SaintTex

"We badly need a striker" Said by nearly every team in English football. Competition for quality strikers, as usual, will be fierce.

I think mining the big clubs rosters of players who can't get a crack with the first team, a la Bertrand, is a pretty good strategy. There are some pretty good players languishing on the bench or on loan somewhere with these big teams. That's why I think landing Guidetti from Citeh for £2m would be good business. You are looking for talented players, who want to PLAY in the top league every week. Plus, they come at a price Southampton can afford. Insert them into the system, and with a little luck and some good coaching, they flourish. In addition, with these type of players, they feel grateful to be given the chance and then that builds loyalty to the club. I think Bertrand signs. He wants to be here and has already stated as such.

Pelle Forster K. Davis Gazzaniga

ha, I noticed that Norwich was sitting pretty at 12th there. another tidbit.. Liverpool had 43 points after 22 matches last season. Saints have 42 points after 22 matches now. I would love a "2013/14 Liverpool style season finish" for the Saints this year and finish with 84 points. (Liverpool incredibly got 41 out of 48 points in their final 16 matches last season!)

Not sure I understand this. 16 matches left, correct? 9 of which are bottom half sides.

thanks all. I was a little anxious about putting myself out there. And I get it, Griffo, I really do.

Born in Texas, live in Texas. I am one of those Americans that "picked" a team to support. I began supporting the Saints at the beginning of the 2013-2014 season. So the question is why, when I have no real ties to Southampton. First a few general conditions. I have always been a fan of football but just even a decade ago, exposure to the EPL was very limited. How did it get broadened in America? Two things in my opinion 1) FIFA Soccer video game for Xbox or Playstation. Wildly popular in America - people began to learn teams, players through the video game. 2) NBCSN's gonzo coverage of the Premier League starting in the 2013-2014 season. Generally, 6 hours of coverage Saturday morning. Secondly, the ability to stream live any game allowed a supporter to see every game if desired. You could not be shut out if you were interested. It's hard to be a fan, if you can only watch 5 games a year. So, why Southampton? 1) I didn't want to pick an obvious team, an "easy" team, a la Chelsea or Man U, or the very trendy Liverpool (in America). I tend to take paths least traveled. 2) I wanted to pick a team who wasn't an obvious relegation threat. If I had picked Norwich last year, what is my outlet to support them this year? A few internet reports on ESPN.com? No fun. 3) I was attracted to the home grown English element of Southampton. It seemed in England Southampton was everyone's second favorite team. 4) I didn't want to pick a London based team. I liked the regional aspect of Southampton. South England's team. No other competing clubs near by in the Premier League. 5) Did seem like an up and comer and at the time they were a very young team; Chambers, JWP, Shaw.. (remember, this is 2013) 6) They seemed to have good ownership in place and were starting to spend a little money.. Ramirez, Osvaldo, etc. (remember, this is 2013) So, I decided then and there I would support Southampton through thick and thin.. whether we had 25 points by mid November or 4 points. wouldn't matter. I have been rewarded and so far it has been a very thrilling 2 years. I know some might consider my journey to support Southampton as "not putting the time in" or "not as authentic" or "I haven't suffered through the really dark times" or "just another American getting in our business" but I am OK with people feeling that. God knows these are great times, I feel fortunate. I mention and talk about Southampton to anyone who will listen here in American/Texas. So, I consider Southampton "my team" but if by some awful set of circumstances we find ourselves in League One ten years from now, I will still support them, even if my only outlet for information is a single line fixture result posted on BBC.com and this website.

Yes, but why do we trust them more than other clubs trust theirs? This weekend on American TV, a NBCSN commentator noted that the reason Southampton can seamlessly insert our Academy players into the starting XI and be successful is exactly because we have NOT put them out on loan. They stay at the Southampton Academy, they are coached by Southampton coaches, they are taught "the Southampton Way" (for lack of a better term) and they practice with Southampton players (first teamers). They don't pick up bad habits or taught contrary techniques/schemes while at other clubs while out on loan. There is a consistency to their training, their football education. They know exactly what do and what is expected of them when they get the chance to play under the bright lights.

Silver lining? The players above will not be getting injured this weekend while playing Crystal Palace.

