Southampton Banter Archive July 06 2014

06 Jul 2014 23:06:57
Hi all,
I have just read that were looking At a £8 million bid for Davis Marshall, and if that fails we will ask about Fraser Forster, also tadic is expected to be signed witching the next 72hours with FC twentes coach leaving him out of a friendly because a deal is soon to be completed.
Also the club are digging their heels in the ground with Lovren and finally schniderlin wants the club to spend the money to make him want to stay even more.
All seems calm and looking up at the moment
COYR

{Ed007's Note - What's the general feeling in England regarding Forster, Charlie (and everyone)? I'm a Celtic supporter and personally I think he has came on leaps and bounds since he first came up here and will only get better. You could do a lot worse but you could do better with the money you have to spend.
I also think the fact Dave Watson is now with Southampton now could be a big factor if Southampton are interested and he might be where the initial recommendation came from. A move to England certainly wouldn't do his international chances any harm and although I am biased I think he would push Hart for the No.1 jersey, I don't rate Hart at all, he is only the best out of a bad lot and Forster playing up here certainly goes against him. I'll put it like this, Forster isn't any worse than Hart and how much would he cost to buy from City?}

Im a huge Forster fan tbh and would be my fav gk signing but I wouldn't put him at harts level, though he's had a poor and then ok season he is still a fantastic keeper and would be no1 at any team.

I am not sure why you are so critical of Hart Ed? I think he is quite a good keeper. He has a good idea of positioning and spreads himself well to deal with one on ones and has a great ability to come out, collect and take charge of his area. Signs of a very talented goalkeeper.

Forster has one attribute you could argue over Hart, he has very strong reflexes which you could argue makes him surely a better choice. But he does have a tendency to make things look more spectacular than they need to be. Forster seems to make things strangely difficult for himself and then pull off some seemingly spectacular saves because his position wasn't right. A common pundit argument about keepers is "That was an easy save so don't rave about it" whereas because they positioned themselves well and got set the save became easy, Forster does sometimes struggle in this regard having to pull off more difficult saves.

Not saying I don't rate Forster, but he appears to have large holes in his game. Some attributes make him look like one of the top group of keepers, but he still needs a lot of work to be a truly top notch keeper.

{Ed007's Note - I just don't think Hart is as good as the English media make him out to be, to be fair though they do it with a lot of English players. You can't put Hart in the same category as say a Cech or Neuer can you, look at some of his howlers. He isn't in the top bracket of GKs in Europe, he's a good GK but no more than that and Forster isn't far behind him. If Forster was playing in the EPL I think he could really kick-on and push Hart for the England No.1 spot.}

07 Jul 2014 08:33:51
Ed007 I think Forster would be an excellent choice for Saints at a cost of £8m or less. He would be a commanding presence, which is what we will need if (when) Lovren departs and we integrate a new CB (s). As for Hart, I think he has been poor recently and PL experience for Forster will certainly make him a more viable option for England. But would Roy select him to start?

{Ed007's Note - If Forster got into the EPL it could give Hodgson a selection headache, if Hart was to be benched at City again Forster would take the No.1 and it would be difficult for Hart to get it back. I just don't think he is that far behind Hart in terms of overall ability.}

Ed007 with interest in van dijk and forster do you really see them selling both? And as much as i'd like it I can't see celtic selling both to southampton

{Ed007's Note - I think a lot will depend on the CL qualifiers, I can see them both being sold if we don't get through but if we make the group stages I think one of them could be for the off if the player really wants a move and there is a big money bid on the table. I wouldn't like to call which one though, both have their own reasons for having one eye on the exit door.
We have already signed Craig Gordon (don't even get me started on that one!) and I think that he is the contingency plan if Forster leaves. Being in Brazil with England will have just whet his appetite BUT if he knows he will be a regular in the squad he might fancy another year up here with CL football and move on next summer, that gives him a year to stake his claim for the No.1 jersey for France in 2016.
I don't think the financial side of things bothers Forster too much, he seems to have his head screwed on out and seems to worry more about his career than his wages whereas I think van Dijk (or his agent) are more money orientated going by what has been said. It's a tough one to call, Clarkey, sorry for rabbiting on there.}

07 Jul 2014 16:06:38
A good quality CB is desperately needed. If it means we take Marshall rather than Forster and get Van Dijk that would be fine in my opinion. Although, I would prefer both of the Celtic players if available.

