aintforever. On P*mpey forums they don't stand for anyone they suspect of being a Saints fan and while I don't think we should stoop to their standards, I certainly think we should expose anyone who continually spouts rubbish like this with the apparent sole aim of causing disharmony among the club's supporters. Whatever we do I think we all need to be aware that there will be a number of the blue few among us pretending to be Saints fans. I know it happens because I have done it the other way around when we were in League 1 and they were in the Prem. I only did it a couple of times over a week or two, but it showed me just how easy it is to play on your rival's fears and spread discontent.

According to the interview with the manager Lee has shown a good professional attitude and is set to return to the First team - might we yet get to see what attracted saints to sign him in the first place?

Adam Lallana has been without question one of our most consistent quality players of recent years. His quality remained there for all to see at the start of last season. Many clubs would love to have a player of his quality. I suspect there are too many WUMs on this board - some with decidedly fishy tendencies. That having been said, maybe there were a few games at the end of last season where our opponents identified his threat as significant and nullified it as you would expect from any good Premier League team. This, coupled with some loss of edge in his fitness after injury (which then also affected his pace) may have led to Adam trying a few different things, as you would expect of any player seeking to improve. Sadly, some of these did not come off and people immediately start to have questions about his ability. Yet what people are seeing as a lack of ability is instead the complete opposite - these are the marks of a quality player seeking to be even better. With the right support - both from the fans and from within the club's management - Adam will continue to improve and will find the ways in which he can best utilise his (IMO) undoubted ability. Playing against quality opposition, with quality players around him and quality coaching will lead us in time to see a new improved Adam Lallana. So, let's be patient and enjoy seeing him attain that next level! Incidentally, a few years ago, there was a new star in English football who very quickly became the glorious hope of English football. However, as people began to learn about him, so opposing managers began to identify ways of nulifying his threat. Wayne Rooney has not got worse as a player, but he has got to work much harder nowadays to achieve the same results as he saw in his early days. It was much the same with Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlaide Chamberlain and it is also the same with Adam Lallana. As well as allowing Adam the freedom to express himself so that he can discover what works in beating Premier League quality players, so also we need to ensure that the other players around him also provide such a threat that Premier League players cannot afford to focus all their efforts on nullifying Lallana, Ramirez and Lambert. Instead we must ensure that every player is such a threat that no such tactics can be effective. Finally, I believe that Puncheon's success (and he DID have a great season for us!) has perhaps come largely as a result of his direct style, but also maybe because he is not perceived to be as much of a threat as Lallana and Ramirez.

Just wear a shirt (or more) from a previous season! This year's away kit is probably one of the worst ones we have ever had, as is the home kit; so be bold enough to stick with a better kit from a previous season. I am still wearing our home shirt from our championship promotion season and our away shirt and training shirt from our League 1 promotion season - all far better than our current offerings. I sometimes also wear my Saints home shirt from our first season in League 1 - and occasionally older shirts than those! They are all perfectly good shirts - with all of the home shirts being striped.

OK, there is a lot of unpleasant posturing from contributors on both sides of this debate. It really isn't necessary. Let's just accept that people have very different views on this one shall we? The way I see it is this.... 1. Gaston is a player with huge potential. 2. Gaston cost a lot of money so many people placed huge expectations on him. 3. Sometimes last season we saw him live up to that potential. 4. Sometimes last season he failed to live up to his price tag and to show that potential. 5. Gaston seemed to never have the level of fitness of other players last season - witness the number of times he was subbed after 60 minutes. 6. Gaston remains a player with huge potential - of the sort that draws interest from top clubs. 7. This season Gaston will start having had some sort of pre-season (even if it is sadly less than others have had). 8. If we sign Ever Banega then Gaston will have a real battle to be in the side. 9. If we sign Banega and play him and Ramirez together it could be amazing! 10. Even when he is having a poor game Gaston like other flair players has the potential to do something that can change a game. I personally hope that we will have Banega, Ramirez, Lallana, Puncheon and maybe some new winger all competing for a starting place in the side next season and that we will see each of them raising their game to compete. I also hope that each player will have a higher level of fitness to be able to effectively implement the Poch's high pressing game. At the same time I would love to see Isgrove also learning from them and developing into a top talent too. Finally, as to my opinion's about certain posters on here, my view is let them have their opinions, learn to understand their jokes and sarcasm and appreciate the positive things they bring to the forum instead of seeing only the negative. Ironically, some of them seem to spend a lot of time focusing on the negative side of our players - so, if you don't like that, try not to treat them in the same way - it only increases their negative outlook. Treat people more positively and they will slowly but surely become more positive too! One poster who has had a lot of criticism lately (rather taking the mantle from Alpine) is Glasgow. Personally, I'd like to thank Glasgow for taking the trouble to repost the post I had previously made about Banega, but which I had posted on the wrong thread (the Damiao one!). Unfortunately I had used up my three posts and so Glasgow was able to post the news in the right place! So thank you mate! I may not always agree with you, but I certainly appreciate what you bring to this forum!

Tweet on the Spanish Premier League twitter feed in the last few minutes: NOTICIA BOMBA:Se ha producido un avance y nuevos contactos entre Southampton y Valencia por Ever Banega. #EPL#Fichajes Translation: News bomb: There has been a breakthrough and new contacts between Southampton and Valencia by Ever Banega. #EPL #Fichajes -hmm - interesting!!

Hmmm... I'm not sure that includes all the groups. For example I can't see the TOSSA and COLSLAW groups listed there: TOSSA - The Oxford Saints Supporters Association COLSLAW - Committee Of Loyal Saints Living Around Watford These two generally operate as effectively one group and have a presence through Yahoo here: http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/COLSLAW/ I am a member of Northern Saints as I live near Darlington. There are quite a lot of us around and we are growing in number all the time! There are quite a few in the Northwest, including the organisers of the group, so there is always likely to be someone travelling down through the Midlands on their way to a Saints game - though I don't know how many drive to games.

