Baird of the land

Well when we play well we play very well. Helped by a watford side who seems to not want to play in the rain. Thought the 3 midfield was excellent today. There was a real balance in strength(Romeu), Passing(Clasie), Movement(Davis)Really hope that Wanyama who has been below par most of the season doesn't just waltz into the team. Romeu still has that odd moment of devil in him. That tackle from behind i thought was far too risky, mistime it at all and a ref could send him off but fair play to him he timed it perfectly and it was Deeney who went crazy and got himself booked. Long worked his socks off and took his goal nicely. If he could just improve his convertion ratio a little but still a good little player who may not be worth what we paid for him but neither is Lallana/Lovren worth what we sold them for. Mane needs a goal, some excellent stuff outside of that but contrived not to increase our lead. Nice to see Targett do ok and set up the 1st goal, especially after some of the negatives i've seen regarding him on these forums especially in relation to his crossing. I've had a lot of negatives recently about Koeman but today the tactics worked and today he used his subs correctly to close out the game and get us the 2nd. Still it's one game and we showed against arsenal we can play when we want. Other teams will make us regret all teh missed chances and sometimes we need to be able to show we can grind out results when playing less well.

Was hoping Adam would ask him tougher questions, especially in relation to what he said about the academy. Gave him a free ride and even then i thought the responses were very weak.

Awful signing, not just in terms of being a poor player but just the whole notion of using the loan market for that type of fix me up player. Thankfully Liverpool are helping us cut our losses because they are so desperate because of injuries they need some cover & someone to play in Exeter replay. Still disappointed he's deprived others of 1st team chances. Funny how now Koeman's been forced to use the academy as backup for that 4th choice defender slot till end of season.

Forster/Stek(dependent on how fit Forster is) Cedric(fresh legs as long as fit) Fonte Van Dijk Bertrand(assuming he is over his illness) Reed Romeu Clasie(though i doubt Reed will be picked) JWP if not as i think Davis is in need of a rest. Mane Pelle Tadic (Though if Pelle isn't 100% i'd save him for game against WBA) I'd like to see seager get half an hour if behind or level but that's not likely to happen)

Given Seagar was 17/18 during potch reign(now 19 going on 20) & he gave an 18 year old striker in Gallagher plenty of games i can't see how potch bears any responsibility. Must have been utterly deflating to be seagar on Saturday sitting on the bench the day after Koeman wrote him and most of rest of academy players off, throwing them under the bus in Redknapp style to try and stop his own image being tarnished. Unless Koeman is going out the door I hope he's pressing Reed for a loan move somewhere where a manager might actually give him an opportunity when several of the main strikers are injured and others are out of form.

Of course the pathway has been shut. Reed plays well and then is ignored for a year. If it hadn't been for Bertrand's injury and sickness Targett likely wouldn't have played in well over a year. Seager scores regularly for u21's and then comes off after scoring again to read interview from manager claiming him and the rest of the academy are utterly worthless in Koeman's eyes. I'd rather the club was run by those behind with the long term in mind than an utterly selfish short term by Koeman. Hope Kat trusts Les and Ralph.

Interesting read. Been wondering about the discrepancies between what we were told(formation/youth etc) was the plan and what was occurring. I do wonder if Cortese was still in charge would Koeman have been sacked instantly for deliberately trying to damage the club by savagely attacking the club's academy to try and preserve his own reputation. Also wonder how much damage those comments have done in terms of future recruitment. Personally the things i dislike (attitude to youth/tactics etc) have been building and overwhelming the bank of goodwill based on last seasons performance. I'd started hoping we'd stumble along till the summer but if he's given the funds to squander on over priced players in January that would likely negatively affect the funds available in the summer and likely leave us encumbered with dross? Even if i didn't feel that way does Koeman really act like a man that wants to be at Saints for the long run? In hindsight it is a shame Holland didn't take him when they failed to qualify for the euros.

Koeman tactically got it wrong again, started with completely the wrong formation and we went 1 nil down. Thankfully he actually changed things in the 2nd half and we got the equaliser. Once again our soft centre cost us by letting them score. Be interesting to see what team Koeman puts out against Watford after virtually playing the entire first xi today. Very disappointing to go out of the cup again to Palace at home. Now we've got either nothing to play for or if things continue to get worse a relegation battle. Be interesting to see how the board react. Koeman's terrible recent record coupled with his vile public attack on the academy can't have pleased them.

