Saint86

A couple of writers on The Athletic reckon we should be bringing Reed back and pairing him with JWP in midfield rather than spending big. They also think we should go for Daka immediately if we can afford him at any point.

Fairly obvious CB surely? You said you were disappointed your role model spouts stuff you disagree with. He was a paid footballer, not a scientist/politician/philosopher etc.. What Le Tissier has said in his statement isn't that unreasonable. Its been rumoured for months that the death certificates were being fiddled. Attacking the guy for flagging what NHS whilstleblowers were saying (and mainstream news outlets are reporting) is bizarre from the OP.

If anyone is looking up to a former football player as a role model capable of spewing pearls of articulate wisdom then Le Tissier isn't the only one being foolish. 😅 Its the same thing that applies to pop stars and actors. They earn frankly unreasonable amounts of money because they're good at their jobs, but their opinion on anything from politics, to the environment, to real life should carry no more weight (and probably less) than the average working person's. All those people live in detached bubbles, are worshipped by thousands/millions, and wouldn't have a clue about everyday issues. In the same way that cancel culture would deny someone a voice these days based on your "lived experience", why on earth do people listen to celebs? In response to the clearly very distressed OP who is seemingly unable to handle an opinion they disagree with.... Its a fundamental tenant of democracy that people have a right to free speech. If you don't like what someone says you don't have to listen to it. If Le Tissier causes so much controversy that his employee sacks him then that is his fault and lookout - not yours.

If KWP has been offered regular first team football by Saints (playing under RH and pushing for a top half finish next season) then I personally think he'd be mad to go to Fulham 🤣

This ties in with what I've heard as well 😏

And he's a lot less offensive than most of the BBC's pay roll 🤷‍♂️

I mean. Do you need me to say, "Welcome to saintsweb"?

Really? Fonte wanted a contract extension to see him through to retirement at the club. He also asked for a pay rise to match his expectations as a European champion. Its been made clear by several parties that he wasn't demanding the earth, or even near the club's top earners. In response, the club (Les Read et al) falsely leaked that he had handed in a transfer request and forced him out of the club. He didn't want to leave the club but he even ended up on a reduced wage at a club he didn't want to be at. Yeah, he could have handled himself a bit better and obviously regrets it now. But the bloke should frankly be a club hero. You are living in a parallel universe to me if you think someone who could arguably have gone on the banner should be held in the same disdain as Llama boy and Lovren. At the end of the day, Rickie Lambert is loved by the fans despite being one of the first ones out the door to join Liverpool and get some more Wonga for his retirement. Fonte wanted to stay at the club and asked for a pay rise (to match his perceived ability) and a contract extension to see out his career at the club.... I mean, who doesn't ask for a payrise when they've done well at work... he didn't ask to leave but he was deceitfully forced out of the club anyway. At the very least, those two players should be viewed in a very similar way by the fans.... and none of us begrudge Rickie do we? Its sad that some of our fans have this level of disdain towards Fonte. He was a pivotal club servant who moved down a division to join saints, scored the crucial winning goal at Brighton, and who stayed with us for years becoming club captain. He was a player who lived and breathed Saints whilst he was here and obviously still cares for the club.

Feel sorry for Bournemouth but villa will get something out of West ham no matter what they do to Everton. That's the classic West ham MO. Shit when they should do well, upset the odds when they really should do crap.

Surely one of the defensive signings is a right back?!?!

Well i sit firmly on the Puel should have been sacked side of the fence - so I absolutely agree. We hired a terrible manager afterwards, but I have no doubts Puel would have been sacked with us in a relegation fight eitherway had he stayed.

Predicted 11th-15th with a chance of top 8 push if we had a good season (we didn't, but at least we've ended superbly given where we were in November!!). Would be delighted if we finished above Everton.

