Southampton Banter Archive January 27 2013

27 Jan 2013 19:15:16
Adam Lallana .. I am hoping that new manager can help with AL to progress .. He has come a little bit predictable in his play .. either step over or step back .. almost almost ending in a pass backwards .. rarely a good cross ..
I have no doubt I will be chastised for posting this but it's true! he needs to up his game as Morgan S has !

Lallana was our best player before he got injured. 5 assists and two goals is not a bad return. I don't know what you're going on about.

I totally agree he seems to have so much talent in the way he gets to the corner but then either passes to lambert or gets tackled for taking too long. personally i'd like to see him either cross or pass to luke shaw or if neither of those is open then do what he has been doing.

Exactly ... he seems to get to the corner area with ease and then stops !
does a couple of fancy step overs/back ... and then when he does pass, its the pass he could have made 15 secs earlier .. I think MP will bring the best out of him :-) so 5 assists and two goals becomes 10 assists and 4 goals in the same time !

Posted a text a few days ago exactly about Lallana. Just wait and see what happens with the new manager regarding our left hand side. We have probably three of the best left sided players in the country with Gaston, Adam and Luuuke, got a feeling Mauricio will get more out of them than NA and by pressing higher up the field will suit Adam more. Got good feelings about this so long as we can keep them fit. Any injuries in many positions we will be in trouble as most of our bench players are Championship standard at best. Just my view but it would be interesting to know what others think.

I agree .. what a left side .. Saints were on fire when we had Bridge and Marsden on the left .. and Shaw/Lallana can be as good .. and with Ramirez too .. could be something special ... Sad these about these forums is that if you post something slightly negative about a local hero ie Lallana, you get chastised .. his play is VERY predictable and I think MP will make him a much better player. One thing I heard about NA's training sessions was that they were predictable and had become boring .. so maybe AL's progress was being halted by NA character .. dull :-)

27 Jan 2013 18:33:12
Now that we do have a new CB in Forren our priority must be to bring in some pace for the wide areas or an all round attacking MF player. An exciting player in these areas will help the fans get behind the manager and take some of the heat off NC and demonstrate he knew what he was doing letting NA go. We are good going forward but do need more depth as a lot if you have already stated. Lalanna is on the verge of a return but we still have a lot of games to go and you don't know when/if the next injury problem will strike. One thing is for sure, we have to pull our finger out if anything is to happen that isn't a panic buy before the window slams shut.

I'd say more importantly we need a defensive midfielder to replace cork as when the ball goes to either him or schniederlin in and attacking position they're useless. As schniederlin is making more of an impact defensively i'd say its cork that's got to go.

27 Jan 2013 17:04:53
Paulinho is very good

young and talented

27 Jan 2013 16:56:40
Southampton manager Pochettino originally travelled to Barcelona as he wanted the chance to bond with the team properly and though taking the lads on a holiday to the place he called home for so many years could help him to get to know them.
However thank to Cortese it also could turn out to be to give a new face the chance to settle in with the club, the media are not going to be allowed in the training area tomorrow having been given almost open access today which is rumoured to be to allow a new signing to train with the squad before being unveiled later in the day.

The 'training area' is called Staplewood as they came back today!

The players actually arrived back in England yesterday so why are you making up complete rubbish?

I'd be happy if the media turned up. Could have great fun watching us ininvisible mode.

27 Jan 2013 16:31:49
I can't help thinking if we were buying a player from Spain we should have heard something official by now? Maybe we are not getting anyone this window but I agree we need a good finisher. Maybe the intense training in Barcelona will improve the players.

Agreed. Doesn't bode well. However. I think a lot will depend on whether NC had a back up plan to courtinho.

Got a feeling NC has already got a player or 2 sorted, don't think any announcement will be made till at least Wednesday so as to stop any other clubs trying to jump in. No info on this but just a guess, anybody agree?

27 Jan 2013 14:20:42
just watched the Cortese interview, looks like someone knows how to be professional & adult, its not good for ex-players to bad mouth.

COYS

27 Jan 2013 12:24:35
we needa marque signing like wellington nem or callejon. I think we need another cb as cover. possibly a cover(not starting) lb. a striker if lambert gets injured and a winger/cam which would be welling ton nem.

We have a good strong defence now, Forren was our new Centre back signing, we have options around the field I think we just need one or two new players to add a bit more flare to the side. We already are looking good but with maybe a new winger or striker we could prove much more effective. But I don't think a marquee signing is necessary in our current state.

27 Jan 2013 07:45:50
P.S we still need a decent signing or two.

I think our club looks good as it is, one or two signings would improve us maybe but we are not in desperate need to bring in new faces. I would love to see more quality players join but it is not necessary to keep us up.

WRONG! We need a good finisher to put away the many chances we create. We should have been out of sight against Everton and you haven't been watching footie long enough if you are under the illusion that the squad strength is anywhere it needs to be for Cortese's plans. Saints fans need some common sense and look at things more in the long term. I for one fully trust The Don to bring in the right faces. I'm sure there'll be minor mistakes or misjudgements along the way but his vision is top six consistency with a possible ground expansion. With the squad as it is this won't be possible. I'm sure he isn't simply looking at survival this season, he wants more and I'm sure we'll finish comfortably but not with the current resources on the field/bench. Look at West Ham, great start but no strength in depth and it caught up with them early on. They could beat the lesser teams but not the big boys, except Chelsea, but on the whole they are struggling for form. Don't kid yourselves, we aren't there yet.

Not for Cortese's plans yet, but this season isn't about Europe, this season is about consolidation. Our current squad really should be enough to keep us up and the financial injection at the end of the season should provide us the resources to buy the players to push towards Europe. But for this season, our current crop of talent is enough to achieve our simple objective of survival. Perhaps would be nice to get one or two new faces but it is not NEEDED.

Said it before but 1 or 2 injuries we would be struggling. Cortese knows that and will sign somebody. Still think Billy Sharp should still be here, Nigels fault. Sorry.

27 Jan 2013 01:34:04
Ed, I don't know who your source was regarding the supposed Saints bid for Coutinho, but I think he/she was having a laugh. There have been absolutely no confirmed reports of Saints being interested in him. It's the same as all the rumours about us raiding Espanyol. Our club has been linked with anyone who is either Argentinian, or who has played under Pochettino before, or who is currently playing in Spain and looking to move. If we do sign anyone else, they won't fall into either of these categories. {Ed001's Note - right, ok, whatever.}