Fair appraised article out of The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/football...an-signals-top-four-aim-after-defeat-of-stoke
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...rown-plan-after-moving-into-second-place.html Earlier piece from Telegraph (written by the same journalist as wrote the very nice article yesterday). Probably been posted before, but saves you looking for it. Two observations: It mentions Stoke being a victim of their own success...staying in the PL means they have gone for short term solutions. That was just what happened to us in our previous incarnation in the top league. The journalist suggests that our fall from grace allowed us to wipe the slate clean and start afresh. This is probably true, though we always managed to have a successful academy even then...unlike Stoke. Second point: Like the comments from Schneiderlin at the bottom...he seems a very happy bunny (which can only be good news).
This bit made me go 'wow' The disparity is illustrated by the fact that the £30 million Southampton got for Shaw is almost as much as Stoke have received in transfer fees in their entire history
http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/sa...man__Alderweireld_has_raised_the_bar/?ref=mac Interview with Koeman (from Echo) praising Alderweireld (see I can spell it when I'm copying ). He says he has improved the players around him, because, although young, he has good experience. Found that interesting because as spectators, we tend to see the whole picture, whereas Ron sees him in training every week and can see what he does. Btw...I now hear Ron's voice in my head when I read his words.
Don't like to be pessimistic but after last summer if he carries on like his I can see the so called 'big teams' coming after him. They're all too lazy to do their own scouting. Hopefully he will love it here so much he won't want to go
What is so good about him, is that you hardly notice him on the pitch .... hopefully the same goes for the scouts.
Nice to see Mane made Garths team of the week even agreeing his goal the week before was wrongly chalked of for him.
http://www.express.co.uk/sport/foot...-Champions-League-Atletico-Madrid-Southampton Good bit in Express about Toby Oojamaflip (unless you want to keep him hidden ). The Express was good for Saints today...their betting guy thought we were a decent bet for the Champions League and Koeman was named as a hero. The journalist went on to say that Spurs were right to get the Southampton manager, but just went in a year too soon.
Can't we talk Toby in signing for us in January and then when Liverpool come sniffing around next summer looking for someone to replace that Croatian bloke we can get another £20m?
I don't think Toby will stay with us. He mentioned something along the lines of "keeping my options open" when he first joined, so if one of the big payers comes along he'll be off I'm afraid. Or we could do what the Chelsea fans do for César Azpilicueta..........We'll just call you Dave from fools and horses.
I think it just depends on how you look at it. Sure, when Alderweireld first came in he mentioned about keeping his options open. By the time he comes to make his mind up he will have been with Saints a full season. So maybe one of his options will be to stay at Saints because he likes it, they're ambitious enough and they're paying him enough. I don't think there is anything to fear. Besides, Florin Gardos looks pretty damn capable himself.
And there's the rub. I don't think there are many players who would turn down a chance to earn bigger bucks if the chance came along. How he likes it here and the club's ambition all come after money IMO, and he doesn't have the inconvenience of a contract to stop him either. On the early evidence, I'd prefer him to stay but I'm not too worried if he were to leave. I agree Gardos looks good and I have every confidence in the recruitment process we employ if we need to buy.
Disagree to an extent. TA came to us to get regular football not because of money. He may still see us as a stepping stone but I'd say a massive factor will be league position, both in January and at the end of the season. If we manage to hang around the top of the table long enough, making the TA and Bertrand deals permanent early (Januray) would be business that would make us all delighted, I'm sure. God we'd be in a healthy position then. (I, like others am perfectly comfortable with Gardos stepping up as well should need arise though)
