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Reply | If it is Eckert
at 11:26 14 Nov 2025
So difficult to know on the basis of two games, and I worry about his age. I suspect that there is one senior pro' who is unduly influential in the dressing room/club, so he will have that challenge...BUT there was one decision /sign in the Preston game which I really liked: square peg for a square hole in sending the youngster Williams on (who did fine). We've had so many years now when coaches have tinkered here and there, rather than set out a shape and stick to it by calling on the youngsters, and so many good PL2 players have failed to develop their skills and careers as a result. I'm 53 now, but remember as youth myself seeing Shearer in his early games: His amazing debut hatrick was followed by some decidely patchy performances but Chris Nicholl knew he was going to have a great career and resisted the temptation to drop him, knowing that he needed to be 'blooded'. It always makes me feel like its "our club" when these kids get a chance (yes, I am a sentimental old git) and I'm sick of seeing failing old pro's doing a bad job and blaming every one else because they're being played out of position. More of that please, Tonda. |
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Reply | Disciplinarian Required?
at 19:40 5 Nov 2025
I think we tried a disciplinarian in the form of Nathan Jones: presumably Capt Jack decided that he didn’t like him and told the team to stop trying…🙄
Sorry for the sarcasm - still incensed by the AA interview. |
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Reply | Players admit they haven't been giving 100 per cent
at 13:14 5 Nov 2025
Me too, Kernow.
...and let's spare a thought for Will Still in all this: did nothing wrong when accepting the job and was genuinely highly rated in Europe as a young manager. For all his subsequent mistakes, he's turned up, challenged the status quo in a number of areas eg Bazuno cannot stop a semi-urgent fart and Stephens can't stick to a man in the penalty area - and his reward was for that same group of players to launch a campaign against him, presumably because as senior pro's they 'know best'. The same players who got 12 points last season, who are a laughing stock elsewhere. Sounds very much like the sort of dressing room culture which took Sunderland to the brink a few years back.
Screw them: Play the entire U21 team and at least it will feel like we've got our club back in some way. |
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Reply | Sack the manager
at 12:07 5 Oct 2025
💯
A number of clubs have been monitoring WS for some time now- he’s only with us because he turned down Sunderland for one.
He has a newly-assembled team of 20/21 year olds in what is very definitely a man’s league. He effectively has no CF and btw please can we stop holding him to account for his comment that he was happy with the forwards? I very much doubt that he meant this but he couldn’t really say anything else.
This team will get better: get behind them.
Lampard getting the credit for years of solid work at Coventry, under awful circumstances, by Robins just shows how short-sighted we can be.
There are lots of things wrong with this club, but I am not sure that WS is one of them. |
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Reply | Totally underwhelming window yet again.
at 08:19 2 Sep 2025
100%. One number which nobody seems to have noticed is the extraordinarily high number of assists secured by Fellows, Azaz and Scienza. I suspect that this could be behind the thinking for Janders too. Looks like the club have seen a metric they want to improve and acted upon it. |
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Thread | Charles/Edwards and the rest...
at 18:56 23 Feb 2025
Reading about Gorenbach - seems like he's a well rated young player - more of a No.10 than a traditional m/f and unfortunately we have players who can do that, but he wouldn't get a game anyway because with the exception of Dibling our coaches seem to always favour a poor quality experienced player than a promising talented one. What drives me nuts is the failure to 'blood' young players who then go on to greater things...
We started the last two games with a back three consisting of two full back and a CB. Yet out on loan we have Ronnie Edwards - a player I've followed since he was first tipped for greatness a few years ago, and Shea Charles - a good m/f who has arguably played his best games for Saints at CB. Both of these players are performing brilliantly (last game I saw Edwards got a rating of 7.9/10) and yet we play players out of position instead of using/recalling them.
So many have slipped through our fingers (Charly Alcarez anyone?) over the years and it feels like there is some sort of collective hubris in the coaching staff at Southampton - we no longer seem to be able to even assess a good player. I think the same thing has happened with ABK, Kevin Danso and many others over the years. Will Ballard EVER get a game, for example - he can't be worse than what we have?! |
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Reply | Juric calls Downes unprofessional live on air
at 09:30 10 Feb 2025
It's the Saints-can't-do-centre-halves thing again: Ever since Puel ignored the Uruguyan chap in favour of Stephens, the recruitment and selection decisions around this vital position have been strange, and I see that another neglected Saints CB (Danso) is now at Spurs after a good couple of seasons in France.
What I find really strange is that when Juric arrived he cited Bella-K as one of the players he thought should be playing who hadn't been (the other was Sulemana); but two months later he's playing fullbacks and MF's instead of him, including leaving him on the bench during a game when we lost two CB's. I am really puzzled by this. Anybody ITK?
I suspect that Juric has discovered a Sunderland-2020-type discipline problem and he's struggling to impose his will on the group. The first thing a manager will do in that situation is to play those who are committed, and drop those who are not - even if it means fielding a weaker side. I think we should let him get on with it as anything else means we're sucking-up to players who don't want to be on the South Coast.
