SaintTex

As far as Schneiderlin, reading the tea leaves, his odds of him leaving get less and less with each passing day. 01) The pool of teams which meets his apparent criteria to leave is very small. -------a. he wants to play Champions League -------b. he wants to stay in England (English girlfriend apparently) so, that leaves Chelsea, City, United, and Arsenal. 02) Of those 4 teams that have shown interest, Arsenal has choked on the price and ManU, while certainly can afford the price, seem to have their pick of the football player litter. Maybe Schneiderlin fits into their plans, maybe he doesn't. I suppose if Champions League is that important he can widen his options beyond England, which certainly might happen. if he/we can't find a proper suitor this summer, the question becomes: a) would he sign a new contract here and are we willing to pay much higher wages or b) play one more year, and then we get nothing for him next summer when he leaves. I tend to believe b) would happen if he doesn't transfer this summer.

wouldn't Tadic be that type of player? ------------Forster------------- Clyne--Fonte--Toby--Bertrand ---Wanyama---Schniederlin--- -------------Tadic--------------- ---Long---Mane---Rodriguez---

4-2-3-1 It was a shame JRod was hurt all last season. This lineup would have been a beast. -------------Forster------------ Clyne--Fonte--Toby--Bertrand ----Wanyama----Morgan------ ---Tadic---Mane--Rodriquez-- --------------Pelle-------------- We'll probably never know exactly how that lineup would have performed. And although I agree with those that have noted that Tadic seems more comfortable on the left, I still rate him and think he is quality wherever he is on the pitch.

I'd say Stekelenburg is a pretty good option to start the season with Forster out. Who else is realistically on our radar? Maarten Stekelenburg started in the 2010 World Cup finals. He is certainly qualified. If he has any ambition at all : 01) He should consider the chance to start for a top 7 Premier League team as an opportunity to impress not only Koeman, but potentially other suitors down the line [especially if he drops back to 2nd choice upon Forster's return]. 02) He should look at this as an opportunity to impress and take away Forster's starting spot. I am not saying he could, but this should be his mindset.

So, where do we rank? 7th in popularity at this point? 8th? 10th?

no Ivanović? that guy is a mauler.

completely agree... without Forster - 9 matches (if you include Burnley) during that time: **only 2 clean sheets (Burnley & Hull - relegation teams) **no clean sheets in the last 6 matches **allowed at least 2 goals in 5 matches. (if we had given up only 1 goal in those 5 matches - we would have 4 more points, and 5th place) **but as it stands.... only 13 points out of a possible 27 in our last 9 matches without Forster. going back to that stat in regard to goals allowed per match: without Forester - 2 goals or more allowed in 5 out of 9 matches played. with Forster - 2 goals or more allowed in 4 out of 29 matches played.

well, here are our chances... http://www.sportsclubstats.com/England/Southampton.html if we lose... we know that one if we draw... 5th - 0% | 6th - 46% | 7th - 54% if we win... 5th - 40% | 6th - 47% | 7th - 13% overall chances for final table place 5th - 11% | 6th - 22% | 7th - 67%

I want to finish above Liverpool so badly. All those summer quotes from Brenda will have 100% weight if we do. No Scouser can come back and say: "but we still finished above you."

Clyne vs Arsenal (league cup) - most eye-popping Pelle vs Stoke (league cup) - most sublime Tadic vs ManU - most dramatic Pelle vs Newcastle - best team goal (1st goal) see link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xdke8dgJR4o

Starting 11 is fine. The bench needs work. Add Djuricic and Elia. Lose Gardos and either Reed/Morgan depending on Morgan's true fitness.

