SaintTex

Cedric and Fonte play for Portugal v. Denmark - clean sheet.

I liked the article, but the press' repeated narrative that Van Dijk had a nightmare dealing with Martial has been greatly mischaracterized.

What I would like to know what exactly is the 5 year strategy of the club. So far, it's fairly obvious, you invest in players with potential, buy them inexpensively, watch them grow, sell them for a profit, reinvest that into the team, build a stronger team. That's GREAT! Good strategy. However.. What do you do at the point where you hit the ceiling with this strategy and are merely treading water? This strategy gets you comfortably as a Top 10 club every year, but not really a Top 4 contender. What next? So, a scenario....Is Mane worth more to the club if he fulfills his 4 year contract, but you lose £40m by not selling him, and he moves on? Do you achieve more by keeping him Saint for the full 4 years or do you achieve more by selling him when his value is at his highest? What if having Mane on the team those 4 years enables the Club to win 2 trophies and earns a Top 4 spot? Is losing that £40m worth it? Are the 2 trophies worth more than £40m? Does going for it hurt the club in the long run? Do the trophies and CL provide more cache for the club and attract better players? All interesting questions, but at some point you have to keep your best players on the team to reap the rewards. If not, it is just an endless cycle and you spend years spinning your wheels but not going anywhere. This doesn't even factor in what other motivations the Board might have beyond football: ie: guarantee the organization is a profitable venture, the brand, etc. I guess that is why they pay Ralph and Les the big bucks - to figure it all out.

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and we have him signed on a 5 year contract. I know that doesn't mean much these days, but at least we can expect him to be hanging around for a few years.

This. Everything ball high and crossed into the box, VvD was there. Just a monster. Cedric is gaining confidence, settling in, and looking good. The back 4 now looks SO stout. I am so happy the defense is getting settled. What a difference from the start of the season, where Targett, Yoshida, and Caulker were ever present in the starting XI. With everyone healthy at this point, we have to strike now and get every point. My one concern is Romeu. he just cant seem to find his rhythm. There is quality there, but he seems to be stumbling a bit trying to find his way. Great tactical move by Koeman bringing in JWP at half as Romeu was on a yellow.

Well, in that line up it would be Tadic terrorizing Ivanović, which I could certainly see happening.

I know what we don't need....two disgruntled strikers because they are being rotated game to game. but to answer the question. We need a offensive minded midfielder who can distribute and put the ball in the back of the net every now and then. (Maybe that will be Clasie, that remains to be seen.) as far as who is realistically available to sign to fill that role, no idea.

yet.. 2014/2015 PL Adam Lallana : 27 appearances | 1792 minutes | 5 goals | 3 assists Shane Long : 32 appearances | 1542 minutes | 5 goals | 5 assists 2015/2016 PL to date Adam Lallana : 3 appearances | 180 minutes | 0 goals | 0 assists Shane Long : 4 appearances | 176 minutes | 1 goal | 0 assists 2015/2016 - all other competitions to date Adam Lallana : 2 appearances | 1 goal | 0 assists Shane Long : 4 appearances | 3 goals | 0 assists statistically pretty even.

I think he is making weird decisions because he has too many players. He is tinkering, because he can. He is overthinking it. Really. Yesterday's starting line-up should have been a no brainer. -----------Stek------------- Soares-Fonte-VvD-Targett ----Wanayma---Romeu--- --Mane----Davis---Tadic-- ------------Pelle------------ the only internal debate should have been Davis or JWP.

Well to be fair, you predicted the season before as a fight to stay up and the season before that one, as well. who knows, maybe this time you will be right.

uh huh.. So, I read this whole thread and what I gather: Koeman is cowardly Stek hasn't done anything this season Yoshida commits a howler a game and is a Championship player at best Fonte is well below his best and can't pass. Tadic is a waste of space and people wonder what he does James Ward Prowse is a total non-entity Romeu was pure garbage Wanyama needs to practice passing Van Dijk was **** Martina is a joke Pelle's first half goal attempt was a sitter and he is an average player at best Long and Davis are Championship players Cedric has looked poor, weak and really not that quick We need 11 Juanmis on the pitch apparently. people need to get a grip, jeez.

