Cortese on Chamberlain

[NickG]

You may be right although from the little we saw against Peterboro i doubt it about the last signing.

 

8 mins!

 

I know this forum likes slating saints players!

[dubai_phil]

You may be right although from the little we saw against Peterboro i doubt it about the last signing.

 

Hehehe... Can't resist this one

 

So we drop back to the ManUre Post Game reaction thread and see that (some) were up in arms about N'Guessan for his cameo

 

And then in the very next game? He is a close run candidate on Solent for MoM setting up a goal etc using his pace and build etc etc etc

 

Deja Vu again

[Window Cleaner]

Hehehe... Can't resist this one

 

So we drop back to the ManUre Post Game reaction thread and see that (some) were up in arms about N'Guessan for his cameo

 

And then in the very next game? He is a close run candidate on Solent for MoM setting up a goal etc using his pace and build etc etc etc

 

Deja Vu again

 

Indeed, after the glowing reports that I heard about N'Guessan at Exeter I was really surprised that he didn't get a look in against Peterborough,chucked on to the bench to make way for some strange set up involving Guly and Ox.Then again although I'm probably in a minority of 1 again I personally think NA makes some pretty strange team selections at times.I do sometimes wonder if there's pressure on him to play certain players.

[OldNick]

why did we sign him then? You've got to give the lads a chance.

I rarely if ever dismiss a player on his first game or appearance. It is very harsh to do so, I just am doubtful, not saying he is rubbish (yet). He did look lost and had no touch, but I will give him time, but i felt N'Guessan deserved another run out instead of this new player as N'guessan caused trouble with his power and strength, something that the boro players had already shown problems with RL.

I support the players as much as most and had many disagreements with people when players like Crouch and Marsden first played.

[ericofarabia]

"I was in the driver’s seat. There was not a second I doubted that he would stay."

 

Love it.

 

Nigel's Bus driver .... ?

[Window Cleaner]

I rarely if ever dismiss a player on his first game or appearance. It is very harsh to do so, I just am doubtful, not saying he is rubbish (yet). He did look lost and had no touch, but I will give him time, but i felt N'Guessan deserved another run out instead of this new player as N'guessan caused trouble with his power and strength, something that the boro players had already shown problems with RL.

I support the players as much as most and had many disagreements with people when players like Crouch and Marsden first played.

 

Which is why I said that I sometimes find NA's selections and substitutions strange.Even then I wouldn't form an opinion on 8 minutes.It may be that the 8 minute run-out that Forte got was a bit political,we've signed the player on a 3 and a 1/2 year contract so not playing him at all last week might have seemed a bit odd.Whilst I quite enjoyed last week-ends game even with sticky stream in the second half,I personally thought that Guly was very poor and Barnard wasn't much better. Then again it has to be said that I'm not a big Barnard fan.

[karlma]

"I was in the driver’s seat. There was not a second I doubted that he would stay."

 

Love it.

 

.....at least we know who is driving the bus

[dronskisaint]

I rarely if ever dismiss a player on his first game or appearance. It is very harsh to do so, I just am doubtful, not saying he is rubbish (yet). He did look lost and had no touch, but I will give him time, but i felt N'Guessan deserved another run out instead of this new player as N'guessan caused trouble with his power and strength, something that the boro players had already shown problems with RL.

I support the players as much as most and had many disagreements with people when players like Crouch and Marsden first played.

 

To my mind he had two opportunities to display his 'touch' both just in front of us in the stand. The first, within a minute or so of coming on, was a waist-high ball coming across his body in a swirling wind from his left to right side. He 'air-kicked' that one. The second one gave me more hope...we cleared high in to the away fans corner and all around us thought it was going out for a goal kick...Forte not only caught up with it but controlled it on the bounce and laid off a decent little ball...at the time (not having heard who had come on on the PA) I'd thought it was Gobern - I have crap eyesight - and remarked that I didn't know he could move like that! When some kindly soul with better eyesight pointed out my error I thought that must be the 'Jonno fast' that Adkins talked about.