Greatful ed007. I like the look of van dijk as an up and coming cb and koeman is a big fan so hope he does end up here think koeman could teach him alot.

Forster has always been someone I rated him or Alex McCarthy i'd be over the moon with think Forster is further along and could push Boruc out the team as rumours are we are looking for a long term replacement.

All the best for this season

{Ed007's Note - Van Dijk is quality, who ever signs him is getting one of the best young CB's I've seen in Scotland in years. He seems to have everything going for him as a defender plus he chips in with the occasional goal. Good luck for next season, hopefully you finish above Liverpool :)

Personally I would rather we got Forster than Marshall under the guidance of Watson think he would be England's number 1 hart always seems to have a mistake in him doesn't fill me with confidence at all and seems to be. Very big headed and to cocky, have to agree with ed the press over rate all English players we don't really have any world class players yet, hence why we went out of the World Cup most of the other teams have at least one truly world class player, personally think we are desperate need of a world class striker Sturridge is ok but misses to many chances to be called world class

Sorry but Forster v's Marshall no contest. Log on and watch Marshall in action, amazing keeper. He has it all.

{Ed007's Note - Marshall is a good GK as well, Celtic just seem to be churning them out in recent years.}

Ed007

I completely agree that Hart is massively over rated. He was in loan at Birmingham, came back to PL with arguably the best defences that season in front of him - they made him look good. One good season and everyone rates him high.

He had many flaws, but rushing out at the ball too much is one of his biggest.

Look at some of the changers he's dropped - notably the one at st Mary's when Steven Davis managed to roll one in after he was nutmegged.

I genuinely get nervous watching Hart play for England.

I still think we should have done what Klinsmann did with Germany - air we are not going to progress through the competition, completely re build the England squad from scratch, get the youth players some experience for the next competitions.

{Ed007's Note - Hart's a good GK but that's it, I bet you could easily name 10 others you would rather see Southampton sign than him.}

06 Jul 2014 22:05:21
Lovren can't stay - So why not let Spurs take him. let's accept £15 million plus Andros Townsend, he will get fully fit this year and he is versatile.

Lets promote Matt Tarrgett and he will challenge Shaw within a year for the England spot.

Lets promote Sims to the bench, he is going to be one hell of a player.

Lets get the Costa Rica goalkeeper. what a class act and apparently can be had for £8-10 million

Lets promote Spiderman to Club Captain and pay him accordingly, with a clause that if we don't end up in the top 7 next year he gets to move on.

Lets be positive, Lambert fantastic servant and deserves his move, Lallana has watched Bale - Walcott - The Ox all earn big money and be a success. he was good for us but we will see Tadic play 90 minutes regularly. Shaw. great player but if you were 19 and offered £100,000 a week how long would you take to say yes to MUFC. ?

Lets be proud of supporting Saints. the future is bright, we have a new season, great new manager and Matt Le Tissier is too old to be sold so will always be with us. :-)

Great attitude! I love it! 😄😄

06 Jul 2014 23:40:21
Great to see somebody with a positive attitude.

There is class in abundance from those still at Saints. With a pot of maybe £60 - £100 Million, I'm sure RK will know how to spend it and get us players that we'll be proud to call 'Saints' in a short while.
COYR. Come on you fellow Saints. We'll have a ball. Keep the faith. After all as my Mum used to tell me, "She could get my father's gun. Support the Saints"

06 Jul 2014 19:11:09
just read on newsnow saints football club
matt le tissier telling lovren to keep his trap shut
could we make tiss the new chairman or chief exec or something
someone with some balls just what saints need right now
cos reed and krueger haven't got balls
forestsaint

I think every club needs someone on the board who has passion for the club, an ex-player or fan, so decisions made are not just business or for financial gain. I get it running a club is a business but there needs to be more loyalty in the game, if you sign an agreement you abide by that agreement unless the terms are not met.

