Saints in China

Moved on where? The problem is we gave him a long and lucrative contract and hid stock has dropped off a cliff. Any team who might take a punt on him probably can't afford his wages. I reckon the best we can hope for is a loan with us picking up a fair chunk of his wages.

I thought Chelsea wanted him for 10m? Just a case of crossing the t’s, dotting the i’s?

I thought Chelsea wanted him for 10m? Just a case of crossing the t’s, dotting the i’s?

Doubt it Chelsea are in limbo trying to get Conte out of the door without paying him to much. Their players are returning to pre-season without even knowing who the manager will be. And player transfers are on hold until a new manager is sorted.

80% of PL goal keepers save that.

 

Forster is how tall?

 

It’s a great strike but if you watch closely Fraser doesn’t jump until after the ball is past him.

 

That is simply not good enough.

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Moved on where? The problem is we gave him a long and lucrative contract and hid stock has dropped off a cliff. Any team who might take a punt on him probably can't afford his wages. I reckon the best we can hope for is a loan with us picking up a fair chunk of his wages.

Exactly, nobody will take him off us. That contract will cost us £21m in wages over 4 years. Nuts.

Exactly, nobody will take him off us. That contract will cost us £21m in wages over 4 years. Nuts.

It was bizarre to give Forster a new contract after the Puel season. He was **** poor that season and yet was reward with a nice new contract. I'm sure we will never find out but I would love to know the thinking behind that decision.

80% of PL goal keepers save that.

 

Forster is how tall?

 

It’s a great strike but if you watch closely Fraser doesn’t jump until after the ball is past him.

 

That is simply not good enough.

Your last sentence should read...."He is simply not good enough". I like Koeman but he has to take some of the blame being quick to banish Boruc in favour of FF. Beyond this though the decision (Reeds'?) to extend his contract is bordering on negligent. Forster won't be easy to offload.

Couple of things to do with FF.....

Pre-season is useful to see where he is. Yesterday might well have been an important display for the management team. It would have been harder for them maybe, if he had saved it.

We need a back up keeper. We are looking supposedly at £15m for the Man City kid. They say that the wages is about the same as the signing fee over the period of the contract, say £55k over 5 years. Financially speaking, and presuming that we wouldn't be able to sell FF for very much, then it would make sense to keep him as back up keeper, rather than take a haircut on him and shell out big on another. Footballing wise though, this might not be the most appealing choice.

Me, I'd definitely keep him and work on him.

Saw this yesterday.

Good to see Bertrand involved in the team spirit, but can't help feeling sorry for him, on pre-season in China, whereas he might have been involved in the WC with England.

The pictures of the five players who were at the publicity event in the Shanghai Under Armour store tells us more about the purpose of this trip to China. Although the squad are training there, China isn't the ideal location for a pre-season camp. The heat and humidity doesn't provide good training conditions and in his interview, Højbjerg mentioned the players having to handle the jet lag. Presumably they'll have the same problem on returning to Hampshire. The club strategy of growing the Southampton 'brand' in China with FFP as the underlying purpose also appears to be linked to the choice of Under Armour as the club's kit supplier. Under Armour have been going global and have clearly made a big investment in China as shown by the Shanghai store where the event took place. That must account for why Shanghai was chosen for the first half of the China trip.

I'm not suggesting there will be any adverse effects from going to China but it wouldn't have been the choice for pre-season if football training requirements had been the only factor. What this does show, in my opinion, is just how much effort the club is putting into achieving commercial growth in an area of the world that isn't yet completely dominated by the Man U, Chelsea, Liverpool, etc., brands. Other clubs will have their own plans to increase commercial revenue in order to permit more spending on the team but this is Southampton's and as fans it will be in our interests if it succeeds. We may need to be patient though, because commercial growth is likely to take time.

The pictures of the five players who were at the publicity event in the Shanghai Under Armour store tells us more about the purpose of this trip to China. Although the squad are training there, China isn't the ideal location for a pre-season camp. The heat and humidity doesn't provide good training conditions and in his interview, Højbjerg mentioned the players having to handle the jet lag. Presumably they'll have the same problem on returning to Hampshire. The club strategy of growing the Southampton 'brand' in China with FFP as the underlying purpose also appears to be linked to the choice of Under Armour as the club's kit supplier. Under Armour have been going global and have clearly made a big investment in China as shown by the Shanghai store where the event took place. That must account for why Shanghai was chosen for the first half of the China trip.

I'm not suggesting there will be any adverse effects from going to China but it wouldn't have been the choice for pre-season if football training requirements had been the only factor. What this does show, in my opinion, is just how much effort the club is putting into achieving commercial growth in an area of the world that isn't yet completely dominated by the Man U, Chelsea, Liverpool, etc., brands. Other clubs will have their own plans to increase commercial revenue in order to permit more spending on the team but this is Southampton's and as fans it will be in our interests if it succeeds. We may need to be patient though, because commercial growth is likely to take time.