 

Give the guy a chance....first appearance, swirling wind, us defending frantically...there can't be too many more hurdles for a young, newly signed winger to overcome!

[goneawol]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/southampton/8310643/Alex-Oxlade-Chamberlain-remains-part-of-Southamptons-five-year-plan-despite-interest-from-Liverpool-and-Arsenal.html

[hypochondriac]

“Factually, I was in the driver’s seat,” admittedly that is funny.

[trousers]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/southampton/8310643/Alex-Oxlade-Chamberlain-remains-part-of-Southamptons-five-year-plan-despite-interest-from-Liverpool-and-Arsenal.html

 

"Cortese looks baffled that there was ever any doubt about how this particular transfer saga would unfold."

 

He's not the only one....

[St_Tel49]

3m with add ons would have done nicely. I dont believe Ox is equipped to change enough games for us to have the luxury of him.I know the majority will agree with me but that is how i see it without my rose coloured specs on.

Antonio did have the know how and strength to do so.

 

Well then, I am glad that it is NC and not you that runs the club. Why not just give the family silver away? It should make room for some cheap ornaments.

[trousers]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/southampton/8310643/Alex-Oxlade-Chamberlain-remains-part-of-Southamptons-five-year-plan-despite-interest-from-Liverpool-and-Arsenal.html

 

“It definitely did not help their cause - it is as simple as that,” says Cortese.

 

He's turning into Adkins...! :-)

[trousers]

And the most important quote from the now extended Telegraph article IMHO:

 

“The negative side of all the speculation was that it messed up quite a few deals that we tried to do. You can imagine every time we put a bid in, people were, ‘wait a minute, you are just about to cash in £10 million’. We lost out on one deal despite the fact that we had the best offer.”

 

Charlie Austin per chance....?

Edited 8 February, 2011 by trousers

[hypochondriac]

was that the one postponed when Markus died?

 

Yes.

[hypochondriac]

is that the solent who said Chamberlain had been sold?

 

And the quotes from Cortese at the season ticket dinner? Were they lying/mistaken as well?

[Thedelldays]

And the quotes from Cortese at the season ticket dinner? Were they lying/mistaken as well?

 

You are so boring hypo.

Go and play with fire

[hypochondriac]

You are so boring hypo.

Go and play with fire

 

Thanks delldays.

[OldNick]

Well then, I am glad that it is NC and not you that runs the club. Why not just give the family silver away? It should make room for some cheap ornaments.

it is about opinions. At present my priority is for us to get promotion, to expect Ox to make a great impact on that will be something. IMO he needs to be taken out of the firing line for a few games. His last 3 performances have been below par and Im tired of hearing all the hype about him by the media. His oace got us a penalty the other night but those direct runs he was making seem to have disappeared as teams are now doubling up on him. I believe my thoughts about taking the money and using it on someone we already know can gets goals and results is pertinent. Ox will be leaving us, we may get another 5m for him but that will be offset if we fail in the promotion chase. It may be that Adkins decisions not putting pace up front will cost us, CMS at Boro showed us what a pacey forward can do, Antonio has that with power (Nguessan as well) I really dont think Ox at present has it(power). He will be a fine player but I'm a team man and feel the whole is more important than the individual.

NC has made the decision to keep him, but that doesnt stop me wondering what if.

[St_Tel49]

it is about opinions. At present my priority is for us to get promotion, to expect Ox to make a great impact on that will be something. IMO he needs to be taken out of the firing line for a few games. His last 3 performances have been below par and Im tired of hearing all the hype about him by the media. His oace got us a penalty the other night but those direct runs he was making seem to have disappeared as teams are now doubling up on him. I believe my thoughts about taking the money and using it on someone we already know can gets goals and results is pertinent. Ox will be leaving us, we may get another 5m for him but that will be offset if we fail in the promotion chase. It may be that Adkins decisions not putting pace up front will cost us, CMS at Boro showed us what a pacey forward can do, Antonio has that with power (Nguessan as well) I really dont think Ox at present has it(power). He will be a fine player but I'm a team man and feel the whole is more important than the individual.

