Super_Uwe

I watched about 5-10min online, including their first goal. Even in that short amount of time, we gave the ball away loads. I am guessing it didn't improve much! I'm not really sure how I feel going into this season. I still feel the board will deliver the goods and add a few more new faces before the transfer window shuts, I don't think we are a million miles away from having a good squad to be fair. Obviously the VVD situation could do with being sorted sooner rather than later, I don't expect to see him playing for us again but equally I don't see him leaving for anything less than a huge fee. So in the end he may have to swallow his pride and get on with it.

Well, the most exciting part of the night for me was that the game was played in Chambéry! I spent six months there as part of my year abroad at uni, many happy times there and a lovely part of the world to boot.

I am at the stage now where I don't really care either way. I'm long past caring about Premier League clubs and players any more, they do what they want and aren't really bothered about their fans to be honest. If he stays and plays as brilliantly as usual, then great. If he goes then I hope the club will squeeze every last penny out of his next club, seeing as he chose to sign up for 6 years last year.

You could take your pick of dark days. I think '06 when we played Ipswich at home after Theo left was pretty awful (the game and the atmosphere). Maybe that's the one Alpine was thinking of. Or maybe it was any number of games in 08/09? I'm not sure really. Anyway, obviously the current situation is much worse than any of those.

Good news. He's a good keeper and I am sure he will want to kick on and improve on last year's efforts. Always tough being a keeper, problem is you will always be remembered for the cock-ups or mistakes, much more so than any other position on the field. Arguably even tougher nowadays with the continued expansion of televised football and social media. He's not quite at the brilliance of Niemi at his peak, but I would put him not far behind.

I'm sad to see him go but it's undoubtedly the best for both the club and the player. Assuming he stays fit, I think he will be a cracking signing for Albion. They are the perfect fit for him in my opinion, just what he needs to get his career back on track. Equally I'm looking forward to seeing how well Sam Gallagher fits in next season.

Cheap, but not quite as cheap as Bialkowski was when we plucked him out of thin air for about sixty grand:smug:

If he goes I fancy it'll be a "mutual consent" thing. He definitely does not deserve to be sacked based on this season's effort.

It's not absolute crap though is it? For a fair number of vocal fans, part of their problem with him is because his grasp of English and general lack of charisma in front of the camera is not up to what they believe it should be. It's not the only reason I know. But it's certainly one of them, pretending otherwise is pointless.

In my opinion the form has tailed off because the players know full well that there isn't anything left to play for this season. It shouldn't be like that but the reality is we haven't been near the relegation zone all season and we haven't been anywhere near the top 6 either. You could say the same sort of thing about West Brom and Everton, it's no coincidence that their form has tanked now their seasons are effectively over. For me I'd like to see Puel stay on, I think he's done enough this season to show that there could be some better days ahead (particularly with the introduction of the younger players). However, lose the last 3 and I don't think he will be back for pre-season.

I don't want Bertrand to leave by any means, but it wouldn't be a massive surprise either. He's going to turn 28 this summer (like J-Rod), if he's going to make a move to a big club then it's going to have to be sooner rather than later. However, his career before Saints was so patchy and full of loans here, there and everywhere. Being with us has given him stability and allowed him to flourish. He may decide he doesn't want to give that up after all.

Yoshida is going to be 29 this year, but I still think £15 million in the current climate is about right for him. You have to remember as well that he is a genuine trailblazer in the Premier League as far as Japanese players go, he's managed to establish himself in a decent Premier League team and has played well over 100 times for us. So that in itself will have commercial value for the club, if you want to look at it that way. I'd value Boufal at about £15 million too - undoubtedly the talent is there, but we just haven't seen enough of him so far to justify his club record fee. Keeping my fingers crossed though!

It is very sad to see what happened to Coventry. As others have said, we were just lucky in that the politics within the club at the time meant that SISU didn't take us over. I was reading Matt Le Tissier's autobiography the other day, and it's still quite shocking to read the bit where he talks about Leon Crouch personally having to cover the wage bill in spring 2009, just before we were taken over. It's incredible to think how far the club has come since then, I don't think anyone could really have imagined how we would get out that mess in the way we did.

Can't believe the negativity from some over Caceres' situation! I think some people are forgetting the fact he had been out of contract for 8 months. For whatever reason, no other club had taken a punt on him since last summer. IMO I expect the club will have given him some assurances that they will help him sort out his long-term future (and help him train and build up his fitness) in exchange for being happy to accept a back-up role with us. Clearly the club have sufficient faith in Stephens until the end of the season, and why shouldn't they?

