Bewildered

A new contract for Koeman is the top priority could be a grim season if we have a locker room of players aware that the manager is just seeing out the final year of his contract. But ultimately it appears like that will only happen if we show a bit more ambition in the transfer market, something I can't see the board commiting to unfortunately.

Forster - Made a couple of decent saves, could do little about the goal Martina - Rubbish in both directions Fonte - Had no choice but to attempt a challenge when he got sent off as the striker was through and Fonte didn't have the pace to catch him VVD - Good, bailed us out at the end with a decisive finish our front three can seemingly only dream of about right now Bertrand - Best player first half, faded in the second Romeu - Tried hard, but didn't really dominate the midfield. Not that he had much help. Clasie - Ineffective off the ball, too slow on it. Davis - Not at the races today. Tadic - Was not that bad first half, useless in the second until the assist at the death though. Pelle - Very lucky he was the only fit CF today. The fact that such a player is a strong contender get into Italy's euros squad shows how far their attacking depth has fallen. Mane - Won't be weeping when he leaves in the summer, likely for an entirely inappropriate amount of money. Subs: Juanmi - Ineffective. JWP - Barely noticed he was on Yoshida - Managed to produce the piece of comedy defending that gifted them their goal almost instantly.

Some of the attacking play was frustrating, esp. in the first half but defence was good enough that we only needed to score once. Only 1pt behind Man U now. 5th place is definitely there for the taking this season.

Why would we replace a target man like Pelle with a short, quick and skillful player who can operate on either wing (though he is more left sided), behind the striker? From what I've seen of him, mostly in international games mind you, he is much more similar in style to Mané.

Yeah. Les Reed was even saying it himself as opposed to merely using club friendly journos like Jeremy Wilson as mouthpieces.

Summary (since the article covers more than just Wanyama): Club increasingly hopeful they can get Wanyama to sign a new deal, talks over a new contract are happening Mane will be sold if a good offer comes in during Summer Pelle may also be allowed to go in the Summer, club are frustrated about his drop in form before knee injury and as such don't want to talk to him about a new deal untl the Summer. Club won't sell Long as he offers something different up front to Austin and Pelle. Koeman's contract unlikely to be discussed until the summer, though they are confident he won't ask to leave this summer. There is an increased focus on signing under 18s and under 21s due to the lack of youth players progressing to the first team. The Board and Koeman are aiming at finishing 7th or higher.

Seems feasible given that KBSS is hinting at Austin coming in.

Looks like the club's hand has been forced by J-Rod's injury situation.

How much do we get from Adidas?

I heard this rumour from someone the other day, he told me it was going to be worth 10m a season or something.

Good performance so far, but finishing leaves a lot to be desired.

5-3-2 according to Adam Blackmore, Bertrand at CB.

http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/swanseacity/forum/162505/shelvey-to-newcastle-%EF%BF%BD12-million/#97 Swansea fans sound absolutely devastated that Shelvey is on his way out.

The rumour that we bid 17m euros for Sturaro was in Italy's biggest Sports newspaper a few days ago http://gazzettaworld.gazzetta.it/news/transfer-market/juventus-west-ham-southampton-sturaro/ The talk that we will go back with an increased offer is new, although according to original Gazetta piece Juvntus have no interest in selling the player.

The usual performance with the usual outcome. Blame lies at the club as a collective from the players right through to the manager and board. In the summer with the new TV deal we need to spend that extra money in addition to what we make from Wanyama and Mané. However, after the summer of recruitment we have seen from Les Reed, Ross Wilson and Ronald Koeman would you trust them to spend it wisely?

Sounds like the exact same performance saints have been putting out for the last couple of months. No doubt we'll see no real response as the team are mentally weak and lack any team spirit. Only thing we can do is send Tadic and Juanmi on during second half.

3-5-2?

http://sportwitness.ning.com/forum/topics/southampton-send-delegation-for-forward-spanish-club-keen-to-sell 22 year old Romanian CF Florin Andone of Cordoba being watched.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/crystal-palace/12084979/Crystal-Palace-target-move-for-QPR-defender-Steven-Caulker.html Palace linked with Caulker again. Unfortunately the story also states there is no option to cancel the loan in the original deal which may complicate getting rid of him.

Turns out the quotes are made up/distorted.

Absolutely. None of the players we signed have been particularly impressive, OK is about the best thing you can say about the better ones. Stekelenberg - OK I guess. VVD - Looks good some games, but also looks prone to moments of stupidity Cedric - Looks a poor signing to me, the coupling of his physical limitations and his tactical limitations has meant Koeman doesn't fully trust him. Not very good going forward for an attacking RB either. Martina - Not fantastic, but I'd have him at RB over Yoshida. Caulker - Waste of time. iWould rather see Stephens, Turnbull or McCarthy take his place in the squad. Romeu - He's been a decent addition as a squad player, too prone to getting carded and lacks the mobility to be a starter Clasie - Started to show some good passing, but really struggles physically. I guess he might come good next season. Juanmi - Not been given much of a chance to be fair, but when he does get on the field he contributes nothing. To be honest the Squad needs a lot of work in the summer and with the prospect of clubs having 10s of millions extra in TV money to play with, competing for the good signings (for teams at the level we are competing) will be very tough if the club resolves to spending only what it brings in for Mane, Wanyama and whoever else.

Wanyama let us down with poor on pitch discipline and Mane let us down with poor off field discipline. Having said that I feel Koeman waited way too long to bring Mane on, should have been given longer than he was as it was clear our attacking threat was non existent. All in all our play is just so slow and predictable at the moment.

Not looked much of a threat, but Long should have put us 1-0 up.

Mane benched because he showed up late to team meeting

Roma will be over the moon if they can recoup what they paid for Iturbe.