BG_Saint

I wasn't looking carefully as I had to do some work, so can't really speak about the overall performance, but I loved the goals, especially Lallana's one. AMAZING pass by SRL and even greater play and finish by Adam! J-Rod also has to be committed on how he controlled the ball, dribbled and finished it - all top class skills!

These two pretty much sum up my opinion of the whole affair too. Really wanted him to succeed at the club, he looked like he really wanted to fit and be part of the team, at least at the beginning... I'm surprised no one else seems to notice that it's the leading Italian club taking him, so he's actually moving up and he'll prolly get some CL time if he sticks with Juve.

I dubbed him "The Beast of St. Mary's" after seeing his stats from last night's game, but now it seems he's the beast of the whole PL. Too often his contribution to the team goes unnoticed because of the position he plays in (much like Busquets in Barcelona), but he's clearly one of our most important players. I'm only worried he might be tempted if an offer from Liverpool comes in. I remember reading an interview with him where he said Gerrard was his idol.

Brilliant decision by MoPo to leave J-Rod play from second role, he was superb for our second goal. Sam was a bit unlucky but def showing a lot of promise. Cork and Callum really impressive as was Shaw. Fonte, AL also played well although with some minor errors. Another game in which a team from the top of the league looked like the weaker side. Only Chelsea looked better from all the teams we've played this year. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

To be honest, not sure I should get involved in this thread with the amount of emotional output that had been produced by other posters, but I might as well... Everyone knew Osvaldo had some incidents of misconduct before he came to the club, but he has also repeatedly stated that he has enjoyed his best football under Pochettino. I think it was a bet on the part of Cortese and MoPo - buy a quality striker under the going rate, because of his history of creating trouble on and off the field and hope that you can control his dark side thanks to the positive relationship you have with him. Like every bet, there is a risk it might backfire and right now it seems it did. But I wouldn't jump to hard conclusions so fast. It is beyond me how you can make a final conclusion on a player who hasn't even played one full season at a club. The two incidents of misconduct (Newcastle and the one with Fonte) are worrying, but I think there is way back from the current situation. I hope Osvaldo gets back on track and stays at the club.

You should have posted this in catala...

Sometimes... Just for a change... I would like to feel bored being a Saints fan...

Bought FM14 around Christmas, but I have this awesome save of 6-7 seasons with the Saints on FM12 which I just can't stop playing

Celtic's Stokes sent off without second thought from the ref for a similar tackle...in the Scottish PL.

Sure, but that doesn't fit with the "Chinese billionaire led by Cortese waiting just behind the corner to pump millions into Saints" rumour we are discussing here.

So why go publicly with "We *really* wanted him to stay"?

Both are plausible, however unlikely IMHO. Don't get me wrong, I'd love for Cortese to come back with a powerful financial backer looking to invest into making the club one of the best of the league. That's the only way for Cortese's plan for CL participation and challenging for the title to come to fruition. Fingers crossed.

Exactly. If the deal was imminent and brokered by Cortese with him planning to stay as Chairman, why leave? He could have stayed and prepared the club for the change of ownership, especially where KL publicly announced she would have liked him to stay. Cortese's leaving remains a strange (and unexplained) affair and this news (if true) makes it even more so.

Of course not.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/scottybryan/this-is-the-best-twitter-conversation-you-will Is this a 'thing' now? A clever way by social media managers to justify their salaries?

Ok, let me correct myself - I don't think we wanted to foul and hurt him, I think it was more a case of... doing what's necessary to stop him, including fouling him.

Yes, because the alternative is a 50%+ chance of Gaston scoring, effectively sealing the win for us.

It's pretty appalling that so many people find such a move to be 'a fair challenge'. It's not. It's a horrible tackle, and one which is NOT reckless - Brown knows very well that there is a high chance that Gaston will score from that setup and that will effectively end the game. On the other hand, there is a good chance he will get away with it, either because a) he gets a flick on the ball b) the ref is in a position from which he cannot see the challenge very well c) even if he sees it, it will be hard for him to send off a player from the home team at this very moment. Therefore, from purely practical (&logical) standpoint, it's better for him to go for it. What's even worse is there are quite a few people on this forum who said "if it was one of our players, we would have been applauding it". No, I would not. I understand why it needs to be done and why Brown did it today (as I tried to explain above), but I would never support such a tackle - it's horrible, it doesn't add anything to the game, and it has no place in it.

More like 2 red cards...

Indeed.

My feeling exactly.

Gutted. It's a biiiiig step back. More like a leap. We'll hopefully recover and continue progressing, but it will be a while. Alternatively, we can just implode.

OK, it's a *wild* guess, but could that have been the reason for the dispute between Cortese and the owners over the summer?

Some rumours going that Dietrich Mateschitz (owner of Red Bull) is looking to buy a Premier League club with good assets (stadium) and CL potential... He already owns several football teams in his native Austria, the US, Germany, and Brazil. Southampton Red Bulls maybe?

Interesting profile of him on WhoScored.com. Particularly impressed by his performance in the Bundesliga where Wolfsburg are currently 5th and by his average ratings in the positions on which we'll be interested to play him - attacking mid behind the striker(s) and on the wings. Pretty versatile by the way too... Would be a good buy, but my guess is that it would be such a bargain because his contract is running out and his wage demands are too high.