eddie

very well said. youth development, reinvesting profits into club/facilities/academy, attacking football that always wants to be on the front foot, growing and expanding but at a rate we can manage, strong core values. those seem to be some of the elements of the saints way. I think saints comes across as a very values driven business - like the whole 'saints way' seems very well communicated throughout the whole organisation. player recruitment, business model, etc. seem all to be part of one coherent ethos, driven by core values. I find it actually quite refreshing for a football club...

you might have taken my tone as a negative one...in fact I was very grateful for the effort!

that requires no apology. that is utter genius

I can officially say I've never heard that word before. also you sound like you were in fact in this brit pop group...and are bitter about not being signed to a label or something

what is...verve?

think tadic needs a bit of credit also this season for creativity. He's looked fairly decent. cant tell if caulker line....serious.... to be fair turning caulker into anything other than a defender may not be a bad option although I'm still in the 'lets wait and see if the spurs-caulker magically appears' camp

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/news/13717879._Focussed__Wanyama_an_important_part_of_Southampton_s_plans/?ref=rss He said he played a 4-1-4-1 with wanyama in CDM position and two advanced midfielders in JWP/SD. THat's a very attacking formation, just that JWP/Davis clearly arent the right people for those advanced positions. I think he actually set up quite attacking (and you can see that.....wanyama did absolutely everything in front of the back four) but He's doing it with prob not the best players in those positions. I guess he's reluctant to play Mane/Juanmi instead, because that doesn't give the defensive cover we need. Koeman knows that both JWp and especially davis will always track back and run the park, but can also push up. Granted theres always the line about 'not being able to stick it in the net' for both of them, but I agree it seems light to play with effectively 5 attacking players

this. It really isn't our first eleven, away from home, against a pulis side. I think had this come earlier in the season, before the loss in europe and home against everton, noone would be complaining. With clasie & bertrand back we'll be a very good team indeed

be surprised if there's not a few spanish/italian clubs that didnt want to buy him, though. Wonder if the summer was used as a testing phase to see what he was like in preseason, and by the time we'd made our minds up it was too late and other clubs had already done their business. Makes you wonder though why he isn't already out the door if he's not wanted at saints.

yeah I completely agree. Maybe he just isn't all he's cracked up to be. very strange though as I got the impression maybe wrongly that koeman was the one that wanted him.

hm. I think that's far too defensive for playing against a tony pulis side. I say romeu, alongside either JWP or Davis. But then replace your Davis with Juanmi (not sure why you didn't include him - is he away...?) and you're set. I would even consider giving Long a start. With the absence of Mane we desperately need both pace and creativity. Between Juanmi and Long we should be able to provide that. But I'd stick with Pelle as you suggest for sake of impact: I think Long can have a real impact coming on as a 60/70 minute sub. So mine is: -------Stekelenburg------------ Cedric Fonte Van Dijk Targett -------------Romeu------------- -------JWP/Davis----Juanmi Rodriguez-----Pelle-------Tadic I know it looks light in midfield. But JWP/Davis are playing further back than I've shown.

well granted I don't know the teamsheet. But he was in s america flying back, arrived back yesterday afternoon (sorry thought it was today he returned) from long plane journey. Played last friday and also on tuesday this week. So I doubt it. He needs at least 1 day to recover....and then that takes us to match day!

rondon is awaywith a venezuela game or something like that. Was with int'l team. he'll come back this evening I believe....so all signs are that he won't play. Looks like lambert and a sulky berahino leading the line.

like....? It's not the same as players, where skill is rewarded with being handed a debut. I think the kind of managers that would go to top 4/5 teams in this day and age, are from a very select pool of managers. The only possibilities as a step up in the remotely near future would be liverpool. Every other team (arsenal, utd, city, chelsea) I think would want to see much more experience before hiring a manager. Or spurs. but then theres levy-gate to deal with. I think it wouldn't be unexpected for him to move to saints and sign a longer deal, actually.

have they even trained together with virgil away with holland and then jose with portugal?

