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Comment | Saints Sign Charlie Austin
at 13:34:20
Initially I was delighted, great fee for someone with a proven ability to score in the Premier League and only 26, but why Saints? The fact that Liverpool, Spurs or Arsenal didn't come in for him causes me a bit of concern. I heard a rumour that it was more to do with his attitude than injuries, can he cause divsions in the changing room? or is he asking for more wages than clubs think he's worth? I think it may be the former bearing in mind we can't offer very high wages but we'll wait and see. Like most others on here, I think someone's off to new ventures, and I suspect it's Pelle. |
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Comment | Saints At FC Midtjylland The Verdict
at 19:15:40
Hopefully I'll feel better by writing this down...like many other posters on here I didn't recognise Southampton last night. In my opinion we played with no confidence, limited movement off the ball, and as a result defaulted to floating the ball 60 yards towards Pelle. The main culprit being Caulker, who can't seem to pass the ball 10 yards. Targett was a player who offered so much promise, but he has been found wanting in pace and first touch. He cannot seem to beat anyone for pace and either immediatly passes it backwards or floats a ball down the touchline which is cutout. A couple of things haven't helped. Playing a 4-2-4 system from the start of the season was a gamble that hasn't payed off, and the 5-3-2 system doesn't work with the fullbacks we have as there is no pace on the flanks. Another reason is the media unsettling the squad with rumours of players demanding to leave (wanyama), I wonder what Wanyama says to his teammates about it. Our strength in the last two seasons has been a short passing pressing system with 2 holding midfielders, a midfielder to support in front and three attackers. (two wide behing a front man). It looked good, players had the confidence and we won games. What has changed? Schneiderlin left (we coped alright without him at times last season), and so has Clyne (Cedric was on Barcelona's wishlist apparantly). Only two players.
Saints need to revert to 4-3-3, move for each other, demand the ball and play one touch passes to reclaim the confidence of last season and start to win again.
Signing Van Dijk and another expensive signing will get the confidence back of the supporters and fans alike.
Rant over |
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Comment | Saints In Salzburg The Verdict
at 09:43:47
Everyone will have a different opinion, but what I watched did worry me a bit. Jack Stephens has not lived up to the potential he had when he joined us from Plymouth. He looked poor for England in the u20 tournament, poor against Leipzig and poor against Valencia. I hoped this could be a big chance for Gardos, but he failed to impress. I know this is still early days in preseason, but we haven't looked very solid, lets hope Les gets the signings he has put bids in for. By the way Nick, I think you'll find Martina played in the first game, it was Debayo at left back in the second game. |
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Comment | Would The Sale Of Chambers Be A Step Too Far !
at 09:48:42
I was still pretty optimistic until last night. It's hard to keep a happy ship when some players have made it known they want to go (didn't see a single picture of Lovren on tour with a smile on his face). Saints can't compete with Liverhampton or Arsenal when it comes to wages...however, the potential sale of Chambers doesn't make sense.
He seems a decent guy, so I can't see him sticking his head up and saying he wanted to go, which seems to me that this is a club decision rather than his.
Nick is right by saying that any other summer we would snap Arsenals hand off for £16 million, but surely not this season when we have already lost so many.
I'm still keeping some optimism but the proof will be this week, to see the quality of what we bring in with the cash we have received. (sales will be invested in signings??)
Would be happy with Forster, Van Dijk, Rojo, Classie and De Vrij, but whoever comes in will take time to gel and get up to speed with the Premier League.
I haven't given up hope yet but starting to get worried. |
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Comment | Osvaldo Suspended
at 21:29:33
I see there are many posters on here that seem to think that Saints revolve around Rickie Lambert, and some even suggesting that Rickie's lack of goals/form is down to Osvaldo.
1. For the club to move forward and compete for Europe Saints need a mobile forward. To play the way Poch wants then he has to also work hard. Osvaldo worked with Poch in Spain and was rated by him, hence that's why he's here. It's obviously taking a lot longer for him to adapt to the English game but he has shown brief glimpses of class.
2. Rickie Lambert is badly out of form. The last two games I have been incensed by his lack of work and first touch. You can hardly blame this on Osvaldo who has been suspended or injured/ill. Rickie had a glorious chance against Sunderland to make the game safe and fluffed it. Saying that, he'll probably contribute nothing but score a penalty or free kick on Saturday and everyone will be posting about how good he was.
3. Rickie has been a legend for Saints, that won't be forgotten, but can anyone see him lining up for a top of the table side.
4. Despite the points above I can see us selling Osvaldo now. He may have engineered this latest incident to lower Saints asking price, as clubs will know Saints won't want to keep him.
5. Saints then have to make a decision to bring someone in, but if they came from abroad it will take time for them to settle, as we have seen.
6. I had high hopes for Osvaldo, I thought a run of games could see him establish himself, but I think the clubs patience may have broken after this latest incident.
5. |
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Comment | Out Of Their Depth ?
at 15:28:57
One major concern for me was Luke Shaw's absence. A friend of mine saw him before the game and he was asked if he was injured. He said he wasn't and couldn't give an explanation why he wasn't playing. I haven't seen the official reason for his absence. |
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Comment | Saints V Manchester City The Verdict
at 12:36:44
Good article Nick, I don't think I've ever celebrated a goal as much as Osvaldo's. It wasn't just the strike, it was the fact it was against Man City, leaving the best prem defender on his arse, we were one down and getting into the game, and weeks of wanting Osvaldo to do well that made it so great.
Although it was only 1-1 it felt like a win and I felt so proud of the whole team, Chambers coming in and playing so well, Shaw finally taking on a fullback, Cork battling hard with Yaya Toure and winning the battle, and Davis being absolutely everywhere.
