Southampton Rumours Archive December 20 2013

20 Dec 2013 16:45:49
heard it hear first MP has said "january will be a qiuet month for southampton as we are happy with the squad and the young talent" so sadly dosent look like we will be signing danny ings or anybody you can disagree all you want but its and ssn from his press conferance so sadly seems nothing will happen.

Quiet doesn't mean no one. I reckon we brjng in one player, but nothing marquee. Probably just cover.

Didn't we pretty much know this already? It's going to be like this every year as we always want to keep a squad together for a season and strengthen with time to gel in the summer. We would only sign one at most anyway with the idea of getting them into the squad and ready to come to the first team for next season.

Sadly dosent look like we will be signing danny ings

sadly? yeah ings is a good player but we should be looking at players of a higher standard

I don´t think we should sign anyone till the summer, unless something you can´t pass up comes along (Ie, a top player whose contract is close to expiring, or needs game time before the world cup, etc)

He said: “I never talk about assumptions or possible rumours – I’ve never done so throughout my entire career. "

As for Danny Ings why would we want a current England under 21 international striker with 2 goals in 2 games for his country and 16 goals for Burnley his season and to top all that he's a Saints fan.

I reckon we'll do business with one, maybe two signings. Perhaps one being a loanee.

I'm glad to have read Pochettino's translator say something along the lines of "Saints won't be selling Lambert". It would be mental to offload him, unless he begged to leave and it was his dream move to Liverpool, otherwise not on your nelly.

There are about a dozen players in the Championship, and both Leagues One and Two who I'd happily welcome to the Southampton squad. Danny Ings is currently in fine form, and seeing as he plays for Burnley (and apparently is a Saints supporter too!) it could happen. We've signed a few Burnley boys lately - Rodriguez, Foxy and Corky was there too.

Tom Ince would be an exciting edition, but I'd imagine one of the big boys (at home or on the continent) will get him.

It's a great time to be a Saints supporter. I have a feeling this may have been something similar to how the Chelsea fans felt just as they started to become ambitious (and "big") in the mid/late 90's. I just hope we keep our standards, and not just buy success and every Jose, Carlos and Diego for the sake of it.

Saint Etienne.

Cover at centre back probably and maybe a goalkepper

Ince and Ings! Lol! Yeah that's moving forwerd. were prem not championship!

I heard if we sign anyone it will be to improve what we already have - not just as cover. So all I can see is bringing in a £5m-£10m CB to partner Lovren.

Or selling Ramirez and replacing with an AM worth £12m who'll actually play.

Other than that no urgent improvements are required, as squad depth is catered for by our youngsters.

Well after today - six games without a win and an abysmal defensive performance - I think Maurico's statement about not needing anyone and being happy with the current squad is ill-thought at the minimum. I have been getting extreme agro for some time now saying that we have no adequate cover in the centre of defence, not even a half-decent back up goalie and no one who bangs homes goals regularly to make sure our forward feel under pressure. We MUST buy decent defensive cover and a decent goalie in the next window, well I say must but only if Saints are serious about challenging for a top four place, at the moment we seem in more serious danger of returning to the Championship. Anyone remember Phil Brown's Hull City? We seem to be mirroring them and all our manager keeps saying is 'we must work harder' surely there has to be a better strategy to move this club to the next level than sticking with under-performing players asking them to 'work harder' and hoping we avoid injuries and get better. This is serious stuff, or it should be. Sorry to go on but after supporting Saints for forty-five years I really though thinks would be different this season and I am angry and frustrated. What do you think? Cheers

Yeah, today's (lack of) Saints defence was dire. Hooiveld (once again) especially. Dreadful. As I pointed out this morning, he's not good enough for the Premier League, and lacks the quality/reliability required if Saints are to be doing as well as we dream of.

The Hull City AFC (yeah, that's their name, not "Hull Tigers" so get lost person owner!) similarities are actually something I thought of myself earlier, when Adebayor, of all players, ripped us apart.

