baggytrousers

Spot on !!!

Won't that also be true about a new signing ?

Claude Puel saying "you might see another player" means Les Reed is lying ?????? How on earth do you reach that twisted conclusion ?

Agree with you about Jose. His loss is a shame but he is getting a bit long in the tooth so it's sad but all good things come to an end. Also agree with you that we're not exactly in meltdown territory. Don't forget that this is the first season since 1979 when we've still been in both domestic cup competitions in January. Furthermore if we could actually finish we would still undoubtedly be in Europe and would be a fair few places up the league than we currently are. However our current run of form is concerning and needs to be turned around tomorrow.

For us to be on the verge of getting to our first League Cup Final in 40 years with such a completely bang average squad Claude Puel must be a f***ing managerial genius. Adkins never even got vaguely close with arguably a better squad (according to you). Thanks for pointing that out Heisenberg.

Are you referring to your keyboard there ? As for the stats there's not much doubting them. They're simple counts of chances, crosses and passes in the final third. Not much that could go wrong with that process and the resulting tables. Much rather trust the official data (and the evidence of my own eyes) over pre-formed opinions from posters with an agenda. Fact is that Saints aren't quite as boring this season as many posters on here would have us believe.

http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/revealed-prems-best-passing-crossing-and-creative-teams-united-are-back-top-once Four Four Two have compiled stats determining who have been the Premier League's most creative teams this season and Saints are top 7 in all 3 tables.

You missed a bit : (x - y ) + (vz + va)(t) = >x Give it time, mate !!! Give it time !!!

Good article on Redmond from Paul Doyle in the Guardian : https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/jan/11/nathan-redmond-southampton-liverpool-efl-semi-final

It's in the Telegraph version.

And leave you lot unchallenged to spread your anti-club bs ? There would be a LES ASSASSINATED JFK !!! thread within days

Hammers and Everton fans are absolutely over the moon with how their seasons are going having held on to their players and brought in some big money signings, aren't they ? Both teams are out of both cups whereas we are still in both. West Ham are three places below us and Everton three places above at the moment so in the League we're all much of a muchness, scrapping away in the mid-table mini-League. Difference is that we've got much more future upside given the number of players aged 22 or under we've been playing this season and the distraction of our European campaign. Lots of room for improvement for us whereas Everton and West Ham have tried to buy in success and are doing no better than us in a bad season (by recent standards). Sam Matterface is nothing more than a Skate WUP who is indulging in the same rubbish wind-up arguments that some of the trolls on here use and mugs like you fall for it. No truth in it whatsoever, just a Skate trying to stir the pot.

Ignore the fact that we've improved our league position for 7 consecutive seasons. It's the net spend table that really counts and we're just not spunking our money up the walls as fast as other clubs. Why oh why can't we be like West Ham. They know how to waste millions miles better than us. They must not have a bad egg at the heart of their club I guess.

The BBC article you've referred to quotes Reed as saying "we are confident we are right to have an aspiration to play in the Champions League." The headline is the BBC's sub-editor jazzing the story up, not a quote from Reed himself. Other quotes from the original interview are : "When we talk about Champions League within the next five years, yeah, it's a dream, but it's a realistic aspiration," the Daily Echo quotes Reed as saying. "We have to do it a step at a time. We have to be patient, because we don't have the ability to do it all in one hit. We have to build towards it and it's keeping on track - that's the plan." Nothing he's said today contradicts that. Champions League is still a dream or aspiration, a stretch target if you will, but it's all about building one step at a time and consolidating our place as the best of the rest with a young, promising squad is a reasonable start.

How are Chelsea, Liverpool and Man U doing in the Champions League this season ?

I've read it as well and don't think he's dropped expectations at all, He's always said that he wants to get Southampton into a position where we are the best of the rest outside of the big clubs so that if some of them slip up we are in a position to prosper from it and maybe snatch a Champions League place. This is essentially what Leicester did last year but theirs was a monumental one-off effort over a single season and the wind was really at their backs. This has been twisted in the past (by posters with their own agenda) to be "Les promised us Champions League" when of course he did nothing of the sort. He's just been trying to put the club into the best possible position we can expect for a club of our size, which will average around the sixth to eighth spots but in a good year might get us a Champions league spot, like Ranieri's Leicester, Moyes' Everton or even Redknapp's Tottenham did in years when they weren't really considered "big clubs". In a building year (which this year almost certainly is) then our expectation might be slightly lower. Don't see any inconsistency in Les's comments. Just deliberate mis-interpretation from posters looking to spin his pronouncements for their own ends.

I too have long suspected that Pompey fans have infiltrated this forum pretending to be Saints fans. All the negative posts about Puel, willing for him to stumble from the very first moment he was appointed. The posters who look to blame any slight downturn in our fortunes on clueless Les and Katrina who are just trying to fleece the club. The way they go quiet when we put in good performances and win. You can almost sense them sulking when we do well. The way they try and stir up dissatisfaction amongst genuine Saints fans given the slightest opportunity. I agree with you that we do seem to have posters who are like fifth columnists looking to destablise from within. They're called TROLLS, are probably Pompey fans and have been doing this sort of thing for years. At the moment they've spotted a golden opportunity just as they did this time last year and are sticking the boot in on Puel just as they did to Koeman and as they always do to Les and the owners. Do yourself a favour. Stick them on ignore, support Saints, support Puel, Les and Kat, get behind our club like a true Saints fan and stuff these TROLLS who are constantly trying to stir things up. Happy New Year.

