Saint86

Well i,'m glad I'm not alone on this. I think his presence on the pitch is invaluable. I just remembered people slagging him off on here last season and wondered if that was a general view of him? Or whether a half season of stek had readjusted peoples views? I think the bloke is a man mountain of quality!

Well said Hemel... You got a bite with the very next post as well. Good on you for flying the flag for the rest of us.

I think it is no confidence that since Forster is back the team have been playing better. With him the team feel much more assured defensively and they are performing better as a result. Somehow the defence is less panicked and in control, and this has settled the midfield down and given us a calm base from which to build. Add to this the movement and energy that Long gives us up front and the fact that the team now have the confidence and time to really use him and things are looking good. Charlie was a good buy and gives us a great option in the form of a natural goalscorer. The tweak in the formation with the 3 CB and 2 wing backs is also helping of course, but again, I feel like this all stems from knowing we have a rock solid quality keeper. That confidence and assuredness at the back has stabilised the whole team and allowed them to really start playing. We look now like the team we were last season and I feel like we should fear no team again. It is a fantastic feeling as I thought that team had gone with Morgan and Toby. Incredible what difference a quality keep has made to the teams performances. Is this just me feeling this way? Or do other fans agree that having Forster back has really stabilised the team, made us look far calmer at the back and taken the pressure of the forward players some what?

WTF is this bull****. Luke shaw is on his way back from injury... jesus.

Mane will be sold, and on current form should be dropped. I doubt at the moment that Jayrod will return to anything like his former standard. I have wanted Pelle sold since the first game I saw him play and he gesticulated at his team mates for not giving him an inch perfect set up with every pass or cross. So basically, a front 3 of Long, Austin and Tadic will do nicely. With Mane swapping for long or Tadic as required. Long should not be dropped on current form regardless.

Can't you just start a blog somewhere!?!?!

I doubt he'll have too many fond memories of Liverpool. When Lambert looks back it will be Southampton and Bristol that he thinks most fondly back, and mostly the former. I honestly expect to see him back at the club in some kind of capacity, even if it is just watching games as a fan.

Koeman has said that we won't be selling Long?!?! this week. We even have ITK snippets that say the same. We are selling Pelle in the summer, hence Signing Austin...

Dave Merrigton - "VAN DJIK" "SUPURRRRRRRB" He literally purred it Is this the new "Different Class"

This and the Shane Long thread are going to be golden.

That is disgraceful.

The club were after VVD AND Toby to replace Morgan. One sits in CDM, the other in CB...

Nicely done Long!

That can't be right surely? Bertrand as CB... I refuse to believe it.

No.... we have nothing else to sell!!!

Funny what happens when the board keep selling the teams best players and miss out on a signing whom Koeman was texting all summer.... Add to that the injuries to Jayrod Forster (who I am convinced would save a lot of the goals we're conceding and inspire confidence at the back) and it isn't hard to see why he is struggling this year. The fans should be less fickle on this one. When multiple departments struggle the head that should roll is the one overseeing them all. If the academy, first team and recruitment/transfer committee are all under performing then Les Reed manages them all... Koeman is after all just the head of the first team "department"... A department where his best players are being sold from under him, the academy is apparently not producing as required, and new signings are not of the required standard. At the end of the day, RK can only play the available players. Which leaves Long and Juanmi up front, and stek in goal.... What do fans really expect.

That mate, is exactly what the board want you to think. Its all one big greasy PR machine. Koeman has started giving them a hard time and they've begun the deflection and undermine strategy they have used every time it goes against them. Did you not notice the recent ITK comments casting doubt on Koeman... Same old same old. Things go wrong and all of a sudden there is loads of info coming out undermining or discrediting those involved.

The kids are good enough, you don't beat everton 3-0 with 7 of them in the squad if they aren't. Seager is a natural goal scorer and has been prolific at every level he's played at. Don't forget we also have young calum and josh sims at that level. As for Gallagher. He score under poch and got a number of appearances in the prem despite his dad dying. The kid is good enough and it is a failure of the current set up that no one other than Target is getting any game time. We are buying fillers and putting them in the way of youth players. As a result the wage and transfer costs are going up and loyalty is going out the window. It is a terrible business model. The fans need to stop buying the boards PR BS frankly. From the second Cortese was outed the new lot have set about using PR to tarnish his legacy and make sure that anyone who steps out of line at the club is at fault and this is then hinted at in the press or through little "ITK" snippets on the forums etc. I don't honestly believe that every time something goes against the club/board it is the other parties fault.... there is no smoke without fire and there has been far too many instances now... the only common denominator is the board. Make absolutely no mistake, under poch, Seager, Gallagher, Target, Hekseth, McQueen, Gape etc would all have had far more opportunities than now, and we would possibly have seen Josh and Callum also. All this is aside from the current results. I think Forster back in goal and we'll get back to winning ways. But there is very obviously a philosophy issue behind the scenes. I think the three players Koeman wanted this summer were Toby, VVD and Claise... I don't see how Juanmi and Martina fit into his style and these two seem like black box (post Mitchell) signings. I also think that the board would have sold both Wanyama and Mane this january given the chance and Koeman's very public and outspoken media comments that neither will be sold was done to make it very difficult for the board to flog em. That said, he needs to be playing the kids. Most saints fans would excuse losses if it meant we were developing our own, and the club have seriously misjudged the fan base if they think differently.

