FriendlySaint

I love this thread even more now. Love it

I was going crazy and mad loud for the last 5 minutes supporting the Saints. People must think I'm actually crazy. Hahahahaha. Glad I'm not working tomorrow.

That's a much better attitude

I take back everything bad I say about Puel. I was wrong. He has proved us all wrong. His eyes and smile lit up tonight, as did the players'. A cup final is great for us.

Perhaps you're saying it's a good thing and not spontaneous. That everything he does is well thought out?

Are you even a Saints fan? How's Tim Sherwood at all relevant to Saints?

If you are suggesting it's bad for the manager to work together with the club for the same goals then you need to have a re-think. It's good if they are on exactly the same wavelength like you appear to be suggesting. He had the freedom to not take the job. He clearly agrees with the philosophies of the club. And look what's happened. We're in a cup final.

He trusts youth. He puts faith in young English talent. The complete opposite of Koeman. What a great tactical masterclass by the manager, and the players, over two legs. The fact we haven't conceded yet in the cup is remarkable. Stephens and Yoshida are big players. We have three top centre halves right now. I don't care what the haters say about Yoshida. They are the same people that wrote off Stephens without giving him a chance. On the contrary Puel puts faith in him (and Yoshida by selling Fonte). What a result. FUN FACT: Interesting fact: Southampton are the first team in history to reach the final of the League Cup without conceding a goal and have done so the hard way, beating four Premier League teams - Crystal Palace, Sunderland, Arsenal and Liverpool - on their way to Wembley. They last won a major trophy in 1976, when they were triumphant against Manchester United.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS WHAT A MASTERCLASS OVER TWO LEGS WE HAVEN'T CONCEDED AT ALL YET IN THE CUP!

It isn't made up at all. Yoshida has been more solid . He hasn't been creating unrest either

Thought we were significantly weakened after losing Fonte??? More like we've got rid of a troublemaker and got a rock solid CB who's an honest pro instead. Straight away we win 3-0.

Clean sheet. We don't need Fonte. Don't need the baggage of Fonte at all. Straight away when Fonte has been sold we've put in a huge performance. Dominant from start to finish, could have been more, clean sheet. Lots of you got your knickers in a twist above. Playing CB for Portugal who consistently parked the bus with two banks of four and William Carvalho sitting incredibly deep as an anchor man in midfield is very different to playing for us in the PL. Portugal never exposed their cb's in the euro's in the knock out stages. Tournament football is very different to league football. Portugal set up not to get beat after the group stages. When they had to win games in a points based system in the group they were wide open. Yoshida is massively under rated regardless by many. Real solid centre back with no weaknesses. The only thing he lacks is a raking accurate long pass , but that's something that I see as a bonus for a CB and not a necessity. First and foremost they just need to be solid. He will improve, and be more consistent, knowing he's going to get a long run in the side now. Another bonus is Van Dijk gets the captaincy. That could keep him happier and it means the captain is now consistent. I feel it must have been rubbing some of the players up the wrong way that Jose Want OUt Fonte was getting the armband when he was in the side

I don't think Yoshida over Fonte is weakening us. Fonte is declining and the more game time Yoshida gets the better he plays. Yoshida is the better option right now and Fonte is only going to decline further

Bang on the money Considering Yoshida has been messed about a bit (made to play LB and RB at times. Never been given a regular run at CB either) he's done a good job for us. And has been improving and getting more and more solid Selling Fonte could be great for us. Gets rid of trouble and gives Yoshida the chance to fully flourish. Yoshida has already looked better than Fonte this season and is five years younger. This could be the making of Yoshida and get rid of squad unrest

No chance.

It's a job at the end of the day. It's not like he's a local lad. He's from Portugal. The sooner you accept the players come and go the better. This is exactly why fans that refuse to criticise certain players are barking up the wrong tree. On here and not606 certain posters will fall to bits if their favourite player gets criticised. They need to realise the players are off in a flash when another club is willing to give them a pay rise. Back the club, not the player Fonte for eight million is good business. He's five years older than Yoshida and Yoshida has looked better this season. Gardos looked promising before all the injuries and Stephens might be good in the future. I'm happy with the business done by the club here. 8 million for a declining 33 year old centre half is good business from us

Need to win the cup now. Don't care where we finish if we win the cup, but that is going to take some doing. Liverpool away and Man Utd

Are you calling Redmond a striker? He isn't one.

