Fitzhugh Fella

Never a good idea to believe your own PR

Am still trying to work out the sense of bringing on Ward-Prowse at 2-1 down and leave Seager on the bench.

Do you ever have a view on the football or are you just on this forum to pass judgement on those that post? Why not get off the fence a bit and be brave to post a view rather than knock those that do?

Been thinking about Koeman's comments and they are harsh alright and a bit uncharacteristic which suggests to me they are not specifically aimed at the fans and the U21 players. I think he is sending a message to Reed and Co and telling them that perhaps they are now guilty of over relying on the Academy and it is not forever going to be a bottomless pit. I watched a lot of U21 games in the last year and the U18s in the FA Youth Cup and some of the organisation from the touchline looked a bit substandard. Koeman is not a mug, he knows his comments will cause a stir and I am thinking that's why he made them.

I came home with a black eye after that match - my wife now my ex-wife was not amused. A contretemps in the bench seats with a plastic Arsenal fan from Bournemouth

Hmmm hardly motiventional of Koeman! Maybe he needs to take a look at some of the coaching because last year the likes of Hesketh and Gape were considered by him to be good enough.

Accepting my perceived bias I am intrigued why on the strength of a disappointing spell at MK Dons which was on account of various reasons Sam has been written off? Less than 10 months ago he hit one of the best goals ever seen at SMS and in a final too, but that seems to count for nothing.

I have this horrible reoccurring nightmare that I am in a WW1 trench with Dusan Tadic on one side and CB Fry (the keyboard warrior not the Corinthian) on the other. The whistle is blowing and it is time to go over the top. I look left, I look right but both my colleagues have nailed their feet to the trench floor. I go into no mans land alone but the bullet that cuts me down hits me not in the chest but in the back. But then I awake, it was all a dream and i turn to my computer to log into the Saints forum to see what's happening in the real world.

Gotcha .....I knew you would bite sooner or later, if you were a fish instead of a weasel you would have been battered a long time ago!

You think fans "hoping" he is not the answer is sensible?

You hope not? What a strange thing to say, don't you want to see our young players stepping up or are you writing him off because he didn't set the world alight at MK Dons? If I was a young pro at St Marys and I read comments like yours it would not exactly fill me with confidence.

"Tadic a physical guy?" - Oh really?

Why Urgh? I'd be happy never to see him in a red and white shirt again regardless of how well he played v Arsenal when he knew he was in a shop window.

I couldn't care less about this fixture - we are not going to win the Cup (sorry I've had too many false dawns) and we need to keep our energy for two vital EPL games next week. And as half our players can't get through 90 minutes why waste vital energy.

There is an article in the DT today saying that the meeting was rescheduled 10 mins earlier and there were problems in the hotel that led to a confusion as to the meeting's venue. It seems Mane has been excused

There's been a lot of good posting on this thread, a lot of joined up thinking and not too much man marking for a change. Have found it quite carthagic and proves that in times of stress as a Saints fan this forum does actually help put things in perspective.

If I had one moan about Koeman it would be over his reluctance to give the youngsters a go. Watching Spurs v Everton yesterday at the end with the game delicately poised and both sides pushing for the winner our ex-manager threw on a kid with no experience. Rash? Brave? I don't know but Martin Tyler thought it worthy of praise and at least all the Spurs U21 squad know under MP they will get their chances.

I think Caulker is not as bad as everyone is making out to be honest, he seems to be be everyone's fall guy when plenty of others have been well below par this season

To get back to the original OP, I think it would be madness right now to encourage RK to walk or to even think about replacing him. He must be backed by Board and fans alike as quite frankly to do otherwise would be suicide. But ....come the summer he needs to either commit to a new contract or depart, as having a manager prevaricating over the future will impinge on future signings and existing players agreeing to extensions. I don't think RK will sign but let's see. I am sick of being held to ransom by players earning small fortunes, but as my good friend CB Fry has pointed out, money talks the loudest and we either accept it and make the best of a bad job (which by and large RK has done) or we try and completely reform football and reinvent the wheel while we are at it. The bigger clubs will get bigger fuelled by dodgy Arab/Russian/insert what you like money and we are faced with either adopting a Portsmouth type model, forever confined to the lower Leagues forever or who swallowing hard, coughing up ever increasing admittance money and accepting the days of Terry Paine, Mick Channon and Matt le Tissier will never come back. I still go to SMS because I have the lifelong bug, but it is not much fun these days basically because we all know we have now gone as far as we can under the present FPP rules.

But you fail to say whether you think he has done a good job or not or (as the OP intimated), is he thinking of walking. Just curious because you have quite rightly pointed out RK has been given the tools.

What happened to us supposedly checking a player's character out before signing him? Mane, Wanyama and Osvaldo all dodgy temperaments. Sometimes I think Saints get a bit carried away with their own pr

Then fine him a weeks wages but dropping him to the bench and then bringing him on because we needed him is fairly pathetic management. If RK had balls he would have left him at home.

I agree with this - Wanyama spat his dummy and virtually went on strike back in the summer and yet RK doesn't seem to treat him the same way.

It all depends if you support the Saints with your heart (spend loads of dosh) or your head (live within your means)