Maybe so, but I still think it was a good, low risk move by the Saints. We desperately needed some PL experienced depth at CB and we got it. Remember... when we signed him, we had Fonte and Yoshi at CB.. That was it. So in a way it was a bit of relief when we got him, just for depth sake. As far a Caulker, the player....As it stands now, I don't see much reason to sign him come summer, but he has a year to convince Koeman otherwise. It would be nice if he could step into Fonte's position once Fonte's age becomes a factor and he loses a step, but so far the outlook is mostly cloudy.

put me in the camp that we can't afford to have JWP and Davis on the field at the same time. They offer no offensive threat. Today, Tadic was the only player delivering the ball in front of the goal. He can't do it alone. of our 5 realistic goal scorers today; Pelle, JRod, Davis, JWP, and Tadic; only one showed up. Past history tells us that JWP and Davis are not going to score. So, only really 3 goal scorers and one of those is coming off an 18 month layoff. And Pelle just had an off day, it happens. I was keeping my fingers crossed VvD was going to create some sort of magic off a corner or set piece or we could get lucky with some sort of ricochet'd shot. NOW, the positives.. 3 clean sheets in a row. The defense is really what buoyed us last year. With Bertrand coming back, VvD in place, and our defensive midfield sorted, I think opponents are going to find goals hard to come by. It was my first time seeing VvD play and I was impressed. He looked tall and big out there, made Big Vic look relatively puny. I am liking the cut of his jib. I saw only one positional error from VvD and that was in the second half, when one of the West Brom players got the ball the box and looked to threaten, but he ended up skying it over the crossbar. (It looked like the WBrom player was offside on that play, but the flag stayed down.) and like most, I hope Clasie can be that creative spark in middle of the pitch this season when he returns. That remains to be seen, but considering his size and the physicality of the PL, it would seem that is where he would fit best. overall, a dull game, we got an away point, we got the clean sheet, we build from there.

reminds me of the early season 0-0 draw with West Brom last season. a real yawner. VvD looks to be the real deal, but West Brom really didn't ask many questions.

Lovren is going to look back on his career and recognize that he never had it better than that 1 year at Southampton.

I would really prefer to be more positive, but I don't think this could have come at a worse time for the club. these two weeks were the perfect time to get acclimated and settled to a new club/city and now he is flying off to Turkey? I know a lot of first teamers aren't on the training ground right now, but two weeks to get adjusted to his new environment and new teammates is valuable time that is now delayed. but exciting news for VvD.

The Koeman bros. seem to be enjoying it way too much, especially Irwin. they don't look to be reluctant participants.

Bertrand's injury is very frustrating. May 24th - season ends (5 weeks pass) June 26th - he has surgery (10 days pass) July 6th - Surgery news revealed. Koeman publically says he is out 5 to 6 weeks (6 weeks pass) August 15th - play Everton (4 weeks pass) Sept 12th - W. Brom. He has now missed 8 competitive games. No sign of him in training. What are we looking at here? I am not feeling confident he sees the pitch until mid October. I hope I am wrong. Also, when did the club and Bertrand know surgery was needed? Could it have been done sooner after the end of last season instead of waiting 5 weeks?

I don't know, everyone seems to be raving about JWP in the DM position last week against Norwich and he is no bruiser. If indeed, Clasie is a more of a finesse DM and cannot adapt to a CAM role, I can see any combination of Romeu, Wanyama, and Clasie as the 2 DMs depending on 1) the team we play, 2) the strategy we want to employee and the availability of any of the three (re: suspensions/injuries). So essentially, we would use the 2nd half Norwich formation/squad, except Clasie instead of JWP, VvD instead of Yoshida, and Bertrand instead of Targett ----------------Stek----------------- Cedric--Fonte--Van Dijk--Bertrand -------Romeu----------Clasie------- Mane----------JRod-----------Tadic ---------------Pelle------------------ You put Romeu on the right to help out Cedric out. Or, if you want to be more defensive, you pair up Wanyama and Romeu and move Clasie into the CAM role. (this is the one EVERYONE seem to like) ----------------Stek----------------- Cedric--Fonte--Van Dijk--Bertrand -------Romeu--------Wanyama---- Mane---------Clasie-----------Tadic ---------------Pelle------------------ or a hybrid with a very defensive back and a very offensive front, although I would worry a bit without having a dynamic central MF in this scheme to bridge between the offense and defense. (maybe in this scheme, Van Dijk is give more freedom to roam upfield centrally, as from every video I have seen of him, he feels comfortable doing). ----------------Stek----------------- Cedric--Fonte--Van Dijk--Bertrand -------Romeu--------Wanyama---- Mane---------JRod-----------Tadic ---------------Pelle------------------ my 2 cents - as us Yanks say.

