Nordic Saint

On 20 October 2016, Nice won 1-0 away to Red Bull Salzburg in the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League. That was Nice's first-ever UEFA club competition away win, having previously gone 15 UEFA club competition away matches without a win.

I'm not claiming to be ITK

He is one of the PR boys so it sounds like Les has decided to sell Fonte in January, even if the rest of the message is spurious. We usually get all of these stories about how a player is 'spitting his dummy out ' and how his team mates will be glad to see the back of him just before he is sold. I guess we'll be hearing the same stories about van Dijk in the summer.

So this is the spin we're going to get from Les on the sale of Fonte in January, is it? He's still going to sell van Dijk as well in the summer so that excuse really doesn't wash.

Do we care? It's just another trophy we'll be resting players from.

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have played over 60 games a season for their whole careers. Our poor lads can't cope with more than 30 games when they are 19 and 20 so they have to be rested?

Yes, it was great to win that trophy. I'm just frustrated tonight that we didn't make more of an effort this year in the Europa League or the Football League Trophy. Why bother with the early rounds if you're going to field a weakened team in the later stages? I really hope we field a full-strength team in the League Cup semi-final. If we win that, it will be the highlight of this century for me as a Saints fan. We're also in with a shot in the FA Youth Cup. I'd like to see us win that too. But any trophy would be great. We should target the easier trophies to win and build the winning habit from there.

We are Southampton. We don't care about winning trophies so we never win them. Reading fielded 6 players who've played for their first team this season and only 2 of their Academy players; we fielded our U18 team. Whenever we get anywhere within sight of a trophy, we field a weakened team. Reading have won 2 Championship trophies in the last 10 years and they clearly intend to get to Wembley and add this cup to their trophy cabinet as well. if we'd fielded Sims, Reed and McCarthy tonight or even our U21 team, we'd have won. At least we won the Premier League Cup this century. I'll always remember that.

This season should see out 13th top 8 finish so it's nothing particularly unusual. I think our average finishing position in our 40 years in the top flight is 11th. This season will also see our 14th major cup semi-final, again not so unusual. What is unusual compared to other clubs which get crowds of our size, is the lack of trophies. We have massively underachieved in terms of trophies won, even compared to Portsmouth, which is a smaller club. Maybe we've just been unlucky but it's nothing to do with being small and unable to compete. That is just defeatist talk from same fans who come out with the 'we should know our place' line and be ever so 'umble, perhaps so they don't feel disappointed again when we fall at the final hurdle. Maybe the lack of expectation from our fans and club owners is one factor in why we have underachieved.

http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=2244&d=1481047685

No.

Pompey fans have all been registering on this site to vote for themselves as having the best atmosphere in the country and Saints as the worst. The poll is so easily manipulated, it's ridiculous. But anyway it is now their big claim to fame. We could of course change it very easily and they'd be devastated. Could we be that cruel? Well, I already knocked them off top spot with just 1 vote: http://www.the92.net/

I agree with the OP. The media already call it THE South Coast Derby. There really is very little interest in fourth division teams nowadays and I have no desire to end up in the 4th division with them. We've hardly ever played Pompey in the past anyway and it's very unlikely we'll play them again in the next few years.Time to move on.

He certainly has. He was perfect in his last 2 games v Middlesbrough and Stoke: a European champion at the peak of his game. It's no coincidence that we get so many clean sheets when he plays: 4 in the last 5 games he's played.

Can't stop smiling. Brilliant result and a great performance: the complete opposite of last season's debacle. It may not be a derby game for many on here but it most certainly is as far as I'm concerned and that makes the win that much more satisfying. Saints' goal highlights video for this season is going to be a real cracker. Rodriguez's 2nd takes its place in the pantheon of great goals alongside Boufal's 2.

We can't stop teams at the halfway line like Wanyama used to do, especially when the top teams tried to put us under pressure, so they run straight through the middle, leaving Fonte and van Dijk working overtime as the only line of defence. It's particularly noticeable in the 2nd half of games, when Romeu has run himself into the ground with little or no assistance in tackling from midfield team mates. Wnayma is yet another great player who was ridiculously underrated by some Saints fans, who like to stereotype players based on their appearance. He is currently on course to be Tottenham's player of the season

Romeu is doing the Schneiderlin job which Clasie was bought to do. Nobody is doing Wanyama's job and that is one of our problems.

Some people on here have some real anger issues. People don't 'deserve abuse'. Abuse 1. the improper use of something. "alcohol abuse" synonyms: misuse, misapplication, misemployment, mishandling; More exploitation, perversion "this law is not going to stop the abuse of power" unjust or corrupt practice. "protection against fraud and abuse" synonyms: corruption, injustice, wrongdoing, wrong, misconduct, delinquency, misdeed(s), offence(s), crime, fault, sin "the scheme is open to political control and administrative abuse" 2. cruel and violent treatment of a person or animal. "a black eye and other signs of physical abuse" synonyms: mistreatment, maltreatment, ill treatment, ill use, misuse

Professional sportsmen don't 'sulk'. That is a total fallacy used as an excuse for selling players who still have 3 years left on their contract. The number of times I saw that word used on here last season when Mane and Wanyama were clearly giving 100% and trying harder than anybody, was ridiculous. This is what I wrote in the transfer thread at the end of last season and I still stand by it: 12-05-2016, 08:49 AM #442 For the first time in years our main transfer targets this year should be the players who are already here. They are going to give us our best ever Premier League finish and possibly come within 2 points of a Champions League place. Without the injuries to Forster and Bertrand, we'd probably be 3rd now. We are not going to get players much better than that so let's spend the transfer budget on keeping them here.

Selling Redmond, Long, Clasie, Ward-Prowse and Hojbjerg.

Adam Lallana - 3 in 2, which shows even if you give many years' service to Saints, you can still go on to be great at a big club and that's the message our players need to get, instead of leaving or being sold just after breaking into the first team, like Oxlade-Chamberlain, Shaw and Chambers, and then seeing their careers stall elsewhere. Bale was a rare exception.

It's that time of year again: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/les-sacked-for-giving-turkeys-xmas-654543

Just a bit of clever editing by Les Reed's video PR team. Notice how it's cut back to repeat the ball being thrown against the wall in closeup. It could have just been done for fun or conspiracy theorists might think it was done deliberately to make a particular player look unpopular before he's sold. Either way Forster and Fonte, the clean sheet kings, are good team mates and playing as well together as ever

Les told us that he thinks Puel is a perfect fit. He also told us that this season we have the best midfield options in the Premier League and he saw Redmond as the ideal replacement for Mane. So, what's not to like? http://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/southampton/news/reed-southampton-have-best-midfield-in-pl_276561.html

If Les were a manager, like he was at Charlton, and in many respects is here, we'd be saying, thanks for the memories, it's time for you to retire now. He made some good decisions in the past but his decision making this year has been very poor and at his age it's unlikely to improve. Football is a ruthless business at this level. Chelsea even said goodbye to Mourinho when things started to go wrong there. A combination of someone who can actually get on with players and managers, like Le Tissier and a young professional who knows the transfer market, like Paul Mitchell, the man who found us our best players and managers, would be ideal. Les has always said that the system is so perfect that anyone can be replaced seamlessly. Well it's time for him to prove it by retiring at 65.