Southampton Banter Archive July 21 2013

21 Jul 2013 17:06:17
i have seen on here and a few others about oxlade chamerlin coming back and if we have the funds think it would be the perfect signing for us on the right lallana on the left gaston as he's not going!in the middle looking up for the saints hope we make a bid for ox but dunno how realible source is so fingers crossed.

That would p!ss puncheon right off lol

I can't see it happening. Arsenal have learnt their lesson and won't be letting young players go. Plus he's good enough to start regularly for arsenal so he is unlikely to want to leave either. Personally I would suggest Wenger would rather see Walcott go before the ox. Plus there would be a lot of competition for him, and theo for that matter.
I would suggest barking up a different tree with actual potential signings.
I'd like to see us out in a check bid for Valencia at man utd?

Firstly why would Arsenal sell one of there best young players? secondly why would he join us when he has Champions League football there? And thirdly If you seriously think there is even the slimmest of chances of us getting ox back in this transfer window you definitely need your head testing!

Saint IQ

Arsenal have Champions League football. Chamberlain barely has a squad number. Not utilised properly last season and with more players inbound may find further opportunities hard to come by!
Not saying he'll join us but he certainly isn't a first teamer or champions league player.

He played in most of the CL games. If he is on the bench he generally comes on. He will stay at Arsenal so this post is pointless

Saint IQ

I have to say that not playing week in and week out will hurt The Ox's development. From the ages of 17 to 21 first team football is critical for a players development.

I'd love Alex back at Saints, and feel that he would be far better off at St Marys where he would play week in and week out, but let's face it, it's not going to happen!

SillySeason!

No, it's not going to happen. If it does I will be amazed. Even if arsenal were to bizarrely make him avaliable, he won't come here. I can see utd, city and Chelsea wanting him. Sorry but he is coming to st Mary's for one game next season, unless we draw them in the cup

21 Jul 2013 14:13:21
It's been great to see Lloyd Isgrove doing well in both preseason friendlies so far. Really pleased for the lad, especially as he had serious injury problems and missed the best part of last season.

Much of the recent talk has been about us needing to sign a winger, but could Lloyd do the job for us?

There's also been a lot of chat regarding the need to sign a right back, but again we have Chambers who has impressed so far and I'd love us to give the lad a chance.

What do we want to see as Saints fans? Would we rather buy success?
Would we rather see players that develop through our academy?

It seems to me with the lack of signings in key areas, that we are attempting to strike a balance between both worlds.

Great post! Part of our "brand history" is our ability to nurture talent through our academy. Barcelona won UCL with players like Messi, Iniesta and Xavi at the core of their first team. ALL THESE PLAYERS WERE NURTURED THROUGH THEIR ACADEMY. As a Saints fan, I want to see us strike an impressive blend of developing world class players through our academy, as well as being astute, and competing tenaciously in the transfer market to be able to attract players of the very highest quality to SFC.

Didn't Luke shaw end up on the wing last night

Finally someone talking sense on here

Thanks for the positive comments.
I'll stop talking sense now, and show how (some would say) deluded I am.

Following what Nicola stated about taking Saints forward, and the business beliefs of Marcus, you can clearly see that our club is being managed in a similar fashion. Nicola has engendered continuous, sustainable growth.
The focus on the team has always been to ensure that the team harmony is maintained, while ensuring that we continue to invest in our kids, and to ensure that there's a pathway for them to get to the first team. let's not forget, Nicola wants 50% of our first team to have come from our academy.

That's why I can't see us signing another 5 or 6 players as some fans would have us do. Instead, we'll sign quality, and supplement the team with academy kids, so that we can fulfill the 50% dream.

The ride is only at the beginning, but I see a very healthy future ahead under Nicola Cortese leadership. Nicola has the ambition for Saints to play in the Champions league, but to compete he'll need to address the issue of the 'comparatively' small gate receipts.
Nicola once said that they don't just have Plan A, but they have Plan B, and Plan C. He has shown time and time again that he's happy to make contentious decisions, and it may well be that the biggest is yet to come with regards to expansion of St Marys or a new stadium. Whatever happens Nicola has time and time again proved that he gets it right.

Based on that past, I for one am going to put money on Saints playing Champions league football within 5 yrs.

Am I mad? No I'm a believer!

No you're not mad. In my opinion, we will see some of the youngsters you have mentioned in the odd game next season, but the only home grown first team regulars will be Lallana and Shaw. MP has already stated that he is looking for 2 or 3 signings and that was before Wanyama. Therefore, a max of 2 more will come in. For me we need another striker and a CB as I don't feel that Jo's and Fonte are the top class players that we need to achieve our Champions League hopes.

Optimistic Saint

No you're not mad you're smoking greasy chips, our academy will not have the talent to improve our first team and take us forward YET, you've got to be realistic not just optimistic.
hence the reason poch has targeted certain players as targets.

Good to see that you agree with me. Our academy will produce another regular first team player or two over the coming years. But for now we have Lallana and Shaw. I don't smoke and I am very optimistic about the way our club is heading, you should be too!

Optimistic Saint

Personally I believe that having a team that's 50%academy players could take as long as 10 years, so we aren't talking this season or next.

So yes, we'll sign the odd player, (and I believe that next summer will be bigger than this) but as time moves on, we'll be signing fewer players, but of higher quality.

I think that is wot most teams in England or at least the prem and the championship will be doing in the next 10 years

I think that many of our very promising academy players will probably be sent out on loan to be given first team football. We can then scout them to see at first hand what they can do without risking them in the EPL.