Southampton: Go marching in....

SAINTS SAY FAREWELL TO POCHETTINO!

Southampton were a club coming apart at the seams on Sunday night after the executive chairman, Nicola Cortese, threatened to quit and left the owner desperately trying to convince the manager, Mauricio Pochettino, not to follow suit, sadly Pochettino could not be swayed and last night resigned as manager of the south coast club.

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Pochettino (left) and with his record signing, Osvaldo (right).

The turbulent relationship between the late Markus Liebherr's daughter, Katherine and the clubs chairman, Cortese, has always been a sore subject across the backroom staff at Southampton and the constant speculation appears to have become too much for Pochettino who, In his first season at the club after the controversial sacking of Nigel Adkins, salvaged Southamptons season and guided them to Premier League safety, finishing 14th. He also brought in Southamptons most expensive signing in the form of Dani Osvaldo for a cool £13,000,000. This short, but effective legacy will now be left in limbo while the chairman identifies and aquires a replacement.

In a statement from the club Mr Cortese said, “I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Maurico or his hard work and determination in supporting the project we have at this club. We will now commence our search for a replacement manager who can continue Maurico’s work and take this wonderful club to the next level.”

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Southampton Go Psycho!

The Chairman of Southampton FC, Nicola Cortese, has today released a statement naming former England U21’s and Great Britain Olympic manager, Stuart Pearce, as the new Saints boss following the resignation of Maurico Pochettino.

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Pearce (above) has been chosen for his experience working with and developing young talent and his deep knowledge of the countries youth prospects.

The official statement from the club today: “We are absolutely delighted to welcome Stuart to the club, having a manager of his experience and determination is exactly the sort of attributes we we’re looking for. We hope that by working together as a club, Stuart can lead us forward to a cemented place in the Premier League and beyond.”

Pearce, who won 23 of his 41 games in charge of the U21’s national team, appeared to be eager to get started when he gave a short and direct statement to the press earlier today. “I’m very happy to be given the opportunity to work at such a well setup club. It is great to be part of a project that is investing in youth and has and will continue to produce players of great quality. I just can’t wait to get started!”.

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Southampton have consistently produced starlets from their academy.

Pearce may well need to call on the fantastic youth prospects down on the south coast as reports suggest that the transfer kitty is almost empty following Pochettino’s attempts at strengthening the squad. Sources claim that the club only has around £5,000,000 pounds free for transfers before the season starts.

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OUT WITH THE OLD!

New manager Stuart Pearce has wasted no time in reshaping his Southampton squad, Pearce, who was appointed earlier this month has already transfer listed a handful of players he deems surplus to requirements. In an interview with saintsfc.co.uk, Pearce said “Having evaluated the squad and the direction I want us to move in, I have had to be ruthless and list some of the older players at the club”. Reports suggest that Pearce is attempting to bolster what appears to be a small transfer budget by offloading some of the clubs fringe players.

Lee Barnard, Jos Hooiveld and Billy Sharp have all been made available for transfer with the clubs director of football, Les Reed, attempting to find them new clubs as soon as possible under instructions from Pearce.
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Barnard(above left) and Sharp(above right) come as no surprise as their involvement in the team since promotion to the Premier League has been non-existent after failing to impress following spells on loan. The surprise for Saints fans is the proposed departures of Hooiveld (below), who had featured heavily under Pochettino, had made 25 appearances for the Saints last season.

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Some Southampton fans must be wondering who Pearce has in mind to replace the players he is trying to sell while others are confident the players his predecessor brought in will provide more than enough quality.

Only time will tell…..

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JULY TRANSFER NEWS!

Saintsfc.co.uk can announce that Stuart Pearce has made his first foray into the transfer market this month with the capture of 2 players. The first player to arrive at St. Marys is former Malaga attacking midfielder Eliseu for a fee of around £1.4m.

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Eliseu (above) had been at Malaga since 2010, making over 90 appearances, having joined from Lazio where he won the Italian Super Cup. He is widely regarded as a speed merchant despite his advancing years and is extremely versatile, being able to play down the left side from full back to striker.