COYR
PS- It was Fonte who made the tackle to start the move |
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Comment | Saints Now Need To Focus On System
at 00:02:20
The last couple of comments are spot on. Poch likes his fullbacks to be wingers and a Defensive Central midfielder to slot in when they go forward (wanyama). The DCM will generally collect the ball from the centre backs pushing the fullbacks out wide.
I have heard from a good source that Ricky will be used behind Osvaldo as he is thought to be the best option at picking out a pass to unlock a defence. If this is the case then that limits Poch's pressing game, as Ricky isn't the most energetic at closing down, and if not everyone does their job in this respect then it breaks down.
Poch has therefore got a difficult decision to make, but for me it would be easy. Ricky has not played well this season, he has struggled to hold the ball up, given the ball away at times and missed some good opportunities with his head. He also struggled at the end of last season (although I think he was carrying an injury). He is a legend at Saints and rightly so. He is a lovely guy, a good footballer and we wouldn't be where we are without him, but he is idolised so much that it is a crime to critisise him on any forum.
I think Clyne and Shaw will be used when fit and at home, but maybe Poch decided on Fox to try and prevent us getting caught to far forward and be prone to Norwich's on the counter attack. (Win your home games, don't get beat away mentality).
Against Norwich I noticed that Fonte played a number of diagonal balls from the back to no-one.
What we missed on Saturday was our usual pressing game, whether this was a Plan B, Ricky not being able to perform that role, or good play from Norwich I'm not sure. |
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Comment | Puncheon Joins Palace On Loan
at 21:03:40
I agree with Nick, Jason Puncheon was an average Premiership winger who could have occasional moments of class but more than often took too long on the ball and being dispossessed. If we are indeed looking to be serious contenders for the top 6 then we need better players than average.
On the preseason tour he looked to be a great character to have in the squad, always messing around and having a laugh, but I don't know if that would have changed if he wasn't playing.
Good Luck Punch and thanks for some great memories. I hope that another quality wide player is being lined up, Sinclair? |
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Comment | Who Will Be The Victor ? Wanyama !
at 21:34:36
There are so many stories about this now, but most have been regurgitated by other websites.
BBC have reported this evening that Wanyama's reps are currently in Southampton. All the other websites are repeating what the Echo said this morning, which is therefore what Wanyama said yesterday.
I think the move still has some potential. Looking at the other websites most people think that he is too good to come to Saints, and having watched clips of him in the Champions League he does seem to have the potential of Viera/ Desailly. If we want to push for higher in the League then we will need to rotate, having Spiderman, Cork and Wanyama rotating around would be fantastic.
My worry is that if he does sign it will be for money and not for the club, he could be a potential problem in the camp if it doesn't go well for him. |
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Comment | We Have Had Dejan Lovren ! We Now Dont Want Deja Vu
at 10:28:08
It seems Saints are happy to match the asking price for players but will not be dictated too by agents who probably want signing on fees, massive wages as well as assurances about playing time. Unfortunately Saints can't control what comes out of these players mouths.
I'm happy that we are bidding for these players who would all strengthen Saints, but I'm also happy that we appear to be weeding out those that only want the money. |
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Comment | The Story Is Astori
at 12:38:11
In respect of Forren the question has to be when is the right time to put him in. I think if we were mid table with no relegation worries we would have seen him thrown in, but with every game meaning so much is it a gamble to put him in with no Premier League experience? Imagine if we picked him against Chelsea and lost 2-3, everyone would be on here saying it was a gamble that didn't pay off and why change it when we kept a clean sheet last time out. I think we will see a lot of him once we are mathematically safe. |
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Comment | Saints Super Sunday Needed
at 11:10:15
Just done Premier League predictor on BBC Football site, tried to be neutral but I have Saints finishing 10th based on everyone's remaining games. Sunderland get pulled right into the dogfight. |
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Comment | Saints V Liverpool The Verdict
at 11:05:16
Fully agree with the above. Really annoyed though with the posts in the nationals, comments on Liverpool forums, pundits, as well as some of the disbelieving Saints fans that regularly post comments. I've watched 90 minutes of every Saints game since Poch took over and we could have got a result from any of them. Unfortunately there are too many people that only watch the highlights and don't realise how much Saints are dominating sides and playing entertaining football. Comments from Fergie, Martinez and others realise that they have played a very good side and even Houghton last week admitted his side were lucky to get a drawer, however is it a coincidence that all of these sides had an off day. Poch has inherited a group of players that he hasn't chosen and has playing to his style. I know that we will survive and can't wait to see what he can do when he can pick players in the transfer market that are suited to this style of play, quick, good feet and bags of energy.
Brilliant to be a Saints fan at the moment, every game is winnable but also has the element of danger in that we could concede, on the edge of my seat all through the games. |
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Comment | The Knocking Has To Stop
at 18:38:57
Hi, I read the site regularly but have never added a comment until now.
Totally agree with Nick. In the absence of Lallana, Guly has given a balance to the side which makes us a bit more secure defensively.
What I hate is meeting people at work or socially, that don't really know about football or support Saints, say things like "that Guly's c**p". They haven't even seen him play. It has become trendy to say things like that.
I hope he continues to work hard which may get some of the boo boys off his back.
Saying all that though, I do feel that Guly and Puncheon are average Premiership players. If the manager wants to sign players that will improve the team then it's in these two positions, wide left and right, that in my opinion would improve the team. Puncheon can be a good player on his day, but I think he still fails to deliver the ball with accuracy and he sometimes appears that he doesn't know what to do with it when he's running across the pitch. |
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