Fitzhugh Fella

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)

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

Sigh. I merely suggested he be given a chance, and incidentally he can play in the Premiership because he already has 18 appearances in it. Joker Boy!

It's true. I'd like to see RK give Sam a chance once he returns but if he splashes the cash on another forward as fans are hoping he will, then Sam may need to try another loan.

Roy Beazley MBE no less "Spy in the Sky", awarded for all the money he raised for charity via the ex-Saints. He was also briefly on the club books as a youngster, a couple of years older than Paine and Sydenham who became big buddies.

Villa fans don't rate him

But why didn't West Ham run out of steam as well? Serious question.

Partially as a lack of a cutting edge is a long-standing problem he has yet to address satisfactorily. An Austin-like player (or even the man himself) instead of Juanmi and our season would have been a lot better.

If you are going to only manage 45 mins of high intensity football it is imperative you take any chances in that period and one was not enough today

Yep this is all true, our finishing and lack of midfield goal scorers will always haunt us and Koeman has got to address that sooner (ie Jan) rather than later (the summer). I don't buy this "we were tired today" lark as West Ham were in the same boat.