I'd agree with a lot of what you say there, but I would argue it is BOTH an issue of strength in depth AND having players that fit to the different systems that the manager will employ against different opposition (I don't think he will have one system/style of playing exactly, though he does have a single ethos of how to win). I would argue, for example, that at left back we have a lack of strength in depth (if both Shaw and Fox get injured we have few other options), a lack of quality in depth (Fox is not as bad as some suggest, but he is positionally naive and gets caught out too often) and a lack of personnel that fit to Pochettino's system (Fox's approach of bombing up the wing only works where you have a system where someone else is tasked with filling the gaps he leaves behind him). Similarly at right back if Clyne gets injured, Stephens and Chambers are options that could fill that role, but both are only young and inexperienced and while both have played in that position, they have both also played elsewhere. Cork is another option, but this has not generally been his preferred position (though if, as we all suspect, he loses his place to Wanyama, I guess he will play wherever he can get a game!) So, there are a lot of question marks in this position if Clyne gets injured.

OK, there is a lot of talk about where we need to strengthen, but I thought it might be helpful to look at our squad visually, so I have created a chart showing the squad as it is at present (with the assumption that Billy Sharp will be leaving). I have created a column for first choice players and a column for back-up players. I have also indicated which players are under 21 and do not, therefore, count within the 25 allowed squad players. I have based the squad on a 4-4-2 system, but please don't worry too much about the details here - I recognise that this is a simplification and that we could play a very different formation to 4-4-2 and that Ramirez and Rodriguez (etc....) cannot necessarily be guaranteed to be first choice. I also recognise that putting some players into one position is an over-simplification. Those are details and not the main thrust of this exercise! So, without further ado, here is the current squad as it stands at the moment (unless a player has suddenly signed while I am typing this in!): [table] [tr] [th]Position[/th] [th]First Choice(s)[/th] [th]Back-up(s)[/th] [th]Under 21 [/th] [/tr] [tr] [th]GK[/th] [td]Boruc[/td] [td]Davis, Gazzaniga[/td] [td]Gazzaniga[/td] [/tr] [tr] [th]Left back[/th] [td]Shaw[/td] [td]Fox[/td] [td]Shaw[/td] [/tr] [tr] [th]Centre Back[/th] [td]Lovren, Yoshida[/td] [td]Fonte, Hooiveld[/td] [td][/td] [/tr] [tr] [th]Right Back[/th] [td]Clyne[/td] [td]Stephens[/td] [td]Stephens[/td] [/tr] [tr] [th]Defensive Mid/Box-to-box[/th] [td]Schneiderlin, Wanyama[/td] [td]Cork, JWP, Chambers[/td] [td]JWP, Chambers[/td] [/tr] [tr] [th]Offensive Mid[/th] [td]Lallana, Ramirez[/td] [td]Puncheon, Guly, Davis, Isgrove[/td] [td]Isgrove[/td] [/tr] [tr] [th]Striker[/th] [td]Lambert, Rodriguez[/td] [td]Mayuka [/td] [td][/td] [/tr] [/table] My thoughts as I look at this are these: 1. We have only got a first team squad of 25 players of which 6 are under 21. We could therefore sign up to 6 more players aged over 21! 2. We have a lot of midfielders but many of these are not quality players for the future and could well drop down the pecking order quite quickly with some more quality additions. I would suggest that Guly will probably be one of those who will see less game time if we do sign another quality midfielder like Banega. 3. We have at first glance very limited options at full-back... except for the fact that Yoshida, Cork, Chambers and potentially Wanyama could all do a job there! 4. We have even more limited options up front - although, again, Lallana, Ramirez, Puncheon, Guly and Isgrove could all be called upon if need be. The obvious (imo) conclusions from all this are: 1. We definitely need to be looking to strengthen up front, especially if Billy Sharp does move on. 2. Despite the numbers of midfielders in our squad we do still have scope to bring in a quality player like Banega if we can get him as there are a lot of players who are not upper Premier League quality (if that is what we are aiming to become!) 3. We could do with strengthening further in defence. Anyone else got any thoughts looking at that?

Would be a good day to announce the shock signing of Ever Banega.

I agree that this is a way that Pochettino is sending out a message of intent, though I doubt we will sign all those three players if any of them. However, this announcement will signal to other potential signings that we are an ambitious club. It may also serve as a smokescreen to other potential purchases. I can't predict who - maybe some of the others about whom we have had rumours but who were not mentioned by Pochettino yesterday. Of course, it may have been lost in translation that Pochettino was actually saying those three names with a kind of dry humour as if to scorn the rumours of the market! I haven't actually see what was said in the press conference to have any clue as to whether that may be the case. In terms of who I hope we will sign, I would definitely include Ever Banega and maybe a winger and/or striker. Another defender could also be useful.

Thanks! I have just tweeted Alan Nixon on Twitter and he makes big hints that your information is correct: Me: Any news on Southampton signing a player this week? Is the rumour of one out, one in true? #transferwindowopen Alan Nixon: Waiting on a call on something. About time The Don landed one. Enough cheque-book waving ... get them signed. I wait to hear more news!

i don't know whether this is true or not, but I hope it is. As a very regular poster on here I guess Glasgow is taking a very big risk posting this if it is not true! So... Glasgow... any clues as to who we might be signing? What position? Is it someone with whom we have already been linked in the press? Is this likely to be a first team player or a back-up with the potential to break through? Also, is your source someone who is definitely ITK? Thanks!