eddie

JWP. 2011-2019 saints, 2019-2021 man utd, 2021-2024 real madrid.

won't happen. don't mind where we finish as long as it's top half. the recent run of form hasn't made me change my expectations to top 6, just it's been a refreshing reminder that we are still a strong side, strong defensively, who - with a bit of luck and some players (long, JWP, clasie, romeu) having a few good games - are a tricky fixture for any team. felt that the dream had ended in Nov/Dec last year and that Mane, Wanyama, arguably Pelle would all leave, while Cedric, Clasie, Long and Romeu hadn't shown their value. With Stekkers with Tekkers between the posts, it was looking grim at best. Now things have changed, I'm confident our midfield will be OK next year, I'm happy we aren't so reliant on Pelle, and that we've got some genuinely really good talent in our squad who I think will stick around for a few years to come (Bertrand, VVD, Forster, Clasie, Cedric, Romeu, Austin etc.). We march on! (but maybe not to top 6 this season..)

sorry - yes totally I agree. that's why ron has gone with a back 3/5, because it allows him to include targett and cedric as defensive minded midfielders. they aren't sufficient to play in a back 4 (maybe cedric, depending on opponent), but with this system he gets their defensive cover and has 3 solid defenders back all the time. my point wasn't about midfield cover, but about marking. you just do not need 3 'CBs' playing against 1 striker. Koeman himself says he likes a back 3 against 2 centre forwards, because it allows 2 to mark and one to receive the ball/be in open space. when you only have costa, I'd rather have people in the centre of the park than hanging out at the back. the key people we need to track are people like fabregas, I'd rather have back 4 and the 5th person in midfield such as davis/clasie to stick to fabregas, or any other stand out player

why would we go 3 at the back (5 defenders) when they have 1 striker, costa..? this game will be won and lost in the midfield. I'd go with either: 1) a standard back 4 (VVD/Fonte/Bertrand/Cedric), tight midfield 3 of romeu/clasie/davis , and then a front 3 of mane right to keep azpiliqueta pinned back, tadic on the left to terrorise ivanovich like last time, and austin in the middle. or 2) same back 4, same midfield, but with pelle as a target man to lay off the ball to long/mane. tadic on the bench.

u18 defender who stepped up to u21s and is apparently quite decent. quick look on saintsfc tells me he can play in front of back 4 also.

surely you'd say they come here because they want to play in the premiership. sure, the money is a bigger-than-we'd-like-to-admit factor, but we are a solid club with aspirations to be top 8, good squad, good manager. it's not just the cash in reality. none of those players would go straight into top 3 teams, mainly because the likes of chelsea and city are going to buy bigger name players and splash the cash on lads that have already proven themselves at another club in the prem...e.g. saints. I was quite surprised arsenal went in for that eleny lad from switzerland. not a big name, not a big transfer fee, just 5m or so midfielder that goes almost straight into arsenal starting line up. that's not the norm for big clubs.

ha. would love to hear "hey, tottenham, leave our kids alone" being sung away at white hart lane

I suppose the only thing that the super league would bring is that 'the best of the rest' begins to actually mean somthing. if arsenal, city and chelsea are all playing in european league there's a realistic chance that clubs like everton and saints could finish top 3 and go up. though I'm sure the decision makers will try hard to keep clubs like ours out of their esteemed competition main problem , like with everything football these days, is it only favours those with cash to spend. everyday hardworking season ticket holders who sing their hearts out week after week won't be able to afford going off to spain and turkey every fortnight. only a select few rich folks will be able to actually attend away games.

or he just wants to get some game time / show what he can do for this years euros...

my mates a borough fan said ramirez looked very good when he played against mk dons midweek and that borough fans are excited about him. didn't watch the game myself so cant verify it

can't call this. tempted to go with us for a win since we're on form and couple good'uns coming back however, swans also got some new faces in and a new manager. could easily win. it'll all come down to sigurdsson. Watched the highlights from their game against palace at the wkend - he was their stand out player. if we can contain him then the game is ours.

