mcbendy

Gaston has a minor injury. It's not that he isn't fit in that sense.

Agreed. Targett looked brilliant.

Said it before, going to say it again. Clasie did little wrong and was accurate with his passes, but also contributed relatively little. He isn't fit enough yet. He's not at our level. Reed should start against Vitesse.

http://www.onsball.net/file.php?f=360 back up

is that Alpine, MLG, Glasgow or Turkish you're describing there?

A warning to anyone planning to attend tonight's game - foreigners are not welcome... ;-)

The word 'judgement' can imply final and immovable or ongoing, fluid. It would be ridiculous to be at either extreme. It is entirely natural to judge the performance of a new player, but I agree that we should reserve judgement until much further down the line...

I'm not the kind of guy to believe my own opinions without question. I just watched the first 45 again on YouTube, watching every last Clasie touch. On a second viewing, he did far more than I had realised live. Lots of tackles, interceptions and also two assists (there was nowt wrong with the JRod goal - wrongly given offside). He was often in the right place at the right time to pick up loose balls. He only failed to complete two passes, and of these, he won the ball back almost immediately on one occasion. He seemed to read the game very well and be efficient in terms of how he invested his energy. I feel a lot more positive now.

aw - his feet don't touch the floor!

Yes, that's an interesting point. During the midst of his struggles, Lovren was quoted as saying: "It is not so easy to lead all the time. I was used to other players leading before..." You hear plenty of people saying that being a central defender is 90% about good positioning etc. So - can we conclude that Fonte is a leader and makes his partners look good by helping to ensure that they are in the right place at the right time? Lovren certainly took a nose-dive without Fonte beside him... http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/european/liverpool-vs-ludogorets-dejan-lovren-admits-it-hasnt-been-easy-leading-the-reds-defensive-line-but-he-feels-hes-up-to-the-task-9734909.html

This just now from the club: Southampton FC @SouthamptonFC @_Firebirding There was a non-broadcast press conference with local Dutch media earlier today. #saintsfc I wonder if we will get any info from this filtering through?

what time is it?

My 'concern' for want of a better word isn't about his ability going forward or in defence - I don't doubt his quality - it's about his fitness, basically. People often talk about adjusting to the 'tempo'/'pace' of the Prem, which I take to mean the rapid transitions from attack to defence. End-to-end, call it what you will. If you watch continental teams play there are often slower transitions, periods of leisurely possession. In fact - pretty much exactly what Blind says here: http://www.90min.com/posts/1899209-daley-blind-premier-league-pace-wore-me-out If Clasie is off the pace then he won't be in the right place at the right time to show his attacking or defensive qualities. If you compare his performance to Reed in the KVV Quick game, for example, Clasie was jogging around with occasional short sprints. Harry was all-action for much more of the time. As you say, they may have been asked to play different roles. But, in a game which requires two predominantly defensive midfielders - both at the pace rather than waiting nearby to play an elegant through ball - will Clasie be able to do it? The full 90 that I watched against Sevilla (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2b...720p-eng_sport) was a game which was quite frantic and broken (like it often is in the prem) and Clasie hardly featured. He jogged around, wasn't where the action was happening much, and didn't contribute much in either direction. Feel free to watch that and imagine how e.g. Schneiderlin would have been in that game. Constantly shifting his position to form a line of defense in between a developing attack and the back four. Breaking up play, then solid distribution into an attacking phase. Hopefully we will quickly see Clasie stretched a bit more and see more of his defensive qualities. It is only pre-season and early days. To be clear I'm not saying that he can't or won't, just that I'm not on the bandwagon which says that he will find it easy to perform the 'Morgan' role. With the quality of our attacking line-up, I would rather see someone in the DM position beside Victor who I was confident was up to the mark from a defensive point of view. So personally I would start Reed against Vitesse. Particularly given that we play a system with two very attacking full-backs.

Not sure if it's common knowledge (I hadn't realised) - if you want to watch the full 90 minutes of the KVV Quick game you can - it's here: The footage seems to start at 6 mins and 19 seconds into the video. I'll see if I can embed it:

I think you make a very fair point here. The as-yet-unanswered question remains, in my mind, whether he can cut the mustard doing the physical defensive side when a game requires it. The YouTube clips suggest that he is strong in the tackle and in the face of the opposition, but the jury is out - in my mind - on whether he has the fitness to be on the pace of the game and therefore in the right place at the right time. Koeman obviously things that, given time, he can develop into a star prem player. Whether that happens quickly enough for him to be a starter in August/Sept I'm not sure. I suspect that he will start. It is just uncertainty - that's all. We know what we're getting with Harry. Right place, right time. Will Claise be at that level? What use are the silky through-balls if we are shipping goals at the other end due to a lack of sufficient defensive cover?