There's Reed who he's ignored till a five minute cameo vs Norwich this season even after he impressed when forced to give him a chance against everton the previous season. There's Stephens who impressed over 2 loan spells at Swindon, who rather than play he instead forked out on Caulker on Loan. There's Seager who has repeatedly done well at u21 level and yet had one tiny cameo. In the article he talks about only Targett being ready for the 1st team with Reed behind him. Really for me that's more indicative of a Redknapp/allardyce attitude where a young player is only when they have experience. The old catch twenty two where the young player needs top flight experience in order for the manager to risk him but without being given the experience by said manager they will never get that experience. So yeah i'd be happy if he went at the end of the season. On a completely unrelated note, really happy to see Lee Holmes score against Liverpool. Really nice to see him back playing, is a really good little player, who's been blighted by injuries.

I've got to the point where i'd happily see Koeman go. Really can't stand his complete negativity in regards the development of young players.

I'll believe that when i see it.

Nice to see them get back to winning ways and great to news at fraser's return. Where did Stephens play tonight?

Personally i'm hoping for a few changes(opportunities for a couple of the academy players) , especially as we've a league game against watford the following wednesday. Targett & Reed should come in imo. Juanmi if he's staying should be given a start. Hopefully some of the likes of Stephens/Mcqueen/Seager/Hesketh make the bench.

Agree completely, should be giving the likes of Stephens opportunities rather than loaning in dross like Caulker.

Blame for this result lies firmly with Koeman. Zero ambition to try and win the game at 0-0, not taking off the extremely poor Wanyama who'd also been booked. Team worked hard and played some decent stuff with little cutting edge prior to that but deprived of Mane our creativity was very limited. Criminal that Mane was left sitting on the bench till after they had scored. Tactical ineptiditude. Good news is that Wanyama is suspended. He's been mediocre for the last couple of months and i'd be happy to see Romeu or Reed given a chance. Ideal world Spurs give us a mammoth offer and we bite their hand off. Not sure i want to see Koeman given money to spend in January.

Once again i don't understand Koeman. Just seems intent on letting the game drift away from us.

Long always seems to be a striker who's conversion ratio is poor. In that instance his first touch is good so why take the 2nd before trying to beat the keeper. I still think he's a decent 2nd striker for a club our size but is frustrating seeing him playing so well in large parts and then the final finish letting him down. JWP continues to frustrate me. Lovely corner delivery twice but outside dead ball situations i keep waiting for more to come but too often its very average. Hoping Mane comes on, would love to see him taking on their makeshift right back.

Great result against and in form team. Great that we finally broke the hoodoo of beating a top half team this season. One swallow doesn't make a summer. We need to build on it against an out of sorts West Ham team and get back into the top half. The martina situation still baffles me. Great goal and from the sounds of it solid performance, but what's baffling is that it has taken this long for him to be offered the chance when we've been playing players out of position there. Fantastic to see stek back. Long showed that he is a good premiership striker. He may lack that extra quality when it comes to his finishing & we may have payed over the odds for him but for an alternative option he is as good as the likes of saints are likely to be able to attract.

Technically I still think he's suspect. Couple that with moment where he barely got away with delaying far too long coming out to sweep up what should have been a simple through ball. So yeah while he's shown signs of improvement and wasn't to blame for the goals he's not the level of the keepers we signed to be first choice.

Good news that stek is fit again. Gazzaniga's performance vs Spurs hardly filled me with confidence.

Personally I feel a bit sorry for long, when he's not played out of position, Koeman plays a completely defensive lineup(City and palace games). He looked dangerous and scored against city once we gave him support. He's not a superstar but he is a decent squad player IMO. Definitely reed or Romeu deserve a chance rather than the currently awful wanyama. Doubt Koeman has the stones to drop wanyama though.

Given the topsy turvy nature of the league we can win this if we go out with the right mentality. Worried koeman's going to turn defensive which will lead to a drab loss as at city and palace. Personally I'd drop wanyama(who either needs a serious kick to regain previous levels or a quick exit if spuds are still willing to pay) for Romeu. Hopefully stek will be back. We're not yet quite in a relegation dogfight but lose this & game away at West Ham and we will be.

Another awful saints display. Focus now on ensuring we don't get dragged into relegation mire rather than any thoughts of continued progression. Shame considering how open the league is. Still no guts to drop the awful wanyama who clearly doesn't want to be here. As bad as we are I really don't want Koeman given more money as I've lost trust that it won't just be dross to lumber us with and block opportunities for youngsters.

Yep noticed this too. Very disappointing, heading towards a bottom half finish(though i don't buy into the relegation talk). We need to turn the corner with some wins against teams above us starting at home to Spuds

Been pretty mild considering how far we've fallen in comparison with previous 2 seasons levels of performance. Barring a sudden ability to beat top half teams I expect worse to come after the next 3 games.