I think if United were properly in the hunt for the title, you wouldn't be hearing this story in the media and it would be kept in-house. I think it's a lot easier to chuck someone like Shaw "in front of the bus" rather than look at the club's own failings - am struggling to see exactly how they have improved drastically from Van Gaal's reign. That must be pretty embarrassing for their management team. I am sure if he had his time again he would have stayed put with Saints for a few years. But you can't blame him for making the move.

I still laugh when I see Marsden's goal. He almost forgot to put the ball in the net after doing an impeccable straight-line run! I went to Portman Road the season before when we got beat, would have been amazing to have been there to witness that goal a year later... Davies' goal was really good. If you watch the video, I also like the fact the Everton players steadfastly refused to listen to the lad shouting "Ger'old of him then! Ger'old of him!". If only they had...

So what exactly is it that the club or Les Reed did wrong then? I'm beginning to lose track of it all to be honest:scared:

2003 under the roof at the Millenium Stadium was very special. I didn't go to Wembley last week but by all accounts it looked like another great atmosphere. I don't think we were overly negative back in 2003, we basically played our best team that day, the only difference really being Telfer in for Fernandes, with Baird at right back. The latter would have played in the final if he hadn't been so utterly useless in the 6-1 defeat. You can have bad games and you can have games where you are hauled off after 27 minutes!

My take on Les Reed is pretty simple...he gets stick because of his dreadful spell in charge of Charlton in 2006. The fact his job now is completely different is irrelevant - the fans who don't rate him generally don't want to know. In their eyes he will always be the loser head coach who isn't good enough for our club.

Don't believe for one second we would pay him £100 grand a week. Not a chance IMO. The established squad members would kick up a massive stink, and rightly so!

Not really sure what to make of the potential Caceres signing. I know Fonte leaving was pretty much inevitable over the last few months, and financially we seem to have done fantastically well out of a bloke who will be turning 34 this year, but I'd still rather have kept him until the end of the season (unless his presence truly was having a negative effect on the squad). Age wise, Caceres is a bit "out there" compared to our usual type of signing, but as a short-term deal he SHOULD be just about perfect for our situation. A lot will depend on his attitude and whether he settles in quickly, I'm not really bothered about his lack of games and injury record to be honest.

I'm not so sure the whole issue with signing a CB is as clear cut as some are making out. I would certainly have preferred Jose to stay until the end of the season as I'm sure he would have kept his head down and been professional enough if called upon. However - Yoshida has upped his game this year, and I guess you could say he's been rewarded for that along with his loyalty so far (he's never thrown his toys out of the pram, despite getting plenty of flak from some fans). He at least deserves a chance to establish himself with VVD as a first-choice CB. Stephens - I personally don't think it's a coincidence that he's broken into the team at the same sort of time as the Fonte saga reached its conclusion - I think the club wanted to give him a punt to see if he really could hack it. He's got a long way to go before you can call him a Premier League player, but the early signs are good and I have no issue with him being our 3rd choice CB once VVD comes back. Surely this is what we are looking to do as a club - develop players and give them a chance? Otherwise what is the point of them being here? Gardos - obviously he's not had a good time with us, particularly with the serious injury. At this moment in time you'd have to say he's our 4th choice CB. He has got everything to prove and hopefully he will. He wasn't a "bargain basement" purchase, the club will have spent quite a lot of money on him so far in terms of his transfer fee and wages, so you'd like to think there is a decent player in there somewhere.

Exactly. No shame in him rebuilding his career in the Championship, not every single one of our academy prospects are going to be Saints regulars. At least he'll have had a good education with us, he just needs to get regular football over the next few years, keep developing and he might get his chance in the Premier League some time in the future. He's hardly past it at 24!

Brilliant night for everyone associated with the club! Particularly pleased for Jack Stephens - it was an age ago that he broke into Plymouth's team as a 16 year old when they were desperately struggling for money. Fair play to him for keeping going and finally getting a chance to show what he can do. Now he's in the first team hopefully he can kick on and become more of a regular.

If he ends up at West Ham or West Brom, for me personally that will be one of the most bemusing transfers involving Saints ever. Nothing much makes sense any more though, least of all in football.