sadoldgit

28, but then I am 60! Its all downhill now

Gerrard scored 21 goals in 113 games and Lampard 29 from 105 games from midfield. Not too shabby. Why wouldnt you want that experience around the squad? How many players is it stopping coming through? We have Barkley, Lallana, Wilshire, Stirling and Shaw. I am sure they all benefit for being around players of the calibre of Gerrard and Lampard. Out of 23 players in a squad how many play? Shaw was clearly preferred over Cole to give him the experience. Part of the experience is being around senior pros.

He becomes great when he achieves something at a higher leevel. For all his potentail he still has little end product in the last third. If he adds that to his game consistantly and wins things then we can start calling him great.

I am surprised that Brooks has walked away scot free.

Lampard and Gerrard in their prime were quaility and I am sure most Prem managers would hve loved them in their squad and would have found a way to play them togther. Many teams would love to pair Rooney and Sturridge too. How many International teams leave out their best players? There has been a lot of talk about playing Ronney "out of position" on the left. He has played their plenty of times for his club so it is not exactly new to him. Roy also made the point that he wanted players to interchange. We are all deeply disappointed (apart from Alpine of course) but the fact is that we didnt play badly against Italy and played well in patches against Uruguay. Both of these are quality teams and very experienced in tournaments. This has been a very tough group and we were told at the start that with no chance of winning the WC we should use this as a stepping stone for the European Championship. Roy has started to bring through youth but not as quickly as some would have wanted. If he had of played more of them from the start would we have been any better off now? We will never know but lets not kid ourselves that it was going to be a cake walk getting out of the group stage with the quality of opposition we faced no matter what team we put out. Italy and Uruguay have both put in a poor performance each and I would argue that England have at least put in two performances that with a bit more luck would have gone our way. You are 100% right to be worried about our seeding and we are clearly slipping back further. To end up in groups with two stronger teams each time is a problem as we have found this time round.

I am talking about winning consistantly. Greece pulled it off once but these teams get some good results then fade. I am talking about the consistency that Spain or the Germans have built up not just being a 5 minute wonder.

Playing in these competitions is very different to playing in the Premiership week in week out. Just because you do it for your club doesnt mean to say you can do it for your country and the expectation that people like Clyne (who struggled to keep his place against Chambers) Cork or JRod (if fit) would have made much difference if any. We played a certain way which worked well in many games and not so well in other games. Playing against Italy, Uraguay, Chile, Australia, Costa Rica, Brazil etc presents a lot more different challenges to playing Man Utd, Stoke, Liverpool etc. You dont have a long season and transfer windows in which to get it right. A number of different managers (home grown and foreign) have failed to solve the problem of how to take our better players and to get them to perform on the World stage. Someone said that we won the WC in 1966 and there we few if any foreign players in Div 1 then. Correct but football have moved on big time since 1966 and the lack of English players getting a chance to play at the top level has diminished to the detriment of the national team. How many quality Englisg centre halves does Roy have to choose from now? How many quality English strikers? The quality for Championship football is so much better now because players who would be playing for Chelsea, City United etc and now playing in the old Div 2. A few get the opportunity to step up but not many because we charge stupid money for any potential English talent (£27m for Shaw at 18?). Now that Gerrard is past his best at this level we have NO World class players in our squad and no one coming through who looks like they can step up at this level. It is hard to see England doing well in any cup competion for some time to come.

Why is that? The principle is exactly the same. Surely if the bloke is a nutter is doesnt make the slighest bit of difference where he is, he is still a nutter. The fact that he is "with" us rather than against is supposed to make it okay???

You can imagine people in Germany in the 30s saying of Hitler, "He's a meglomanic psychopath but he's our meglomaniac psychopath." The bloke's reputation preceded him but stll we spent a fortune (by our standards) on a player that should be nowhere near our club. Pochettino did a lot of good things for us. This was not one of those things.

You are joking, right?

A lot of clubs structure their deals over a period of time, us being one of them.

Here's an idea. Why dont we just let the new manager get on with his job and do what he thinks is the best for the team/club?