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The second capture for the south coast club is the first demonstration of why Southampton hired Stuart Pearce, Connor Hunte (above) was a former Chelsea academy player who was released earlier this year. Pearce was quoted saying “I find it incredible this lad has been released, it’s bizzare! I’ve seen him at England youth level and he has bags of potential, to pick him up out of contract is a real capture for the club. With our facilities and coaching staff I’m sure Connor can develop into a quality player.”


Going the other way Jos Hooiveld has agreed terms with Crystal Palace in a deal worth £1.3m, Lee Barnard has joined Sheffield Wednesday for £245k and Billy Sharp has switched to Premier League rivals Fulham for an undisclosed amount in the region of £1m. Pearce was keen to thank the players for their service to the club and wished them well for the remainder of their careers.

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PRE-SEASON RESULTS - JULY

With Pre-season well under way Southampton travelled to Germany and Bulgaria before returning back to the UK for the last 4 remaining fixtures.

BOCHUM 0 – 2 SOUTHAMPTON
Lambert (19)
Shaw (45+1)

SLAVIA (SOFIA) 4 – 1 SOUTHAMPTON
Boruc O.G (10) Fonte (16)
Zhelev (72)
Boshiykov (77)
Lengerov (87)

SOUTHAMPTON 4 – 1 LEICESTER
Lambert (13, 38,58) M. James (2)
Osvaldo (65)

HUDDERSFIELD 3 – 1 SOUTHAMPTON
Norwood (40) Chambers (18)
Vaughan (53)
Clarke (60)

DUNGANNON 4 - 4 SOUTHAMPTON
Gillian (20) McDaid O.G (16)
Dodd (37) Davis (18)
Hamilton (67,71)Ward-Prowse (32)
Lallana (90)

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Rickie Lambert and Adam Lallana celebrate against Leicester.

Some real highs and lows across the 5 games for the Saints, the real concern being the injury to Dejan Lovren in the first game against Bochum. His damaged foot kept him out for the remainder of the month and without him Southampton seemed unable to keep a clean sheet. Does Pearce have the quality in depth to cover losing players as important at Lovren?

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INCE-PIRED!

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Southampton have completed the signing of Tom Ince (above) from Blackpool on a £28,000 per week 3 year deal. The England U21’s international who was called up by the now Saints manager, Stuart Pearce, has joined the club for a fee in the region of £3,000,000.

Pearce (below) and Ince were both wearing smiles as they fielded questions at a press conference at St. Marys.

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When asked about the details of the transfer and what he hopes Ince can achieve Pearce was passionate in his response, saying;

“We have had Tom on our radar since day one of me arriving here and I’m delighted the Chairman and Les (Reed, Director of Football) agreed and helped me make this move happen. Tom is a wonderfully gifted youngster and with the right mentoring and development he could become a hugely important player for not just Southampton, but England as well”.

Ince himself was full of smiles and declared his happiness at joining Southampton.

"When you get the chance to move to a club like Southampton, with the players and staff they have here, it’s not something you can easily turn down. The gaffer has really sold the project the club is working towards to me and I’m looking forward to contributing as soon as I can”.

Pearce could not confirm if Ince would be ready in time for the clubs first league game against Everton, but assured fans that they would get to see their new signing in action soon enough.

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NEW SEASON KICKS OFF!

AUGUST RESULTS

EVERTON 1 - 1 SOUTHAMPTON
Jelavic(70) Yoshida(81)

SOUTHAMPTON 1 – 0 NEWCASTLE
Yoshida(25)
+Lovren injured+

HULL 2 – 3 SOUTHAMPTON
Aluko(28) Osvaldo (53)
Graham(44) Fonte(65)
Lallana(87)

Capital One Cup 2nd Round

PRESTON 2 – 5 SOUTHAMPTON
Garner(Pen 5) Osvaldo (13,41,49)
Yoshida(18)
Do Prado(80)

A good start to the 2013/2014 season for Southampton under the guidance of new boss Stuart Pearce taking 7 out of a possible 9 points and getting through to the 3rd Round.

Solid debuts for new boys Tom Ince and Eliseu will please the manager and fans alike as both players looked to have no problem adjusting to Premier League football. Dani Osvaldo appears to have settled well too, scoring 4 goals in 4 matches.

