Dusic

Wonder if McQueen might get the nod over Bertrand for this. Just because Puel seems to rotate the full backs more than any other area and has rarely played one in both matches in a short space of time apart from where unavoidable. McQueen for the cup game and Bertrand back in the league on Saturday.

Great start to the season, but has definitely made a lot more errors in the last 10 games or so, at least 3 leading to goals. Palace from the corner, Spurs home, arguably the Beer Sheva fiasco, Norwich come to mind. Especially has an issue of not tracking runners in behind him, which is very key in his position (Watford at home and Palace away last year), or tracking runners from set plays. Is lack of real competition an issue? If we play with one sitting midfielder they need a physical presence and he is the only player we have in midfield who is vaguely strong and has become indispenable because of that and the strong early performances this season. He has generally done well but sometimes because he puts big crowd-pleasing tackles in fans probably don't pick up on the weaker parts of his game. Would definitely hope we are looking to bring in another midfielder with a physical presence and ball winning capabilities in the summer to challenge him.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-4098234/Manchester-United-tell-Everton-pay-20m-Morgan-Schneiderlin.html According to Rob Draper Everton believe VVD coukd be persuaded to sign for them, but that its more realistic in the summer.

One club goal after half the season, not the way it was intended to turn out! If you don't play to Long's strengths then he is a poor striker as has little composure and technical quality. Clearly Puel is here to stay and clearly Long doesn't fit his style of play and can never really be trained to. How does this play out, both now and longer term? Sure he earns a pretty sizeable wage which we are seeing no return on.

A real link via the reliable Di Marzio: Amato Ciciretti http://sportwitness.co.uk/southampton-make-offer-second-division-forward-decision-expected-january-12th/

Abundantly clear from this that Puel is (rightly) going nowhere at this stage: http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/news/15005597.Reed_asks_for_fan_s_trust_in_Southampton_way/?ref=mac We aren't a panic stations, knee jerk club like others. Reed made a decision he felt would pay off longer term, so totally understandable that he allows Puel the time to implement his ideas. Lets hope they back him with an ability to bring in one or two players they want but right now he needs support and an atmosphere that helps the team rather than moaning at everything and everyone.

Duncan Spedding

You don't want to be losing the most creative player you currently have available, no matter how inconsistent he can be.

Puel in. He has been dealt a tough hand in many ways with limited possibilities. Give him a chance to mould his own side.

Chinese transfer window runs until the end of Feb too which is alluded to be Reed's comments of wanting an offer now rather than later on when we cannot replace him. Rather he went there than Everton and they would probably pay the £13m which is vastly overpriced for a player who may decline qiluickly over the next few years.

Reedo clearly trying to flush out offers given the timing of this when in effect he requested a move months ago. Hope someone does come in for him soon and we can replace as not a fan of Yoshida having many more minutes than he does now. If Fonte stays he will likely be phased out but without a replacement. Great signing, great player and until Portugal won the Euros, a great bloke it seemed.

Should add, a family member knows a lady who works at Saints and was at the Christmas Party they held recently at SMS. She said that Puel did a brief speach and said she felt sorry for him due to his lack of English and that a couple of very prominent senior players were s******ing at him on the table behind where she was sat. She felt it showed disrespect and couldn't imagine them doing it to previous Managers.

He was there but not 'in charge' and almost certainly didn't sack those Managers. Reed will have known we were going to struggle to be 7th or above. He won't sack a Manager who is securely midtable as it will shatter the illusions he has built up of Saints as a model club in terms of recruitment and succession planning. Puel will not be sacked at this stage IMO.

Equally suprised if Long kicked off after the one game he has scored in and was lucky to start given how **** he has been this season. These type of stories always come around after a poor run. Might be true, might not be, but it won't change much. Reed has never sacked a Manager whilst he has been 'in charge' at Saints. To do so now would mean admitting he personally made a poor decision, which he won't do unless it is a last resort option and we are not being relegated despite how poor we have been for the most part this season.

http://www.getfootballnewsfrance.com/2017/marseille-to-meet-with-morgan-sansons-representatives-in-the-coming-hours/ Sanson mentioned by a few on here. WBA and Bmth keen.

Reed has never sacked a Manager in his time at Saints. I highly doubt he will now. He will (rightly or wrongly) back his own decision.

Does Pulis have a point here? http://www.teamtalk.com/news/pulis-tired-two-games-in-three-days-is-nothing Puel has said for the whole season we cannot play the same team every 3 days but then VVD for example never gets a rest and Romeu rarely does either so it is possible. Lallana covered the most ground of any player in the PL on both 31st Dec AND 2nd Jan. If you tell them they are tired or they cannot play twice in quick succession then its a negative message. Puel even said our style of play was specifically such to combat this, ie keeping the ball, but as soon as we face a decent opponent we don't even do that very well. A lot of jumbled thinking. http://www.teamtalk.com/news/pulis-tired-two-games-in-three-days-is-nothing

Loan striker interesting given none of our current strikers are up to the level needed, will need a permanent in the summer (perhaps the loanee if he does well but not that well that is snapped up by someone else). RB also of interest. Martina is ****e and likely leaving but Pied is running again. Where does it leave him if we sign another RB, with Cedric recently signed up? Pied increasingly looks a stop gap signing, but then if we sign a RB in January why buy Pied at all?

In what way did the Board influence our exit from Europe?

Eric Black isn't suddenly going to leave. If they felt he was an issue then there was a great chance to fire him a couple of months back. Do you feel 3 PL quality players is likely in Jan without any sales (Martina aside)? Seems a bit un-Saints and knee jerk to me.

Have we lost the attributes that made us a good team? We seem to be a possesion side in the main, but also are happy to sit back and concede possession when we face the better sides. We don't really counter attack and don't press. Not especially direct. Regardless of current form, how are we trying to win games and score goals? For the first time in a while, its not especially obvious.

Is Krueger still at Saints?

Just highlights how hard it is to find good strikers in January. Long is a poor player and would be a terrible signing for WH.

Good theory. But... - Boufal probably won't start today and on Monday. - Boufal goes to the ACON so Redmond will start pretty much every game apart from today's which he is banned for. - Redmond isn't our biggest issue. The central midfield crabs are.

We were linked to him in the summer. But he signed a contract extension in November so seems unlikely, unless a loan for experience.