I also think having Franny as a coach might remind a few of these mercenaries that they are in fact working for a club with some sort of history! ;) |
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Reply | Southampton At Nottingham Forest The Verdict
at 11:04 21 Jan 2025
Well said, Ifonly. The squad's confidence must be terrible at the moment - largely because David Brent made them play in a way which was tactical suicide, week in, week out. Addressing that crisis of confidence in itself would challenge the best coaches. The damage has been done, and I'll take any game in which we compete and get stuck in whilst also minimising the errors. He's also already got a couple of them playing at a level above where they were two months ago and he's made some sensible positional changes eg Dibling and Sulemana further forward. Juric has a bit of leadership and discipline about him which is very welcome right now. |
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Reply | Songs For Pompey
at 08:30 28 Nov 2024
'It's all over now, Baby Blue' (Bob Dylan) |
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Reply | Ballard
at 13:09 24 Nov 2024
It’s just a feeling based on seeing him at Cambridge that day, Nick - he looked absolutely deadly when he came. And you can’t argue with his goal scoring record at any level to date. At some point you have to prioritise talent over experience- something Russell hates doing. Same with Sam A, Ronnie Edwards, Juan Larios, possibly O’Brien too. Give them a start and even if we lose we as fans have something to be proud of. |
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Reply | wembley tix
at 15:55 20 May 2024
Really gutted: My 11yo daughter and I both members, and I have a decent purchasing history, but we missed out after a morning doing battle with the portal. I really don't know why the portal wouldn't accept my daughter's membership as qualifying for a ticket - suspect you are right and I hadn't linked her in my own friends and family list. Not looking forward to telling her tonight! |
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Reply | Kiefer Moore
at 08:56 1 May 2024
Why is nobody mentioning Dom Ballard? He's an out-and-out poacher - I saw him at Cambridge for his goal-scoring cameo/debut and their defence was all over the show when he came on - two CB's playing 15 minutes of 'where's he gone now?' Hoping he recovers from his injury well and proves that he should have been at SFC in the first team this season. |
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Reply | Sunaks Speech
at 13:10 6 Oct 2023
All but a measly seven miles of the London to Birmingham line needed to be tunnelled - thus the cost increase. Why's that then? Nearly the entire route cuts through Conservative constituencies, with each fearful MP leaning on Westminster to ensure that their back yard wasn't exposed to an unsightly rail line. Not exactly corruption on the scale of PPE, but an illuminating anecdote which brings to light the priorities of the party. |
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Reply | Ballard
at 12:49 14 Sep 2023
Bizarre decision. Saw him come on at Cambridge last season - in just a few minutes he had their CB's looking like they were playing a game of whack-a-mole - they never seemed to know where he was, and he scored a goal. Can we honestly say that Sekou Mara is more ready to play than Ballard? |
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Reply | Farage Having Bank Accounts cancelled
at 08:26 4 Jul 2023
Anti-money laundering software is now quite sophisticated, so it may be that there's a track record of transactions with a party which the banks are uncomfortable about - and let's face it, he's hardly a stranger to the Russian expatriate community. |
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Reply | The good news.
at 09:26 1 May 2023
Fair post, Nick. It strikes me that the new owners DID have a great plan: build youth and reinvent our brand as a feeder club. In terms of the modern EPL, that doesn’t sound like a bad approach to a league in which we will never win. Where they went wrong was a series of disastrous, morale-sapping appointments and decisions: Jones, Marsh, Selles and perhaps some of the player acquisitions.
Having said that, even in relegation one or two decisions based on their model could yet pay off: Lavia has been brilliant at £10m and although he’ll be sold his value has risen significantly; JWP’s departure - though sad for us - will bring in a large cheque which can be spent on a replacement similar to Lavia; there is also significant depth in the squad which will be above mean championship level: Caletta Car, Orsic, Perrault, Kulenana, even Bree. Meanwhile, players like the wonderful but past his best Stuart Armstrong will be moved on.
If the rumours about Solskjaer or Potter are true, I think there’s a really solid squad there for the Championship (Ballard too?) and we might be one of the luck clubs that can bounce back.
It’s proper football down there, with real fans and it’ll be good to leave the house on a Saturday (yes, playing on Saturdays again!) in the expectation that we’ll see a good game and get three points.
My main gripe on the squad is the goalkeepers, partly thanks to Matt76’s brilliant statistical analysis last month - SR please address this. Otherwise I think we could be OK.
Sorry for the optimism! |
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Reply | Refunds policy
at 08:09 28 Jan 2023
Thanks - all - I’ll contact supporter services and if no luck will go to the card company. I’m sure common sense will prevail as I’m very happy to have tickets moved to another fixture. |
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Reply | Refunds policy
at 08:07 28 Jan 2023
Thanks all - I’ll contact Supporter Services and if no luck I’ll do that. Really appreciate the advice. |
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