UpweySaint

A club like us? I wont go down the dell sized mentality nonsense but twelve million pounds doesnt get you much these days (the odd bargain aside I admit!). I agree he has not reached the heights we hoped for you but do you not think he's had a rather difficult first season? Injuries, family problems, a change of manager, a language he doesnt speak, no pre season and a team not exactly setting the league alight. If we go down I firmly believe we would not sell for less then ten nor should we. He's contracted and still rated highly in Italy if you believe the heavy trickle of rumours.

Is it not a bit soon to say that? Has he fulfilled promise so far, not really. Will he? Maybe, I think so. To be fair his season has been interrupted by injury etc and he never had a full pre season, see how he fits in next year surely before selling at a loss? His value will keep fairly high as he is highly rated in Italy if nowhere else.

For me JRod has shown his worth this year, seven million doesnt get you much for an english striker but hes actually looked good since the turn of the year.

Not sure it's deserving of a whole thread (please feel free to move it into another thread) but bbc gossip is carrying a rumour from a caught offside article (http://www.caughtoffside.com/2013/03/14/arsenal-ready-to-pounce-as-wenger-prepares-summer-move-for-southampton-playmaker-gaston-ramirez/) suggesting Wenger wants to sign Ramirez in the summer. Plenty on here have had the debate about his performance this season but the article suggest "The forward has enjoyed a good debut season". Anyway my question is, should their be unlikely foundation to the rumour, is their a price at which people would sell? I still think he'l come good but somewhere near twenty mil for me

Mm that's rather what I had in mind. If investment came from all quarters and there was a bit of genuine ambition something brilliant could happen for the football club and the city. I think the argument goes that if the place had enough draw to keep people coming from the local (i'm talking hampshire, somerset, dorset etc) area it could be an important part of the city and make the stadium more of a focal point then it currently is. Hopefully any investment on this level would encourage additional transport links as well to make the whole area more accessible. Be that maybe subsidised buses from the main station or even the talked about additional platform such issues could be overcame. As much as southampton has a fair ammount going on something like this could help it compete with the draw of London. Just look at gunwharf over in Portsmouth. Excellent use of available space.

Interesting but such development needs a much wider scope then us. If we were to invest heavily I imagine council and private business would also need to invest. It could well happen and could make the waterfront more of a focal point bringing it that non matchday revenue

Morgan player of the season. Special mentions for jwp and luke shaw, sure there is a young player of the year kicking around Numpty of the year Cortese Ok cynicism aside the player would have to be Fox. I've kept saying he's a decent back up but he seems to be going backwards, bizarre!

"we" dont really have to ignore cortese's decision to move on. when im at sms im supporting the team and mp as much as i did with adkins. moving on is one thing pretending things never happened is another. no question the table doesnt lie but thats not really the point of this thread. dont really want to have the same old argument but i think there will always be those of us who want to hold nc to account for what looks like a v poor decision.

Irrelevant how? Should we not question decisions made at our club? Bizarre logic.

Nonsense. Utter nonsense. Did we struggle early in the season? yes. Had Nigel made mistakes? Yes. Had our form turned upwards? Yes. Had he showed the ability to learn from mistakes? Yes. Nothing of that suggested that he could not develop along with the team. He was not perfect and maybe did not appeal to everyone but to write off his potential seems foolish at best. Every obstacle we had faced he overcame. Whatever your opinion of your future prospects do you GENUINELY believe we have a better chance of staying up this season under Pochettino then we did under Adkins?

I think the author acknowledges that. It seems to be about opinions. Mine is we'd be better off under NA. If Cortese didnt fancy him long term ok but he was the man to keep us up certainly.

BBC disagreed with the decision calling it "very harsh". I personally thought it was a foul but Shaw is pulled back clearly just before he commits the foul so we shouldnt of even had to have a debate. Either both or neither were fouls for me, same level of contact. Consistency would be nice from the officials but there you go ...

Im not going to start crying about it but feel like we've taken a step back lately. All good play but not able to grind out results. Yoshida made a couple of v good interceptions but is v clearly not a rb, Richardson must be dross in training not to get the nod. Lambert cut a frustrated figure. Ramirez had a decent first half but really faded. Al is finding a few good postions but doenst look sharp enough. Needs a goal to get the confidence going imo. Jay Rod really looking v good last few games, shame he wasnt just a touch more clinical today or it was a different story. The lack of Puncheon till the 90 left me mystified. Shaw again showed real promise just needs to keep maturing, didnt need to make that challenge but going forward was v good and made a few good challenges especially in the first half.

Bizarre. How is Puncheon not on? In this weather his running into the box could create something scrappy or wouldnt be surprised to see him brought down for a foul!

Disagree. Have had a few decent chances and forced a couple of top saves. On this pitch in these conditions we wont look like Barca, it will be scrappy. I'd say we've had the better of the half and just need to keep doing what we're doing. But of course fair point we do seem to have a habit of being v impressive in games but not actually picking up the wins.

Yoshida at rb still puzzles me. Never looks right there. I think he has enough about him to come good at cb but why chuck him out right the way we play with attacking responsiblity given to our full backs? Bizarre!

Ok I'l say it Gaston looking better so far. Good movement, strong on the ball, decent shot forcing a good save.

What's frazer done wrong? Looked perfectly competent when called upon this season for me at least as competent as others in the squad. Arguably Clyne is a v exciting talent but I wouldn't be concerned seeing Frazer on the teamsheet.

Sorry I keep making the same point but he clearly was not match fit. He had taken a knock, he was a doubt and he didnt look 100%. True though he was culpable for the second goal.

Fair point, it is a lazy description and perhaps a little inacurate however I think their is a valid point in there somewhere. For me it was a lack of leadership on the pitch. Needed somebody to shout and drive the team forward (I understand this would usually be the manager or the cpt but one is still learning the language and the other was subbed off). The only time this really came across was Fonte having a few strong words with Ramirez at one point. In a relegation fight sometimes the mental aspects of the game are important (as are the mental forum posters).

Targett was training was the first team this week, don't be too surprised to see him on the bench if Shaw isnt fit.

Shaw was not match fit yesterday. Yes he was out of position for their second and not his usual self but I think perhaps he shouldn't have been on the bench. Richardson has sown himself plenty capable when called upon (albeit rarely) with clyne switching across to lb. My opinion anyway. And to those saying they'd have traore over shaw we yes perhaps but that is a very short term view that, as a club that plans to be reliant on bringing through academy talent, cant really afford to have. We're not utd, chelsea, city ..

Difference. You post anything and everything negative to get a response. Here you go enjoy the limelight.

Fair point, if you look at how shaw stood his ground when they broke earlier in the game and the cross was pressurised and over hit ... Yosh was poor today but has looked better in recent weeks. I still think he will come good though. Hope im right!

I think you'l find Adkins has a better record then MP any most managers would have had us NEAR relegation. Others will disagree, me included, and think NA could have taken us on further. Agreed though poor timing. Has given MP an unfair task but, for balance, he knew what he was getting into (he'd done his homework!). No we are not doomed but if we do go down the blame games will start.