RobM

No, they're not. Wanyama is defensive not an attacking player. JRod is good, but still young and not yet one of the best in the Prem. JWP is young and learning, he will be hit-and-miss. Ramirez hasn't featured much and when he has, hasn't done anything to suggest he's one of OUR best attacking players, let alone the best in the Prem. Osvaldo is still adapting to the EPL and needs consistent games, but is clearly an excellent player. Lallana and Lambert would walk into any team outside of the top six, Lallana maybe more than that. I also think there is a tactical issue at play. We seem to be trained out of directly attacking the oppositions defence when one player breaks forward, preferring instead to hold the ball and wait for more players to arrive and try to pass it through defences. Too often (IMHO) we get to the edge of their penalty area and go sideways, giving the opposition time to regroup.

Gazza in for Boruc Davis in for Morgan No other changes. We need to 'remind' ourselves that losing to Chelsea away doesn't mean we're bad and we're still the same, winning, confident team as before. We also need to show we're good, supportive fans by supporting Gazza. He might not be our first choice, but he's ours and will be doing his best for us.

IMO, it's only good business if it doesn't weaken 'the company' (since we're talking business...). If we gain £30m and can replace him with equal or greater quality for less than £30m, or have sufficient quality already in the squad to not negatively impact us, then yes it's good business. But if we gain £30m but lose a player that is very important to us, who we can't replace without sacrificing quality and therefore weakens us and our chances of success (and therefore income) it could end up costing us in the long run. That would be very bad business. I can't think of another LB that can match Shaw's ability, who would suit our style and would come to Southampton and remain for enough years to get good value from them. Luke could have another 15 years ahead of him at this level, if we got even half of that, heck if we just got his 5-year contract, it would be worth £30m.

Do you have anything from 2013, rather than 2011?

That "quote" isn't from me, you've invented that to make a point. I never suggested anything like the players you mention to further add to your point. Put it this way - why aren't Liverpool, Arsenal, the Manc's, Chelsea, Spurs etc in for him? I know we're not in the same class as them, but there is a reason they aren't going for players like Rhodes. If we're serious about Champions League football, top-6 finishes etc we need to show that in the transfer market. This, IMO, means looking for the same type of player as these clubs. We were in for Coutinho and Banega last season and managed to sign Osvaldo, this season we're performing much better and should finish higher in the league, so have a better chance of signing players of this calibre. The proven experience I refer to could well be in another of the worlds top leagues, ideally with European experience to support our push for European football, rather than second-tier football. As for who... that's for the scouting team to answer. Not many of us predicted Lovren yet he's been the player of the season so far (IMO) and comes with experience of football at a higher level than the Championship, which shows our scouting team know what they're doing.

While I think its admirable that were famed for giving young players a chance, we have enough of our own to do that with. If we're going to strengthen our attacking options, I'd much rather we went for proven quality and experience. If we really want to fight for top-6 finishes each year, buying Championship strikers with no Premiership experience isn't the right option, IMO.

Part of Cork's problem, IMO, is he plays the same sort of role as Wanyama and Morgan, so there would be little benefit in bringing him on from the bench. If either CM gets injured, or needs a rest, then he's our man for sure. But you wouldn't bring him on if you wanted to change tactics, you'd choose JWP or Davis who play a more attacking role.

But Wanyama and Lovren are Italian, right? No...?

Losing to Arsenal isn't great, but I can accept that, they're clearly the level above us. My problem with today is both their goals were gifted to them by stupid individual decisions. We have a lot to be positive about, in this game and the season overall and we certainly weren't terrible today, in fact we held our own well. But to gift the only two goals of the game is not acceptable at any level, against any opposition.

And how many of our starters from the youth squad have been SIGNED?

Flawless service from Premier League Pass today, as has been the case all season. I left AJS after the first couple of games as it was so poor.

Great news for all concerned, as already said above. Also great news as it shows players don't have to leave unfashionable clubs like us to further their international careers.

You'd hope those who own and run this forum would give a ****, but they clearly don't as they not only allow it to happen, but then allow people to re-join under a new name should they be banned. Ultimately they'll be the ones who lose though, when the money stops coming in. I've stopped paying to use this site since the money clearly isn't being invested back into it - if it were, threads like this and insults and point scoring would be stopped quickly. When somebody who openly admits to being a WUM, who has been exposed for lying and making things up more than once, is allowed to create a thread criticising other fans, you know the place has gone to pot.

