st alex

How can he have gone backwards under Puel when he never played before Puel? He didn't have any performances to go backwards from.

I was wondering where all the videos were, not seen much on youtube but there were enough people filming stuff on their phones... Would quite like to see how the atmosphere came across.

What would increased trade with the US actually mean? What would we be buying/selling with them? Presumably their cars are too big for our roads and their cheese is no good. Would ipods be cheaper?

Couple of moments when went for the same ball as another of our players, so communication would have to improve but hoprfully that would come with a bit more experience and confidence.

Thought it was all far too loud and just not needed. It hampered the atmosphere, if they continue to blair out music before, in-between and after the match then I'd expect the atmosphere to take a real knock. It drowned out any welcome that the fans give the players when they come onto the pitch. In general thought the music selection was awful, although quite eclectic - you're not going to please everyone with the music being played so why bother at all. It's not a nightclub it's a football match. I've always felt embarrassed for clubs that blair out music right up until kick off, hope they stop doing this asap. Didn't know Wildchild was local though - that's interesting.

Wonder where Gazzaniga would have come had he still be here in Taylor's place.

Maybe many of the fans on this thread are new to football, as I've never known a team to stick with the same 11 players in every competition and manage to get the best out of them. It just doesn't happen, it exhausts the players, and they pick up more injuries. To have to also consider that for away games there's the time spent travelling to factor in as well which in it's self is draining even though it's sedate. When have you ever got off a 3.5 hour coach journey or a 2hr flight and thought right, that's refreshed me enough to run 10k now. Players will need time to train as well, and by the looks of it Saints could use a lot more time on the training pitches at the moment.

What was the overall attendance? Can't see a figure on ssn or bbc? Interested to know what proportion of the crowd was Saints fans.

http://www.hesgoal.me/news/10283/Leicester_City_vs_Southampton_FC.html

All this clamour to say he should be sacked. What about innocent until proven guilty? Not saying it's right/wrong for Black to leave, but rather than this knee jerk reaction maybe we should wait and see what he's actually supposed to have done and whether there's any proper evidence. Is what he's done illegal? Would there be a police investigation? Lee Barnard was retained after his arrest for GBH as was Guly after being convicted of drink driving - arguably both more serious crimes. I think QPR's approach of waiting until The Telegraph have handed over all their evidence before investigating the matter themselves seems like a measured response.

All this clamour to say he should be sacked. What about innocent until proven guilty? Not saying it's right for Black to leave, but rather than this knee jerk reaction maybe we should wait and see what he's actually supposed to have done and whether there's any proper evidence. Is what he's done illegal? Would there be a police investigation? Lee Barnard was retained after his arrest for GBH as was Guly after being convicted of drink driving - arguably both more serious crimes. I think QPR's approach of waiting until The Telegraph have handed over all their evidence before investigating the matter themselves seems like a measured response.

That councillor's an clueless moron. He posts regularly on the Southampton Heritage Photos Group on facebook. Where he seems to advocate closing Sea City Museum, Scraping the Guildhall Square Arts Quarter, delisting and demolishing grade II listed Wyndham Court....

Never a penalty. Shane Long clearly fouled in the build up. Player down with a head injury so play should have been stopped. Same player offside in front of the goalmouth (huge distraction for goalkeeper - so arguably interfering with play). Fonte's challenge not a foul, both players were tussling for the ball.

Isn't it a bit un PC in this day and age? Imagine dressing as african tribesmen to welcome Wanyama. Maybe just the fez as that could be seen as a cultural symbol of Morocco, but 'arab robes' seems a bit much (especially since dress styles vary considerably across the arabic speaking world and what's worn in Saudi Arabia is no more relevant to Morocco than it is to the UK).

How's Callum Slattery getting on? He was muted as the next big thing to come out the Academy, but didn't notice him in pre season or anything.

That's exactly what they did with Lovren. They have a habit of overpaying and of paying for players with Premier League experience. We've just signed Boufal for considerably more than we paid for Mane, so it's a bit early to assume he's not as good/won't be as good.

Could this be a sweetener for a potential deal for Fonte to move the other way?

Those are the population figures for the metropolitan areas (city + surrounding area). The city proper is 1.3 million, with about 5.5 million in the metropolitan area. i.e. Southampton has a population of about 250k but a metropolitan area of about 1.5 million according to the same source (wikipedia).

Would have thought Stephens would be giving Yoshida a run for his money as back up CB by now.

He's just had a full pre season and should be just as fit as everyone else. Thought he looked very good when coming on against Espanyol, beat 3/4 players with one run with the ball seemingly stuck to his feet. Can't understand why he's being written off when he's not being given the game time. Besides he took ages to settle when he first joined us and we've got so few options in attacking areas.

I rate Fonte massively and he's a very important player for us but I can't see Man Utd rating him as highly or giving him nearly as much playing time. He's not likely to be made captain there. Remember Lambert went from being a hugely important player for us to being a fringe player at Liverpool. Man Utd did just paid £30m for Bailly and also have Smalling who had a solid season last year and was ahead of £48m Stones for the England team. I think they'd both be chosen ahead of Fonte who they seem to rate at £8m, significantly less than Everton rated Ashley Williams at. It's not all about prices, as age, form etc are a factor, but they've got 2 first choice centre backs in Bailly & Smalling and are looking at Fonte as back-up (according to the gossip). Man Utd would be stronger but only in terms of squad depth.

The strongest reports I've seen are that he'd go to Man Utd where he'd be behind Bailly and Smalling in the pecking order. Man Utd are reportedly after him as a squad player which means spending plenty of time on the bench compared to being the first name on the teamsheet here. I'd be bothered if he left as it leaves a huge void for Saints to fill, whether he's a star signing or a squad filler for another team is irrelevant from my perspective, not sure why it would matter to us?

He'd go from playing every game game here as captain to sitting on their bench. Doubt he'd get much more money as he'd be one of their lower earners and one of our highest.

If Ashley Williams is worth £12 million then Fonte, who's basically the same age, should be worth at least as much if not more.

Similar age to Jay Rod when we signed him and it took a while for him to find his feet and develop. I think like Jay Rod (and Mane) he'll be effective as a forward/striker/winger.