Actually think going out to such a distant and unfamiliar place will do wonders for team camaraderie. And you know if it was Pochettino, he would be exploiting the heat and humidity to improve conditioning (like he did when he ran the squad into the ground under the Spanish sun in 2013). We lost that intensity under Pellegrino.

While there may be commercial motives for going out to China, they're arguably a sideshow and don't be surprised if the real benefit of the trip is felt on the footballing side.

2 of my Chinese mates from uni have commented on it on both twitter and Facebook so it's probably working as intended to some extent. Although it remains to be seen how much traction it will gain and for how long. Despite the reservations about the tour it has the natives excited,and that's not a bad thing. We should just roll with it for now. As long as they are training hard who cares about the commercial intentions? We may see the same thing next pre season too. On a side note, wondering if boufal is regretting his decision now for his shenanigans?!

The pictures of the five players who were at the publicity event in the Shanghai Under Armour store tells us more about the purpose of this trip to China. Although the squad are training there, China isn't the ideal location for a pre-season camp. The heat and humidity doesn't provide good training conditions and in his interview, Højbjerg mentioned the players having to handle the jet lag. Presumably they'll have the same problem on returning to Hampshire. The club strategy of growing the Southampton 'brand' in China with FFP as the underlying purpose also appears to be linked to the choice of Under Armour as the club's kit supplier. Under Armour have been going global and have clearly made a big investment in China as shown by the Shanghai store where the event took place. That must account for why Shanghai was chosen for the first half of the China trip.

I'm not suggesting there will be any adverse effects from going to China but it wouldn't have been the choice for pre-season if football training requirements had been the only factor. What this does show, in my opinion, is just how much effort the club is putting into achieving commercial growth in an area of the world that isn't yet completely dominated by the Man U, Chelsea, Liverpool, etc., brands. Other clubs will have their own plans to increase commercial revenue in order to permit more spending on the team but this is Southampton's and as fans it will be in our interests if it succeeds. We may need to be patient though, because commercial growth is likely to take time.

the return was more my concern, every time I have been with work it’s been fly in, check in, dinner, bed, though the last trip was dinner then listening to Saints in the cup Semi Final, bed. Next morning up and working by 9am till 6pm dinner out, rinse and repeat for a week some times have a little dip in stamina around 3pm but that soon passes. When I get home after a week for the next 2 weeks come mid afternoon I am flagging, no matter how busy I am . Very weird, so I’m hoping this just me

the return was more my concern, every time I have been with work it’s been fly in, check in, dinner, bed, though the last trip was dinner then listening to Saints in the cup Semi Final, bed. Next morning up and working by 9am till 6pm dinner out, rinse and repeat for a week some times have a little dip in stamina around 3pm but that soon passes. When I get home after a week for the next 2 weeks come mid afternoon I am flagging, no matter how busy I am . Very weird, so I’m hoping this just me

Travelling back is always the worst but many of the big clubs go out to the Far East without any seeming adverse effects. The club has doctors and specialists and I'm sure they're on top of all the ways to manage the jet lag. Mountain out of molehill stuff.

Footballers do half a day's work per day, the season is weeks away and they're multi-millionaires used to holidaying around the world.

I think the jet lag from some time in China might just be manageable.

Jesus wept.

Footballers do half a day's work per day, the season is weeks away and they're multi-millionaires used to holidaying around the world.

 

I think the key lag from some time in China might just be manageable.

 

Jesus wept.

#finemargins

The pictures of the five players who were at the publicity event in the Shanghai Under Armour store tells us more about the purpose of this trip to China. Although the squad are training there, China isn't the ideal location for a pre-season camp. The heat and humidity doesn't provide good training conditions and in his interview, Højbjerg mentioned the players having to handle the jet lag. Presumably they'll have the same problem on returning to Hampshire. The club strategy of growing the Southampton 'brand' in China with FFP as the underlying purpose also appears to be linked to the choice of Under Armour as the club's kit supplier. Under Armour have been going global and have clearly made a big investment in China as shown by the Shanghai store where the event took place. That must account for why Shanghai was chosen for the first half of the China trip.

I'm not suggesting there will be any adverse effects from going to China but it wouldn't have been the choice for pre-season if football training requirements had been the only factor. What this does show, in my opinion, is just how much effort the club is putting into achieving commercial growth in an area of the world that isn't yet completely dominated by the Man U, Chelsea, Liverpool, etc., brands. Other clubs will have their own plans to increase commercial revenue in order to permit more spending on the team but this is Southampton's and as fans it will be in our interests if it succeeds. We may need to be patient though, because commercial growth is likely to take time.

