Saint86

Fixture made easy by arsenal fielding a very weak team. But it shows our strength that we can make that number of changes and win. Team did well. Yoshi, Davis, McQueen, Sims etc... they all looked good so a nice win. Tougher fixtures ahead in the next round. Would take hull here and now rather than a glamour semi.

Fantastic stream on cricfree for those still looking

We're mid table, incosistent, blunt as feck and lost to a crippled prague team with a bench that had only one player over 21 and a combined squad number of over 300... One win over an appalling Everton team does not change the fact that saints need to do better to match or even come close to last season. Stating otherwise is seriously glossing over how poor we have been at times this season compared to the last few years. Fortunately we've made yet another £25m transfer profit as well as record tv and commercial revenues... I therefore expect investment as required to help us gain a top 7 finish as a minimum. A cup final win would mitigate a slightly poorer league finish however. But the fact stands. We are not playing well enough yet, and need to get better. A loss to prague and a 1-0 win over that awful everton team does not constitute starting a thread saying things are working... We are currently on course for our worst league finish since our first season back. That is not something to be happy with (I don't blame Puel for it) given that the club has money to burn and chose to lose Koeman, mane, pelle and wanyama for a weaker squad and another transfer profit. That said, I did enjoy yesterdays performance and loved finally seeing Sims make his breakthrough, I have been waiting to see that for years it is one thing I really do love about Puel... he trusts the kids and that is a staple of any saints manager for me. Doesn't change the fact that we need to score more!! And I think that sadly, that requires investment in the first team personnel, more players in the box, or a recall for gallagher (perhaps)!

Charlie Austin apologise in an interview for hitting it to hard as it was a half shot.... Can't believe Charlie Austin is criticising the ball he played....

Well said Hartman. JWP has been superb so far this season. He is coming on leaps and bounds and starting to dictate games. He is also Southampton through and through and what, 21 or 22... anything that can be done to improve and develop him should be used. He is goingto be a very important player for saints over the years and future captain. I have no doubts about that at and won't change my view unless he gets a serious injury.

To be honest. this thread could equally be named "Les Reed the tinkerman - its not working". The players we've had and the profits we've been making from players sales and increased tv revenues means there is no reason why we shouldn't have kept most of the squad together and achieved top 4 by now. Shaw, Clyne, Toby, Morgan, Wanyama, Lallana, Lambert, Mane, Lovren, Pelle, Chambers, Boruc, Poch, Koeman - Its a shocking list of people we have lost over 3 transfer windows. When you consider that we could add VVD, Romeu, Davis, JWP and Bertand to that for £30m... And people say Nigel Adkins underachieved.

Its not so much the changes as the tactics. It was 70 odd min tonight, we had the ball on the flank, and one player in the box, then the other winger on the far side. They had their entire team back. These tactics of passing at slow tempo are killing us, we don't comit players forward to attacks which we have done non stop in seasons gone by. Ultimately the buck stops with Les Reed. If he wants to sell the team every summer and brag about the player and coaching scout networks, then he needs to deliver. So far he has delivered a very mediocre team and one that is unable to really look threatening. The players body language towards each other is also deteriorating rapidly in recent games. Worrying times.

We aren't very good. Basically. Tactics do not work.

So, i assume that means that two of McQueen, Targett and Bertrand are expected to leave in the next couple of windows?

The bitter comments on that site are appalling. Thank god we don't have delusional idiots like that infesting our forum. Oh wait...

To be clear to everyone that doesn't realise he is trolling. He has decided that we have no chance of being a top 6 team...... 12 games after Leicester won the league. Why the forum mods put up with this crap from Glasgow and a number of other posters I'll never understand.

You've met people that would choose to vote for Hillary? That actually worries me more. They are both awful. But at least with Trump you see the evils you are getting up front. With Hillary there are untold cover ups, lies, political games etc etc. I actually want trump to win because I think it will be hilarious watching the fall out. What power do you think he ultimately has... Obama gave the best years of his live to try and get through obama care and failed completely on gun control. The president is ultimately controlled by those around him, his/her very wealthy backers, and the senate. If anything, the fact that Hilary clinton is at risk of losing the election, and allowed herself to be drawn into a personal **** stirring competition is evidence that she is not fit to "lead the western world"... What is she going to do against someone like Putin... Sadly, all you can say about this election is that American voters have been totally failed by a system that only gives them 2 choices between 2 very flawed human beings... hopefully it will make people appreciate our own system a little more.