Today's player ratings, in my own personal opinion, would be:
Gazzaniga - rubbish
Chambers - Another good performance from the teenager
Fox - Shows how much Shaw has improved, you can clearly see the difference between these two left backs now. Good, but not as good as Shaw.
Hooiveld - You'd get away with that playing for Celtic! Awful. Focus on defending, get a pair of legs to run with, and shave off that bloody beard!
Lovren - Hey up, what's this shooting from 50 yards malarky all about?! Worst performance from the Croat all season, but still miles better than his defensive partner.
Cork - Looked like he hadn't played much in a while, but put in a very good effort, worked his socks off as always. Good.
Scheiderlin - Another solid and strong performance, and a couple of excellent sliding tackles too - The one which sent Erik "Who are ya?!" Lamela flying was especially nice.
Steven Davis - A bit hit and miss, but covered Lallana very well. He's a good player for us.
Lallana - Best player on the pitch. Love how he seems so confident when on the ball. Tricks and treats, the captain played another blinder. Good finish for his goal as well. If Lallana doesn't make the England World Cup squad it'll be a travesty.
Rodriguez - Caught off side too often, but otherwise I felt he showed a lot of his good form, energy and work rate.
Lambert - Sign of a great striker is they always score the tap ins! Didn't quite have the target man impact he should have had, but was a work horse as normal.
Subs: JWP - Yes, good work!
Ramirez - I will drive you to the airport myself son, you aren't good enough for English football. Flop.
Gallagher - Got around quite well, not bad for a youngster. Signs of a good future ahead.

Well done to Spurs, and to Tim Sherwood for getting things right. With a little help from our shaky defence, and yet another Hooiveld own goal.

So, this January I'd sell Ramirez, and sign a proven replacement, and I'd also, as I keep saying, bring in a class centre half, and a solid keeper for back-up to Boruc.

by Saint Etienne.

Disagree about Ramirez, I think it was his best performance for 12 months, apart from his very first touch. Showed willing covered a lot of ground to help out and to get the ball. He managed to keep the ball, something he has not been doing too well of late. If he got another few games and upped his work rate and confidence, he could finally prove his worth. My feelings are he could be perfect for Osvaldo.

Agree with the above our defence was awful today and we have been sussed a bit as well. Spurs played with two up front and used the width of pitch and the long ball as well at times.

cannot place all the blame on the dutchman but it is obvious to me that he is not able to cope when put under pressure and even from half a mile away at st james last week his error at the back cost us the three points.

Gaston was truly a waste of space and a large salary when he came on. Did we all see him get caught in possession twice in our half because he is not quick enough via his feet or brain to move the ball on.

We looked a little lost at times today and injuries and our young squad are a bit of worry mo po facing his first real challenge of the season in getting us back in the groove.

Adam was brilliant and Gallagher made an astonishing tackle on adebayeour and ran the length of the pitch to get on the end of great pass from adam. looks like we have found another one.

I thimk ramirez isn't a wast of money it was his best performance all season a few nice touches and passes but still yet to show us his potencial

Have to disagree because we counted when he came on. Lost the ball three times one completed square pass and passed twice to an opponent, oh and of course no attempts on goal or balls into the penalty area as far as we could see and tell. figures may not be entirely accurate as we were watching the game but come on best game!

Will say though he did run about (rare for gaston) but then that is the least you would expect of an 11.5 million pound footballer earning I dunno shall we say 40k a week.

We also thought he had been on the sunbed as he looked very tanned and his hair was simply in superb condition.

Please someone tell me and reassure me that we have not been sold an 11.5 million pup.

I don't know about Ramirez, he may come good, but I am now starting to think we've been sold a goalkeeping pup for the second time (after makeweight in the Bale deal Tommy 'Forepast') with Paulo 'Dodge Ball' Gazzaniga. I also agree with a previous post that MoPo seems to have been sussed out, I was wondering when the next team would play us with two up front, Chelsea did it and with Dodge Ball in goal it's only 'when' not 'if' you are going to score. I do worry we seem to have no other plan other than press the opposition and crowd midfield but if they by-pass it by playing wide and hoofing it into our box we look really weak. I think January is going to be vital and a message about how this club and Cortese and MoPo see us moving forward. My view is 'no action' and we'll be the usual Southampton that will fight relegation battles and if we do really get a few quality players in, or at least show we have been trying, then we might look 'serious'. After all really good players aren't going to want to stay at a lower-mid table club no matter how much 'good football' we play and great players aren't going to want to sign on. The club will never let on if they are interested in players or not so I am hoping somebody on here might genuinely have their ear to the ground. That's enough words from me to last a year, so I won't post for a while.

Interesting fact, an anagram of "Gaston Ramirez" is:

"Amazing Torres"

I will write your xmas cracker jokes next year fellow Saints fans ;)

by Saint Etienne