Saint Martini

Puel would be a good fit for Everton considering they have an abundance of central midfielders, no wingers and not enough attackers to create a rotating policy.

"The Netherlands international has not represented Southampton’s first team since picking up an ankle injury in January, but has turned out for the club’s Under-23 side this term." An indication of the accuracy in the article, wouldn't pay too much attention to it.

Some of the opinions on here are just ridiculous. Should be getting 7-10 goals a season? If he was playing as a "10"/second striker for a top team maybe. For a player that has been playing out wide, in a more backwards midfield role and sometimes as a "10" his goalscoring record a about where it should be. I understand JWP is a player that frustrates from time to time. He's got attributes that are top-top quality (passing, set-pieces) but also some that are below average (pace, dribbling & strength). This makes it difficult to find the right position for him. He needs to have the play in front of him to effectively use his passing but at the same time he can't really be relied upon defensively enough to be a a proper DM. Out wide his lack of pace and dribbling become obvious but on the other hand he gets to put in crosses. The number 10 position can work if he has two forwards ahead of him making runs, if its just the one then he needs to create chances for himself which just isn't going to happen. In short you have to create a position for him to be effective for me that is either out wide with a very offensive RB overlapping or in a Pirlo role as a deep-lying playmaker without to much defensive responsibility. Perhaps a more offensive role for Lemina making late runs into the box with JWP and Romeu behind could work in our current system? Otherwise I think a 4-1-2-1-2 with a diamond in the middle could bring out the best in JWP. Example: ---------------Forster------------- Cedric-Stephens-Hoedt-Bertrand --------------Romeu-------------- --------JWP----------Lemina----- --------------Tadic---------------- ----Gabbiandini-Redmond-------

Now that was a big mistake from him. Blind was already out of position, he should have stayed in line with de Vrij. He was exposed for pace a few times but that was also down to the Dutch midfield letting fast players run at the defence with pace. I was disappointed that he didn't win more headers against Giroud, even if Giroud is one of the best attackers in the air.

https://twitter.com/mixedknuts/status/900069025149059072 Very high aerial win % Good passer/ build-up player.

So now we have VVD, Hoedt, Yoshida and Stephens with Bednarek as a back-up (on for the future). Surely Gardos must be on the way out? Can't see him making the 25 man squad as it is right now. How long a contract does he have? One more season?

I don't condone it but I understand it. Toivonen is such a filthy player.

We sold Lallana and Lovren even though they had long-term contracts. As I said, depends on how the player reacts and the timing during the transfer window. I can't judge if the VVD is a Schneiderling/Wanyama or a Lovren/Lallana situation. All I am saying is that if we seem to be punishing VVD/Liverpool to prove a point about contracts we are not just making a statement to the big clubs that we won't be bullied. We are also making one to the players and their agents and they will probably be less likely to sign long-term contracts or demand release-fee clauses.

Yes there is. We can demand a higher fee and to a larger extend control when players will be sold. If players only sign two year contracts we know we have to sell after year two to get a fee.

What should Les Reed and the board have done differently? Sold him to Liverpool when news of the Blackpool meeting broke? Not be as adamant that VVD wouldn't be sold? We've been put in a difficult situation by VVD, his agent and last but not least Liverpool. VVD is under contract and Reed and the board should do everything to keep hold of him. BUT, if they are not sure VVD will be a professional and try his best to earn an even bigger contract next year, they should sell him if our valuation of him is met (even if it is to Liverpool). We should also consider that our stance can hurt us long-term. Agents are paying attention and we will be less likely to get players to sign long-term contracts if we don't let them leave if a big club comes in and is willing to pay a substantial fee.

A Pilgrim managing the Saints?

Julio Arca is still playing for South Shields.

http://statsbomb.com/2017/05/what-has-happened-to-southampton/ A statistical analysis of our performance this season. Thought it was a nice read and pretty much confirmed my thoughts about this season.

It doesn't. It shows that we take a lot of shots from positions you don't usually score from. Especially earlier this season we were guilty of this. If you look at our expected goals per match on the @11tegen11 twitter account you'll see were not that ineffective. We just didn't create that many real chances earlier in the season.

The performance was essentially bit that different from the match against West Ham. The difference was finishing (and maybe a bit of luck). As I pointed out after the match last week we had more expected goals then West Ham (1.3 vs 0.5 xG). Yesterday we were slightly better with 1.6 vs 0.2 xG. To get a return of 4 goals from that is very generous (1.6 vs 0.2 is a very good performance). The point I'm making is that we have been playing quite well without getting results in some matches. If you want to be critical of performances look no further then Burley, West Brom or the Swansea games.

He's played in Spain for several seasons, I assume he got himself a Spanish passport during that time.

We had 1.3 Expected goals, WHU had 0.5. The problem today was not the defending our creating chances. It was finishing and a bit of bad luck (their second). We've played some awful matches where we didn't create enough(Burnley) but this was actually quite decent. Over the course of a season these things even out, if we're lucky it will even out in the Cup final.

Is he out of contract in the summer? According his player page on Hull homepage he signed a 3-year contract in July 2014. That could make it a lot easier (and cheaper) to sign him.

I don't think we are that interested in loans where there is not a realistic chance of signing the player later. With loan-fees and wages for players like Jese and Martial there's a very high cost without the chance of making a profit if they do well. Its not really how we do business. Who wouldn't prefer Las Palmas to Middlesbrough if you're getting paid the same amount of money.

Swedish press had linked us (and Everton, Watford and Norwich) to Oscar Hiljemark. Not sure what to make of it. He's a good young player but he's a CM first and foremost, not exactly a positron we need more players.

Quoted this from the transfer window thread. We're taking a lot of low quality shots. We were at 0,9 Expected Goals today with 20 shots. Not the first time this season or numbers have looked like that. Puels tactics aren't working. We're not creating chances if we're playing teams that play defensively. The only good thing it's were not giving away many either. It's a bit about personnel, Tadic' injury and his dip in form after hurt our play a lot, Austin's absence even more so. But in the end your not going to score a lot if you're only playing three players whose primary job is to attack.

He got a yellow for having a bad touch?! That must have been one awful touch.

Could be a consequence of us playing Spurs on the 28th whereas WBA played on boxing day.

Schneiderlin would be our best cm if he cane back. He's still only 27 and at 15-20 million pounds a worthwhile investment. However we currently have a lot of CMs. Who do you seek if he comes back? Two months ago I'd have said Clasie without hesitating. Now I'm not so sure, he's been very good in recent matches and has finally adapted to the tempo in the PL. Loaning Read to a Championship team would only postpone the problem to the summer. A new CM would be a luxury, a new striker is a necessity. It doesn't have to be a permanent transfer, a loan would work just as well. Especially if you don't want to block Gallagher's path into the first team.

Do we bring home Gallagher? He should be able to get plenty of minutes now that Austin is injured.