Cool. I’ve got a ticket for you.
1 Like
I fancy us to win this, probably pretty comfortably. OK, I’m normally optimistic so that’s hardly surprising, but for this match we should have the magic powers of Bletch and his mighty floral shirt, as SO5 can’t make it along. The last time that happened was Crystal Palace, and look how that turned out.
3-0 to the mighty Southampton team.
1 Like
Yay through check in security & blagged into a lounge last smoke b4 boarding!
Here we come!
1 Like
Sad news on the Bletch front. He’s apparently off camping it up this weekend (and I think we can all allow ourselves a shudder at the thought of what he’ll be wearing), so he won’t be able to make it after all.
Which means, of course, that there is a ticket in the Kingsland up for grabs to anyone interested. SO5 will extract an unspeakable price, but that will be strictly between you and him.
1 Like
Bugger.
Completely by accident we have landed in Amsterdam on Kings Day
One of THE biggest street party days in Europe.
Might have trouble getting to the airport in the morning lots of the Dutchies are still at it from last night.
Passive smoking more “stuff” in our first hour here than at a full Glasto weekend.
May turn a bit Orange later.
1 Like
Everyone at St Mary’s breathes a collective sigh of relief knowing now they can concentrate on the game and not get distracted by a floral monstrosity in the stands…
3 Likes
2 Likes
Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
7 goals conseded in last 2 games.
Id love to see Charlie back in 2 man attack and obviously change at CB and goal keeper. Bring in the 2 new Jan signings
Do that and I would go for 3 - 0 home win
Fuck. John Terry in the Golden Fleece in the City…
Though it could be a lookie-likie as he seems to have scoffed a few pies.
But harsh considering the 7 goals were against 2 teams who score for fun. Previous to that (in April) we conceded 1 in 3 games.
Would you have Caceras in a 3 man defence?
2 Likes
So is Caseras our saviour?
@newyorksaint You seem to have the inside track. Should Clod Pool desk it?
Be honest
EDIT: Desk it = Risk it 
Quiet day just had a couple of beers on way
4 Likes
I dont think Caseras is our saviour I would like a prolific scorer to do that. I just think as we are neck a neck with Watford we need to look at all ways to improove if we dont want to be lumped in with other also ransn. JS and MY were and are our 3rd and 4th choice CBs. Fair play to the club for giving Stephens a chance I applaud that but we need to be looking to build. Try something different. If we dont give MC a start we will never know.
I hoping we keep VVD and buy another CB in the summer. Whether that is a re-buy of Caseras or not we need to have a look. But JS is not good enough for the level the club are talking about reaching… Ive said it before maybe he could play in midfield I dont know
1 Like
Looking forward to seeing whether Harry Maguire is any good
1 Like
I find it interesting that you don’t seem to think Puel is in the best position to make these decisions. Do you think he doesn’t watch training sessions and then just sits in his office and thinks “Tell vous what, I’ll just stick with the same defence regardless, fuck it”? Or do you think that he’s so imcompetent that a bunch of armchair fans actually know better than he does?
I know this probably seems like I’m having a go, but honestly, I just don’t understand why fans think they know better than a professional, successful football manager who watches the players training every day. No one has even seen Caceres kick a ball for the last 12 months but everyone’s convinced he’s better (in reality, not on reputation alone) than Stephens and/or Yosh.
Maybe he is, but I’ll hang my hat on Puel’s opinion over a football fan’s any day of the week.
9 Likes
I am prejudice against that bro. He is far too Fat & Ugly to play for Saints FC
3 Likes
Well Puel is a football manager Im not so it is a safe bet to go with him over a fan. What I know about football compared to Puel could fit on a pin head. When Keegan resigned from England after the Germany match he basically admitted he had no idea of what he could do in terms of tactics to make England better. That sums up how I feel most of the time watching football.
There are three reasons however why I comment
-
I like this forum to voice my thoughts, right or wrong. I dont get to meet many Saints fans. I dont know how good Caceras is. Im guesing. So your point is sort of right.
-
I am always frustrated and playing a different CB would put to bed some of my frustration
-
The only thing I have over Puel or 90% of those who work at the club is I care more about Southampton FC in the long term than them. There may be non football reasons for not picking him
9 Likes
the bit in bold :- Not quite true, he’s had a couple of under 21s run outs that I am aware off, the people that saw him play said he looked composed on the ball and commanded the area quite well.
1 Like
not quite true. It was an U23 game. So
stick that up your soviet arse.
5 Likes
I don’t think either @newyorksaint and @themightyostrich are wrong in what they are saying. But I think it is a case that Puel’s decision in this instance is not really about putting the best player out of MC or JS out on the pitch. There is a bigger picture here.
Let’s not kid ourselves, we were not targeting MC before the transfer window. He was simply the best solution at the point where every other deal fell through. His deal is until the end of the season and I don’t recall seeing anything about an option to extend. I think that speaks volumes.
Clearly the club have other preferred centre back targets in mind, with or without the possible departure of VVD. I believe the club are structured in a way that they won’t deviate from that planning, and rightly so. So in that sense MC was a stop gap. A probably very capable back up because Gardos is in my opinion ‘beyond economic repair’.
I also believe that we may well have seen MC before now had we not recorded those back to back wins against Palace and WBA. But once we got to 40 points and were safe from the relegation scrap, the emphasis switched from absolute necessity for points and putting out the best possible eleven to developing and blooding a younger player who will be contracted to us next season.
If there is any truth in that assumption then I can understand the thought process and decision making.
So in that sense the ‘armchair managers’ aren’t necessarily wrong and it also doesn’t mean that they know (or think they do) better than Puel because he will know this as well I suspect. The ‘armchair managers’ aren’t necessarily looking at the bigger picture though.
As you know by now I am a cynical fucker and I could also argue that history points towards us selling young English players for a profit. In that sense look at it this way… Stephens will be contracted to us next year, Caceras won’t. Therefore we COULD make a profit from selling Stephens but Caceras will walk away for nothing. Even if the club thinks that Stephens won’t make it with us (as many young players haven’t) they may believe that another club lower down in the footballing pyramid might offer us a few million quid for somebody we paid a few hundred thousand quid for. We are still a business at the end of the day. We are also doing right by Stephens and his career by giving him an opportunity. That is the whole point of having an academy at the end of the day. It is also more likely to look good on both Puel’s CV and that of the club’s record of developing younger talent. Something which is important to the club when trying to sign up new talented kids. Getting a performance out of an experienced Barca/Juve man doesnt do anything for a CV.
That said, as a fan I would like to see a guy who was deemed good enough to play for Barcelona and Juventus, pull on the red and white stripes. If only for a few games. Unless an injury occurs or the club decide to give him a token game (last day of the season at home to Stoke would be my bet!) as a ‘thank you’ then I suspect he will join Forren and Taider on the list of players to never make an appearance.
Jack Stephens first goal and 3 points tomorrow please Saints. Ha
8 Likes