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Lovren is helped from the field after sustaining a hamstring injury.

Another injury to Dejan Lovren (above) tarnishes what would have been a near perfect month. The influential Croatian defender is out for around 3 months with a torn hamstring. After suffering an injury in pre-season, both Pearce and Saints fans must be hoping this doesn’t become a regular occurrence.


Manager of the Month – Jose Mourinho
Player of the Month – Oscar
Young Player of the Month – Luke Shaw

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SEPTEMBER RESULTS

SOUTHAMPTON 4 – 0 CARDIFF
Fonte(5)
Osvaldo(42,55)
Yoshida(62)

WEST HAME 1 - 1 SOUTHAMPTON
Nolan(36) Osvaldo(21)

SOUTHAMPTON 5 – 0 CRYSTAL PALACE
Wanyama(11) Hunt Sent Off (40)
Shaw(18)
Lambert(39)
Yoshida(50)
Osvaldo(55)

Capital One Cup - 3rd Round

SHEFF UTD 1 – 2 SOUTHAMPTON
Brandy(54) Osvaldo (57)
Ramirez(77 Pen)

September proved to be another good month for the Saints who are now unbeaten in 8 games in all competitions. The fixtures list may have pitted Southampton against some of the newly promoted clubs but securing points in all fixtures is a good habit to have. The highlight being the 5-0 trouncing of Crystal Palace at St. Marys where 32,466 fans enjoyed an outstanding performance, despite the early red card for Palace.


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Dani Osvaldo celebrates.

The men of the moment are clearly the clubs goals scorers who are on fire! 13m pound-man Osvaldo(above) bagged another 5 goals in September taking his tally up to 9 in all competitions, the other unlikely hero is Maya Yoshida(below). The Japan international has waded in with 5 goals himself so far and claims there is more to come. “The gaffer has us training daily on set pieces – he teaches us to make every one count. I can see more goals coming from defence” Said the huge centre back.
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Maya Yoshida has scored 5 goals in all competitions this season.


Manager of the Month – Jose Mourinho
Player of the Month – Dani Osvaldo
Young Player of the Month – Christan Eriksen

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SQUAD MOVEMENTS

Stuart Peace(below) answered questions on his development plans after it became public knowledge that a large percentage of the youth players had been allowed to move on loan deals for the season.

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“It’s quite simple” stated Pearce “There are some really talented lads in our development squad, many of which would have seen some kind of first team football over the season. But some first team football pales in comparison to week in week out games in lower leagues”.

Many fans raised concern over some high profile youth players being released on loan, mainly Sam Gallagher(below).

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“I spoke to Sam and he was excited to go on loan to a club where he could get 20-30 games in a season instead of the handful he’d have got here. He’s a very good player, but with our formation and play style he’s too far down the pecking order to be considered a regular back up. He knows his time will come, I’m just enjoying watching him do wonders at Port Vale” said Pearce.

Here is a summary of the high profile names that have been released on loan, In total 16 youth players are now on loan across the football league.


Sam Gallagher – Port Vale
Lloyod Isgrove – Millwall
Matt Targett – Fleetwood
Ryan Seager – Bournemouth
Jake Sinclair – Colchester

In other news, Jonathan Forte has agreed to mutually terminate his contract with the club after finding himself on the fringes. Pearce is reported to have been completely honest with Forte in telling him he had no future at the club. The 27 year old attacking midfielder is in talks with several league 1 sides.

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OCTOBER RESULTS

TOTTENHAM 1 - 1 SOUTHAMPTON
Reyes(16) Osvaldo(19)

FULHAM 2 – 2 SOUTHAMPTON
Fonte O.G(29)Lambert(27)
Karagounis(80)Fonte(32)

SOUTHAMPTON 3 – 2 MAN UTD
Osvaldo(37,76) Van Persie(5)
Cork(90) Young(35)
Ferdinand Sent Off(90+4)


Capital One Cup 4th Round

SOUTHAMPTON 3 – 1 ASTON VILLA
Osvaldo(6,35) Helenius(84)
Lallana(16)


October was a decent month for the Saints having remained unbeaten. The fans were disappointed to throw away 2 points against Fulham in a game that they dominated, an error from Danny Fox being at fault for the equaliser. On a much happier front the 3-2 victory over Manchester United at St. Marys is a result fans are sure to savour for some time, Jack Corks 90th minute winner sent the fans and manager into raptures.

