baggytrousers

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.

Can I point out that this latest info backs up Jack Schitt's account earlier in the week? He said that there were two unnamed candidates (presumably Garcia and mystery man) who we're leading the field. After that came Yakin, Pellegrini, Jemez, Howe and Pereira in the back-up section with Avb and Fdb further down the list and (thankfully) Moyes nowhere to be seen. To me this seems to align with our core principals of playing attacking, possession-based football in a 4-3-3 pressing stylee with promotion of academy players. Like the sound of Garcia and very optimistic about the process.

http://www.thesackrace.com/news/15th-june-2016/vitor-pereira-and-ernesto-valverde-linked-with-southampton-vacancy

But Pepe Mel and Juande Ramos were successful in getting their team's into Europe whereas Pochettino had just taken Espanyol to last place when we got him. What does that tell you about other clubs' recruitment strategies compared to ours ?

WTF ????? In what universe are Sturrock and Jemez even close ? A million miles apart.

Pep Guardiola said in his book Pep Confidential that there are only 3 teams capable of implementing his ball possession philosophy, these being Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Rayo Vallecano. Given that Rayo's budget is around 6-7 Million euros which is obviously a fraction of Bayern and Barcelona's that's massively high praise for Jemez. Curiously enough none of Wee David's charges made Pep's list. Getting the right manager involves looking a bit deeper than whether they've had success in the premiership (or elsewhere) before. All sorts of factors come into play to determine how successful a manager is in any given situation (witness Moyes at Man U). People are drawing the parallel between Poch and Jemez because they have both managed to play attacking, possession-based football successfully in the Spanish League within ridiculously punitive financial restrictions before eventually succumbing to the detrimental effects of continually having their best players sold from under them with no money for replacements. If clubs just went for proven Premiership managers then Man U would never have gone shopping at Aberdeen and Arsenal certainly wouldn't have looked at Grampus Eight's manager and the Premier League would have been deprived of arguably its two most successful managers. Personally I'd be really excited if the club went for Jemez.

Interesting article on AVB : http://www.umaxit.com/index.php/columns/why-southampton-andre-villas-boas-are-perfect-for-each-other?

Crazy as this might sound I think it might be worth putting a tenner on Gary Neville who is not even quoted here (does that mean he's 100/1 ?). The Valencia job was always a poisoned chalice and quite a few reports coming out of Spain indicated that he was doing a lot better job than results indicated. Lot of respected figures in the game really rate him and, after Valencia, he needs to rebuild his reputation (bit like Ranieri did after the Greece debacle) if he wants to be taken seriously in the management game.

We've improved our league position for 6 seasons straight despite numerous exits of both players and managers. Club must be doing something right in the recruitment department. As for your assessment I think Van Dijk is definitely better than Toby and I think Clasie is a lot better buy than many people on here appreciate. He had his whole pre-season knacked through injury so had issues getting up to speed with the Prem league but I think his undoubted quality poked through at times and I'm expecting a big season from him this coming year. Cedric is young and will improve and you've completely ignored Romeu. As far the possible departures would like to keep Mane and Tadic and think there's a fair chance we might. Think Pelle is over-rated, Juanmi clearly hasn't settled and would ideally like to keep Big Vic but it certainly looks like his heart isn't here so let him go. Long term signings of Foster, Van Dijk and JWP bode extremely well as does the very public Jose tapping up of AOC and Joao Mario, both of whom would command high transfer fees. Suspect the ambition level is getting raised a notch by the board.

Start of last season most people would have picked Hazard as the player most likely to be a success for 2015/16. Players with no premier league experience included Payet, Dia and Kante. Even Mahrez, Vardy, Drinkwater, Dier who did have premier league experience were hardly what you'd call proven premier league players. Looks like your theory didn't work too well last season.

Some more info on Goretzka including that we were sniffing around him last summer : http://outsideoftheboot.com/2015/10/16/scout-report-leon-goretzka-fc-schalkes-new-midfield-maestro/ Worth a read. Would be great if we could prise him away from Schalke.

Pelle, Wanyama and Juanmi to leave. Bring in Ziyech and Goretski and get Mane and Bertrand on long term contracts and it's top four here we come. Can't understand the obsession on here with Sigurdsson and Wijnauldum. Both decent but I think we can do a lot better if we look outside the Premier League. Ziyech will be a real creative force for someone next season, just as Payet has been for the Hammers this year. Also, Leon Goretski is a future German star who has been frozen out of the Schalke first team since he picked up a significant injury. He's still quality though and would make a great Vic replacement.

Agree with your comments about no direct replacement for Mane but I'd love us to spend big on Hakim Ziyech, rather than Sigurdsson. For big Vic's replacement would love it if we could get Leon Goretzka. He's class.

Interesting stat I've just seen. The top four teams in terms of average number of shots on goal from within the penalty area this season are : 1. Arsenal. 10.4 2. Southampton. 9.1 3. Man City. 8.6 4. Liverpool. 8.1 This would suggest not only that we're in for a tough time on Boxing Day but also that our overall team play is a lot better than some fans on here would have us believe. Our problems are not in creating chances, they're in taking those chances and not conceding stupid goals at the other end. Tottenham game was just like this. Thought we were the better team all over the pitch except for the two penalty areas which is of course where it really counts. Upside of this is that it shouldn't take a lot to sort out. Expect us to lose to Arrsenal but then go on a run .