Is this another of these threads where we lose to one of the best teams in the country/world... and then as a result rewrite history to condemn a player who in fact has been here for 1year - and missed the start of both seasons due to injury niggles. Despite that, I can see the class clasie has, as could Koeman, as could Les Reed, as can Puel. But no. lets just write him off. Forget the chapel end, fans who can't even acknowledge the facts before they get on the players backs are what is wrong with this club. Embarrassing.

Lacazette, 2 years ago.

http://africanfootball.com//news/660056/Eric-Bailly-could-have-been-a-Southampton-player Ivory Coast defender Eric Bailly was once sought after by Southampton, according to Sky Sports football expert Charlie Nicholas. The Elephants centre-back moved to the Premier League in the European summer when he signed a deal with Manchester United. But before he became a Red Devils player, Bailly was reportedly on the wish list of Southampton, according to Nicholas. “A former teammate of mine from Aberdeen is one of their Spanish scouts and he identifies Spain and Portugal, and he was telling me, Southampton have more scouts than anybody else touring Europe,” the pundit told Soccer Saturday. “They nearly bought Eric Bailly, who went to Man United. They ended up not buying him because they decided to sign Virgil van Dijk. They are very clever. “They have every angle covered and they have that sensational academy too so you couldn’t get a better balance than what they have.”

Well, we sang our hearts out once they scored, and continued to make a lot of noise for the next 15minutes before chelsea grew into the game. By that point it was clear than bar a major feck up we had lost.

Got beaten by the better side today, there is no shame in that. Year on year they come to sms and they are the best team i see that season, this year was no different and normal service has resumed. But I still don't understand why PEH isn't starting ahead of claise, at least against physical sides like today. And whilst Martina can defend he offers nothing going forwards. Passes behind the attackers, slows play, goes backwards and time and time again he should be running on behind the winger and stops... With bertran he looks to run behind every single time - and often gets behind the team and gets a cross in as a result. Martina, sadly, just isn't good enough. Game was also crying out for long to start today, they were shaky at the back from the start and he would have terrorised them, just like mane and just like jayrod in seasons past. Redmond again wasn't strong enough and after they got the goal they closed out redmond and tadic too easily. Needed that constant physical threat that long causes. But oh well. Onwards to Inter! What a game to savour!!

And there we have it, the crux of the issue. These lefties will be forever making us apologise for our history and heritage by openly putting it down and forcing us to take on the woes of the world as penance. Just ignore the fact that we introduced equality, education and democracy to all parts of the world, or the huge strives in technology and healthcare that we gave the planet. The British empire was bad, a shame on us all!!!!

They are basically all behaving like Alpine. Country is doing well and they hate it, they want us to fail, they can't except the Tories are doing well and they can't except that the current champions of the sycophantic left are a bunch of dribbling rapid dogs with an intelligence similar to that of their 4 legged friends. I for one am enjoying watching our continued GDP growth, international acknowledgement as the leading business centre in the g7 and watching our government focus policies to suit areas that need help. Rather that than sending taxpayer moneies out of the country, being forced to bail out EU countries, paying for EU citizens medical care, helping to subsidise foreign country that are taking British jobs etc. It's all very embarrassing for them, but hilarious none the less

There is already 2 threads covering this

So basically. It all stems from Portsmouth trying to put local and regional companies out of business through not paying for things and taking short cuts (add an "n" in there if you want)... who'd have thought the pikey blue phew would have done such a thing... I mean, its not like they've got a history of punishing local businesses for their own short term gains... dirty club, dirty city, scar on the south coast.

5year contract, already being shaped into the captain, great friendship with Fonte and players like Warde Prowse and really buys into the clubs ethos. On top of that, the big teams really are going to get wary of giving us anymore money at this rate. I reckon we'll have VVD for a while.

very good article cheers

What on earth are you smoking mate. Should have won at inter, could have won at city.... Unbeaten in the league bar tough games away at arsenal and united... We're having a very good start to the season. Not only that, but the players were absolutely knackered after city having given their all. This is despite them being rotated. We have Sunderland on wednesday and chelsea next weekend. How on earth do you think we would have fared to date with no rotation and players dead on their feet? And how do you think we would manage the next two games with players completely fatigue. Your post is by far and away one of the worst and most nonsensical i have ever read on this forum. Hopefully you'll realise that. Also, giving jayrod and long opportunities through rotation is the only way they'll gain match sharpness and confidence. Just a horrendous post tbh.

This thread is fairly embarrassing. Romeu is now playing better than him, and PEH is a better player. The only one Spiderman could replace is Claise. Sadly he made his choice and fortunately we spent the money wisely!