Lallana's Left Peg

He's mobile enough to make a difference though. So even if if he isn't as powerful as many and that impacts his ability to compete in the air, beat a man and tackle his mobility shouldn't stop him from being able to find space and do something productive with the ball. If I look at the likes of Fabregas and Cazorla they aren't particularly quick or powerful but they are skillful, and because JWP isn't particularly skillful it really impacts what he can do with the ball. So I think it is just as much his skill as it is his physical attributes. I still think he needs an identity as a player. When he plays I am not sure what sort of player he is trying to be (or indeed is). His range of passing seems limited (tactically, self-imposed or just capability) from what I thought it may have been at one time. In the final third he isn't creative enough, and in the other two thirds of the pitch I'm never sure what he is trying to achieve being simply recycling the ball. I have seen him try to pass the ball forwards more this season to be fair, but from memory it has only been really obvious passes rather than anything to break the lines creatively. He goes as the team does. When the team plays well he contributes but never stands out. When the team is struggling he's never someone who has a better game - he always struggles to make an impact. He has loads of experience but that doesn't always mean progress should be linear - though it is getting to crunch time with him I think.

I'm not fussed by the lack of links in the press. I will be bothered if the window closes and we haven't done anything - that will be the first time I question the ambition and / or competency of those running the club on the football side. Every single metric you look at shows we are terrible at finishing and it completely undermines everything else we do. The Manager clearly will not change his approach so we'll be stuck with the same old frustrations until the summer if so.

There is still a lot of talent in that squad, as well as some players with good potential. Who knows if they will fulfil it. Squad needs to be managed better and it needs more quality in the final third.

Anyone see the finishing in the warm-up yesterday? The exercise they do before every game where they all receive a layoff and then try to finish against the sub keeper? Lets just say Tadic aside it was an absolute joke from everyone.

Puel has been dealt a bad hand in terms of goal threat, but he should also be doing better in terms of the things he does to get this team going. Anyone at the game yesterday would have seen the players arguing and gesturing between each other. It wasn't just frustration - they clearly didn't what each other was supposed to be doing and for me that is coaching. Whether you like Puel or not, that is on him. In terms of performances I thought Hojbjerg grew into the game and Tadic was better than others on here said he was but he's working with absolute muck up front and he did his best work with the full backs. Redmond and JWP had games they would rather forget. Redmond awful with the ball and JEP ineffective with and without it. The subs weren't very good and as the game went on we got more disjointed which again for me is a coaching issue - we need to be controlled in the way we do things so if we're pushing for a goal we need to do it in a way that shows everyone knows what they are doing rather than it turn into a sunday league game (which it did). It's pretty embarrassing for one of our tactics to be to shove VVD up front and even more embarrassing that when we do we look better. There were boos at the end and VVD stormed off on his own ahead of everyone else on the pitch. If any of you think all is well in the camp then you are blind.

I think at this stage you have to trust Katharina Liebherr that she has the best intentions and would have sought to do her own due diligence that she is passing the club over to capable guardians. I do not know anything about the prospective owners however *if* they have enough nous and savvy in the Asian market to dramatically increase our commercial revenue then that is a huge plus and can open up a lot of opportunities for us in terms of investment in our team. The concern is everything that comes with change and the suggestion that they are not cash rich themselves.

The Ashley Williams comparison is very good. Nowhere near as good and Swansea still got £12m for him. Can see why Saints think that £13m for Fonte is fair.

I've only seen Sakho play for Liverpool and whilst he is physically imposing and a good athlete I've seen plenty of lapses of concentration which is a concern. He also plays like someone else is controlling his legs at times. He likes the pass the ball forward but that does also lead to mistakes (this is not much of a criticism as that is bound to happen when you pass the ball forwards so much). Only other concern is that he got thrown out of Liverpool's pre-season tour after breaking his fourth rule or something like that. So not sure how he passes our 'character' criteria. I think he would be a good player for us but he doesn't come without his baggage or deficiencies. But then again, if he didn't have them then he wouldn't come to us so swings and roundabouts.