Yeah right. Would be amazing

I'd give them the points frankly. They are a local team and I don't wish them ill (just don't want them doing better than us in a major way). If they win it increases the chance of west ham or watford going down. Two teams that I'd far rather see relegated. Or Villa ofc. Last game of the season is villa vs west ham, and I've got 2 close mates that follow those two teams respectively... Several of us will be revelling in the banter we can give if both villa and west ham are at risk of relegation on the final day. So, purely for my merriment, lets lose to Bournemouth?

Agreed. Of the current top 4, man city are my preferred team - but that's not saying much 😆 Have a lot of respect for Ole's United revolution so will be the two manchester clubs by the end of the season i suspect. As for the rest of the established clubs... Really can't stand Leicester, everton, Liverpool or chelsea. Arsenal and tottenham are a bit meh. Hopefully are free to air performances have been improving our "2nd club" popularity and will lead to more TV money / merchandising next year etc. FFP is responsible for our best team in 30 years being dismantled and clubs like United, Liverpool and Tottenham being able to poach are players at leisure.

I fully support any action that harms FFP. The system does the exact opposite of enforcing fair play, Another article in the mail on it today. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8523111/MARTIN-SAMUEL-Hateful-eight-step-war-against-Manchester-City-FFP-saga.html

He put in a hell of a shift vs city and was tracking back doing a very good job defending.

JWP is the best penalty taker we have currently. He hit the bar yesterday, if it had been an inch and a half lower then people would queuing up with praise. If he misses again then its different as that starts to become a mental issue.

You mean like JWP falling into an opposition defender yesterday? 🤨 Fancy we'll get something out of united anyway, and we'll certainly give them a good game.

Its probably one of the worst saints home shirt we've had - certainly the least Southampton like. It's a really poor effort and also one of the worst sash attempts out there. The logo will be falling off in no time as well. How can it be that year after year, amateur mock ups are better than those of professionals.

Think we'd be mad to sell McCarthy and Forster. McCarthy is our best keeper by a long way.

We kept a clean sheet against Man City who had over 70% possession and 26 shots. So yes, by inspection our defence had a good game. Conversely vs Arsenal he was caught out and then sent off by the through ball for Abamayang which led to the goal. Consistency at a good level is the sign of a quality player and he isn't at those levels yet. The simple truth is that for the first games back after the restart he was out of shape and very off the pace, but that has been improving. He has some very good games for saints and there are glimpses of a very good CB. Hopefully we can all enjoy him turning into those glimpses into a regular occurrence. I'd actually say we look better since we've started playing Romeu in midfield again, he actually is a solid anchor player and has better defensive and technical abilities than PEH. That rotation may have been enforced by PEH's decision to leave, but I'm glad to see him back. And i think we look a far more solid side with the midfield of Armstrong, JWP, Romeu, and Redmond.

You seem to think that the use of stop and search is racist because the demographic ratios don't match the population demographics for the entire country, i.e. "apply it more fairly". This is not a sound argument i'm afraid. You're expecting stop and search to match national demographics and crying racism when it doesn't. For comparison, 170 knife crimes per 100,000 in London in 2019 compared to 24 per knife crimes per 100,000 in Gwent. I can't find the stats for both areas but we can safely assume that London and the UK will be opposite extremes of the national average... And 80% of the UK is white. So what do you want? Get the police to do 4 times (minimum) as many stop and search operations in (the high risk 🙃) areas like Gwent and get those figures evened out? Or equally, do significantly less stop and searches in at risk areas. I would bet the former would waste police time and resources and the latter would lead to even more tragic knife crime statistics. The issue in this case is social equality, and I think you're targeting a symptom, not a cause.

How are Portsmouth's finances? Can't imagine this will be good news for them! Really pleased for Oxford.

My pre match thread prediction 😏🤣 - Che certainly had a crack 😄 "KWP should keep the right back spot, and I'd actually keep Romeu in midfield because his technical ability is far beyond PEH's. Smallbone did well, but you have to start Armstrong on current form. I'd start Che Adams up front and give him a crack. We've got nothing to lose in this one, and i bizarrely fancy us to get a result."