Nordic Saint

Good post. I think of the abusive posters, like Always, as Les Miserables (with a very English pronunciation) as any criticism of Les Reed seem to bring out the worst of their vitriol. Mostly, the two groups you describe have very few differences of opinion over the players and performances on the pitch. We’d all agree, for example, that van Dijk is a great player and that Ward-Prowse is not a very good one. There are also many posters who post both positive and negative observations but people from the extremes of the 2 camps look to pigeon hole everybody on here as friend or foe, which generally means being in either the pro- or con- Les Reed camp, when really we are all Saints fans and would all be over the moon if we won the League Cup. By the way, I am a season ticket holder and have been a loyal Saints fan all of my life and I come from a family of Saints fans. I have also had several friends who were Saints players. If you care to trawl back through all of my posts on here, you’ll find both positive and negative as well as objective observations but little in the way of personal abuse by me. Let's all hope a League Cup win unites everybody on this forum at Wembley.

It would appear that Black won so I guess we'll see Cedric following Fonte out of the door in the summer.

Unless he was under instruction from the owner to sell them quickly, there was no real need to sell them when he did, especially as the only replacement for both of them he planned to bring in was Redmond, a Norwich midfielder. Mane was only 2 years into a 5 year contract, and he was playing his heart out for us and would have continued to do so for another season. I think the Pelle sale was very much like the Lambert one and the Fonte one Reed is trying to push through: the last chance to get a big transfer fee for a player in his early 30s. But, he would have happily stayed here for another year and still got a big money move to China at the end of it.

I really can't see any improvement in our goalkeepers. You obviously see things differently and you are entitled to. I don't feel the need to insult you or call you weird because of that.

As in all sports, the physical performances have improved. The game is much faster now and players' ball control at high speed and their accuracy of passing have both improved considerably. It would be interesting to see a comparison of passing stats from now compared to the 60s, when a much higher percentage of passes went astray. It was rare to see a player on the touchline back then control a high cross field pass like most top flight players can do with ease now. Also, you used to see players standing with hands on hips taking breathers regularly during games back then, as many of them smoked and drank heavily. Nostalgia makes us look back on most things as being better in 'the old days' even if in reality they weren't. I miss the mazy, dribbling runs that players like Channon, Best and Bowles used to do, because the game is just too fast and defenders are too well drilled to allow it now. Messi is one of the few who still attempts that type of dribbling now and if he went back to the 60s or 70s he'd seem like a superman with his ability. The 70s was probably my favourite football decade maybe because of the age I was then and the nostalgia factor but the standard of play is definitely superior nowadays. The atmosphere at the Dell peaked in the late 70s, after we won the FA Cup. The home and away support in the 76/77, 77/78 and 78/79 seasons was incredible, with all sides of the ground singing and huge numbers going to many away games. It just goes to show what winning a trophy can do. Apart from the fact that it was a great decade for Saints, the 80s were awful. Crowds plummeted to all-time lows and the standard of football was poor. The 90s were made even worse by the fact that it was a decade of struggle for Saints and we only had one top class player in our team. But, I'm sure for any fan that was in his teens in either of those decades, they'd seem like the best decades of football ever. That's the way nostalgia works its magic. Man for man, last season's Saints team was better than any of our teams from the 60,70s, 80s, 90s and 00s. The team that finished runners-up to Liverpool was more successful but back then there was only one good team in the country: Liverpool. The top flight is much more competitive nowadays, when there are half a dozen teams at least that can win it and 4 different teams have won it in the last 4 years. In previous decades it was usually dominated by just one team: Liverpool and then Man United. The rest just made up the numbers.

It's proving harder than they thought to push him out of the door. Perhaps the report of his 'transfer request' was a bit premature.

What exactly have you seen happening behind the scenes?

i don't think there is any better pair of young centre backs than Calum Chambers and Ben Gibson. They are the main reason Midblesbrough's defensive record is one of the best in the Premier League: better than ours and Liverpool's. What are the chances of getting Chambers back? I guess he'd be out of our price range.

There were rumours that Kat was asking for 200 million and that the Lander group were struggling to raise that amount of cash. Could the unsold 15% be because they could only afford 85% of her asking price? Do you know what Kat intends to do with the money? Is it going into her personal bank account or will any of it be invested in the club? If she is taking it all, it seems a bit greedy as she is rumoured to have more than enough money already and her father left her the club. Of course, this is all idle speculation at this stage. but, I just wish the buyers had a lot more money than the Lander group appear to have.

We have only lost 1 of our last 5 matches against Liverpool. We haven't conceded a single goal in the League Cup this season and if we score a goal at Anfield, Liverpool will need to score 3 and they haven't managed to do that in any of our last 5 visits to Anfield. So, I think the key for Saints is to score a goal in the 2nd leg, which we have managed to do in our last 3 visits there.

Saints’ 14 FA Cup & League Cup Semi-finals 2017 League Cup v Liverpool 2003 FA Cup v Watford W 1987 League Cup v Liverpool L 1986 FA Cup v Liverpool L 1984 FA Cup v Everton L 1979 League Cup v Leeds W 1976 FA Cup v C. Palace W 1963 FA Cup v Man. Utd L. 1927 FA Cup v Arsenal L 1925 FA Cup v Sheff. Utd. L 1908 FA Cup v Wolves L 1902 FA Cup v Nott. Forest W 1900 FA Cup v Millwall W 1898 FA Cup v Nott. Forest L We’ve been in twice as many major semi-finals as Pompey, which does make the number of trophies they’ve won a bit galling. But, on the other hand, the fact we’ve got twice as many fans as them, in spite of all the disappointments, speaks volumes for the loyalty of our fans. This will be our 14th major semi-final and my 4th.

