Nordic Saint

Although he is ridulously underrated by some fans on here, I always feel we miss Steven Davis badly when he doesn't play. The Wolves game was a typical example of how our midfield can become directionless and lethargic without him. Ward-Prowse, Tadic and Hojbjerg contribute nowhere near as much.

I noticed this: "Liebherr still has £31m in loans to the club at 5% interest" Am I right in thinking that the Club has now paid her back in full?

I really haven't noticed these improvements you see in Redmond, McQueen and Stephens. Romeu is the same as ever. Yoshida is playing well this season but that's relative to the other players who have mostly got worse so maybe he's just stayed the same as he is old enough not to be influenced much by coaching. We'd be better off without Ward-Prowse. He wastes all of our goalscoring opportunities from free-kicks and slows our game down, which is why Pellegrino doesn't play him. Our finishing has continued to get worse and most of our players have deteriorated: Tadic, Forster, Davis, Long, Austin, Bertrand etc. So, I really don't see your point.

I've never particularly liked van Dijk but has he actrally said or done anything negative? All of this seems to have come about from the club washing its dirty linen in public again through a series of well placed leaks. The same has happened with so many players and managers before always with the effect that some of our fans are left hating our players and viewing Les Reed as their hero.

I used to be impressed by how much players improved wih us but since Eric Black took over as first team coach, that has been reversed and players seem to be getting worse. As the main reason he was appointed was because he spoke French, perhaps it's time to replace him.

I guess you mean our first team coach, Eric Black. He should know all the answers.

As we saw with Jordy Clasie, being a Dutch international nowadays is about as much of a recommendation as being capped for Romania so that in itself doesn't mean much. Lack of pace is a fatal flaw in the Premier League, and some of the lightning fast PL strikers will ruthlessly exploit it. If he is indeed that slow, maybe he can at least replace the hapless Gardos and Bednarek when we play lower league sides in cup games? Let's hope he isn't that slow. We'll have to wait and see and hope for the best.

I agree with you on this, Always. Tom28 is one of th best ITK posters on here. Long may he continue.

He'll be sold in January. I doubt we'll see much of him before them. The fans hate him now so there will be few complaints when he's sold, although this long drawn out saga has probably driven his transfer value down.

For those who are now saying Wanyama wasn't very good for usm this is what I and most objective fans thought of him when he was here.

Just as long as Clasie doesn't come back at the end of the year I'd also like to see us get rid of Long to free up a place for a goal scorer.

Does the 1-year loan mean we'll be stuck with him again at the end of that year or will that be the end of his contract? I can't see any club being prepared to pay a fee for him.

Davis is something of an unsung hero, a bit like Marsden used to be. He offers more than most of our other midfielders. His work rate, drive to win and skill are sorely missed when he doesn't play. The Wolves game was crying out for him to come on.

Totally agree. We could do even worse than we do with Redmond and Tadic by playing Long and Ward-Prowse. Out of the frying pan into the fire.

10 of them look OK but playing Ward-Prowse would just guarantee another Southampton Nil reult and I expect Pellegrino has realized that by now.

I've noticed that at Portmouth they've made massive efforts to ancourage youths and young men to attend games without their parents by offering them dirt cheap tickets, while at Southampton we have the ever expanding family areas, where the culture of polite silence is developed, taking over the ground. Of course, having a home kop would make a massive difference too. At home games our most vocal support is divided and hdden away in the corners of the away end, where the acoustics are at their worst, so they are easily drowned out by the away fans. Portsmouth season ticket concessions 2017/18 Young Person (18-22 on September 1 2017): £240 Junior (17 and under on September 1 2017): £80

So, how do we know he refused to back down and to whom exactly? Old Les stirring again? He does it with nearly every player and manager he sells. Do any of the players trust him or feel any sense of loyalty to him any more? I doubt it.

A Premier Legue title and a Champions League quarter-final, 4 major tophies, 7 Championship/2nd Division titles..... You can dream but I don't think it's going to happen

How on earth would we know details of a player's confidential contract??? This happens far too often. Old Les is a devious old f@rt.

That was the way we used to conduct business transactions -discretely- before and, yes, it was better. The Club now is more like a soap opera, with every player and manager who is sold cast as the evil villain, and Les Reed as the hard done by hero.

I dislike van Dijk as much as the next man, but 'the Club' - I'm guessing this basically means Les Reed - invariably seems to to get involved in a protracted, acrimonious mess with lots of negative stories leaked to the press, when nearly all of our players and managers are sold. The Club gets its money in the end, even if it is a bit less than it might have been if things had been handled better. Surely it would be much better for the Club's reputaion if negotiations and discussions between administrators and players which take place behind closed doors were kept private. This would help rebuild th trust which no longer seems to exist.

It's not expensive buildings and rooms full of videos that brought us success but the people who used to work in them. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/southampton/10843902/Luke-Shaw-dismayed-as-Southampton-sack-academy-coaches-Jason-Dodd-and-Paul-Williams.html

And I don't think the Academy has ever really recovered from the sacking of Dodd and Williams.

Paul Mitchell > Ross Wilson. Recruitment at all levels has deteriorated badly in the last couple of years. Mitchell, not Reed, was the real brains behind our success.

I think the goalkeeping problems at the club are more to do with the coach than the players. They can't all be poor goalkeepers. It will be interesting to see how well Gazzaniga plays now that he has had some time away from Dave Watson.