baggytrousers

Aren't Tottenham going down this road ? They finished the game against Athletico tonight with 9 out of the 11 having come through their academy. Someone ought to tell them that playing young English players will make them seriously uncompetative.

.... and chill

Can't think of a single reason why VVD wouldn't have left Champions League qualifiers playing Celtic to come to our Europa League qualifying Campaign in July. Must have been our penny pinching board I guess.

100% agree with this. I'm more excited for this coming season than I can ever remember being for any previous season. Genuinely think we've got an exciting, innovative manager and have made two very good signings thus far. I'd be happy with the squad if we didn't make another signing TBH but I suspect there are another two or three to come (back-up goalie, RB and quality No 10). Funny how we all watch the same games and come out with vastly different opinions. I loved watching Classie play. Think his range and quality of passing is superb. However Pelle used to drive me mad with his flicks, constantly giving the ball away. I know a lot of people liked him because he scored some goals for us (some of them very good) but give me a clever little ball player like Classie any day. I really like the way our club's heading, two smart signings and the contract extensions for our best players have been brilliant news. Can't wait for the new season.

Played 7 games for Palace last season which isn't huge but wouldn't make him fourth choice. Got a Palace fan at work and he really rated McCarthy and thought he was best of the bunch for them.

'Given that the club have improved their position for seven seasons in a row now I assume that these people will be giving a big thumbs up to the board based on their excellent proven record of continuous improvement.

I think Morgan and Wanyama's ratings zero games into the season were about the same.

Thought Pelle's hold up play was awful for the most part. Lost count of the number of times he gave the ball away with stupid little flicks.

Foster, VVD, JWP, Steven Davis and Ryan Bertrand have all signed new contracts this summer with rumours that Shane Long, Tadic and Cedric will follow. Seems to me that we are already convincing a lot of our better players to stay. Won't work with all players just as Leicester have kept Vardy but lost Kante. Trick is to not let the departures impact you by being well prepared (e.g. Leicester signing Mendy cos they knew Kante might go).

Any other predictions you want to make ? You seem to have Les Reed all figured out.

I too love Les. On top of all the other great things he's done for our club he's just got us the youngest ever midfielder to represent Bayern in the Bundesliga (when, aged 17, he came on for Gotze) and got him on a 5 year deal. Very excited about this one. Genuinely think he could go on to be one of the best midfielders in the league.

Agree with most of this except that I think our new direction is to make more of an effort to keep those that are successful and encourage them to sign long-term deals (Foster, VVD, JWP). If they don't want to (Wanyame, Mane) then we get as much as we can for them and move on with suitable replacements. Also think they're looking to get a critical mass of talented young players who can come through together and try and get some of that Leicester spirit going. If Hojmbjerg signs then we've got him, Redmond, JWP, Cedric, Reed, Targett all in the 20/21 year age group and in or around the first team. Throw in the likes of Foster and VVD who are only a bit older and hopefully some talented academy kids coming through behind and there's a core group there that might be more inclined to stick with the club for a fair bit longer. Don't think we're a 'selling club' anymore but we are a pragmatic one.

We're about to sign a talented midfielder from Bayern Munich so let's have an argument about who we may or may not sell him to in x years time. Can I point out that Fraser and VVD both recently signed long term contracts with us despite other 'big' clubs sniffing around ? Also Steven Davis and JWP with more to come.

Here here !!!!

Signing a good player on a free ? Clear lack of ambition !!!

The article you've referred to clearly stated that Austin was signed in January as Pelle's replacement. Is Austin now equivalent to no replacement ? I distinctly remember the bedwetters insisting that we had to sign Austin in January as Pelle was injured and Austin was a brilliant goalscorer which was just what we needed if we were going to show some ambition. Now we've got him it's time to look for the next silver bullet apparently. The reality is that neither Pelle nor Austin are our number one striker at the moment anyhow. It's got to be Shane Long who seems to be getting better with each game. I think a list of Austin, JRod, Seager and Gallagher as backup is looking pretty good myself and getting 13 million for Pelle ought to be snapped up.

Great article about our new leader : http://tbrfootball.com/is-claude-puel-the-right-man-to-lead-southampton/?

Commentators on 5 live thought it a clever appointment. Same on Off the Ball where they were suitably impressed whereas over on Talksport Fat Al Brazil was disappointed we didn't appoint Michael O'Neill or Chris Coleman. So in my book that's 3 out of 3 from the radio panels. Any appointment that confuses the Talks***te breakfast show has got to be good. Very happy with the appointment. Champions League here we come. Ps search out the Mlt tick of approval article on SBNation. Good interview with a knowledgable French football journalist who rates Puel as the last good French coach.

Thierry Henry credited Puel with his development at Monaco. Puel was also the manager who signed Hazard for Lille and of course he has totally rejuvinated Ben Arfa's career at Nice. I think Nathan Redmond could be thinking he's made the right move.

The new direction could be what you say or it could be that we're getting the entire first team squad to do ballet dancing. Who knows ? All any of us know is that Guan has said that there is a new direction. Even that could be wrong but it's pretty certain that none of us know what it is. So how on earth can you find the new direction quite concerning when you haven't got the faintest idea what it actually is ?

The Southampton Way has got us 7 consecutive league position improvements under 4 different managers. Regarding the little rethink did Guan not mention a new direction and haven't the club got a new 5 year plan ? Sounds a bit like a rethink to me. Can I also point out that the club haven't appointed or rejected anyone yet ? Just some speculation in a largely clueless press and by bookies whose favourite seems to change every 5 minutes.

Excellent news if true and I tend to believe it is.

Pellegrini would be a good appointment but so would the other two. We are in the enviable position of having 3 quality candidates on the shortlist. Pereira's win percentage over his 8 years of management is around the 60% mark. During his 3 years at Porto it was 70% which is pretty much the same as Mourinho during his period there although Jose did also win the UEFA Cup and Champions League with them. A record of 70% wins across 3 seasons (winning the league twice) in a league which also contains Sporting Lisbon, Benfica and Braga is no mean feat. Puel was also impressive in his spells at Monaco (winning the title) Lyon (semi-final of the Champions League) and Nice (impressive performances on a meagre budget). I think Les Reed and the board are doing a fine job in narrowing it down to 3 fine candidates (4 if you include Garcia) and seem to be doing their due diligence much better than a lot of clubs would in the same position. I have faith in them eventually appointing the right manager for Saints. After all how many clubs have improved their league position for 7 seasons in a row (despite managers and players leaving and numerous "meltdowns"). Must be doing something right.

Or won a whole 2 games out of 11 in La Liga last season before being sacked in November. I believe you were advocating Mr. Moyes earlier on ?

Any one of them might only stay with us for a couple of years. They all have their upsides and they all have their downsides. Pellegrini is the biggest name but must be pretty close to retirement and hasn't covered himself in glory at Man City despite winning the league (just) but equally wasn't too bad either. Puel has built successful sides at Monaco and Nice and has a record of bringing through young players but has only managed in France. Piereira has been successful at Porto and Olympiakos but they are both clubs who have the resources to win their leagues and he does seem to swap clubs a bit. Does have a win ratio approaching 60% from 8 years in management though. Don't think I'd be upset if any of them were appointed but also wouldn't be massively excited either. Not sure any of them would be as good an appointment as Poch was but they are 3 decent candidates. Out of the 3 I'd be inclined to go for Puel as I think he would be the more likely of the 3 to build something substantial and take the club to the next level but he's also probably the riskiest appointment out of the 3. Trust the club to get it right based on a much more detailed analysis than any of us are capable of.