Saint86

CS did to CR, what LR did to NC.

I have noted the following: Ever since Tadic's strop about being subbed, Tadic has been the main man. Sadly he often goes missing in games and we are regularly playing with 10men. I would rather see Boufal given the freedom to do what he wants than Tadic, as Boufal tries. Once we go behind, Puel immediately switches to a variant of 4-4-2 by taking JWP off and effectively surrendering the middle of the pitch. The result is Romeu and Davis (who run their socks off all game and are tiring by 70min), are overwhelmed in the middle and we struggle to dictate the game, feed the strikers, and keep the ball. The result is we get tonked worse, and usually don't create much. Puel has done this repeatedly and shows no sign of changing it or learning the lesson. I would rather see us go 3-4-3 in these situations. We have no alternate way to play, gabbi can not hold the ball up and our only way to play is via individual players creating an opening and driving forward. Other than that it is slow, tedious, and predictable sideways passing. I would give Puel till Christmas (as a maximum) to fix this. I know he had slow starts at his other clubs and came good. So i will give him that. But currently I am not remotely impressed and would not be too sad to see him go this summer.

I think there are more disgraceful things?

Well said Angleman, CaptainChris' post is probably the biggest lump of bullturd I've read on here. Its one thing for fans to be unhappy with how the team is atm... but the amount of crap the short terms lash out with is unbelievable.

Quite. Can't imagine what measly offers we'd have had this year given his contract situation. People forget he is Liverpool's record transfer outlay I think.

People need to get a ****ing seriously stronghold of their ball sacks. He is either here next season (I think he will be), or we will be holding onto a massive wodge load of cash... Either way, we're laughing!!!

Well said (apart from the relegation part). When you add it all together (cost, time and effort vs reward), its not really been a cost effective season for ST holders. Especially given the number of moved fixtures. Its nearly a 5 hour round trip for me, and with games being played on wednesday nights it becomes a nightmare justifying the cost! At least next year I won't have to do it for extra european nights as well!!

The laffer curve is correct. The issue is that no one ever knows where we are on the curve; and no matter what you change, the minority will always shout loudest. Cold hard maths and human nature never combine well.

I'm thinking along a similar basis for my season ticket next year. 2 hours travel minimum each way... to watch crap like Hull at home.... week in, week out!! I want to like Puel, but he seems to be tactically inept at substitutions and has no plan B. Plus he has given in to Tadic's hissy fit to make him our main man now... as a result we have been playing with 10men each week. My frustration with the whole club this season leads me to think that something has to change surely. All our top players are being linked with moves away, we are playing a boring style of football, and I see very little hope of that changing with another summer of disruption ahead. I was so enthusiastic about the team around the cup final game, even after the loss... but since then our playing style and form has hit the bumps and we hear constantly about player unrest and players leaving... What exactly is going on?!?!

Conte and Shakespear have managed fine... Sadly Puel is just a weak manager. He wrote his own resignation letter by capitulating to Tadic rather than dropping him. I was in favour of Puel before that, and I thought I would give him some time to see if it would work with Tadic... But now after several games of playing with 10men, and with Tadic never being substituted despite being ****e... It's clear that Puel is a weak man manager and that both him and Tadic should leave the club this summer. Hopefully we can get Emery or Silva in.

WTF. Cedric for sure, JWP, Romeu and Redmond (over the course of the season).... Seriously mate, there is bed wetting, and then their is just throwing a temper tantrum and spewing anti saints bile for the sake of it.

You just have to hope that we recruit well. Sadly our recruitment is not what we make it out to be. Redmond (who I like) will never be Mane. Pied (just...), martina, boufal, tadic, pelle etc etc. Whilst useful, they have all been poor copies of the players we have replaced. I think VVD is the only exception to this, with a possible nod to bertrand and Cedric. As much as I have tried to back Puel, I just think a manager like Poch or Koeman would be doing a lot better with the players available, I therefore think that despite the board letting him down, it is rapidly becoming time for a change.

Juanmi has had a fantastic season away from Koeman. It's a shame we sold him tbh, I think he would have had a great year under PUPuel!

At the risk of stating the obvious all, has to be reading surely..... Will drive the skates mental

Could we do a saintsweb poll on where people stand now? And then the week of the election do a follow up one? Are we able to do that without people being shouted at for being on one side of the fence or the other? Or green party voters

Sound like my kind of businessmen. Move over Levy... If you strike a bad deal with Gao you'll get executed or jailed for 15years...

Are you ****ing blaming Forster for tonight? WTF. Great finishing, crossing, set up play, with lethal finishing and slightly lax defending. Not ****ing Forsters Fault.

