SaveloyMush

Nor do most Sotonians!

I would suggest that he is home-sick. Never under-estimate how difficult it can be to settle in a new culture, with a new language and so much unfamiliarity. Gabbiadini does not strike me as one with an international outlook; some individuals thrive in different cultures, others just crave the familiarity of home.. There is a reason so few British players move overseas, and few of those who do so are successful. If the heart is elsewhere, team set-up and tactics are irrelevant. For his own sake, I hope Gabbiadini goes back to Italy and re-discovers his smile. I doubt he will move to a foreign country again.

Asset strip. Still has a Championship club next season (might even be able to stay there, though I doubt he cares), parachute payment and the stadium. I think this was the plan all along. Mr. Gao seemingly has no knowledge of, nor interest in, football. If it is true that van Dijk's worth rose from 50m to 75m by keeping him for a few short months from August to January, the plan becomes even clearer. No sentiment, it's just business. Ms. Liebherr might have felt some emotional pull to continue her father's legacy, but she has played a blinder by reducing herself to a minority share-holder, nothing she can do now etc.

The fans were told that Puel was given the chance to stay on this season, if he agreed to change the style of play, but he refused to do so. As masters of spin, the Southampton board may have been truthful in stating the above; I have a suspicion, however, that they omitted Puel's coda "with the squad of players at my disposal." Southampton had and have a, largely, excellent back 8 or 9 but a mediocre front 2 or 3, hence the lack of goals in the last season and a half. Goals cost more money than the board is prepared to sanction. As time passes, Puel emerges with ever greater credit for effectively falling on his sword. Pellegrino is not the problem.

I love Giroud (though not last weekend) - he is like an exotic Charlie Austin, with better hair.

Stick your mobility up your 'arris - Charlie scores goals.

World Cup soon!

This is the guy who was charged with regenerating the England team and I reckon he would have done it, had his ego and greed not got in the way. Allardyce deserves more credit and respect for what he has achieved and the way he has achieved it.

So much more articulate in his 2nd (or perhaps even 3rd) language than the majority of his native peers.

MOTD2 seemed to rate him...

Spot on. Yesterday Højbjerg was the player we glimpsed when he first arrived in pre-season 2016. I find it impossible to criticise Romeu, after so many one-man midfield performances, but he has been a little off-form this season compared to last (perhaps he is a Samson-oppose and needs to cut his hair...). The one thing Højbjerg did less well than Romeu was to win the ball back immediately after losing it, although this action can often backfire on Romeu, resulting in a yellow card. Is there any formation that would allow Romeu, Højbjerg and Lemina (who is clearly the most complete and exciting player of the three at present) to start together?

It would appear that West Ham under Bilic (good bloke though he appears to be) were woefully lacking in both fitness and motivation - sound familiar? What odds on Gabbiadini doing a Zaza under the right regime?

Blueprint for Saints' board here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42095164

Playing him up front is not as daft as it sounds, given Saints' current malaise; he is big, quick, defensive and knows where the goal is. He also has a hammer of a dead-ball delivery. I'd be inclined to stick van Dijk up front though, he might even cheer up a bit...

It seems clear to me that poor Fraser is on the spectrum.

Yes, van Dijk was his usual imperious self in the air, but being 6'5" and built like a brick outhouse make heading the ball away as easy as farting for him. In every other (dis)respect, he clearly didn't want to be on the pitch. His body language is even worse than Bertrand's and he appears to be saving himself for his next club. I am not sure anyone will stump up 60m+ for him if he continues to perform in such a disinterested fashion (maybe that's the plan...).

Yesterday, he only seemed to overlap when Tadic and Redmond swapped wings. In the second half, it almost looked as if Saints were playing 3 at the back, with Bertrand as the left of the 3 (maybe they were!).

Could one of the resident Stattos confirm when Southampton last scored from a corner and how many goals in the last, say, 2 seasons have come from same? Saints win a lot of corners, it looks to me that Tadic in particular when out wide plays for corners off defenders, why bother if we can't score from the resulting set-piece?

But it's not just Southampton, is it? Old Trafford under van Gaal was like the proverbial library most of the time. Teams need to serve up a spectacle, first and foremost, worthy of a passionate crowd. Sex(y football) sells, it excites, it instils passion. Clackers and loud music are certainly not the answer. Changing demographics mean football fandom too has changed - and it ain't changing back.