It's not so much the lack of goals that bothers me so much as the way attacks seem to be breaking down when Pelle gets involved in them. Compare his performance to Kane's yesterday. Both were isolated at times but when the ball came into Kane it stuck to him and he only offloaded it when he felt he could create a good chance (either for himself or one of his supporting midfielders). Failing that he'd keep possession for his team. Pelle treats the ball like a hot potato trying ambitious flicks too often. His touch, awareness and decision making weren't up to Kane's standard and that, coupled with our tendancy to try and hit him with a long aerial pass, has contributed to our blunt attack in recent weeks. On the team as a whole I would say that they do remind me a lot of a kids team I coached last year and in that respect I think there's room for hope. Some of their passing and moving has been really good but the important moments at either end have been going against them and that really hits confidence. Like RK I ended up getting frustrated and losing it with them (not my usual style). Next game they fluked a lucky victory, won the next one (just) and from there confidence just built and built and the change was astonishing. Went from bottom of the league to win it. A solid defence and confidence go a long. long way. Unlike a lot of people on here I think the team has some good players and a lot of potential. Whether a combination of RK and a bit of luck can turn our season around only time will tell.

This whole thread is as daft as the Everton fans who gave Barkley stick last season

He is not **** by any stretch of the imagination. That's just using him as a scapegoat for some unimpressive team results recently. That having been said I don't think he should get into our current first team ahead of Clasie or even Romeu. However, I'm also not upset if I see his name on the teamsheet as he's an OK player. Would hope he can turn into a very good player in the coming years but he's clearly not there yet. Still learning. He may get there, he may not but some of the rubbish written on this thread isn't doing him any favours at all.

Totally agree with this. Clasie is a lot better player than he's shown so far. Mane and Tadic have undoubted ability but are falling a bit short when it comes to the end product at the mo. A couple of games where these pieces click into place and our season will start to get going.

Precisely. Clasie's speed and range of passing for Feyenord was outstanding. Attributes which were the reason we were desperate to get him. Hasn't really demonstrated it for Saints yet but I'm sure he will. As other posters have pointed out, he's only 6 games in and has had a less than ideal start for us in terms of injuries and playing in a side which is struggling for both confidence and consistency but he's a quality player and I'm sure he'll come good.

Yestrday's game first. Thought Yoshida was truly terrible and cost us the game. Think Koeman's tactics were to hold out for 60 minutes and then bring on Tadic and go for it in the second half but that badly backfired. Think JWP's being really harshly criticised on here. Thought he had a decent game but still wouldn't have him as a first choice. Watching Saints this season is v frustrating as I get the feeling that the team is quite close (80%) to being really good but the part that isn't (20%) is truly terrible and often costs us. The frustrating thing is that the terrible bit varies from game to game. One part gets fixed and another goes wrong, e.g. Tadic had no penetration against Stoke but was excellent yesterday. Team badly needs some consistency. As for the combined Spuds/Saints team I'd go for : Lloris Walker, Alderweireld, Van Dijk, Bertrand Clasie, Wanyama Mane, Eriksen, Tadic Kane

Clasie did miss pre-season though. 6 is probably a fair mark for his contribution thus far but I fully expect this mark to have risen significantly by the end of the season. A fit Clasie was playing against Brazil in the World Cup when VVD didn't even make the squad. Very unfair to judge him on his injury-hampered start to his Saints career to date.

How do you know you'd prefer Schneiderlin over Clasie ? Clasie basically hasn't played yet.

Juanmi, Clasie and Caulker have played a total of 9 minutes of Premiership football between them this year. Possibly a touch early to write them off. As for Romeu, Soares and Van Dijk I've been impressed by what I've seen of them so far. Bertrand and Mane were probably less impressive after their first few games last year and look where they ended up. I actually think we've done some really good business this summer and at some point that will show. Frustrating for everyone that it hasn't happened yet but to describe these players as rookies is completely wide of the mark. Clasie was playing central midfield for Holland against Brazil in the World Cup last year but on the basis of one game that we won 3-0 and he pulled a hamstring he's being written off. Juanmi has played up front for Spain, Soares is Portugal's regular right-back. Even Caulker has played for England. Not rookies but also not fully up to speed just yet. They'll get there though. In the meantime we need to get behind them and give them as much backing as we can. Momentum is everything (compare Chelsea's season thus far to Leicester and West Ham) and that, more than anything, is what we're currently lacking. Good players, shaky start.

Agree. This is ridiculous. Koeman wasn't the best manager last year and he's not the worst this. Key difference is that we have only 2 out of our defensive 7 from last year playing and we're getting found out so he's tried to shore us up defensively and build on that but it's not quite coming off and that has impacted on the playing style of the whole team. Wait for Bertrand, Clasie and Van Dijk to come in and we'll see a different team. As for post-match comments look to Jose's after Chelsea got destroyed by Man City. Managers do that because they know that a team's biggest enemy is lack of confidence and belief.