NC has made the decision to keep him, but that doesnt stop me wondering what if.

I wasn't so much questioning that fact that you might want to sell him, as the price you were willing to sell him at hence the "give away the family silver". By that same token you might have sold Walcott for a couple of mill and Bale for 500k. This lad is easily as good as them.

PS I don't believe that keeping Chamberlain had any influence on our intention to recruit new players if Cortese's interview is anything to go by. We had offers in that were turned down because the greedy so and sos thought that we were getting £10m and they wanted some of it.

Edited 8 February, 2011 by St_Tel49
PS

[OldNick]

I wasn't so much questioning that fact that you might want to sell him, as the price you were willing to sell him at hence the "give away the family silver". By that same token you might have sold Walcott for a couple of mill and Bale for 500k. This lad is easily as good as them.

3m now and with adds on may be a better deal than 10m now and no add ons. i doubt the club will have much say on the final figure, as if you may have missed NA's interview where he said they were not going to get involved in a bidding war but what is best for Ox (to me that says the agents/parents have made that clear, they decide) I think Bale is better than the other 2. I remember seeing him on his debut and coming away knowing we had unearthered a massive star, I will wait to decide about Ox.

[St_Tel49]

3m now and with adds on may be a better deal than 10m now and no add ons. i doubt the club will have much say on the final figure, as if you may have missed NA's interview where he said they were not going to get involved in a bidding war but what is best for Ox (to me that says the agents/parents have made that clear, they decide) I think Bale is better than the other 2. I remember seeing him on his debut and coming away knowing we had unearthered a massive star, I will wait to decide about Ox.

 

You may be at odds with the professionals there - but we'll see.

[OldNick]

You may be at odds with the professionals there - but we'll see.

...as in your claim that he will be as good as Bale. Not that he is not going to be decent

[Secret Site Agent]

I can

 

from SolentSport Twitter - 'just to update people asking - Saints say they will do the solent fans forum at st mary's in the new year. '

 

 

OH, NO!!!!. The club only have 327 days left to have one.

 

Shee-it

[hypochondriac]

from SolentSport Twitter - 'just to update people asking - Saints say they will do the solent fans forum at st mary's in the new year. '

 

 

OH, NO!!!!. The club only have 327 days left to have one.

 

Shee-it

 

Erm...

[um pahars]

Fair play to Cortese (and others) for sticking to his guns and not falling for the pressure from the "bigger" clubs. Also good to see him probably (as I'm speculating here) stand up to Oxo's advisors as well.

 

Just hope him and Adkins have managed to make Oxo see the sense in their viewpoint about him being better served in staying with us, as wouls hate to see him become disaffected.

 

I've always wanted us to play by the book regarding transfers (e.g. for all of Lowe's faults, I thought this was one area where he did show some good grace and manners), so it's good to see us sticking it to some who may not be as gentlemanly.

[Johnny Shearer]

http://www.ashburtongrove.co.uk/2011/02/reason-alex-chamberlain-didnt-sign-for.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AshburtonGrove+%28AshburtonGrove.co.uk%29

 

Throw that into the mix shall we! Doesn't seem to compute or Alex and his camp are being very professional and keeping it to themselves.

[Wes Tender]

http://www.ashburtongrove.co.uk/2011/02/reason-alex-chamberlain-didnt-sign-for.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AshburtonGrove+%28AshburtonGrove.co.uk%29

 

Throw that into the mix shall we! Doesn't seem to compute or Alex and his camp are being very professional and keeping it to themselves.

 

I saw that too. Arsenal noses being put firmly out of joint because Southampton no longer have to roll over to have their tummy tickled when one of the glory clubs come knocking on our door to take away our best players. How dare we?!

 

"His family and advisors agreed that Arsene Wenger was the man to get the best out of him and Arsenal were the club where he would get a chance, as Theo Walcott, another former Southampton player had already trod the path from before him.

 

However there was one man who was against any such deal for the player.