Depth of squad is the key, IMO. We have a very, very good starting 11, but it will only take an injury or suspensions in one or two positions to make us look weak, or to have to change our style. And I know we have good players coming through the ranks, plus players like Cork on the bench, but how confident are we that they match our style of play? Cork, for instance, was superb last season but we brought in Wanyama to play a very different game, much more defensive than Cork. Losing him will be a challenge. Same with Clyne and Shaw. We have Chambers to come in, but as good as he is, he can't quite cover the attacking threat that our FB's offer. All our width comes from Clyne and Shaw so losing them without somebody ready to play the same style will also be a challenge. Then there is Boruc, who has won us points this season for sure. I do believe both Kelvin and Gazza could cover for a game or two, but not with the same quality and assurance. January is going to be critical.

I'm an optimist and think 8th is where we'll finish, which would be an excellent result and show real improvement over last season. In all honesty, as long as we're comfortably ahead of where we were last season, I'll be happy. It's long-term progress I'm hoping for, rather than being 'that team' who have a cracking season and then drop back the next.

Good point away from home, you can never moan about a point away at Stoke. Can't help but think we could have won that though, just an unlucky day - handballs, dodgy offside's and at least one penalty denied. We clearly dominated in every measurable way except the score. Ward-Prowse my MOTM; such composed, confident and intelligent passing and frequently creates something out of not a lot. It has been a long time since we've had a better passer of the ball. Credit to Wanyama too though, his best game so far and is getting better each week.

It's a shame, as the 'Pochettino, Pochettino...' bit sounds really good. It's just the rest of it that's terrible.

He was sat just behind me with Yoshida, Davis, Fox, Gazza and some lovely looking ladies! He seemed in good spirits, they all did to be fair.

It's a great feeling to come home from a game disappointed we didn't score even more goals, from what was a dominant and professional performance. My only criticism is we seem trained to not look for through-balls in the box, preferring sideways movement instead. A few times we broke forward well and had a chance for a ball through Fulhams fairly static back-four, but instead we stopped and went sideways or even backwards. The second half was like a training session at times, Fulham clearly had no answer and no intention of finding one, they knew there was nothing they could do, we were THAT good. Stand out performances for me were Lallana (MOTM), JRod, Clyne and of course Sir.Rickie, although every player deserves an honourable mention. Boruc was an extremely safe pair of hands tonight, nullifying any threat from corners with absolute ease. Shaw looked superb at times, but towards the end almost seemed as if he was carrying a knock and more than once stopped in front of MoPo looking a bit jaded, hands-on-hips. I hope he's OK.

Playing like that against a team like Man Utd surely proves he should get International recognition. Great player, consistently.

Great team performance and not once did we look out of place competing against them. We justified our league position entirely. A few players with MotM performances; Lallana, Lovren, Morgan in particular, but my MotM vote goes to Clyne who had a superb game defensively and offensively. I clearly watch a different Osvaldo to others though, as I thought he did well, looked good and played his part well. He should have done better with his excellent chance on goal, so if that's the base for the criticism I kind of understand, but he's clearly quality so doesn't deserve the comments he gets against him.

That's a bizarre conclusion to come to. Ability has never been 'defaulted' to laziness... we have a team full of talented players and they aren't ever called lazy, as they are anything but. Even in the post you've quoted there isn't one reference to laziness, rather a comparison of two very different playing styles. We even worship Sir.Rickie, who isn't the most mobile and doesn't run around all game, but isn't ever called lazy. It is OK to be critical of players if they aren't performing, or aren't performing in the way we require.

You say that, despite nearly every single post saying Ramirez is clearly a very talented player. You're clearly making things up to suit a pre-formed opinion that doesn't reflect reality and definitely doesn't reflect this thread.

That's actually an interesting comparison... Ramirez is 100x the quality of Guly, but Guly will run for days, chase everything, stick his head where it hurts and get back up to do it again. Clearly MP rates this over potential and reputation, since Guly gets the nod over Ramirez, especially for those last 15-minutes when you need some energy and workrate.

Unless that 'someone else' is a Premier League club, it will mean very little. Gaston is clearly a very, very talented and intelligent footballer but for reasons I don't understand, he just hasn't worked as well for us as we hoped. In another league, with a different playing style, he will no doubt be excellent, but that won't prove we were right or wrong to get rid of him. We can only judge him on what he does for us, in the league we play in.