Think we all know contracts mean nothing in football. Too much money involved and therefore easy to buy them out. Bit like mobile phone contracts, if you're loaded no problem just buy out of it. Money talks and has ruined what used to be a sport.

06 Jul 2014 15:55:14
Getting the Rosy tinted glasses slapped off my face!. at the End of the season we had achieved the best season in the PL, playing attractive, pressing, possession football. MP and the team had a bright future for the next season with a few key additions. But the skys were darkening! NC leaving, owner commitment, loss of two development coaches, pressure and rumbling of players wanting to move on. But with my trusty rosy glasses I see Owner, Coach and players staying and being committed to the promising year the can have once again. Then SLLAAAPPP. my glasses are gone! Things are not great at all! MP leaves, our most valuable assets are sold! The dream has died, the temptation of the big clubs and money was too much. This was the hardest thing to come to grips with, the realization that big clubs with money will always pick off the worlds best talent. I was hoping that the kids that grew up in our system would stay loyal as long as we progressed up the league. But we were not immune to the continual cherry picking of talent from the big clubs. If AM can win the Spanish league and still be dismantled of their top talents because they don't have the mega bucks, then what will happen to any normal club that dares to reach the CL level. If we continue to do well this year, our remaining gems will be under pressure to move. We have a probably 2 years in which to make our push for European or CL places before the Mega buck teams come in because our star players are doing so well. It really does make the hope of being in the top tier of football club unobtainable. Now where were those rosy glasses. ahhh, here they are.

Rosy glasses back on! oh. that looks much better! New High caliber coach, record fees for our want away stars, our biggest ever Transfer war chest, New training ground completed, new coaching staff and some high quality transfers rumored to be coming in. All very exciting! Watching the World cup also gives me optimism, there is so many good players out there, even the so called "weaker" teams have proven that the overall quality of international players has risen to a very high level. If we can continue to produce highly sought after English footballers who we will always get a premium if sold and continue to replace with the academy (a lot to ask for to continually produce top class PL footballers from our academy, but who better to have a chance of success than one of the best academies in the world!) and cheaper foreign talent, then this looks like the blueprint we have to work with! constantly replacing a few stars every couple of years, because if we are successful then we will be under more pressure to sell our best players, the closer we fly to the sun, the more we will get burned! KL has proven to me that she is invested in this club! it is obvious she is not going to do a RM, MC, PSG or a Chelsea and dump obscene amount of money to buy a title, but she has shown support for our sensible progression. Our board has maneuvered us through rough waters to continue a progression up the leagues, even with the changing of 3 managers and NC. A new era has started, and everything is looking rosy again!.

06 Jul 2014 18:52:11
I agree. There are other examples of clubs who have operated in this manner for years, Benfica for one.

In order to keep us all sane though we really do need to get some of these rumoured transfers in.

The story that Everton want Tadic, when he seemed a done deal, has made me and I'm sure others nervous.

A couple of announcements next week, together with more links to players of the quality of Virgil Van Dijk, will help.

06 Jul 2014 15:07:47
TV says lovren states to papers back home his "head already at liverpool" and unhappy with way board handled transfer enquiry. I say if he don't want to stay he don't want to play. I say let's get what we can and move on

06 Jul 2014 09:58:20
So the papers now starting to change from Spider demanding to leave to him demanding we spend money well to improve the team.

This seems a more positive shift.

Thoughts?

It's all media spin, until I hear it from his mouth, I'll not believe a word.

Saints are the selling team this summer and the media will write what they wish to support it.

06 Jul 2014 15:00:04
try and grt cortese back
reed and hockey man are out of their depth
turning saints into a laughing stock
foretsaint

06 Jul 2014 08:55:04
Use him in their squad or sell him. Unlikely a loan move as his value will only decrease. Don't see why another loan move would benefit arsenal, but that's just my opinion.