Southampton Banter Archive August 28 2015

28 Aug 2015 21:58:40
Lots of moans groan and massive dissatisfaction, mainly aimed at Les Reid. He has three days left to save SFCs season . Why don't we ever get any statement from him?

If he fails to fill the three gsps in our squad ie attacker, CD and creative midfielder then I suggest he stands aside immediately. The problems should have been identified in the last 10 games of last season. He should have acted during the summer . He hasn't .
He won't sign big names, which are desperately needed.

Getting Austin and VVD will give the right message and lift all the squad and the fans. We need momentum and as at now we don't have any.

28 Aug 2015 23:25:51
There's one player coming. That's it.

I don't get the "Charlie Austin will fix everything" hype either. I think Pelle's played quite well - certainly one of the better performers this season.

The problem isn't the strikers, it's the quality of the players charged with creating chances for them. Charlie Austin would be just as impotent as Pelle if the best Saints can come up with as a tactic is aimless hoofs from inside their own half.

29 Aug 2015 20:01:05
If Les Reed is in charge of all football matters at saints
should he not be the one that should be taking the flak from the fans
and not Ron Koeman
as far as football goes I would vote Ron Koeman over reed any day
he is just a money grabber if Wanyama or Mane do leave I think Les Reed should resign

28 Aug 2015 18:27:49
I see that WBA have just greed a fee for Johnny Evans from Man U.
Surely that would have been a better signing for us to make rather than trying to get the untested VVD.

Yet again another one of our rivals getting better whilst we do not.

28 Aug 2015 19:10:16
I wouldn't worry about Evans. He's another John O'Shea who'll be exposed as totally crap without 10 Man United-quality players bailing him out to give the illusion that he's competent.

28 Aug 2015 20:12:26
After the everton game it was stated saints need an experienced CB
FAIRLY URGENTLY
12days later we are still waiting WHY

28 Aug 2015 22:55:53
No money in rokos pockets all locked away , so about 140m in transfers plus 80m from revenue from tv rights etc, 220m and were still waiting for a quality cb

28 Aug 2015 23:01:18
Forgot to put 50p in the black box meter

28 Aug 2015 15:42:17
I have found one silver lining from our European exit. We'll be on tv less and we never play well in televised matches. Here's to an upturn in fortunes!

28 Aug 2015 15:13:14
Hi Guys

I managed to watch the europa match in the local pub last night, to be honest we all know it was absolutely dreadful. Usually I try to take some plus points from a defeat but I couldn't find one, In my opinion FC Midtjylland are not a good side and on a par with our championship division, unfortunately we made them look better than they are, we were a very poor team playing with the wrong tactics.

No desire, no commitment, matched with no idea how to break down the opposition, apart from hoof the ball up field as soon as possible and hope Pelle
gets on the end of it, but again the attack was none existant we haven't scored a goal in open play since the game against Newcastle, good teams find a way to break down defences and score but all RK could do was blame the ref for not spotting a handball okay they got away with one, it happens in most games but that's not why we lost.
Southampton FC are not as good as they think they are, I wrote a couple of weeks ago Les Reed has sold the marquee players and apart from a couple of players, bought mainly squad players we got a bigger squad but not a lot of quality. To be totally honest I can't see them getting much better unless RK spends some big money on marquee players we all know we need a CB were also desperate for a quality schemer someone who can be the link from defence to attack, Let's hope RK can work some magic and get this team performing

28 Aug 2015 19:37:35
Clasie will tie defence and attack.

28 Aug 2015 20:47:07
Clasie plays in the control position at the base of the midfield and has done his entire career.

If Saints have signed him with the intention of using him in a more advanced role that he's never played before, that'd be a heck of a punt. He's not a creative midfielder in the slightest.

Let's hope it turns out a lot more successful than trying to turn Shane Long into a winger. Or a footballer.