Without wishing to get into this too much the average national wage is nothing to do with how much a footballer should or should not be paid and if you look at the industry then top level footballers are actually underpaid when you look at the income that football has. I suspect your accountant friend is correct when it comes to income but only for the very best footballers. Last year Ronaldo had more income than AC Milan did (for example). For Saints it makes little sense to make Fonte top earner for two more years. However, whilst it would be nice for him to get a good deal for 'services rendered' if a club in China want to chuck £6m a year at him for two seasons you can't blame him for having his head turned.

The thing I that I struggle to understand about this is that if the above is true it suggests the club thinks they can keep VVD for a period beyond this summer which, unless a large number of things drastically change (our form, our ability to spend, bigger clubs form, bigger clubs ability to spend) then I just don't see it. So ditch Fonte to keep VVD happy for 6 months and then he leaves as well? Sounds silly to me. Or maybe VVD would be willing to stay for longer - but given he changed agent a month ago I doubt it.

For the money we have spent and the resources we have at our disposal we should be doing better this season - and that is taking into account player turnover and the new Manager. Of course with change there is risk and it does take time to get things right - but I still think taking that into account this season has not been what would be reasonable to expect under the circumstances. League position is ok (but performances are frustrating), cup performances are ok (semi-final is great but out of Europe in the manner we did is abysmal). Most worryingly I am seeing deterioration in our standard of performances as a team and in individuals so I want to see signs of the Manager and team being able to work it out. There is still alot to play for this season and it could go either way.

Not been very good at it this season then have we. Interesting U23 team. I thought Alfie Jones may have had an outside shot at making the squad for Norwich given his rapid rise to prominence the last 18 months. Given the absentees from that U23 squad then unless they are injured I think the following may well be travelling later today for the game tomorrow: Sims Isgrove Stephens Olomola (although I think I heard he was injured) On Wednesday the U18's have their FA Youth Cup tie against Wigan (at Wigan) - and I would expect to see Parkes, Valery, Vokins, o'Connor, Slattery, Afolabi, Johnson, Rowthorn and Mdlalose all feature in that so if the U18's are playing this weekend I think it will be full of 16 year olds!

What he said in public wouldn't be labelled as spin if any of it ever actually happened. As others have pointed out he has unfortunately made significant statements in the past that have been followed by the opposite happening. I have no doubt he has the best of intentions of course but it doesn't reflect very well on him when it goes balls up. I'd prefer he kept his mouth shut unless he knew he was in complete control of the situation and quite clearly he talks about things he cannot control or influence to his satisfaction. However, with that said, in this case I do not blame him for coming out and saying this. He's backed Fonte into a corner and if what he says is correct it's a fair thing to come out and say.

Yeah that's the thing for me. Don't like Reed saying Fonte is still captain as long as he stays professional. How a club of our stature can say we're happy with a player who has handed in a transfer request remains captain is beyond me. VVD as Captain and be done with it. As for the overall Fonte thing, it's a shame because of what he symbolises about our journey. In isolation his performances this season have not been great. But who does he think he will earn a move to if no-one has even bid for him yet? He must surely have something lined up? I would be sad to see him go but wouldn't argue with any deal in the £8-10m region.

Team has given up on Manager, Manager can't put team in position to win games. No doubt the squad should be better (Reed and Wilson take the flack for that) but Puel is not managing these players well - he is not getting the most out of them and they are clearly frustrated by him and that is showing in their performances. So, poor recruitment + poor Manager = what we see right now. Seen this at other clubs who are headed in the wrong direction. Time for a change if we want to push on. If they keep Puel until the summer we won't go down but everything will be poor for the last half of this season. Up to the Board...