People need to take a seriously long hard look at themselves. We lost away to the champions and got plaudits for how we played. What the **** do you people expect.

Wanyama is 73rd. That should stop people wasting their time clicking on that link I think Unless of course you want a good laugh? Cheers for sharing though Skint!

If the club let him go its an absolute disgrace. Really becoming dissatisfied again. Looks like we once again have the rumblings of player unrest, a board that are going to say players aren't leaving (but then VVD, Cedric, Bertrand, Tadic all being linked with moves)... Feels like the end of Poch's reign all over again.

From - http://www.insideworldfootball.com/2017/04/19/southamptons-210m-sale-chinese-investors-group/ By Paul Nicholson April 19 – The news that Lander Sports had pulled out of the £210 million+ acquisition of Premier League Southampton was premature. Even if Lander fail to raise the cash to complete the sale, a second, as yet unnamed, bidder from China is waiting in the wings and has the money ready to proceed. The Gao family, majority owners of Lander, are actively trying to raise the capital for the acquisition across China, where Lander is listed on the stock exchange, but time is running out on their exclusivity to complete the first stage of the purchase. A deal was signed with Saints owner Katarina Liebherr on 11 November 2016 that gave Lander an exclusive six months to complete the acquisition of 80% of the shares. With the deadline approaching, Lander announced to the stock exchange that it was unable to announce a major asset restructuring of the company because it had not completed the Saints deal – something the Gao family are still scrambling to achieve. However, the prospect of a sale is still live and is looking increasingly likely with other investors waiting for Lander’s exclusivity to end next month. That will enable a new suitor to come in for the club with sources telling Insideworldfootball that a deal could be done within two months and in time for the start of the 2017/18 season. Alexander Jarvis, chairman of Blackbridge Cross Borders, a financial advisory firm specialising in sports deals and with a strong focus on Chinese football investment via its sports division, confirmed that should Lander fail to complete the deal then the Chinese investor appetite for Southampton is still very strong. Jarvis would not name interested parties but said there is Hong Kong investment aside from Lander that has the money available and is in position to buy the club. Furthermore the alternative investors are able act quickly. The sale price would be around the £210 million mark but could rise to £225 million. Blackbridge has advised on a number of Chinese investments in English football in both the Premier League and the Championship. Its advisory has included work with Suning, Fosun, Dalian Wanda and CITIC.

Sadly this is an all too systemic viewpoint of the left. The press must be censored (at least the part which disagrees with them). It has nothing to do with the fact that is what he said or that that was leaked on national news before it hit the papers... Just blame the far right press. Just like all Brexiteers are voters. When will these far left wing people understand that they are the ones at odds with the population, and that when you accuse people of being far right etc you are actually insulting the bulk of the population?

Have to say, this should be a tory whitewash. I guess if Brexit is going to happen, then having a party with a strong hand on the tiller is the way to get the best deal. I think that Corbyn, McDonald and Abbot are the most unelectable candidates I have seen in my lifetime. Same said for Farron and the lib dems. Yes the remain vote may play a part here, but at the end of the day people need to consider more than just the EU on this vote, and only one party is currently in any shape to be allowed to lead the country.

Can't believe people are going to debate how many shots we had on target when you can just check it on various match reports. Fact remains that we played well and still fans are doing the team down by not appreciating that we had more than 1. Maybe its just fans in general, but we really should have learnt to enjoy a team playing the way saints do right now rather than doing the team down so much.... we've seen some pure crap in recent history!!

Yeah spot on... we only had 1 shot on target against west brom, yeah ofc we did.... It is amazing, we go away from home, play some scintillating football to take the lead, all against a good team who we often struggle against and who are above us in the league, and fans still moan. Then when we defend that league and get the 3 points our fans not only attack the team for doing it, but they also make up fake stats to beat the performance with. All with our 3 best players (arguably 4) all out injured.... I struggle to understand our fans these days. Just look at the cup final, that game would perfectly define slow turgid football.... Everyone is entitled to their opinions. But Puel's team have played a colossal amount of games this year, he's done it without a striker for all but 6games, he is missing the leagues best CB and our star player, and he has radically changed the style of play for hoofball + Mane to team attacking and intricate passing... and he's developed young english players again. Saints have actually been playing amazing football lately now that it has all started to click and I feel nothing but enthusiasm for going down to watch us play, to support the team and enjoy the football... Next season will be a cracker if we do keep most of this team together... No european football, a young team getting better and better, and VVD and Gabbi from the get go. I think we're in a great place as a club atm.