Nordic Saint

Clasie's best game so far. If he can play like that every week, he'll do.

We need an attacking midfielder who can play 90 mins regularly and score goals. How many times has Honda played 90 mins in Serie A this season and how many goals has he scored? Like Stekelenburg, he was good 4 years ago, but we need players who are good now, like Borja Baston and Denis Suarez,

That's not strictly true. The investment in players like Keegan, Ball, Watson, Osgood and Shilton, in the McMenemy era, brought us our most succesful spell as a club. I'd also say that the investment by Markus Liebherr made a big difference to the club. If you look at successful clubs, they are mostly where they are because of the money invested by their owners.

You should try watching lower league teams on a regular basis. There is no more passion and pride than there is in the Premier League, just a lot less skill and entertainment. As for effort, why do you think Pompey fans boo their team off the pitch so regularly?

We already are paying more than most other Premier League fans. The average price our fans pay is the 7th most expensive in the country. Even if we want to have the most expensive tickets in the world, it will be hard as Arsenal include Champions League games on their season tickets, which pushes their price sky high.

I agree. I think you've got that exactly right.

Consistently good players, like Schneiderlin, Clyne, Shaw, Lallana and Alderweireld, are really good players. Players who are only capable of playing well for 30 minutes, every 3rd or 4th game, like Juanmi, Martina, Clasie, Romeu and Cedric, are not really good players. That would explain the team's more inconsistent performances. Fans want to blame the manager and the few good players who have stuck with us, but it's not their fault that they have worse players around them now.

You're not really expressing your views about the squad there. Personally, I think the squad is getting weaker. Our best players are being sold and poorer quality replacements are being brought in. I know money doesn't guarantee success, but none of the 100 million + Premier League prize money (150 million next year) and only part of the money made from player sales is being spent on replacements and none is being spent on stadium development either. Koeman and the nucleus of good players still here are unfairly bearing the brunt of the blame for this, when in fact it is the owner and her advisors who are responsible.

Everybody tried playing passes to Targett, but he couldn't control any of them, so they gave up on him in the end. You could see players moving to the left, seeing there was only Targett there, and then drifting back into the centre again, because they didn't want to waste possession. Targett does not have good enough pace or ball control to operate down the flank at this level. He's not very good at defending either. Do you think any other team in the Premier league would consider playing him?

I don't think people 'hate' Clasie in the way that some fans really do seem to hate Wanyama. It's just that Clasie makes very little contribution to the team in terms of making, scoring or stopping goals. He's one of those players who just makes up the numbers and when he's subbed, because he can't play for more than an hour, the team plays better.

I actually think that Bournemouth could get to Wembley this season. They have an inspirational young manager, great team spirit, and perhaps most important of all, an ambitious owner prepared to invest the Premier League prize money in the team. Koeman is not to blame. Pochetinno left because he saw where selling the best players and not reinvesting all of the money and at least some of the Premier League money in their replacements would lead. He got out in time. Poor Koeman is the Dutch boy left with his finger in the crumbling dike. A new manager wouldn't do any better under these circumstances.

I agree. It was like a home game for Palace today. You need your most vocal fans dircetly behind the goal where they can have the most influence on the players and the ref, and that's exactly where the Palace fans were, They made sure the ref gave every 50/50 decision their way including a hand ball that never was, and they roared their team back into the game when they were flagging after we equalised. if only we had a home end like the away end Palace had today, it would help us win so many more 50/50 decisions and help drive our team on. Instead our vocal home supports hide away in 2 corners of the ground where they have no influence on the play. Today, it would have been easy for them to gather behind the goal at the Chapel end, but they simply couldn't be bothered. They'd rather lurk in the corners and gawk at the away fans singing.

He probably would if we were playing Exeter. That Liverpool team tonight would not be good enough to beat Palace.

Koeman is right. If you'd watched the U21s this season, you'd agree that none of the players are ready for a first team start. It doesn't mean to say they won't be in the future. They are good in their age group and could win the U21 Cup again this year.

From a 2010 article: Arsenal were the club paying most for policing last season. They were charged almost £1.4million by the Metropolitan Police for their home games. Greater Manchester Police refused to reveal figures for Manchester United, Manchester City, Wigan Athletic and Bolton Wanderers but sources said the force claimed £2.4million in total from the four clubs.

The club sells the players to make money. Even if they wanted to stay here for the rest of their careers, the club would still sell them at the point at which it felt it could make the most money out of them. Even if Mane loved Southampton Football club more than life itself, they would still sell him. Of course, they don't want their paying customers to think about that too much. Hence all of the inside stories about greedy players demanding to leave. Every single one of them, just before he's sold. We'll be hearing the same stories about van Dijk and Bertrand and whoever else they decide to cash in on next year.

No, they get the same 100 million+ every year that all of the other Premier League clubs get.

Some of our fans are real suckers for a bit of spin. His sale has been planned since the day we bought him, the same as all of our other player investments.

Teams that do well in the league are usually teams that have good cup runs. Our best ever spell in the league in the early-mid 80s coincided with a series of good cup runs. A victory against Palace would be great for team morale and help boost our league form.

No, I don't think he's quite up to their standard. They've got 2 good central defenders in Daniel Ayala and Ben Gibson, and he won't replace either of them. Swindon was more hie level.

No, you're right. They are probably going to get some unfit, injury-prone, has-been on loan, just because he once got a couple of international caps and is the cheapest player they can get who anybody's heard of.

Except they're not as good as Denis Suarez and Borja Baston, who would cost less.

What a strange question. Why would anyone want to boo our own players???

Yes, the big one. Why she sells them: money.

We have learned more about him now. He is a defensive midfielder who can't defend. Opponents just ghost past him like he's not there. He is possibly the weakest tackler I've seen in a Saints team in recent years, and there have been a few poor ones. I think even Ward-Prowse is better.