28 Aug 2015 14:55:52
Wasn't Spurs new boy Heung-Min Son a saints target last season?

28 Aug 2015 10:31:59
How is it that teams like Stoke, Swansea, Leicester, Crystal Palace etc. have good solid sides however you would class them as unfashionable clubs probably less marketable than us . Are we doing something wrong at boardroom level and not attracting the best players, either with low wages or bad scouting . Just seems strange that all these clubs are settled and ready for the long hard season whereas we seem to be somewhat in disarray .

28 Aug 2015 11:16:34
We've played 7 competitive games - they've played 3.

28 Aug 2015 11:34:42
You cannot say that Chris given that we settled last season instantly compared with other sides who took months to get into the swing of things. This season we're on the other side of that effect, a sluggish start which has been hampered by key injuries. The only thing those teams have done differently over us is strengthen areas of their first eleven, whereas we have chosen to strengthen our overall squad. You can't get every transfer window right, adding depth is handy but it comes at the sacrifice of buying ready made quality which the going rate is now £10 million plus.

28 Aug 2015 12:47:34
The clubs you mention do not sell their better players unlike saints
sooner or later it had to have an effect selling about 12 first team players in about 15 months
now it is biting saints on the ass and people wonder why

28 Aug 2015 14:17:41
We may have strengthened our overall squad but you could argue that was unnecessary now that we are no longer in the Europa cup! I think we should have brought in a couple of quality players weeks ago. Going on recent performances I think we will struggle to finish in the top 12 this season.

28 Aug 2015 15:36:27
My only reply Jof is if you class us as having played seven " competitive " games I must have missed something , to me we haven't really competed in any of them .

28 Aug 2015 20:02:39
I agree, Saints have looked below par from the off this season, for whatever the reason, it is the manager, coaching staff and players that need to sort it out. Just look at our results this year and how many wins we've recorded since January.
I'm not buying the injuries argument we were aware of these before we set out buying new players, bar Clasie, none of the replacements are on par with those that have left.

The EPL is getting harder season upon season, just look at other clubs and how they've bought, if things don't change (better quality signings and tactical changes) then this is going to be a very long season indeed.

Can someone enlighten me and share what our next 5 year plan was again!

28 Aug 2015 21:50:57
Injuries?

The club have only just found out about Tadic's blood infection which is causing his fatigue (if it is a blood infection, no details other than an irregular blood test result have been released)

We've also been without Bertrand & Clasie and there's no way Caulker would be at the club if it wasn't for Gardos' injury

For the game last night we were also without Wanyama (whether he'll be here next week or not is irrelevant) & Mane.

J-Rod is still nowhere near match fitness, not an injury but injury related

Forster is the only injury we've known about since last season

That IS a lot of injuries and it is a lot of extra new players to bed in, which is the main reason the team looks disjointed at the moment, not a lack of talent.

28 Aug 2015 08:52:20
Now out of Europe will vvd still be interested in coming here over others? Any thoughts on that eds?

{Ed001's Note - he just wants the bigger stage of playing in England mate, it is about money, the only reason Europe mattered was to whether Celtic needed to sell or not.}

28 Aug 2015 10:43:09
Hi Ed001's thanks for all the work you do on this site for us over passionate Saints fans. I was wondering if you had heard any rumblings or rumours of what positions or players the board are looking at as seems to very quite, and after last nights performance has that kick started anything as I believe we need 3 players CB,Creative MD and a striker to help out Pelle.

{Ed001's Note - centre back is still on the agenda, with you know who from Celtic still being a major target, plus a striker. I don't know of any move for a midfielder at the moment. There has been a lot of talk about going in for Austin, it is purely the worries over his knee, and that he is nearly out of contract, that are holding Saints off from firming up interest in him with a bid. Like everyone else, they know QPR have to sell, so are waiting on the price to drop.}

28 Aug 2015 11:25:31
Thanks for clearing up the vvd situation. Personally I was hoping it might stop him coming as I think we should be going in for a more established CB to allow us to go back to 4 in defence

28 Aug 2015 08:47:01
Hi guys, first post. Just wanted to get your opinions on whether Saints should try to sign a creative attacking midfielder as well as a CB before Tuesdays deadline. It's just that watching the game last night made me realise that we are just lacking that little bit of flair and creativity going forwards to give us an attacking edge, maybe someone like Praet whom we where linked with earlier in the window. Any thoughts?