Two resident ITKs (AR-10 and LeG) have indicated that Eric Black is the real problem, not Puel. Our season has been up and down so far and certainly not the complete disaster the Puexit crowd are painting it to be. Granted the mood's not great after the 0 points from our 3 games over the xmas period but we went into those games sitting in a reasonably healthy seventh place and once again being the envy of many similar-sized clubs. In my view he needs to be given time (and the transfer window) to sort out the problems we do have which are certainly not insurmountable.

ITK is so last year. It's ITPT (In the Post Truth) now. Knowledge is over-rated. So what if these so-called experts have connections within the club. The pitchfork brigade know best and they want Kat, Les and Claude to burn, burn, burn !!! AR-10 had the temerity to post on here yesterday that the problem is not Puel or Les but Eric Black and got very short shrift from the Puexit crowd. Who needs ITKs when we've got such excellent trolls. They're great trolls. We have the best trolls. The very best trolls. They're really great. Let's get rid of the ITKs and make Southampton great again.

Thanks for that post. Very interesting. I must admit to being a bit concerned about Black's appointment myself when it happened. Puel has a good reputation within the game but Black ? Not so much I fear. If he genuinely is the problem then the club ought to get rid now and get someone in who compliments Puel better. I still believe Puel is a good coach but am a little concerned by our inconsistency and some lacklustre performances of late. We badly need to get some momentum back as I believe we have the makings of a talented squad who could go a long way with a bit of confidence and a fair wind.

Nice have won the French League 4 times, not 5, and those were in 1951, 1952, 1956 and 1959. To use these ancient victories to pretend that Nice are in any way a big club in France is slightly disengenuous to say the least. Puel took over a side in 2012 that had finished 17th the previous season and 15th the season before that. Over the course of 4 season he took them up to European qualification in 4th place and had them playing some open, attractive football as well as building up a talented, young squad. The majority of that squad have progressed further under Lucien Favre (also a very good coach) who has taken them to the top of Ligue 1 this season. Whilst Favre has changed tactics to a more defensive, but also more effective, 5 at the back system and has introduced some new players (notably Mario Balotelli and Wylan Cyprien) in his 6 months in charge only someone who knows nothing about football would suggest that this success had nothing at all to do with Puel's legacy from his four year tenure as Nice coach and the talented squad he bequethed to Favre.

I think Nice are mighty pleased they had Puel as their manager for four years as he took them from a nowhere club staring relegation in the face to 4th in the league and built a squad which is now sitting on top of Ligue 1 above PSG, Lille, Monaco, Lyons, etc. Not bad for a tiny club the size of Nice. And by the way they didn't get rid of him. He walked because he wanted a new challenge.

I think it is a realistic aspiration but as Read states "We have to do it a step at a time. We have to be patient, because we don't have the ability to do it all in one hit. We have to build towards it.". It's fair to say that we're very much in the building phase and different fans will have different perspectives on how well that's going. As with any building phase you're going to have some good days and some not so good days, things that work, things that don't. It's important to realise that this is a 5 year plan but a lot of posters on here don't seem to have the patience to look at the club over a 5 game timescale yet alone a 5 year one. Over the summer our 3 key signings were all 22 years old or younger (roughly the same age as Sam McQueen) but so many fans expect them to instantly replace Pelle, Mane and Wanyama who were clearly much more experienced. Also, we have tied several key players to long term contracts and are looking to open up the academy pathway after a couple of years of it stalling under Koeman. Clearly our field of vision has moved to a more medium to long term viewpoint than previously. Personally, I find that exciting but I understand that there are fans out there who get frustrated with the slight steps backwards that can happen when you're trying to move the club up to the next level. I think there a number of posters out there who are constantly looking for the silver bullet answer (sign Bony, Berahinho, Siggurdson, get Spider back, etc.). I think that's unrealistic, short-term thinking and is highly unlikely to work. In my opinion the way the club is heading is our best chance of getting in amongst the big boys one day. Only time will tell if we succeed or not but in the meantime patience is needed.

West Ham's net summer spending was 43.1 million (5th highest) and Leicester's was 21.46 Million (8th highest) so what you seem to be saying is that if we'd thrown money around over the summer like those two clubs then we'd be in the same situation as them, i.e. out of the picture. Good point.

This is a direct quote from Pep Confidential - "He had dedicated more time to Hojbjerg than anyone else, showing him the right way to position his body when he received the ball so that he could move it on immediately as effectively as possible. He had given the player hours and hours of almost non-stop obsessional attention, at times apparently oblivious to time and place."? So why would a 21 year old who Guardiola obviously rated extremely highly leave Bayern Munich to join Southampton ? You say that all the "I don't come to saints looking for a move to a big club stuff" is total ****** but let's not forget that Hojbjerg elected to join us from a big club. If he was so interested in being at a big club why not stay at Bayern ? They don't come much bigger. Also I find it difficult to believe that there wouldn't have been other big clubs around who would have been interested in him given his age and obvious potential but he chose Southampton. As a Saints fan i fully accept that there will be players who will look to jump ship as soon as their profile rises (never thought Mane or Wanyama would hang around) but equally it's worthwhile considering the possibility that some players might be more content than you might think to stick around for a bit on a rising ship where they enjoy their football, can improve as players and have a good life even though they might not earn top dollar. Everyone assumes Virgil is going to leave in January but if that was his plan then why did he sign a new 6 year contract in the summer ? Maybe the club has more ambition than you think.