Vancouver Saint

Yes, agreed - he deserves our thanks not our abuse. Money is not a motivator - especially when these guys have it overflowing out of their bank accounts. They leave because they either don't feel valued (highly probable given the ruthless nature of football and at 33 you're on the way down) i.e. he wasn't given the contract extension he thought he deserved in the summer post Euros (again, probably true...it's not the money but the time extension and captaincy guarantee he'd have been looking for then that my guess wasn't forthcoming then). Or they leave for personal reasons (wife wants to go back to Portugal) or to fulfil a bigger ambition (last chance to play at a big named club like ManUre). Remember the club spin the publicity wheel all the time...most players do it once every three or four years. I suspect his new agent hasn't helped - the agents interest is to get a turn on a deal, not to keep him put. Fonte has been good for the club and the club has been good for Fonte for seven years. Shame if that gets lost in a spat at the end.

Agreed. I have to wake up early here in Vancouver to watch the games - I've always been excited to watch the team I've followed for nearly 50 years but my expectations now are very low - hard to drag my carcass out of bed knowing we're heading for another boring, predictable sideways shuffle. Predicted a 0-2 or 0-3 result and was right, although in fairness we had the edge on a poor Everton until the Valencia substitution. What worries me is I have zero belief we are going to score a goal. We just don't score goals any more. And in a game where it's all about scoring goals that is THE problem. Forget about defensive records, poor form, injury, diamonds, squad rotation whatever...we don't score goals because we haven't made it a priority. I am not for over-reacting and think, in general, Managers aren't given enough time to prove themselves but if it's true Puel thinks we have enough attacking threat and doesn't plan to invest in January (I read the article) he's not the right man for us.

This. What was our half-time talk?...have some more Benzadril, move slow, be predictable, don't bother taking shots...oh and take crap corners! Wrong team selection strategy. We play B-team against supposed lower opposition. We've proven our A-team can't match the top six and our B-team isn't good enough against the rest...so why not try playing our A-team against lower opposition? Hope that wasn't Virgil's last game for us. That sending off will have him not playing for us at just the wrong time. Jeez. What a terrible game.

Great Boufal goal worthy of winning a dullish match between two defensive teams. Did what was required in second half. Happy to see Puel animated on the touchline after we scored. Think he gets way too much stick for his demeanour (yes I'd like to see him smile more but let's be fair, how many of us here are miserable gits too!) And fickle. Puel was a Yoshida header away from being a genius...Europa League knockouts, EFL semi and top half of the league...with a team devoid of striking options. I think he's smart enough to know this is a game about GOALS. We need to be able to score them. Second lowest goalscorers in the Premier League starting today. Not just a striker but midfielders who can score. Would much rather be conceding a couple knowing we're likely to score two or three ourselves. This January window will define us...Puel needs to be given the chance to protect and invest. If we keep VVD, and bring in one or two proven goal scorers we could beat anyone and be entertaining.

Was it just me or did others just get the feeling that ball was going to find a way into our net whatever? We were the better footballing team by a margin. I'm normally angry but just had a feeling about this game even before that ridiculous first goal. Positive? - nobody upstairs can possibly deny that we need to buy some proven goal scorers in January - and I mean more than one.

Agree. Except for Redmond comment - was I watching a different game? - thought he was one of our best players...great speed and movement...and actually has great touch/ball-control...thought he Romeu and Hoijbjerg had outstanding games...Cedric poor, Tadic good at the beginning then did his disappearing trick. Think we should be able to make top 10, just - and if we play like that we have no fear of relegation. I did miss our more energetic high-press...felt we stood off them and invited pressure way too much...we all know how that works for us. And yes we need a clinical striker as the BBC survey highlights. Spurs fans happiest with their squad - not surprised. http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/37317980

Black hat: We're a couple of injuries away from a serious hole at CB and DM White hat: We're not injured yet. We kept some key players, equivalent to major new signings IMO (VVD and Tadic especially). We made some astute purchases without breaking the bank...all outfielders have creative flair. We have kept our powder dry if we need to invest more in January. We have ridden out another turbulent summer bringing in a promising new manager who deserves far more time than it would appear most people on this site are willing to give him. I can't help but feel that if we were sitting on 4 or 5 points now instead of 2 (and let's face it, we easily could have been - we were easily better than Watford, played ok against ManUre and should have beaten Sunderland) we'd be more positive as a group.

So fair to say the general mood is we could have done better this window/expected more...we're left light for cover at DM, CB, RB and STR. RB is forgivable - Pied injury unfortunate. The rest predictable and we've had time to fix (there's still a couple of hours left...we live in hope). Assuming no more action for us, I'd like to know your thoughts: what teams have done the best transfer business this window (not just last day)...and what teams have done the worst? A useful ndicator of where we stand relative to our competition

Exactement!