27 Aug 2015 23:36:55
Someone has to say it. Already time for Ron to go? His plan B ain't working.

28 Aug 2015 07:44:11
Ridiculous

28 Aug 2015 07:55:36
Under poch we played the best football in the league he may be a traitor but at least we weren't hoofing it up the pitch, we are playing relegation standard football, not saying we'll get relegated, but it's not right to be goofing it against a team with much less quality then our own

28 Aug 2015 07:57:31
Of course we are all disappointed in being dumped out of Europe before the group stages and also in the manner that was done. We're certainly struggling to rediscover the flowing attractive football we all prefer too. BUT. two premiership games into a long premiership season and the panic is already setting in.

RK has proven himself consistently to be a first class manager and shrewd in identifying players that firstly won't bankrupt the club and secondly will give a good return. To talk about him needing to go?? What - shall we bring back Paul Sturrock?

We a need to rally round and support RK and the team on Sunday and have faith that things will improve. If Christmas comes and we're being drawn into a relegation dogfight then maybe that's the time to start to worry but right now the players (all of them) and the manager needs the fans to be 100% behind them!

Like most of us, I'll be at St Mary's on Sunday cheering the team on through thick and thin!

Come on you reds, and come on RK!

28 Aug 2015 08:47:12
I think it now shows that ( as I have said before) if you rip the heart out of the side twice in just over a year something had to give . Jose looks a completely different player this season as he has no protection from Morgan and by losing Ryan ( for now but he might want to be off soon too ) , Clyne , Toby and Forster his limitations have been exposed . We seem to be signing players that no one else wants as I haven't seen us in a battle with other clubs to sign them and they seem to be of very average ability , like signing two or three Guly's God forbid . I am concerned that many of you think that signing VVD ( who nobody else seems to want , strange seeing he is supposed to be that good ) and Charlie Austin will be the answer . I hope you're right but personally I think we have real problems with shape and creativity and even Messi would struggle to score in our side at the moment . Pelle might not be the greatest CF in the world but he must be getting fed up and losing confidence when we have a midfield who are clueless and can't pass or shoot straight and non existent overlapping full backs who can put decent crosses in to the box . We are in a right mess and not sure RK knows how to fix it . I honestly believe if we had put out half a dozen of our top academy players last night we would have had a much better chance of getting through , at least they would have tried and battled to the last minute . Didn't see any passion last night and as much as he upset us we need energy like AL gave us all over the pitch , one player like him could motivate the rest . There are other players out there like him and to me putting the speed back in to our game is paramount .

28 Aug 2015 08:57:04
Wasn't suggesting he should go. Made in heat of moment. just have a feeling that there was no obvious plan to up tempo esp after conceding.

28 Aug 2015 09:13:27
Don't quite get these shrewd replacement players you are on about . Most of the players that have been brought in have been pretty cheap and cheerful replacements for what we have lost or they have been moved on as in Elijah , Djuricic . The only positive was Toby and I still don't understand why last January we didn't pay AM whatever they wanted in cash back then . He might still have been here as we would have had him on a contract and not let him leave like we did with Morgan . Some people said his loan contract did not allow that to happen but we all know that contracts mean nothing when big bucks are involved .

27 Aug 2015 23:19:58
I know Koeman's comments about it being our best performance of the season may seem bizarre, but you have to take into account that seeing as the squad is low in spirit the worse thing to do would be to say it was terrible.

If we get a good response from the players on Sunday, then it will at least soften the disappointment of tonight for some.

As others have mentioned, I'd love to see Charlie Austin join Saints, whether we go for him is a complete different debate.