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Comment | Matt Crocker Appointed Saints Director Of Football
at 22:18:17
I think this could be a decent appointment looking at his record, certainly the current batch of youth players coming into the England first team prove that the pathway is a great success, so if he's been instrumental in that we could see the Saints academy producing the goods like it used to. Plus he did a similar role here years ago with the likes of Bale and Ox coming through so clearly is strong in this area.
True, it may not bring instant results and there are plenty of other areas he'll need to cover but this is a good start. Hopefully an assistant for Ralph is up next. |
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Comment | Would Adam Lallana Be Welcomed Back To St Mary's ?
at 16:00:47
I'm with Dirk, if Ralph wants him that's good enough for me. I think we've missed him as much as any other departing player of the last few years, i.e. someone creative who can turn a game with an individual moment of brilliance.
It hurt when he left as he had grown up with us through the bad and good years but I would welcome him back if he's what we need. |
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Comment | Redmond Cleans Up At The Player Of The Year Awards
at 22:21:42
I don't share the sentiments expressed here, I've felt Redmond was consistently our biggest threat this season. The fact that the team under achieved shouldn't diminish the fact he's matured as a player. He's been our main creative threat this season and having just turned 25, he's coming into his prime.
Ralph clearly believes in him so let's get behind him! |
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Comment | Saints V Arsenal The Verdict
at 12:51:55
I was grinning all the way home despite getting soaked, I know it was only one match but it lifted a cloud that's been hanging over St Mary's for a long time. We weren't just hanging on but competed with Arsenal who are on hot form for the 90 minutes, which has to give us confidence for the rest of the season.
A great team performance with Bednarek rightly singled out, I'm glad you put in a mention for Redmond who I think is going to be thrive in the new system. He terrorised the Arsenal defence until they took him out. Hope it's just a knock and he isn't out for long.
COYR! |
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Comment | Hojbjerg Now Playing For The Team
at 13:13:54
In PEH's first couple of games I remember thinking what a powerful box to box midfielder he looked, and hoped he'd be our Roy Keane. He lost his way a bit after that, trying too hard and looking like a headless chicken at times. Now he's got to be first name on the team sheet and looking like captain material.
The comparison to Mane's first season reminds me of Koemans Twitter feed being stuffed with fan demands to drop him. All sounds silly now and proves that a bit of patience can reap the benefits. |
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Comment | Mauricio Pellegrino Is Gone !
at 23:16:56
Silva for me, he has a reputation for building a strong team spirit and doing it in a short space of time. By no means a flawless choice but in the circumstances...
Hughes I'm less sure about, too dour to inspire and couldn't stop the rot at Stoke. Then again I said that about Strachan back in the day! |
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Comment | Saints At Burnley The Verdict
at 10:46:59
Agree with this article, while we're not winning games we are not losing many either and for all his faults, I think we're beyond the point in the season now where sacking the manager will be productive. Of course sometimes you get lucky and the "bounce" but as West Brom have proved it can go the other way.
Whatever happens I can't see the board sticking with Pellegrino beyond this season so surely the sensible thing is to get behind the team and give them the confidence to play more on the front foot. If we do that I can see us just about surviving, that will put us in a far better position to attract a quality manager than if we drop into the Championship. Between now and then let's be objective on the only thing that matters and that is staying up. |
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Comment | Saints Set To Miss Out On Number 1 Transfer Target !
at 19:08:21
I understand some of the reservations but I would have loved to have brought Walcott back. If only to demonstrate we are willing to invest in a player that can help us now but doesn't have the potential of massive resell value, a policy which has been hugely successful with certain players but as we are finding out is dangerous if it is the main criteria applied to every signing.
That said with Gabbiadiani going/out of favour and Charlie injured I am confident we will sign someone up front, if only because it would be suicidal not to (imagine Shane Long getting injured!) |
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Comment | This Is No Time For Negativity
at 13:55:53
While we haven’t seen much to inspire us on the pitch this season, there is no doubt a supportive crowd can only help the team perform. I get the arguments about players astronomical pay but I think brittle confidence is our big issue rather than lack of effort. Saints need to be more adventurous with the ball, and with that comes the confidence of knowing they can take risks without loud groans if it doesn’t come off.
The increasingly irate crowds you see in premier league grounds these days – see Koeman’s last days at Everton, Bilic at West Ham – end up in a self-destructive circle where the negativity of supporters and players feeds off each other and there is no way back into games when the team goes behind. I think a little bit of that happened at Leicester last week.
This is not a dig at our fans, the players and certainly the manager obviously need to take the lead but if we can turn St Mary’s into a fortress we can be the 12th man that gives the team the platform to win games. COYR.
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Comment | Carragher Speaks Sense But Misses The Point !
at 12:46:00
Personally I don't think we should make too much of VVD failing to honour the six-year contract he signed last year. At the time he was clearly going to become sought after very quickly and I never thought it was anything other than a clever way by the club of having more power in these types of situations. It could even be a goodwill thing between club and player, i.e. we'll offer you a long contract on good money knowing that when someone else comes in for you that will push the price up and we won't stand in your way if the bid's right.
I don't have a problem with that, he was never going to see the contract out and him signing it was a win-win for club and player. The problem is when it turns toxic as it has done we could discourage other players from extending their deals. As much as I don't want to see him go (esp to LFC) we'll have made a big profit on him and I'd rather have that kind of model than one where we pay over the odds for mediocre players we can't then get rid of. |
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Comment | Liverpool Escape Punishment For Van Dijk Tapping Up
at 13:13:19
No surprise that the PL would bottle this one, but the whole thing stinks. The only reason Liverpool would make a public apology would be because Saints have something on them. The fact that it was such a grovelling apology with a promise to end their interest in the player is highly unusual and suggests they left some damning evidence behind. So for it to be dropped becaue of a "lack of evidence" is laughable.
