It's obvious really. Ralph has done a deal to sign Neymar and Les thinks he should be playing on the left with Tadic on the right. Ron exploded, slamming the office door screaming, "Everyone knows Dusan is better on the left than the right!"
I would like to bring him in as a assistant manager to a top manager or even have him as manager and have a director of football to help him out.
I was about to downgrade your "brilliant" to "quite good" but on reflection it is closer to brilliant than quite good. The last 2 seasons have, despite crazy summers, seen us become a recognised top 8 team. It has been impressive.
In reality we don't know how good the youngsters are if we dont get to see them play on the big stage. And they don't get to develop. Bit of a Catch 22 for a manager who needs results today, but it is in pochettino's favour that he had no hesitation playing the youngsters; is that because JWP, Shaw and Chambers were better than Targett and Reed? I'm not sure they are/were any better. It's my one negative about Ron, that apparent reluctance to play the youngsters.
I'm pretty convinced that Virgil could play Centre Forward if he was called on to do so. In fact he already did that for 10 minutes against Sunderland. Sod it, I bet he could play holding midfield, attacking midfield and in goal if he had to. Not all at the same time though, obviously.
He spent half the match against Villa up field as well. He is something special, class first season, so looking forward to watching him progress with us.
New direction.? Sounds like a load of twaddle on the face of it. Still I'll make a mental note to see if there is any radical difference over the coming seasons. For me, any new direction, in the academic direction is going to be about tying in the new ventures the club is making into coaching and academies, and getting the Southampton brand into new markets. That gives Saints a much bigger finger in any pie. As to whether scouted youngsters are good enough for the Southampton Academy, I believe it's mere coincidence and the relative smallness of the operation so far that most of them happen to be English or British. The main reason why we have a tendency to recruit good English youngsters is because we're an English club. That'll change when our reach is further.
José's been flapping his gums about Ronald to some dodgy tabloid type. http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/mauricio-pochettino-can-guide-tottenham-7917891
Can't disagree with anything he says there. I'm glad the "dodgy tabloid type" reported the positive things Jose said about Ron btw.
So the positive news about of VVD Signing a long term deal, Means v. little to me if we can't keep hold of Vic or Sadio... As Guan states., Or doesn't seem to encouraging regarding Rons contract...
Guan said Sadio would only go if Man United or similar stump up the cash. The board can only do so much at the end of the day.
This Is true, But with the funds available to clubs it won't be that hard to stump up a massive fee. Also mid season we were 'confident' of Vic re-signing.. and now.. Meh.
The new direction that the club is taking is obvious. We didn't win the league in 4 seasons, therefore the plan is to win the title next season.
Targett & Ward-Prowse have had game time this season. Have they done enough to make themselves first choice? When Wanyama had his long suspension was Romeu so poor that Reed deserved to take his place? Whatever happens in the next two games, we've finished the season a lot stronger than we have the last two and I believe that's down to a deeper squad. That deeper squad limits the potential for youngsters to get a foot in the door, but these kids aren't owed a spot. If they want to play for top premier league team, then this is the standard that's been set.
I think the idea that Saints blueprint for the future is designed to keep Koeman is misleading. The board may want to keep Koeman, but I hope they make plans more for long term than short term gain. The plan is there (and will get tweaked from time to time), but Koeman has to fit the plan rather than the other way round.