Just a dumb observation but we don't have much size / force in our midfield and attack...we were top scorers from headed goals last season - I don't see that happening again. We can cross the ball into the area but am not convinced Long/Austin/J-Rod are going to get their head to the ball first like Pelle did. So I would have gone for a low cost impact substitute striker who can steal a goal from long balls pumped into the area when we need to go direct. And I'm surprised we haven't made an all-out assault to get Schneiderlin back...he's third choice now at Manure...would be top of the list with us

Agreed. Diamond is a convenient excuse. Obviously would hope for more than two points from three games but it's early days. Give Puel 10 games then we'll know what we've got.

Amazed at the general level of negativity...we were clearly the better team - but for a close offside call would have taken all three points and I guess we'd have had a very different complexion on the board. High level of consistency in the positives to be taken out of the game, of which there were many - PEH top of the list. Also amazed there hasn't been more speculation about Fonte not playing...he's our captain, should be first pick, don't buy the injured story classic reason for not playing someone whose 'head is not in the right place' because it's been turned.

My sister recently sent me a picture of her with Mick Channon at a horse racing meet where they both had horses running...seems like yesterday I was watching his windmill goal-scoring celebrations...such a good player

Back to Want to Feel Old - can't beat 107 years (respects to your gran) I just became a grandad last week at 55 - and am heading out tonight to play for our Over 50's team. There are 190 teams of over 50's registered in the Greater Vancouver area...proper leagues, refs, pitches, floodlights, nets etc...amazing...so never say never whoever hung his boots up two years ago... No crowds not surprisingly...wives gave up yonks ago

Good post. Appalling situation in Nice - our sympathies to all those people in Nice affected by this. As you say, hope the club make a prompt and appropriate gesture towards Puel, OGC Nice and the city - as we'd appreciate if it were us. Hope this gets a long thread of support too and gets shown to Puel. An opportunity to demonstrate our early support for him.

This is an excellent insight thank you. Everybody should listen to this if they haven't. We are being naive if we think there isn't a plan in place to reduce this debt to the owners (£62M mentioned)...likely by slow pay down over time. The other option is sale and recoup which we don't want. So let's say we get max 2/3rds of whatever we sell for to reinvest in the squad. I'm not in finance, but the interest on that debt alone would probably mean we'd have to sell players to cover it.

Yes #17...and #18

Just adding a line in support of the new, new, new manager thread...actually I just want a post number in the top 20 instead of the 1,000's. Silva for me please, although I have gone from super-underwhelmed by the concept of Puel to mildly supportive since I bothered to do some background reading.

I've always liked Redmond, always on the front foot looking to go forward and score...good signing

Agreed. Smacks of desperation. We can do better. Think we have nobody at the moment and we'll all have to be patient. Ommmmmmm

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/14576761.Pellegrini_will_NOT_be_Southampton_manager/?ref=mr&lp=6 The earlier feed to the Echo 'give us until 4 July' is just as likely to be because we have absolutely nobody that fits the bill as it stands at the moment. Is Puel honestly the best we can do?

Emery (okay PSG an obvious reason now but weren't at the beginning of this debacle), Schmidt, Howe, de Boer, Garcia...and agree with you completely angleman we don't want a knee jerk appointment that's my point...take the pressure off ourselves - better to wait for the right candidate than rush a decision. I am not ITK...I am genuinely surprised that we are not attracting more interest from higher calibre candidates than we are. I mean Zenga, Carvalhio, Puel, Pereira even - is that the best we can expect? Pelligrini is a gent but not our man I think.

Blackballed? Does anyone else sense that the 'Managers Club' have put the word out we're a poisoned chalice for whatever reason? Cannot understand why so many out of work managers would not even want to talk with us. Easy to understand a quick call from Frank de Boer to his mate Koeman would put the kaibosh on that particular move, but others too...Garcia should not be out of our league. Now we're being associated with a whole raft of no-names with less than stellar CV's that totally underwhelm me. Think the deadline we set for ourselves is silly - adds pressure to make a quick decision from limited options. Our desperation is beginning to show. We should make a statement saying we'll take however long it takes to get the right person.

Mature and proper Doughnut. Am trying hard to be as big. Can't help but reflect on the bald hypocrisy of Boruc's tweet...and some of the smug Everton comments about bigger club etc...do they think Koeman's ambition stops at Everton? Ha, give it a season. For us - it might just be a blessing in disguise...Koeman was great for us for two years, but he's not superhuman like the media are making him out to be. Let's get a great new Manager in and march on.

How would we feel if the deal collapsed at the 11th hour and Koeman wanted back in? Stranger things have happened and the longer deals like this drag on the less likely they are to happen, despite the reassurances. I'm kind've in the damage has been done already, let's move on with someone new camp...but if he came back with an explantation of not being given reassurances about investment for players, or (more plausibly) that he didn't get the respect from LR he thought he deserved...guess we'll never know if that's the truth