But knew at the start of the season we'd have a lot of games so I don't think we can say that its unfortunate that we have a squad who is young, inexperienced and lacking physical presence. The task at hand was known in May and we then built a squad which is inadequate in every respect (bar numbers) to deal with it. It's been a mistake. I'm not expecting us to financially compete with the big boys. I think we get fantastic fees for our players. The question I have is this: Have we spent the money we have had wisely? Have we made the most of the means at our disposal? Right now I think the answer is clearly that we haven't given we have a beige midfield and awful strikeforce. Forget Spurs, forget Liverpool and all those others we aspire to be like. We went backwards this summer while others below us moved forward and now we are experiencing the consequences of that. Even if Puel attacked more do you see finishers in this team - players who look remotely like being able to score a goal? I don't.

That was our season summed up in a single game. All fart and no sh*t. Boring to watch, predictable and clueless. These are football players - they need to be trained and coached. They are professionals because they follow out instructions - whether they believe in them or not. Things out of Puel's hands: 1. Awful strikeforce. Seriously awful. One of the worst in the division and the worst we've had since promotion. Things Puel is in control of and are not good enough: 1. Complete lack of cohesion going forward. 2. Laughable team shape, understanding and pattern of play when subs were made and we were chasing the game If I didn't know better I would suggest some players do not rate him and that is always the beginning of the end. Worse of all for me the players that pick up the silly second yellow cards when it is unnecessary are usually the ones who are most frustrated. For us that appears to be our best player. Oh well.

Everything you have said there is fair however as fans we can also ask ourselves this question: Have the powers that be who are in charge of recruitment made the most of the means we have available at our disposal? For me, jury is out for this season and I don't seen much chance of things getting better than they are. I genuinely believe the club spends as much as it can within being run as a sound business and within FFP. Where I do question is whether or not Les Reed, Ross Wilson and whomever else is involved in recruitment have built a balanced / good enough squad with the resources available to them. And I can question that within the context of your overview.

I don't disagree with the sentiments of your post. The ecology of the modern game also makes it hard for us to hang onto our better players so progress has to be by marginal gains and is underpinned by smart recruitment. In the big picture the club is in a great state - it is in a very healthy financial state and seems to be run well. We should be happy. However, our recruitment (or recruitment planning) is showing signs of cracking and that is severely impacting us at the moment. It just was not good enough in the summer - a lack of goal threat in both attack and midfield was not addressed and our new Manager is struggling to address that. If you were to tell me in May that we would be losing Pelle, Wanyama and Mane for £55m and would be spending that along with our new income from our commercial deals and the TV money on Boufal, Hojbjerg and Redmond I would be seriously underwhelmed. Hojbjerg and Redmond in particular appeared to be opportunity signings that met many criteria other than actually being a need that the team had (productive players that produced tangible output). All the new deals in the summer for existing players made sense though and were good work (maybe not the Long one but you can't have it all). Time to fix some issues in the summer - I can't see much changing in January.

It's tomorrow night so you should still be able to make it

Give it to VVD. Have him take a 15 yard run up and hit it as hard as he can. I don't care if he misses. I bet he doesn't.

I'm not a fan of strikers who don't score goals but if other parts of the team are scoring then what Long brings to the table is very valuable. But if he has to score goals as others aren't then it really brings into focus his weaknesses. As this point - with a brand new deal inked only 6 months ago it doesn't make sense to move him on. At the very least I am glad he is an option off the bench.

Surely the club would want that and be happy to help fund it? Improving accessibility to the ground would be quite important?

Fonte confirmed dropped, which I find strange given that Wednesday was no effort whatsoever for him. Pleased Reed gets the nod. Not convinced by balance of front three.

Would just like to say that it wasn't a forgone conclusion that either Jake or Harrison would be signing a new deal and the work that Puel has done this year thus far integrating the kids and showing trust in them has really helped the process of the signing of the new deals. So congrats to both the kids on the new deals and also to Puel for his role in this.