Respect to Rodriguez. He always comes across as a very genuine and humble person. I really hope he can get back to being the player he was before that terrible injury. A couple of goals for him tonight would be very warmly appreciated by everyone in the football world.

All of his injuries have finally caught up with him and after his doping ban, Liverpool obviously consider him more trouble than he's worth, which is why they want to get rid of him, so they've got a bit of a cheek demanding that much. http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/mamadou-sakho/verletzungen/spieler/47713

I really hope there is no truth to this rumour as he would be an appallingly bad signing, reminiscent of Osvaldo and Delgado. He's massively overpriced, very injury-prone, suffers from muscle fatigue and ankle problems and has only managed two 90 minute appearances in Serie A in the last 2 years. Even in the days when he was fit enough to play, he was well behind Pelle in the Italian striker pecking order.

A home draw is always a good draw. If it had been against a weaker team, people would have complained that it was boring. So, in fact, it's a very good draw. It will be good to see us knock Arsenal out of both cups in one season.

It's good to know I can make you smile a bit. In your posts you come across as someone who is permanently miserable. So cheer up: we might even win the League Cup! But, I expect even if we did, you'd still be spreading misery on here the next day. You can't help it.

No, carry on. To be fair, the Les Miserables group on here do make me laugh though.

He's only every played for Morocco twice in his career (home and away against the Cape Verde Islands in March last year), so they shouldn't be too bothered about him not going.

Best to ignore him. I just had a look at his previous posts. They're all full of the same bile and sarcasm. He obviously leads a very unhappy, lonely life, and this forum is the only outlet he has for his anger and frustration. Calling other people 'little' seems to be one of his favourites, which certainly indicates a misplaced arrogance or maybe he's just obese : You're a special little guy It's ruined your little world I know Turgid. you're a paranoid delusional conspiracy theorist This effort is just making up the numbers. 0.2/10 Right you are, sweetheart. Wincing as I read this effort. You'll never get snapped up to the wind-up merchant big five with dross like that Some people are effing mental. Mental. Thank Christ you have no influence on the decision making at the club. You love your little routine about fans having their "tummy tickled" Textbook. Meltdown. Okay, you're a bit dim then. I always wonder what it must be like to be clever with manipulation. Meltdown. There's drivel and there is drivel. The moderators agree you are an utter bellend. There's drivel and then there's drivel. I can't be bothered to copy and paste any more of his posts because,as you can see, they become dull and repetitive after a while. The good thing is, if you've made it to the end of this list, you need never read another C. B. Fry post again in your life.

All of the goalkeepers at the club seem to be getting worse under the coaching of Dave Watson. In his capacity as England goalkeeping coach appointed by Roy Hodgson he even seemed to have an influence in wrecking the seemingly impregnable Joe Hart's career. I'm not sure that it's ever a good idea to take any coach from the awful England FA coaching setup, even though Dave Watson did at least play fro Barnsley, in contrast with many others, like Les Reed, who had no league experience. One thing I've noticed with our goalies is that they have become much more hesitant. Watson seems to have go them thinking too much about where they are going to place the ball before they get it. He's also made them reluctant to come off the line for crosses. In his pre-match warmups he lobs the ball to them so that they never have to come more than a yard off their line. Watson has had long enough to be judged now as well as in his last job at Norwich, and he's failed. Time for him to go.

I've no idea as I don't trust all of the negative 'leaks' to the fan base and the media from private conversations and negotiations Reed has with our players and managers, which is the only way you hear about them. Such behaviour is totally unprofessional which makes me very suspicious of the man and all of the players and managers must surely find such a sneaky character very difficult to trust or confide in. Anybody with any integrity wouldn't want to work for him for long, which is why we are now getting characters like Eric Black coming into the club. Steven Gerrard said that he had no respect for Les Reed after the way he treated him during England's Euro 2000 campaign. Gerard wrote, "To this day, I have no respect for Reed." I should imagine many players, managers and coaches feel the same way.

It has to be one of the players Les isn't planning to sell in the next year or so and that doesn't leave many good ones. Even Steven Davis, once he is into his early 30s, will probably be sold, like Lambert, Pelle and Fonte, because it will be seen as a last chance to get a transfer fee for him. Maybe Romeu will be here for 2 more years so possibly him? The revolving door transfer policy may boost a Swiss bank account but it is having a devastating effect on team spirit.

In my opinion (and it is just my opinion), Les Reed comes out with too much PR spin. He has a team working for him, making PR videos and feeding the media. This is all well and good when it is positive but I don't like the negative spin about every player and manager just before he is sold. It really isn't necessary, it creates a bad atmosphere and ultimately is going to get our club a bad reputation with people in the football world, even if it does seem to have convinced some of our more naive fans that Les Reed can do no wrong and that just about every player and manager the club has ever had, apart from Reed himself, is selfish, greedy and throws tantrums if he doesn't get his way and that Kat and Les don't really want to sell anyone as they are selfless individuals to whom money means nothing.

Fonte wants a successful team here and is fed up with the club's transfer dealings. He's right. The midfield isn't good enough.

I guess the person is hoping to make him angry enough that he will want to go. That's how he seems to operate.