ScepticalStan

You talked good sense on another thread but I think you're wrong here. Almost all of these players are picked on reputation and the prestige of the clubs they play for. I'd never dream of having Silva, Luiz, Koscielny, Bonnuci or Godin ahead of VVD. None of them are vastly better defenders than him and certainly the likes of Godin and Bonnuci don't have anywhere near the footballing ability or range of passing that he does. Put it this way, judging by your list, I've got a very strong feeling that a couple of years ago, you'd have been rating the likes of Otamendi when he was at Valencia higher than Alderweireld when he was with little old Saints.

For anyone just casually skim-reading the thread, these are the only two posts worth reading. You can more-or-less leave it there.

The problem with me is that I judge players on merit, with no favouritism towards certain types of players and particularly, certain types of players from the British isles. A lot of our fanbase see themselves as 'salt-of-the-Earth-English' types who treat 'Johnny Foreigner' with a healthy distrust and love nothing more than a trier who'll 'work hard and put a tackle in', no matter how ineffective they end up being. You see it every time Shane Long miscontrols a pass, loses possession, fouls the opponent who tackles him and then somehow gets a round of applause for doing so. Whereas Mane used to go on a run from inside his own half, beat 2 or 3 players along the way, scuff the shot narrowly wide of goal and then be accused of missing a 'sitter'. The same fans who are praising Steven Davis in this thread were saying that Schneiderlin was too weak to play in the Premier League 5 years ago, and that Mane was 'The new Ali Dia' 2 years ago. Funny that isn't it?

Ah yes, all these managers rating him... Isn't it funny how no-one has bid for him though? Neither Pochettino nor Koeman (who apparently thought he was the bees knees) have bid for him. Both of them have plumped for a different midfielder from our previous trio respectively in Wanyama and Schneiderlin. And on top of that, its not like players from Southampton don't attract interest in general. Shaw, Clyne, Chambers, Fonte, Alderweireld, Lovren, Schneiderlin, Wanyama, Mane, Lallana and Lambert were all bought whilst Van Dijk, Rodriguez and Bertrand have attracted interest. Yet no-one from Liverpool, City, United or Chelsea seem all that fussed about Steven Davis. No 8-figure bids for our supposedly great midfielder have been received. I wonder why? I wonder why? Our brave Captain got pushed out of the wall by diddy little Herrera? Ironically, that'd be just as damning if it were true. He ducked because he was scared to get a whack on the face with a football. If that were a Ramirez or Mane people would still be talking about it now.

Yup. I often bring this up. As late as West Ham away in 2012 (so about 3 months before promotion to the PL), I heard people around me in the crowd wanting Hammond ahead of Schneiderlin because he 'put a tackle in'. A couple of years after that, Dean Hammond was back in League 1, and Morgan Schneiderlin was in the starting XI of a top-tier international football team and attracting bids of £25Mn plus.

No thanks. He doesn't get goals or assists and has no final ball. Average player. Oh and he ducked for Zlatan's free-kick in the cup final, which for some reason no-one dare breathe a word about. Can you imagine if that was Ramirez, Wanyama, Guly, Pelle, Boufal or Mane? phewwww.

Oh ********. You want a scapegoat its a player who purchased about 2 years later for £34Mn and is now considered one of the best players in the league being called 'Ali Dia' by the mongs in our fanbase. Or Guly being slated week-in-week-out having scored 10 or 11 goals in half a season back in the Champo. Or Ramirez being blamed for a defeat when being brought on at 3-1 down with about 5 minutes to go. Davis is a bang average player who was utterly ****ed on today. If we want to finish higher up the league we need to improve on him.

How do we know Gabbiadini's injury is as bad as all that?

And Ramirez and Boufal looked like world-beaters in their youtube compilations. As every player does.

Yeah I don't want any of it to be the case, but its true. I'm telling you. Have a look at Van Dijk's reaction to the goal at Palace. If that were De Gea or Courtois you'd see the United/Chelsea players gasping with their mouths agape in shock. VVD instantly spins round and you can see the angry "why-do-I-bother?" snarl on his face.

This forum needs an upvote button

Well first of all I disagree that he was a big improvement on Stekelenburg, and second of all, Stek was only signed as a temporary stopgap anyway, so even if he was it wouldn't exactly be much of a mitigating factor. Forster is crap. And that's the beginning middle and end of it. His abilities were vastly overrepped by getting to play for a high-profile club like Celtic, where of course, he didn't actually have to be any good. Simple reality is that he's a massive weakness within the team and there's a hard limit to how far up the table we can go with him at the helm. We had a ****ing magnificent defence in front of him for the past two years with a defensively-minded midfield giving him a world of protection. For me, the thing that gives things away with Forster was VVD's reaction to his **** up at Palace. He doesn't look shocked, or put his hands behind his head and shout "OMG :O", he just instantly spins angrily and shouts what's very clearly "oh... Fuuuuck Off" with impatience and irritability - almost as if he's always known that Forster was a fairly crap keeper and he's been waiting for/expecting something like that to happen - rather than it being a total surprise.

God almighty we're just going to keep making excuses for him aren't we?

Yeah. And its not just his shotstopping. He can't catch the ball, he's glued to his line and his distribution is shocking. He's a glaring weakness and he's only ever looked like a decent keeper when he's had a brilliant defence in front of him.

Yup.

This.

Think winning the Ropey League is probably their best bet for that and all.

Won't happen. The big clubs know full well they get most of the decisions their way. It isn't in their interest.

Heh, yeah, have a look at the **** crowds they got back then as well (literally like 13-14k or so) - it was only once they were promoted that people started talking about them as having particularly die-hard home support.

HAHAHAHA who gives a ****?

He was effortlessly brushed aside at Old Trafford. He'll be ruthlessly exposed against United. Our best bet is to bypass the midfield and play on the break.

I wouldn't go overboard on the ref being 'good' necessarily - he gave us everything in fairness.

I ****ing hope not. Gabbi/Tadic/Boufal pick themselves as the starting front 3. Long and Redmond as the pacey options off the bench

I wish we had Paddy "try his best" Long up front.

Oooooh super-cali-fragi-listic-Mano-Jabba-Dee-nee. ...something something something There used to be a brilliant one for Saganowski to the same tune which went something like: "Super Marek Saganowski he knows where the goal is And he built my mate a house cos he is ****ing Polish He drives a big white van to work but never gets there early Now he lives with a wife and kids in a two bedroom flat in Shirley" (I can't remember the exact words but it was something like that) - either way - was sung at away days now and again in the Champo days. Its never been beaten IMO.