 

Southampton chairman Nicola Cortese refused to listen to offers from Arsenal. Even though Chamberlain's advisors had told him that a deal with Arsenal could be done.

 

He informed them that Chamberlain would see out the season on the south coast and that the Saints were the best club to develop him.

 

Obviously, the Chamberlain camp were bemused by the thoughts of Cortese with regards the League one club were better placed than a Champions League team at training players to reach the top of their game."

 

Well, that is all debateable, isn't it. The question has to be asked, that if we are such a poor prospect when it comes to player development, how come that we have brought on such players recently of the calibre of Bridge, Walcott, Bale, not to mention others such as Surman, Lallana, Best, Jones, etc? Our record in youth development seems at least the equal to Arsenal's. And what became of those players who left us to join the glory teams in the Premiership? It was some time before Walcott got a really sustained run out at Arsenal. Why, he had had an outing for the National team before Arsenal really gave him a chance. Bale? It also took quite a while before Twitchy realised that he was plenty good enough for a sustained run in the first team too. Surman? Whatever became of him? How many matches has he played for Wolves since he left us?

 

So the response to Ashburton is that regardless of whether your team is playing Champion's League football, that is no guarantee that Chamberlain would be playing other than reserve football for a while, or warming their bench. Surely his apprenticeship is still being served and he will develop more quickly and keep his feet planted on the ground more readily playing first team football for us. He can hone his skills against the rough and tumble of this division, which will be much more character building than reserve team football with Arsenal.

[Smirking_Saint]

Erm...

 

I know you struggle but a year is more than 2 months Hypo.

[OldNick]

I saw that too. Arsenal noses being put firmly out of joint because Southampton no longer have to roll over to have their tummy tickled when one of the glory clubs come knocking on our door to take away our best players. How dare we?!

 

 

 

Well, that is all debateable, isn't it. The question has to be asked, that if we are such a poor prospect when it comes to player development, how come that we have brought on such players recently of the calibre of Bridge, Walcott, Bale, not to mention others such as Surman, Lallana, Best, Jones, etc? Our record in youth development seems at least the equal to Arsenal's. And what became of those players who left us to join the glory teams in the Premiership? It was some time before Walcott got a really sustained run out at Arsenal. Why, he had had an outing for the National team before Arsenal really gave him a chance. Bale? It also took quite a while before Twitchy realised that he was plenty good enough for a sustained run in the first team too. Surman? Whatever became of him? How many matches has he played for Wolves since he left us?

 

So the response to Ashburton is that regardless of whether your team is playing Champion's League football, that is no guarantee that Chamberlain would be playing other than reserve football for a while, or warming their bench. Surely his apprenticeship is still being served and he will develop more quickly and keep his feet planted on the ground more readily playing first team football for us. He can hone his skills against the rough and tumble of this division, which will be much more character building than reserve team football with Arsenal.

 

I personally don't think Wenger has been good with Walcott. There have been a few games where he has been taken off when it looked clear to me other players were off form.

That knocks his confidence, Im sure Sir Alex would have brought more out of him

[The9]

it is about opinions. At present my priority is for us to get promotion, to expect Ox to make a great impact on that will be something. IMO he needs to be taken out of the firing line for a few games. His last 3 performances have been below par and Im tired of hearing all the hype about him by the media. His oace got us a penalty the other night but those direct runs he was making seem to have disappeared as teams are now doubling up on him. I believe my thoughts about taking the money and us.

 

Has last three performances haven't been as a wide attacking midfielder, either. Playing Ox-Cham in a narrow diamond has stopped him making dangerous runs past defenders up the line because he's getting the ball and starting the runs 15-20 yards further back than he was. He's also got twice as many opponents to beat if he comes inside. The run into the box v Peterborough that won the penalty was one of the few times I've seen him in a position to do that in the last 3 weeks.

 

It's not his form, it's the position he's being asked to play at the moment - and given that THAT is Adkins' response to us failing to score in a standard 4-4-2 without Lallana, and since then we've scored against Man U, 2 at Exeter and 4 away to Peterborough, I'm not knocking it.