The club also progressed into quarter finals of the Capital One cup where they were gifted one of the easier ties, Wigan Athletic, thus avoiding Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea.

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Manager of the Month – Ian Holloway
Player of the Month – Rio Ferdinand
Young Player of the Month – Romelu Lukaku

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NOVEMBER RESULTS

SOUTHAMPTON 2 – 0 ASTON VILLA
Lambert(30)
Schneiderlin(82)

LIVERPOOL 1 - 2 SOUTHAMPTON
Aspas(71) Ramirez(Pen 11)
Lambert(47)

SOUTHAMPTON 1 – 0 SWANSEA
Ince(82)

SOUTHAMPTON 2 – 0 SUNDERLAND
Osvaldo(23)
Lambert(90+3)
+Chambers injured+
+Schneiderlin injured+

FINALLY! After threatening to do it for the last 3 months Southampton have managed maximum points from their 4 league games in November.

After a fantastic win over Aston Villa in the cup last month the Saints pilled on the misery with another win to start November, this was followed by a comfortable win over a severely injury depleted Liverpool side who were missing Gerrard, Skrtel and Sturridge. Next was a landmark first goal for winger Tom Ince topped off with a 2-0 win over Sunderland at home.
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Gaston Ramirez celebrates his penalty against Liverpool.


It wasn’t all plain sailing though as a few injuries were picked up against Sunderland much to the displeasure of Saints boss Stuart Pearce. “There is assertive play – and then there’s Sunderland; they’ve left their mark on a few players and I’m sure they won’t be the last.” Pearce roared at the gathered press when asked about Sunderlands so called bully tactics.


Manager of the Month – Jose Mourinho
Player of the Month – Van Wolfswinkle
Young Player of the Month – Lucas Digne

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SOUTHAMPTON ACCIDENT & EMERGENCY!

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Pearce faces a selection headache going into December.

Southampton’s hopes of maintaining their recent run of form in the Premier League have taken substansial knock following a highly physical game against Stoke at the Britannia Stadium. The Saints managed to snatch a draw but many pundits are suggesting that the cost of that 1 point may not be worth it come the end of the season.

The injury list at the club has now grown to 11 players, several of which are first team regulars. This injury crisis has made many Southampton supporters question Pearce, having seemingly not found any replacements for the fringe and squad players he released at the start of the season. The main injury concerns for the club are:

• Callum Chambers - Concussion (7-10 days)
• Kelvin Davis – Hip injury (5-7 weeks)
• Morgan Schneiderlin – Groin strain (9-14 days)
• Dejan Lovren – Fractured wrist (14-21 days)
• Luke Shaw – Twisted ankle (3 weeks)

Gaston Ramirez - Gashed leg(9-12 days)

Eliseu - Twisted ankle (3 weeks)

These injuries are surely going to provide Stuart Pearce with a selection headache heading into the Christmas period with games against Arsenal, Man City, Chelsea and Everton all on the horizon in December.

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Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher were discussing Pearce's plight on last nights Monday Night Football show and both agreed the Southampton manager faces a difficult time.

"Lots of injuries are never easy to cope with as a manager, especially when the players missing are of great importance and you have some tough games coming up. But the problem Stuart now has is that it was well documented that he let several players leave pre-season, yes these players weren't world class, but at least it was depth. Now he may have to delve into the reserve and youth teams just to fill the gaps" said Neville.

"He needs to hope that his big-game players produce over Christmas otherwise Southampton could find themselves on a rapid slide down the table and i'm not sure they have the experience in the squad to recover from that." added Carragher.

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MAN CITY SACK PELLEGRINI!
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Manuel Pellegrini (above) has been sacked by Manchester City after just 5 months in charge at the Eithad. Manchester City have had a disappointing start to the season finding themselves languishing in 7th place, 19 points behind leaders Chelsea, despite spending £42M on transfers in the Summer.

