Gastón Ramírez has problems with Mauricio Pochettino

Even if Ramirez was starting, I think there would be a legitimate question as to whether he is ultimately good enough or fits into the club's plans long-term. Cork was a starter last year and most would agree that he played well, and yet Saints still brought in Wanyama.

The standard for players now is not just that they have to be one of the better players in the squad, they have to be good enough now or at some point soon to win the Premier League with.

 

Guly and Cork for me, and it seems Pochettino agrees so I must be good. lol. One thing these 2 do well? Keep posession. And that is key to our game is it not?

 

Cork doesn't play the same position, and I'm pretty sure the only reason Guly played was a reward for good service/training and sending a message.

Neither of those two players is going to have any bearing on whether Ramirez plays or sits on the bench or stays or goes.

 

Ramirez had a very good 45 minutes for uruguay. With his first touch he intercepted the ball and split the defence with a pass to suarez who only had to stab it to cavani who scored the winner. Uruguay won 3-2 against a mostly second choice and second rate argentina. Ramirez was playing as a quite defensive central midfielder in what looked like a 4-3-3, he broke the play up several times through sheer effort rather than intelligent positioning but he isn't a defensive midfielder and was playing in a position that doesn't suit him. Amongst the general good work he did defensively he also won a dangerous freekick and stretched argentina's defence with a few good long passes. Of the negatives he lost possession twice, the second time was really poor and argentina could have easily scored on the counter. Other than also committing a few fouls and not getting a few headers in he was generally good.

Bangega played 67 minutes I only saw the second half but he seemed to be dictating the play for argentina, once ramirez tackled him and played a great ball in to cavani who worked his way into the penalty box but nothing came of the attack.

I've seen ramirez play for uruguay a few times, he usually plays quite well but hardly ever finds himself in space to really run at the defence and tear them apart (the few times he has found this space he has torn them apart). Even playing deeper and more defensively he managed to create problems for argentina but I feel he would be much more effective for club and country playing as a proper attacking midfielder in between the oppositions midfield and defence.

I

 

One player who was not involved in the squad was Gaston Ramirez, who was left in Southampton after returning from international duty.
“After the international break with Uruguay he came back to Southampton,” said Pochettino. “He arrived ill from the international break and the medical staff at Southampton recommended he rested until Monday and that he be checked again then for his progress.”

 

Tim Vickery answered a question about Gaston in his column this week:

Gone in January. I can feel it in my bones. Loan, then transfer in the summer. Nothing against him, I just don't see it working out, for better or worse.

 

Bit of a strange conclusion that. Surely Vickery's answer implies that he'd be a good impact sub for us, if nothing else?

 

It wasn't a conclusion from Vickery's answer as such, more that he's seemingly down the pecking order here and if he's on the fringes for Uruguay then he'll surely want a regular start. I just don't think Poch fancies him and Gaston will want to be off for his own good.

I'm sure we'll break even or better, surely a lot of the original fee was installment based?

 

That seems a lot like wishful thinking. It's pretty optimistic to think that he'll be happy here warming the bench at best, and watching the game from home at worst. Especially if there are Serie A clubs that want him.

 

Believe that most of it was paid up-front.

We're likely to see more players than is typical pushing for moves in January, with World Cup places potentially on the line, and Gaston (assuming that Uruguay doesn't screw up a meeting with Jordan) could well be one, if he remains out of the squad and continues to draw interest abroad. Uruguay doesn't have the deepest base of talent, but if he isn't playing, the likes of Diego Laxalt might overtake him.

And I doubt that we turn a profit; we might have been able to do so over the summer, but if he goes into the next window having scarcely played, the poverty-stricken teams of Serie A aren't going to offer the moon.

 

Yeah if we sell him in January it will be at a loss.

 

Maybe, but Italian clubs still seem high in him. So it won't be a big loss if any.

 

Firstly, we only have news articles of dubious providence to corroborate that.

Secondly, Italian teams can only bring in one non-EU player from outside Italy per season, so even if lots of teams are interested, they will have to be more interested in him than anyone else.

Realistically there are only a handful of teams who could pay anything like what we paid for him and I think they'll likely have other targets. So we may only have one team to sell to (if we're lucky), which won't give them much of an incentive to bid high.

 

I do think Rameriz will be sold on - but not in January because we won't get such a good price for him. I, like many others, had great expectations of him and he has largely failed to deliver under either manager. I don't know the reasons and can only make assumptions like everybody else, but he seems unable to play 90 mins and his contribution has been inconsistant throughout. Sometimes players just don't make the transition; be it the pace of the game, the physicality, personalities in the squad, in need of special attention from the staff, the local culture - whatever.

One other comment I would make - alot of the posts suggest that he does not get a start because our style of football does not suit him because Saints high tempo pressurising style requires fitness over skill and have suggested that is a contributary factor. I will disagree with this reasoning; his lack of fitness is probably one of the issues surrounding his lack of appearances, but I think we are a very skillful side and take note of the plaudits we have been getting because of the attack-minded flowing style of football we play. I would suggest that our style of play should suit him from a technical perspective and it is he who cannot, for whatever reasons, meet the standards being achieved by those around him in the team.

 

Marcotti said much the same about Gaston when we bought him, if memory serves.