For me Rodriguez starts and Long comes on late on. I don't like the idea of them both in the same team with the system we are currently playing.

Great performance Best that Yoshida and Romeu have played in a Saints shirt in mY view Solid display from Forster Great all round display and everyone that came on from the bench did their bit Best display from the players in a very long time in terms of togetherness and playing as a unit. A real shame we didn't get a second goal, but we can use the exact same game plan again at Anfield and we are going to be very difficult to beat

The enormous problem with rotation is you aren't always picking your strongest side and worse you are effectively always fielding a weakened team. It's not a normal weakened team either. Usually one or two injuries effect the strongest eleven. Puel has rotated as many as six at times and that's frankly ridiculous and lunacy. For me the best keeper, back four and best holding midfielder should always play no matter what. Every single game in every competition. A team is built from the back. Rotation should only occur if someone asks for it. I want to point something out about Rodriguez. He looks as strong as a horse compared to before and has a great engine (always did). He can't be wrapped up in cotton wool forever. Give the guy a run in the side for ****s sake. If a player gets knackered they can request to be rested for a particular game or to get substituted. They are able to communicate..Puel is effectively treating them like children and it's no wonder the likes of Fonte as fuming. Puel's man management skills at non-existent. I'd be absolutely furious if I was a player and constantly getting rotated. The strongest eleven should always be picked, with the players given the option to request a rest at any given time (and given the option to request a substitution if they pick up a knock, or get knackered)...then the ball is in the manager's court to make the final decision, unless the head physio has specifically requested that a player is rested. At the moment Puel is blindly picking the side whilst listening to none of the players, it's ridiculous. There is reason why on the likes of Footie manager you are shooting yourself in the foot if you do what Puel does. The players don't have the same cohesion and chemisty. Yes it's not real life, but I've run my own football and cricket teams in the past and found the same thing. You want a regular eleven playing every game together. Ibrahimovic has started almost every game this season and he's 35, Puel is not the sharpest tool in the box. You want your strongest side every game. You look at the likes of Chelsea, Spurs, Liverpool. They always field their best team. Wenger rotates more and it's the problem with Arsenal in my view, they lack cohesion compared to the other three I mentioned. Leicester last season won the title picking the same side over and over again. Ranieri's rotated more this season and they are struggling. I could go on, but I better stop there Playing football a few days a week is nothing on the body compared to the sport I play and the training I do. I can't believe how wrapped up in cotton wool theseplayers are

If I was the manager and coach I'd be aiming for 8th with this group of players. If I happened to nick 6th or 7th then I'd be extremely happy. Bare minimum of 12th or I'd expect to be sacked. We must remember the Europe situation. We threw that away. For me that means he needs 9th minimum or he might get sacked. Depends how ambitious the club are and how they see it. He might get away with 10th if he's extremely lucky.

He's Portuguese mate. If you played in Portugal for a while would you see it as an eternal home? At the end of the day it's a career. It's like any other job. If he doesn't feel loved anymore, and feels like he's been messed about, then we have to accept he will want out

He seems to have become too big for his boots since winning the euro's Obviously though winning the euro's/a national trophy is a career achievement. He's gone down in history as a key ingredient in a national win, he's obviously wanting champions league football and a possibly title shot/fa cup/league cup before his career ends. Can't say I blame him. I'd be fuming if I was club captain, was at the club this long and was getting rotated . Especially after just winning the euro's, in his own mind he's at the peak of his career having not been in the mix at all for Portugal until very recent. We can't forget him and Ronaldo were together as youngsters, it was a fairytale for Fonte to come back and end up winning with Portugal and Ronaldo after playing in league one for us not that long ago End of the day he's been great for us and was a legend on the journey from league one. Its possible he'll go to China if Man U don't come in for him considering he's at the back end of his career

He's been with us since league one. He's a club legend. His goal and celebration at Brighton away was legendary. Don't be a knob