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Manchester City fans have become disenchanted by the clubs Premier League form.

Pellegrini guided City to the top of their group in the champions league and has qualified for the knockout stages but his team failed to progress from the 4th round of the Capital One Cup after losing 3-1 to West Brom.

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Reports suggest that Jurgen Klopp (above) is the man inline to replace Pellegrini at the Etihad and when questioned, Klopp openly admitted he’d love to take on the role in Manchester, much to the anger of his current employers Borussia Dortmund and their fans.

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DECEMBER NEWS

At the end of an eventful month in the Barclays Premier League, we look back on the talking points in the lead up to 2014.

MANCHESTER CITY
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Jürgen Klopp replaced Manuel Pellegrini as manager of Manchester City. There was not much surprise amongst fans and pundits alike as the German took control of the floundering Manchester Club.

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
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Tottenham also parted ways with manager Andre Villas-Boas after a disappointing start to the season found Spurs lying in 13th place in the league and crashing out of the Capital One Cup. AVB did however manage to secure qualification into the knockout stages of the European Cup but this clearly was not enough to satisfy the Tottenham Board. Gus Hiddink has been brought in to salvage Tottenham’s season and has secured a 100% record in the league since the 15th of December.

LIVERPOOL FC
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The third managerial casualty of December was Liverpool’s Brendan Rodgers who, despite a promising start to the campaign, has seen his side fall to 12th in the BPL. and crash out of the Capital One Cup. Astonishingly, Liverpool took just 3 days to announce a replacement for Rodgers, that man came in the form of Luciano Spalletti from Russian giants Zenit St. Petersburg. Many fans, pundits and even some fellow managers have expressed concern over the seeming lack of planning and care taken over replacing Rodgers. Spalletti has won just 4 points from a possible 9 since taking over and is expected to use January to re-shape the clubs squad.

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DECEMBER RESULTS

STOKE 1 - 1 SOUTHAMPTON
Whelan(8) Lallana(45+1)

SOUTHAMPTON 1 - 1 NORWICH
Osvaldo(47) Fer(43)

SOUTHAMPTON 2 - 1 MAN CITY
Osvaldo(Pen 14) Milner(82)
Yoshida(56)

WIGAN 4 - 2e SOUTHAMPTON
Keogh(5) Osvaldo(73)
Boruc OG(55) Rodriguez(83)
Ranger(106)
Logan(111)

ARSENAL 1 - 1 SOUTHAMPTON
Afobe(86) Ince(82)

CHELSEA 4 - 0 SOUTHAMPTON
Eto'o(27)
Lampard(Pen 32,34)
Willian(54)

SOUTHAMPTON 2 - 2 WEST BROM
Lambert(90+,90+3) Vydra(25)
Long(72)

SOUTHAMPTON 3 - 1 EVERTON
Howard OG(22) Jelavic(68)
Fonte(28)
Osvaldo(61)


A crazy month or the Saints which saw their growing injury list catch up with them in the eyes of many pundits and fans. After going unbeaten for 17 games in the league the were soundly beaten by runaway BPL leaders Chelsea. Southampton, like many teams this season, looked miles off the pace against Chelsea who really took the Saints to task at Stamford Bridge. Yes Southampton were without a few key players but most fans will agree that it would have made no difference.

Southampton also crashed out of the Capital One Cup after an extra time defeat at the hands of Wigan, who add another name to the Premier League scalp list this season having beaten Sunderland and Liverpool before knocking out Southampton. Many fans felt aggrieved that Pearce waited until being 2-0 down, with 67 minutes gone before replacing the young players he'd fielded with some senior players, Osvaldo and Rodriguez having an immediate impact to make it level. But sadly the tired legs of the thinned out Southampton team proved no match for a Wigan side boasting a collection of quality players and a real desire for success.

The victory over Manchester City and the draw with Arsenal can both be seen as positives but the overall results for December show that Pearce still has some work to do to strengthen his squad.

LEAGUE TABLE - DECEMBER

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Manager of the Month - Jose Mourinho
Player of the Month - Brede Hangeland
Young Player of the Month - Erik Lamela