Don't p!ss on your hands!

You might want to look up "Veblen Goods" and their significance in rapidly-developing societies...

Not that I am necessarily disagreeing with your main point, but at whom should this cross be directed?

We were told that Puel lost his job as he wouldn't change his style of play. I consider him to be the ultimate pragmatist and I wonder whether it was a case of wouldn't, or couldn't, change the style. If he looked at the squad and surmised (correctly, as it turns out) that there were few goals in the side, then he was forced to adopt a safety-first strategy. Unfortunately, this does not bode well for a club looking to expand its fan-base and, ultimately, its commercial revenue. Sexy football sells shirts. Why did PSG pay 222m Euros for Neymar? Because they believe that they can sell millions of replica Neymar shirts and associated tat on the back of his goals. PSG is owned by the state of Qatar. Along with the other Gulf states, most of the real work there is carried out by immigrants from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and numerous other countries. These have large populations and their economies are seeing a rise in the middle classes, who have cash to spend. Football clubs are not the mere playthings of bored sheikhs; there are potential massive money-spinners. Any fule know that the TV money, not only in England, will fall away as technology renders traditional broadcasting obsolete. Ticket sales are a flea on an elephant's backside in the grand scheme of things. Commercial revenue is where the money is made and the only way to generate that is to expand the fan-base and have them buy club tat. The only way to expand the fan-base is to offer sexy football. You won't see many Indian kids with Phil Jones on the back of their shirts, defenders don't sell sexy football (especially one as ugly as poor Mr. Jones). The purists can appreciate a hard-won clean sheet (cf Southampton 0 - 0 Liverpool last season), but the money comes from sexy football (cf Southampton 3 -2 Liverpool the season before, aka the Sadio Mané show). Manchester City are also bankrolled by a Gulf state and look at their squad: they have a very good goalkeeper (more on them in a moment), but their defence is pretty rubbish. Guardiola spent big on his bombing full-backs for their attacking flair more than their defensive capabilities. At Manchester United, Moyes and Van Gaal had to go as their football was not sexy. Jose Mourinho is known as a pragmatist who likes nothing more than parking the bus, but look at his squad: again, an exceptional goalkeeper but a rubbish defence, what he has bought is goals. His board will have told him to leave the bus at home and ensure plenty sexy football. Liverpool are trying to play in the same swashbuckling way, although they have rubbish goalkeepers and a comedy defence, van Dijk alone would not have fixed that. Back to goalkeepers: a Hollywood save or some nifty footwork from a sweeper-keeper gets the mass audience on its feet, a well-timed challenge from a giant Dutch centre-back (cf van Dijk on Mané in the 0-0 last season) does not. A purist will purr but the shirt-buying masses will move on to the next sexy goal. And what of our club? To some extent, Southampton today are a reverse-sexy squad - a back 6, 7, or 8 (depending on formation and your view of the goalkeeper) as good as any in the league, but no floozies up front to flirt with those fickle fans and their wallets. Our new majority shareholder is a man who, irrespective of the way in which the takeover was financed, clearly has a lot of money; he likes money and he wants more of it. So he needs to get lots of Chinese kids buying lots of club tat, the only way he is going to get the numbers up is by offering sexy football. Puel would not, or could not, do this; it remains to be seen whether his successor can. In terms of sexy, Southampton are Susan Boyle - very talented in one particular skill, but would you really want to go there?

I disagree about Mané. I think time may judge him to have been the best player to pass through Southampton in living memory. He is by far Liverpool's best player at present and will almost certainly ascend the top rung of the game and end up at one of the giants of football. Mané possesses the rare X-factor that is unpredictability. It was only his poor attitude at times that held him back at Southampton, he clearly felt the pond was too small for so big a fish. I have seen no evidence of an attitude problem during his time at Liverpool, though if he gets the hots for Spain or Italy, it may return. Pellè was a great servant for Southampton, but he was entirely predictable in what he could do. That is not to take anything away from the importance of his goals. I do agree that Koeman's achievements at Southampton were exceptional and nothing that happens subsequently can change that.