I think you are underestimating the fact that we have a Chinese owner, and it is perhaps reasonable that he wants to show off his new acquisition to his Countryfolk.

If you look at the Charlie Austin "behind the scenes" video you will see Mr Gao hugging and bantering with a couple of the players like a besotted fan. Whatever we think of the takeover, it has happened, so for me if this trip helps to solidify his interest and investment in Saints as a football team, rather than a simple investment project, I will be happy.

...

...

"......when Gabbiadini got told of our interest in 5'11" Marlon Santos to solve our aerial weakness at the back."

Footballers do half a day's work per day, the season is weeks away and they're multi-millionaires used to holidaying around the world.

 

I think the jet lag from some time in China might just be manageable.

 

Jesus wept.

Tell that to WBA last season........where did they go pre season last summer.

Only talking from personal experience UK to USA no problem, USA to UK bit wonky, UK to China - No problem, China to UK wonky a bit longer....... we are all different, and yes seeing as they only work half the time most normal folk do and with the medical guys you would hope they will breeze it.

Flying with time - OK. Flying against time - dodgy.

It was bizarre to give Forster a new contract after the Puel season. He was **** poor that season and yet was reward with a nice new contract. I'm sure we will never find out but I would love to know the thinking behind that decision.

The only reason I can think of is that they thought giving him a new contract would somehow trick other teams into thinking he must be great and tempt them to come in with an offer. I mean, that does seem ridiculous when other teams could just, you know, watch him in action... But I'm at a loss to think of any other possible explanation, and it's the kind of thing Les "I think I'm much smarter than I actually am" Reed might do.

Bare in mind as well jetlag (at least for me) tends to be no matter how hard I try I cant sleep in planes, so cant force an adjustment even if I want to. You'd assume the club are in chartered planes, with first class as standard and thus good seats/pods with the ability to recline and therefore get a decent kip. These lot also wont be boozing during the flight which again impacts your ability for decent 'deep' sleep.

...

Gabbi has obviously been told the best way to beat jet lag is to STAY AWAKE!!

Gabbi has obviously been told the best way to beat jet lag is to STAY AWAKE!!

He's been told that he cost less than Carrillo with change left over for a decent haircut.

He heard that pasta came from China but is wondering why they always overcook it, which is sacrilege.

...

Chinese World champion secret Bottom squeezer keeps her training up with a cheeky 20 point high score Italian Squeeze. When Gabbi turns round Saints new boy Stuart Armstrong innocently smiles and nods!!

Are there any highlights of the schalke match?

- scratch that, found them on the official site.

...

They no do drug test in China!

Or the UEFA qualified goalkeeping coach, working in professional football. Helmet.

Yeh a low well struck curling shot right into the bottom corner through bodies? Right...

You can insult all you like, doesn't make you anymore right, just makes you look a muppet.

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Anyway, anyone see the weird hugging by the owner in the Charlie Austin video?

Today's starting lineup:

https://mobile.twitter.com/SouthamptonFC/status/1017009356800450560/photo/1

Long injured...?

Long injured...?

Or sold....?

It looks like it could be 3 at the back, with Bertie’s the left of Stephens Hoedt and him? Or Stephens at Right back?

It looks like it could be 3 at the back, with Bertie’s the left of Stephens Hoedt and him? Or Stephens at Right back?

Or maybe JWP as RWB (speculating somewhat)?

3-4-2-1?

McCarthy

Stephens Hoedt Bertrand

JWP Romeu Lemina Targett

Armstrong-Redmond

Gabbiadini

Or maybe Two attackers and Armstrong in behind?

It'll be JWP at RWB.

Looks like a similar formation to England.

Midfield inverted isosceles with Romeu at the tip and Lemina and Armstrong charged with getting forwards.

Redmond floating around Gabbi.

33211

Kin el, taxi for Redmond

------------------------McCarthy

----------------Stephens Hoedt Bertrand

JWP--------------------Romeu---------------------Targett

---------------Lemina----------Armstrong---------------

-----------------Redmond-Gabbiadini--------------------

Jiangsu Sunning 0-1 Saints

Gabbiadini. Close range header from a cross from the right. Possibly Armstrong?

Gabbi 1-0

Decent goal but Saints-esque defending in the air

Gabbi with the header 1-0. Good play by Armstrong to work back and make space for the cross. Awful marking in the box.

Brilliantly worked opening goal from Gabbiadini, assisted by Armstrong.

1-1

1-1

Through ball, poked under Alex from the left of the 6 yard box.

Very soft defensively.

Awful defending. Where did Stephens go?

Thought it should have been Hoedt's.

2-1

Poor defending from us again