It wasnt the Liebherrs, it was Cortese who coined the phrase. We are not the first club to do this. Dario Gradi wasdoing it years ago. I heard someone mention "the West Ham way" recently. I dont think it is sinister, just very silly. Liverpool and Man United have won dozens of Championships between them but you never hear of the Manchester United Way or Liverpool Way. We have won b*gger all. What does it really mean anyway? You could say the Southampton way is to sack a manager when he becomes successful as we did with Pardew and Adkins. The person who started this thread was not talking about the academy but about formations and tactics.

The "Southampton Way" is a phrase invented by Nicola Cortese that I wish had left the club with him. He did not invent a new model for running a football club and we have been running a successful academy for years before he came on the scene. A number of clubs are run like SFC. The problem we had in the past was that we didnt have the cash to keep hold of our better young players and many of them were not up to the standard needed at that time (when we couldnt bring in extra quality where it was needed). I remember the grief that a former CEO got when he paid £1m for a young French prospect (called Morgan S) when people wanted themonet spent on an established player. What a bargain that turned out to be! Pochettino for all of his plaudits for last year was a one trick pony for the most part. We need players from the first team down to be comfortable with many types of tactics, not just a high pressing game, and I hope that RK is given the freedom to do it the "Koeman Way."

The reaction on here has been quite bizarre, even for this site. We have know for years that the media will say or print what that they like and we need to take it all with a pinch of salt until is it fact. The fact for some time now has been that the manager left and Rickie Lambert left. From this we have had a number of posters convinced that most of the rest of the squad are leaving, the club is run by idiots who dont know what they are doing and that the owner is asset stripping ahead of a sale of the club! It has been beyond bizarre in truth. Fortunately there are a group of people who are not "happy clappers" or "bed wetters" but they have been completely drowned out by those with their glasses half empty who can only ever see the negative in any situation. This place is a psychologists dream. I applaud the Board for their calm and measured responses, the way they have worked behind the scenes to keep the club going in the right direct despite the media storm and the negative attitude of a number of supporters and for delivering a manager of quality to take us forward. We dont know how Ron K will work out but this a a massive statement of intent (and vote of confidence in the club from a quality appointment) and can only be a good thing. We know that the bed wetters will be out in force again the minute that Ron K makes a mistake, which he surely will as he like every other manager we have ever had is only human, but for goodness sakes, lets for once just be happy that the club is still in good shape and still on course for another exciting season in the EPL.

Well done to the Board, KL and Les Reed. This is two fingers up for all of those saying that the club was in meltdown. This is a massive statement of intent and to all of those writing the club off. Great signing. Great day.

We are not strong defensively and that will be our downfall. Lambert should have been given 20 to 30 mins yesterday. Clyne struggles to get in the Saints team before Chamber so not sure why he should start for England. Rooney seems out to prove that he isnt the World Class player a lot of people says he is. We lack the football intelligence DNA as someone said earlier. Also someone said that Italy didnt get out of 3rd gear and I agree that they always seemed to have something in reserve whereas we seemed to be giving everything we had. Still this is shaping up to be a classic WC so lets enjoy it!

How much did we pay for JRod?

The people I speak to about football (I live in Kent) have always been complementary about Saints and the stream of quality players that we have produced over the years. They have never referred to us a "laughing stock" during our conversations and the departure of Pochettino was met with the expectation that we would get another decent manager in. I think we are only a laughing stock amongst some of our own fanbase and those to the East of us.

Of course he knew. The "paperwork" was being done and loose ends being tied up. It will be announced when the time is right for the club and not for a few wrist slitters on an internet chat forum!

I just thought that this couldnt be reposted enough.

I raelly do not understand what the problem is. We have been told that the paperwork is being done and that the manager will be announced when the time is right. Just because they are working to their own timescale and not to those on here who want everything yesterday why does that mean the Board cannot organise a p*ss up in a brewery? It suits some to believe that the club cannot function without Cortese. They clearly can and I dont see that they can do anymore than what they have done so far given the circumstances. Give them a break.

Up until today I was of the opinion that if a player didnt want to be here we should let them go. Now I am thinking, you have signed a contract, honour it.

The club have said ignore the Mail the Mirror and the Echo. If he put the request in on 30th May why is it big news now. Someone has an agenda.

The club have already explained this though haven't they?