Guzan CLYNE Collins Cahill Shaw Carrick WANYAMA Toure Aguero Rooney LONG Can't argue with the Saints in there. They were outstanding yesterday. Sorry there's no link, I went old school with this thread (copied out of the paper).
Done. Still can't understand why Shaw is there instead of Bertrand, but hey ho. Then there's Cahill, who had a fairly mixed day, including scoring for both teams plus handling in the area twice. You would think that one of the best CB pairing in the Prem might get a shout, but, again, hey ho.
Can't include too many players from Southampton, because fans of other clubs would complain about big club favouritism
I am fine with them not getting the plaudits. It means the "big" clubs and their "scouting" might leave them alone. For example it is starting to become apparent it was Fonte making Lovren look good last season yet in the summer Lovren went for 20m and the best Fonte offer was 3.5m from Cardiff (and if rumours are to be believed they wouldn't go to 5m). Additionally many people have already mentioned how Toby just goes about everything quietly and is thus not noticed. True sign of a great defender IMHO (rather than the lunging blocks of Terry and Phil Jones which really are just great recoveries from poor positions). It still staggers me that Arsenal chose to pay 16m for Chambers as RB / CB cover when Toby was available for loan / 7m. One player is established the other is not. We ca only hope their same thought process carries on
Are you suggesting Fonte could have been sold this summer. I will have to go and lie down in a darkened room. What a mistake that would have been!
I would guess he was one of Les Reed's "core" players (and I don't mean you go "core" every time you see him!) like Morgan who simply weren't for sale whatever the price.
He probably was one of the "core". But there were still rumours linking him with Cardiff when everyone was leaving. As has been mentioned by other Saints fans his new contract and captaincy was where the turning of the tide started
I would be very happy if we managed to sign both Ryan and Toby in the January transfer window on nice long contracts without signing anyone else! Edited forgot Fonte had signed a new deal!
Thanks. I think you could have the entire Saints back four in there, as well as Schniederlin and Pelle.
I think age and length of contract are major factors there. if Lovren was in the last year he probably would have been less. Jose would never be more than a max of £10 even if he had a few years left on the contract because of his age