U18s on a rotten run. not glorious advertisement for saints academy take back what I thought about Ron's comments re: academy prospects not being good enough. Felt he was stifling the southampton way. Now I think he's more or less on the money. seager and gallager just aren't the answer if we are pushing for top 6, given todays climate of surrounding teams spending the cash and getting in quality players

actually wouldn't surprise me if they put em down. saints always likes to brand itself as being forward thinking and ahead of the times think of St marys being this state of the art UEFA elite stadium w/ 'expandable capacity'....fairly forward thinking or the academy etc. for some reason just always had that impression, maybe just my experience

zip it , would you? seams like you're always making these needle-ss comments

genius

battle of the ponytail

don't particularly mind west ham. away games are always fun. friend of a friend who went there just shouted "pie and mash" and "jellied eels" in a barnsley/yorkshire accent the whole time. apparently it was meant to be offensive. not especially worried bout the game tomorrow....we showed at arsenal that we can keep nice ticky-tacky football at bay, and if they resort to old school lumping balls into the goal, I reckon fraser and fonte/virgil will mop 'em up. 6 pointer this if ever I saw one. Fancy us winning and getting a couple of goals.

he was clearly instructed not to go forward or to let mane/long run instead. he hardly got beyond bellerin at all. I'd keep him and drop long, who had an absolutely shocking game. winning 3 or 4 headers was about the only notable thing he did. misplaced several passes to arsenal and then there was that one-on-one where the ball bizzarely got tangled in his feet....could easily have been a goal/corner. I say pelle for long, davis for JWP or keep JWP (either, I think JWP has had a good few games), and lastly clasie in for romeu or wanyama.

charlie austin is good but he won't gain you 7 places on the table....... he is one type of finisher, that doesn't mean he is every type of finisher. people were lambasting the decision to put on pelle last night, but I thought it was genius. the whole problem was we weren't holding the ball up to give time for the pacey finishers to get forward. pelle provided that option by holding the ball up, even though he only did it 2-3 times. my point is different finishers are good for different circumstances. I wouldn't put charlie austin in my team every week as if he is going to be a miracle maker. I don't think he's good enough to 'create your team around him'. same as I wouldn't put pelle or long in automatically, depends on the opposition and our squad. he is good. excellent in fact. but I think we have a very good squad without him here. at least he does provide someone who is used to putting the ball in the back of the net, and also gives a chance to drop players (pelle) who are not scoring. My expectations for him this season are he'll give the squad a boost and some confidence, he'll get a few goals, and he'll enable the squad to rotate. not much more expectations than that. hopefully given preseason and a few months with the rest of the boys, he will be exceptional and a real leader for us next few seasons.

obviously don't need to mention FF, van dijk, fonte, wanyama and bertrand. felt romeu was excellent on the ball, excellent defensively, his final pass 3-4 times was horrendous. long and mane should have troubled much more. mane won lots of balls, but when either of them were in the final third their passing, decision making and shooting were way off par. thought tadic was good but sat too far back (compromise you make by being more defensive...) . thought he could have troubled bellerin a lot more - not for pace, but could have turned him sideways had he been playing near corner flag cedric good, little more freedom to go behind , played it cool from the back ward prowse excellent defensively I thought. won several headers, the goal line clearance, made tackles in front of our D. thougnt he was v good but wasteful up front. the match could overall have done with a touch of class in the final third. davis in for long and more composure from romeu and mane, and we could have won that game.

fairly sure a midfield defensive pairing of clasie and vilhena would be the tiniest partnership in history. be like fielding a team of borrowers

unbelievable times that stoke can just pay 20m for a new signing in january and a) a lot of people haven't heard of him (i.e. he isn't even necessarily world class), and b) it's not even a big deal think we will have to be very resilient and maybe have a slight change of tack in order to challenge for top 8 / 10

york city - back when I lived in't yorkshire. cracking atmosphere . main stand must be 5-6000, football not so good but jolly supporters plus a chance to sing a bit of 'up the football league we go' !

from wikipedia: "Since retiring from football, Moran has worked for an internet company and as a lorry driver, based in Yorkshire." guess nothing could compare to the dizzy heights

no brainer bournemouth is as much as intense rivalry as stoke