Things have been heading this way since Cortese went.... Wonder where this road ends up.

In fact he is having a great game, tackling, stopping crosses, tracking his man and always keeping the ball whilst getting forward and offering a dangerous outlet. Not far off deserving a run in the team..... Under a poch style manager anyway.

Playing well I think, just skimmed 2 players on a run onto the edge of the box from the right back position. A real handful in the air and can certainly handle himself. Very impressed so far, really finding his feet!

The thing is, Osvaldo was on a lower wage and the club only paid £9m for him. Some of that we recovered in loan fees. We also recovered a good portion of his wages whilst he was on loan. All in all, and sadly for Gaston, he expense is largely a wasted one by the club. The big mistake in all this is singing players the managers do not want. Partly the reason why Ron's first season was so successful, he had a clean slate and a nice budget to build his own team as a condition of his joining. Why this approach was then altered to include so many "committee" signings last summer should be looked at.

The reason kids do well under poch is that he has unequivocal faith in them. They come through playing as a group of players (some since the age of , they play for each other and with each other... and he gives them that platform to do it on the ultimate stage. He supports them, gives them the chances to learn and develop and pushes them on... Koeman says they aren't good enough and hardly uses them, supports them or gives them game time... If poch was still here, you would be seeing them in the first team and I think we'd be doing at least as well as we currently are this season. Love him (not many of us) or hate him, Poch fitted the youth development of this club down to the ground and every consecutive manager will be judged against him when it comes to youth development.

I see it pretty much like this. What Koeman is forgetting is that players like JWP and Gallagher were playing for Mopo two years ago when he got us to 8th. These players have not progressed under Koeman and arguably regressed. I like Koeman, but if he wants to stay at saints he needs to develop the kids. That is bread and butter for this club, other managers have managed it and Koeman has no excuse. Lets not forget that this is the U21 cup holders team and a lot of the star players in that u21 squad are 16 - 18 years of age... Seager is utter quality and needs to be blooded now. And gallagher was proving he could be a nuisance when he first came through under MoPo when he barely knew what to do with his gangly frame. I like Koeman, but he needs to stop all these excuses. We should have been signing a smattering of top quality players and then used the kids for depth and development. Instead we signed a load of squad fillers and some decent first team players... but no real improvements on a like for like basis. This new stance by the club of blocking the development and progression of youth players is going to rapidly undo all the good that was achieved under Adkins and MoPo.

Every other team in the league seems to have more money than Saints, that is despite the fact we are the only team to turn profits in the last 2 transfer windows, and on the back of 2 record years of TV revenues... There will be questions asked when teams like Bournemouth, Swansea, Palace and Leicester have both more ambition that us and a better ability to meet those ambitions. The board are looking utterly clueless atm and their whole club policy shows a complete lack of removal from what the fans want. Myself and many others would settle for a scrap every season with some decent attacking football and some home grown players from the academy. Instead they sign a bunch of european mercenaries as filler men and send the kids on loan. And ultimately we have crappy football where we can't even score and no kids!! I think most saints fans would be far happier with the current run of form if we were at least seeing players like Seager, Gallagher, McCartney etc in the squad... If the club aren't going to give us this then they could at least sign some real quality rather than fillers. We may have had a smaller squad last year, but we still beat Everton 3-0 with 7 U21's in the match squad.... The reason being is that the kids are pretty decent and it really means something to them when they play.... Not just about money. Either the board go out and sign a top quality striker / player for once... or they stop padding out the squad and let the kids have a crack. I think the fans are getting rapidly fed up with signing average players that block the kid's progression and don't really do it on the pitch. Don't know what Southampton Way the board bang on about, but to me its seeing the next home grown academy player on the pitch... I.e. watching Oxlade bang in those wonder goals in League 1, or watching an 18year old Luke shaw dump grant holt on his backside, or Lallana's début slalom and goal vs west brom in the championship 1-1 draw... Give us the kids, starting with Seager and Gallagher please. I'll be happy for the rest of the season if we blood the nippers and come 17th ffs.