This. Every game in which points are dropped are going to be magnified. Arsenal, Man U, West Ham, Liverpool, Tottenham all won this week. The 3 points against Newcastle Saturday was huge. I can understand losing a match to the likes of those team (bolded above) in the coming weeks, but from this point until the end of the season, we need to secure 3 points against every team currently at 9th place and below. Those are games we certainly will be favoured in. That is 11 wins (33 points) and then it doesn't matter how we do in the remaining games. Let's look at those 11 games I am talking about: 09 Swansea (H) 10 Stoke (A) 12 CP (H) 13 Everton (A) 14 Villa (H) 15 W. Brom (A) 16 Sunderland (A) 17 Burnley (H) 18 Hull (H) 19 QPR (A) 20 Leicester (A) Those matches can and should, with the way we are playing and the squad we have, all be 3 points. 42 + 33 (11 wins) = 75 (certainly Top 4) Hell, call the Everton (A) and Stoke (A) games losses.. that is still 42 + 27 (9 wins) = 69 (probably top 4) But all this is BS. The motto for the team should be "win the next game"

His celebration on the 2nd goal was Ronaldoesque for sure. I loved the hug with RK after the first goal. Seemed genuine and heartfelt. I am sucker for that kind of sentimentality. He seems so grateful for the opportunity. It sounds like he wants to seize it. That post match interview nearly put tears in my eyes.

i think this is the crux of the matter. Boruc certainly didn't want to sit on the bench all season. I figure most clubs our size struggle with this. Very few clubs can afford and attract true quality backup goalkeepers, a la Man U with De Gea and Valdez or Chelsea with Courtois and Cech.

a reminder of what we have been missing this season. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zmw2ybsYEEM it's incredible that we are in 3rd place.

I find it difficult to understand how Koeman or anyone else can say with certainty that he is out 4 to 5 weeks. The medical staff got him accessed and diagnosed, developed a treatment plan and then determined a treatment length all in roughly an hour?

If we have CL ambitions, 3 points is all that is acceptable against a very average team with an interim manager. We cannot be dropping points to the likes of Newcastle and hope to be Top 4 at the end of the year. If we draw or lose, is it all over? No, but these are matches you need to take all 3 points in order to keep the wolves (ManU, Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool) at bay.

I assume 10 points from a possible 12 is acceptable.

I am going with 4th place. It might be my American perspective, but to me 4th place seems like a more impressive feat than winning the FA Cup! Trophy or not. Secondly, a 4th place finish also shows quality world class players that what we have accomplished is not a fluke and we are a team worthy to join. No one thought Hull was an upper echelon team because they played at Wimbley last year.

Liverpool has their midweek Europa League games against Besiktas before and after playing us. Will be curious to see what the path they focus on to get to Europe next year --- EPL top 4 or Europa League Champions?

two more observations: That looks like the entire starting 11 and the 7 on the bench, if you switch out Gazzaniga for Forster. They must have put Forster down below with the luggage. Has Fonte adopted the Pelle doo? Fonte's part has become very defined.

Toby is at least not reclined and laid up. Hell, he even got up out of his seat for the pic. Good sign. or am I reading too much into a picture?

These charts always fascinate me. if we just go 6-6-6 the rest of the way, we have roughly a 50% chance to finish Top 6. if we go 9-3-6 the rest of the way, we have a 56.8% chance to finish Top 4.

you know.. for all the love Lloris gets, Tottenham have allowed 29 goals this season. It's amazing to think we have only allowed 1/2 that.

right? 01) 20 games played. Of our 6 losses only 1 opponent beat us by more than a 1 goal margin and that was against City. 02) 20 games played. No one has scored 4 on us. And only one team has scored 3. Again City. 03) 20 games played. Only 3 games where a team scored more than 1 goal against us - City (3), Man U (2) and Liverpool (2). 03) 20 games played. 15 goals allowed. Man U is going to put up 30% of our season goals allowed total in one game? is it possible they put up 4? Sure, but extremely unlikely.

nothing more exciting than the debut of a shiny, new player for your team. I am filled with hope, dreams, and wild fantasies.

I hope it was a veiled "words to that effect". I understand the realities, but I don't like hearing it verbally expressed by the club. It just reinforces the idea that we are not worthy of world class players.