Lallana's Left Peg

Given that around 4 or 5 Saints Academy graduates make up the England squad at any one time I'd say that process is alive and well.

I'd ask him why the club sent so many messages out in the public domain about signing Toby and / or a legal position only for him to end up signing for Spurs. I suspect the answer will be that the player wanted to sign for Spurs no matter what however I fail to believe the club wouldn't be aware of that.

What is the difference between Palace paying Cabaye £100k a week and us paying Ramirez and Osvaldo over £100k a week between them? TV money means small clubs can pay big wages.

Capability has something to do with it as well.

I haven't seen Wijinaldum play, but what makes him different from Tadic who was also a goal and assist machine in Holland?

Think that was the only shot Kelvin managed to save yesterday.

We are victims of our own success - there are rules that prohibit us going beyond our means and the same rules protect the clubs at the top who can then tempt our players away with better wages. The same rules also mean it is just as hard to hold onto Academy graduates (well, homegrown players) and they attract a premium too. For a club of our size, our operating model is perfect - absolutely brilliant. The club invest all revenues received back into the team (and infrastructure of the club) so overall we have to accept that progress at this point will be through marginal gains and has to be underpinned via strong scouting. It also helps that we are now known as a very good club to develop at and one which the big boys like - that will help with recruitment as well. We just have to understand that progress cannot be quick now - the rules are against us.

Even in the game last night you could see Ramirez lacks that extra gear he needs both with and without the ball. He has a decent stride but once he starts dribbling his head isn't up enough. The Premier League gets quicker every year. It probably comes down to money - can you justify him in the squad at the wages he reportedly earns?

Well I know the £27m figure is true as the club publicly acknowledged it twice last year. But in terms of how Saints generally do things now, I obviously don't know.

Last summer we owed £27m in transfer fees for players already at the club (the likes of Lovren, Wanyama, Osvaldo etc.). It's quite common to stagger transfer fees over a number of years of course, but it just so happened that the way Cortese had managed the finances is that last summer we owed £27m in fees to other clubs. We had to account for that in our spending last summer. Of course, even if we are break even it doesn't stop us spending as spreading fees over a few years means we can still spend this year (though not to the degree I others think we can), but when people talk about profits from transfer activity from last summer they have to consider that £30m hole we had to fill as well.

I tried to translate the article, but the translation website I used said Koeman was Cow Man so I'm not so sure it's accurate - however I think Koeman said Newcastle is a big club with good players but the last few years they haven't done well and there is an issue with Managers and stability.

Yes but Koeman joined the club in a summer when we had to pay £27m in transfer fees for players already at the club (Cortese back loaded the payment structures for them). So effectively we're even.

If you believe you have strong scouting and recruitment, there is no need to pay huge fees for players. I have no doubt that the £27m+ we get for Schneiderlin will be reinvested in the club, but that may be across a few players in different positions and / or in infrastructure. Of course we will need to invest in a quality replacement as we need to find someone as effective as Schneiderlin (or make the team as effective) but the reason the top clubs pay the premiums is that they can't afford to develop players via playing time and we are a club who can. Given that Jay Rod is back and we signed Juanmi we are already stronger in the final third, together with Pelle, Tadic, Mane, and Long all settled at the club. I would expect us to be a better force in the final third this season. That relieves some pressure on the back four and the defensive midfield positions, where it will be a tough ask to be as good given the turnover of personnel. I think the team will evolve slightly in that respect.

It's an issue I've highlighted. If Clasie was the Schneiderlin replacement then that leaves the central midfield spots to be occupied of two from Wanyama, Clasie, Davis, Reed, and JWP. Whilst height isn't everything and you can certainly be short and physical, that is not an imposing midfield for the Premier League. It could get over-run and in the air it is VERY vulnerable.

That is a literal fact ffs

Hard to really to take too much from that game, but for what it is worth: 1. Great to see Jay Rod back 2. Soares looks like a really nice player 3. I'd back Stevie Wonder to successfully navigate an oil tanker through our defence

Awful goal to concede. Nice equaliser though!

5pm, and no. Potential stream here: http://www.gofeed2all.eu/watch/355283/1/watch-rb-leipzig-vs-southampton.html

I bet there are some U16 midfields with a higher average height Reed: 5'6" Gape: 5'6" Juanmi: 5'7" Ramirez: 6'0" Isgrove: 5'8" Small!

TEAM:

Don't know for sure but could well be Josh Debayo.

Bottled it.

Interesting. Someone on here who had links to the Academy said that his appointment (made off the back of the firing of Dodd and Williams) was because he was a great coach and coached most of the group in the U16's. Clearly, whilst U18 results have been mixed, this years intake has been poor so I wouldn't read too much into that. Fleming's appointment was made to give the U18's more of a 'been there' nous. This hasn't worked out for whatever reason so it will be interesting to see what direction we go in here.

Is a link to a Daily Star article with no quotes a valid challenge (or, indeed, undeniable proof in its own right)? If Manchester United, a club who pay more in wages and play Champions League football, were after Clyne I'd have thought he would join them. As it was, I'm more inclined to believe his form in the second half of the season saw him miss out on elite European football either with Saints or another club.

Imagine if we miss out on Clasie!