I fully back our board on their decision to report this to the PL and hope they don't allow them to quietly sweep it under the carpet. |
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Comment | Puel Sacked
at 23:58:03
I'm with bstokesaint on this one, I thought Puel was hamstrung by player sales/ recruitment and unlucky with injuries. In his defence he never had the quality of squad that Poch and Koeman had and played deep to cover perceived deficiencies in defence.
On the flipside his selections and substitutons often had me scratching my head. Overall though felt he deserved another season. |
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Comment | Saints V West Brom The Verdict
at 11:05:35
Agree with many of the sentiments here, sections of our support are sounding like a baying mob every time a pass goes astray. This makes the players nervy and deters them from taking the kind of risks you sometimes need to win games, instead their instinct is to play safe which is easy to defend against. Also the ironic jeering of Forster is senseless, despite what he’d say publicly this would get under his skin and distract him from what he’s supposed to be doing. Whoever thinks will have a positive effect on his performance is deluded.
On a more critical note we played into West Brom’s hands yesterday. I actually liked our starting line up, I thought it was positive with attacking intent. However when we break we take too long to get balls into the box, and give highly-organised defences like West Brom’s time to get in position. Both Boufal and Tadic like to beat defenders but they often do this two or three times before getting a cross in by which time the opposition has regrouped. Obviously this depends on Jay and Shane being in the box for the early ball but they both have the pace to do this.
Finally – anyone see Hojbjerg’s response to being subbed yesterday? He stormed straight down the tunnel and booted something in a strop. Natural frustration or hinting at a bit of unrest in the camp?
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Comment | Saints Taking Their Time In Order To Get Right Man
at 12:56:48
Whoever it turns out to be it's worth being open-minded, initial fan reactions to new managers can turn out to be wrong. I recall the lack of enthusiasm when we appointed Poch and Strachan who both turned out to be good choices, and the excitement around Redknapp who definitely didn't.
I admit to not following the rumours closely but has Ryan Giggs name come up yet? May not have the wow factor of some of the names that have come up but might bring something to the table. |
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Comment | Everton Deny They Have Agreed Deal With Saints
at 22:36:14
To be fair to him it looks as if he had no interest in joining Everton when asked by Adam Blackmore a couple of weeks back. People will say talk is cheap in football but his reply was unusually frank, usually you get a non-committal response in these situations.
To go back on such a positive public commitment to Saints will have been the last thing RK wanted to do; regardless of the money on offer he will not like how this looks on his reputation. So it looks like Everton have kept increasing the salary offer to such a ridiculous degree that at some point he’d break and it looks like they’ve found that point.
If this is the case then he is going purely for the money which won’t go down well at Everton. If he was going to a much bigger club with champions league football he’d no doubt be a lot more enthusiastic, however I wonder if the delay is down to the fact that it’s not a move he would consider without the massive salary on offer. Whatever happens, we’ve been here before and we march on. |
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Comment | Schneiderlin Move Highlights Positives And Negatives Of Success
at 13:22:36
I can grudgingly accept Morgan’s move to Man U, where he can expect to be playing CL football each year and generally cement his place in his national team. It’s the Clyne’s and Toby’s moving sideways to clubs that can offer them no more than us that really grate. And this is the difficult position the club now find themselves in: despite great financial backing from the owner and a set-up that is renowned throughout football our best players are not convinced that the club can achieve its ambitions. Every big player move away can only strengthen that view.
So it’s going to be like walking against a conveyor belt, trying to move forwards quick enough to outrun the distance between transfer windows. Not the fault of anyone at the club, but the result of our success on and off the field.
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Comment | Is Brendan Rodgers Serious With Clyne Bid ?
at 13:48:06
Maybe Rodgers is only half-serious about wanting to land Clyne, and now views Saints as a real rival in the PL pecking order. Continual low bids destabilise the player and he may be hoping will maintain a rumour frenzy that will deter him from re-signing with Saints. If it works for Rodgers fine, if Clyne goes elsewhere we become a weaker rival so he still benefits.
Or maybe I'm getting cynical! |
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Comment | Make St Mary's The Stadium Of Red
at 13:04:11
The best teams play without fear and the crowd's influence can't be emphasised enough in aiding this process. Too often we hear loud groans when passes go astray or the goalie has a wobble, this makes them more nervous and can lead to dangerous indecision.
Another thing: can we stop yelling "shoot" whenever one of our players is within 30 yards of goal, I know we have been a bit shot-shy of late but I've seen a couple of occasions recently where a player has instinctively obeyed and wasted it when a pass to someone in a better position would have far more likely resulted in a goal. |
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Comment | Saints Mockumentary Shows A Club Happy Within Itself.
at 12:41:59
Agreed, loved the video. I read the article on the official site first and didn't immediately realise it was a spoof. Particularly good to see MLT back in the fold.
Football has got so po-faced and I'm sure there will be one or two whinges but everyone I speak to loves it. The club's marketing has come up with some great stuff this season. |
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Comment | Southampton FC Targets Sustainable Growth
at 21:06:22
Agree with Boondock re FFP preserving the pecking order, however it is here and keeping a lot of clubs lawyers busy. There are loopholes like the Man City/Lampard example, and Man Utd's £50m a year sponsorship deal with Chevrolet is an example of how they managed to fund their astronomical spending this summer.
I heard a rumour that trying to match their wage offer to Luke Shaw would have taken us to the limit of what we can spend under FFP. As it turned out we got a good deal that suited us but the reality is our continued success will bring more summers like this one. Hopefully the hysteria won't be repeated, I think we're learning to adapt and thriving on it. |
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