at this point, it is in the best personal interest of Wanyama and the best interest of the club that he knuckles down and commits himself 100%. We should all support that. If he pouts and is vanquished from the pitch for the year, the team loses his selling value and he loses his opportunity to jump to one of the big boys come June. Les, Ralph, etc. want to sell him next summer for £20m, not £8m. Wanyama wants to play for Arsenal or Spurs, not West Brom. It's in everyone's financial and personal interest that he gets back on the pitch as soon as possible and displays his abilities. I hope no one boos him. Maybe send him out for the MK Dons game away. Go from there.

I figure any English GK prospect worth his salt would salivate going to a club in which the goalkeeping coach is also the goalkeeping coach for England. On the face, this is a good speculative signing. I figure Watson knows plenty about the kid.

I agree with all this, but I am very curious to see how Clasie would perform as the second DM playing along Wanyama or Romeu type DM. This may be a transition/training year for Clasie, but with this being Wanyama's last season, Romeu and Clasie are our future DM pairing, which really excites me. Being: Romeu is the more defensive of the DMs, rough and tumble, making the hard tackles; where Clasie is the more offensive DM, distributing, finding passing lanes, but also cutting out opponent's passes and being a general nuisance to opponents. At least this is my aspiration. Jordy is on a 5 year contract, Romeu is on a 3 year. Time to look into extend Romeu's contract today? Lulz. So that is DM -- So now, the back 4. I am feeling good about Cedric, he has good instincts. The defensive part of the game can be taught. Then, you have Fonte which really our only worries at this point is age. Assuming Van Dijk, I have to hope he is everything we are looking for. Bertrand, again. we know what we have there. Cedric and Bertrand essentially on 4 year contracts, Van Dijk most likely at least 4 years, and Fonte has got 2 years left. Attacking MF/Forwards JRod on a 5 year, Tadic 3 years left, Mane is gone after this season. Juanmi is on a 4 year and I am betting is going to take Mane's place next season, not so much his role, but his place in the starting XI. to be honest, I am not sure where Davis' or JWP's futures lie in this club. Strikers,Pelle is in form, but he has 2 years left on his contract. I would be curious as to what the club has planned this summer with him. Long has 3 years left on his contract. Goalkeeping - would be nice to sign Stek. Forster I think is quality and when fit is likely better than Stek, but no guarantees with Forster's knee at this point) So, Next summer will have about £50 million to use with the Wanyama and Mane selling. I think all in we are in pretty good shape. It's been a rough start. we didn't handle Europa well. We lost some very key players, we have had key injuries, looks like we will have some late signing(s), but over all I think things are going to be fine.

This. We need a sound defensive platform for the offense tick. We got the benefit of the 2 yellows, which took the pressure off the defense, which in turn freed up the offense. It won't always be that easy. as many have said, we get VvD over the line, get Bertrand back on the pitch and Clasie in the midfield that defensive platform will be sound. I am as upset as anyone about the Wanyama situation (and if he really didn't have a stomach issue last Thursday then he really screwed up our Europa dreams) but we need him on the team. I think a Romeu/Wanyama paired with Clasie can work really well in a 4-2-3-1. However, Romeu's style of play will lend to knocks and suspensions. We need two physical DMs - Clasie, Davis, Reed are not. We need Wanyama. Really can't let him or Mane go at the point. the American broadcast was really playing up the Mane issue - it is like they had some vested interest in his head being turned to Man U.

tadic looking bright. On the left, where he should always be playing.