No, granted. Of course I agree. and obviously we all know their constantly troubles for the best part of the last decade, but I suppose what I was saying is a successful football team isn't dependent on a specific formation; i.e. it's not like in the absence of a big number 8/10 means we'll be weak or vulnerable. There's plenty of options to tweak and play around, rather than putting so much pressure on needing cover in that one position.

bit harsh. bottom line is people are p*ssed that rooney isn't as good as charlton, and that he doesn't 'deserve' the tally because very few have been decisive goals. but it's not a problem with rooney - its a problem with england. his form just reflects england's over last few years. Playing dirt poor opposition, getting kicked out of tournaments, being 'good' or 'solid' but never actually 'world class'. Give him a break. He's achieved something, and relatively consistently (cept for a coupl' years) produced alright performances. Not glowing praise, but sadly that's better than quite a few of the england squad. Ashley Cole, JT on his day, Gerrard, Scholes. Are there many more in last decade worthy of really challenging at int'l level?

Ah yes, the classic football position. Left/Centre defensive full-number 10 what you mean is just a box-to-box midfielder.....which koeman/reed clearly know we need as we were looking to get one on loan from abroad at the end of the window. didn't happen, but doesn't mean it's a travesty. We're flexible enough as a team with enough player variation that we can mess around with a system/formation and make it work. Arsenal seem to do pretty well with absolutely zero midfielders who put in any kind of defensive duty or have any kind of 'presence' (i.e. are big) and who play further forward than coquelin. sanchez is probably the player of their front line who tracks back and puts in tackles from the front more than any other...which is pretty damning. We'll be fine.

thought it was a great window this one. Can see Wanyama, Mane, maybe also one other going next year. No idea why, Just think that a club like Sunderland or Norwich might give 7-8m for Long. I think the rest are either too new, or enjoy being at saints too much, to leave. Forster, Cedric, Bertrand, Clasie, JWP, Romeu, Pelle, Tadic, VVD, Rodriguez will most likely all stay, which would be almost an entire team. I know we'll say that every season and there's always unexpected outgoings, but it was blindingly obvious clyne and morgan would leave. I think the only surprising one was cork, didn't see it happening. I also think clubs like Liverpool and Spurs will be much more reluctant to buy 'club men' like Lambert. He knew saints and the system, and managers knew him, so well that by the time he moved elsewhere, into a fresh way of doing things, it just didn't work. If we hang onto most of that core, it'll give us the space to make two or three solid, proven signings. We've gone and got ourselves a really good squad, with depth, next season will probably be the one for cashing in on talent like Mane and spending it.

that's extremely helpful although alpine_saint what do you mean by inferior opposition? lots of teams that were of lower quality than us last season toward December/Christmas time started to just sit back and play the long game, hitting us on the counter and making the playing space so tight that we couldn't pass around them. was he good at breaking down those kind of teams of lower quality, or do you just mean in general teams that were poor that ran at us would get torn apart?

Not sure what you mean....!

I can definitely see him getting a game or two in the first team between now and christmas. I think RK/EK will get to know him very well watching him train each week, and maybe as their confidence in his best position and ability to step up increases, they may well stick him in for a game or two. Probably come on in last 20 mins of a game when we're 3-0 up, first. not ITK, just a hunch

hahahaha

Haha. Well played. Very true!

far too much politics on this football forum. Hate the fact that a new player thread has just become dull, drivel side-taking. Who gives a toss about whether people are too pessimistic or - as I am - overly optimistic. Only a few of us really know what is going on behind the scenes and have any say in what to do, the rest of us are just blowing hot air about what we think is going on, and what we think should happen. Hot air can be entertaining sometimes....don't get be wrong Just think there's been far too much of this 'being offended' (on a f*cking internet forum...?) and then it just becomes a game of scratch my back/scratch yours. Things escalate, 'rivalries' (....on a f*cking internet forum...?) get formed and people get pssed off. I know I'll get replies saying things like 'nothing about the rivalries, it's because we love the football that were against so-and-so'....but its schoolyard stuff. I'm not a 'let's all get along' poster, nor a 'it's all about the football lets keep it on topic'. Either enjoy using the forum, or don't. Theres no loyalty or need to return to read about hot air. I love talking football, tactics, transfers, players, reviewing matches but seems theres only a handful of us left !! ... here goes