150. Disappointed that I forgot Paul Jones (couldn't get Tim Flowers out of my head!). Should have got Fabrice Fernandes, David Prutton, Kenwyne Jones, Baird, Higginbotham, Butterfield. Weird that Walcott and Crouch don't get on these lists...

Can't agree. I always thought Clyne's crossing was poor. What was it - two assists last season? For a full-back who is supposed to overlap and get balls into the box for a man with Pelle's heading ability, that's poor...

My thoughts, in case anyone is interested, and before reading anyone else's comments on here. Kelvin Davis (full 90)- untested. Caught a couple of crosses. Cédric Soares (1st half only) - looks very exciting. Seriously quick. I hope he can defend. If he can, we've unearthed a gem. Jason McCarthy (full 90) - looked solid and composed when on the ball, but largely untested. Got caught on the wrong side once in the 2nd half (playing RB) but recovered. Jordan Turnbull (46) - looked solid and composed. Has a good physical presence. Did nothing wrong and his header down for his goal was textbook. Jack Stephens (full 90) - looked confident on the ball in central defense (1st half) and sitting in a sort-of DM position (2nd half). Largely untested defensively Matt Targett (1st half only) - quality. Overlapped well. Good balls into the box. Defended well when he needed to. Looks a prem player. Josh Debayo (46) - did little wrong, other than taking about a minute to take a throw-in. Looked nervous and a bit ungainly/awkward at times. James Ward-Prowse (1st 70 mins) - reasonable without doing much. Technically good and steady passing. But what is he? He doesn't offer much attacking threat but isn't strong defensively. Hard to see how he fits in. Dušan Tadić (71) -a short cameo but continues to look sharp and had some nice touches Harrison Reed - an excellent performance. Very alert and alive. Nipping in and breaking up play continually. Decent passing. Looks every inch a Prem DM. Steven Davis (1st half only) - decent performance. I am always impressed when I see him play. Linked up well going forward and scored too. Lloyd Isgrove (46) - did very little. Lots of bluster and darting around but no end product. Looked a bit better when he switched to the right wing. Looks miles off the 1st team. Jordy Clasie (1st half only) - I will get slated for saying it, but I just don't see it. Not yet at least. Wasn't at the pace of the game (Dutch 4th tier) and contributed little. Based on that performance I would start Big Vic and Reed against Feyenoord... Juanmi (46) - Went down too easily a few times and looked hopefully at the ref, but when he stayed on his feet he showed good close control and looked a threat. Jay Rodriguez (full 90) - like a pure-bred racehorse. So nice to see him back. Lots of quality touches and three well taken goals. Graziano Pellè (1st half only) big, strong, led the line well, scored three. What more do you want? Sam McQueen (46) - looks to have something. Combined well with Tadic late on in particular. Shot straight at the keeper but was a decent strike. Got to the by-line a few times. Way more of a threat than Isgrove. My 1st XI v Feyenoord/Vitese would be: Stekelenburg Soares - Fonte - Yoshida - Targett Wanyama - Reed Mane - Tadic - J Rod Pelle

Gaston, Gardos and Gallagher all absent. Something against G's?

Southampton FC @SouthamptonFC #SaintsFC team versus @kvvquick20: K. Davis, Cédric, McCarthy, Stephens, Targett, Ward-Prowse, Reed, Clasie, S. Davis ©, Rodriguez, Pellè.

How much can we read into the order in the tweet? Is there a suggestions of JWP and Reed as DM with Clasie playing further forward...?

The alternative strategy being to rush out and pay over the odds for someone who a club are keen to get rid of... I'm glad you're not in charge of our transfers alps. Though I suspect you are far too busy laundering bed linen...

It has all gone very quiet on the 'rumour mill' and my take on that is that we have all of our ducks lined up neatly in a row. If Les and co were crapping themselves and scrabbling around for a CB then news would be leaking out from players/clubs/agents where we had registered an interest and - in turn - from clubs/agents trying to get on our radar even when we didn't have an interest. I suspect it's the case that (for example) we have an understanding with Celtic and VVD, but we have to wait for them to pass/fail to pass a certain stage in their European games.

Outing? I don't need to outed. Yes, that is how I came to be ITK! Now you are all ITK too!

I am ITK for once... To be broadcast live on the club's YouTube channel