For U.S. viewers, NBCSN will be showing all 10 games on 10 different channels Sunday. I am going to flipping back and forth between 3 channels like a mad man.

maybe it is because I don't seek it out, but other clubs doing this kind of thing? Southampton has been killing it in the marketing department this season. Really cultivating a culture, theme, a story - doing it's part to create a clear identity for this club. I got to believe this effort, combined with winning, is really broadening Southampton's appeal worldwide. It has been brilliant.

for 5th place the minimum we need is: Beat City Tottenham and Liverpool draw Swansea doesn't enter into it. 5th SAINTS 63 (on GD) 6th Liverpool 63 7th Tottenham 62 Just win!! COYS

a draw or a loss for Liverpool and 5th place is still mathematically possible going into next Sunday. of course, Saints would need to beat City. Stoke (h) would need to beat Liverpool (certainly possible) Everton (h) would need to beat Tottenham (certainly possible) Conversely, if Swansea beats City tomorrow, there is also have a chance of ending up in 8th place. Going to be interesting next Sunday.

more annoyed at not getting the clean sheet. but hells ya.. a very fun afternoon! a win at City will make me forget about the last 2 months. Brilliant season, better than I could have ever expected. 60 points!

this is what I was thinking/hoping. a 4 year contract signals some club confidence in his ability to return to form.

If we sink to 8th the story should be : goalkeeping, goalkeeping, goalkeeping On April 11th.. we were in 5th place, at 56 points, with the league's best defense (22 goals allowed, to Chelsea's 26). 4 matches later.. we are in 7th place, 1 point earned, 8 goals allowed, no longer the league's best defense (30 goals allowed to Chelsea's 28). we gave up more than a 1/3 of our total goals allowed for the season in just 4 matches.

Not having a quality backup goalkeeper was a gamble that didn't pay off, but I do think it was the right gamble. You would like those odds normally. How many other goalkeepers had a season ending injury this year? We know about our offensive woes, but we were managing it before Forster's injury. It all fell apart after that Burnley game in which Forster went down. -- 6 games since Burnley : 4 points -- last 4 games - 2 goals allowed each game. In the previous 32 games we had only allowed more than 1 goal allowed 4 times. We were averaging less than a goal allowed per game before Forster's injury. If we took away 1 allowed goal for each of our last 6 games we would have 9 points over the last 6 games, not 4 points. We would have gone 2-3-1 and not 1-1-4. We would be in 5th place with 62 points.. but then again if my Aunt Ella had nuts she'd be my uncle. look, we have had 4 straight games where we have given up 2 goals

I totally agree with that. I think with Forster in goal and Alderweireld never venturing into the midfield, we would be 5th right now. No question. as far as best starting 11 of the last 2 years... Forster Clyne Toby Fonte Bertrand Wanyama Schneiderlin Mane Lallana Rodriguez Pelle I think really of that group, only Lallana and Pell are debatable. Pelle - I just feel he offers more than Lambert. He has had a 11 goals, 2 assists. last year Rickie had 13 goals (3 PK), 10 assists. Would have we had the same stats this year from Lambert, a year later? Hard to say. A lot of mileage on those 33 year old legs. Tadic - if you had asked me at Christmas, Tadic would have been my choice, no reservations. Based on each of their performance's this year, the gulf is not all that great really, a coin flip. As far business, Tadic is a bargain.

one day? he has 2 1/2 matches left in a Saints jersey.

won't win again without Forster in goal.

been thinking this one over, starting 11 should be --------------Boruc---------------- Chambers--Fonte--Lovren--Shaw ---Schneiderlin--Davis----Cork--- --Lallana---Lambert--Rodriguez-- Oh, sorry, that was last year's start line up away at Sunderland. Hmmm, OK, I'll stick with Fonte, however, everyone else must go.. ------------K. Davis-------------- Clyne--Fonte--Yoshida--Bertrand ----Wanyama----Alderwiereld---- Mane-------JWProwse-------Long ---------------Pelle---------------- geez, it has been a crazy season.

I'd eat my hat if Swansea threatened. Swansea's remaining matches: Stoke (h) Arsenal (a) City (h) CP (a) tough haul As for us, I really want to be optimistic (10 points - 5th place - 67 points at the end): Sunderland W (really need to roll them) Leicester D (tricky game away) Villa W (glad this is at home. Hoping Villa is safe by the time we play them, although it is the early game on Sat so they probably won't know for sure) Man City W (hoping City has nothing to play for and has 2nd or 3rd locked up, regardless they are obviously not unbeatable) I'd feel a whole lot better and more confident with Forster between the pipes.