The9

They can't just say "he's our player" unless he's either already got a contract for another year (or more), has a deal which rolls over automatically on a fixed number of appearances, or if he'd actually accepted the terms.

Koeman did say he'd get 30-35 minutes here, but if that's the case I can't see him playing. I'm waiting to hear the team news and weather forecast before deciding whether or not to leave the house.

He looked that decent in the U21 League Cup Final too.

He claimed two long balls on the edge of the box, punched safely under loads of pressure, made two very good stops (leg block from shot inside box and full stretch to his right, both at Northam end) and had no chance with the goal which wasn't one he could have got to, neither the cross nor the header itself. Only time will tell whether he's up to it, but that was the first time I've ever thought he might be.

Ah yeah, ok, I was just trying to remember who the 9 U21s were and he wasn't there. Different criteria.

Kompany hasn't played in any of the 5 wins in a row they've just had, his last 2 appearances were the defeats to Palace and Man U. Demichelis played in all 7 of those matches. The really wacky thing is that Mangala has looked terrible in a few matches recently, but his record in the past 10 matches is 9 wins and 1 defeat (to Liverpool). In that time, City have also lost the 5 matches he DIDN'T play in. Going back a little further, City also lost 2 and drew 2 without him prior to that, and they won 8 and drew 2 of the 10 matches he played in prior to that. In fact Mangala has only played in one City defeat in 21 since the end of October.

I assume it's implying he's good at the thing he's good at, but that might not be useful in all systems. Like Chicharito is a box player who Ronaldo rarely passes to, making him a bit less useful than he'd be if he was the focal point of a team with a high press or something. So he'll be signing for Spurs then.

It would be nice if you could fix the spelling of Seager. And Gazzaniga can be added now too.

Nine of the U21 side that won the League Cup had 1st team experience.

Seager hasn't done much to impress me in the few matches I've seen him play to be honest - Gallagher immediately gave me the impression of a quick-thinking finisher who had creativity, strength in the air and a decent touch with his back to goal. Seager has kind of just been there when I've seen him, decent movement but not really been impressed otherwise - but that could be because he's being asked to play a Pelle-lite restricted role up top and maybe it doesn't suit him so well. But he has scored 21 goals for the U21s, so he's got something going for him, just not sure what yet.

Yoshida's 3rd choice and with very few exceptions has consistently put in performances which show he's not good enough to start in a top 6 team, so I'd hope we were looking for 1st choice players as replacements. Let's face it, if we could get Lovren back for £10m he'd be a decent signing, unlike Liverpool we know we already have a player he can listen to and partner who can get us to at least 8th.

They are a basket case. They're a basket case by design.

And by then they'll have their money and be ready to hand out some more. Perfect strategy.

He's not good enough to be a regular starter, I wonder whether we plan to refresh our CBs aside from hopefully tying up Alderweireld, or whether Stephens/Turnbull will be considered?

"On minimum wage and pay as you play" he claims in the Blackpool Gazette link in the OP, so hardly surprising they've kept him on given that he's dirt cheap to employ and helps keep up the pretence of them having a viable squad whilst Oyston continues to do what Oyston is still doing. They do currently have 6 more players with football league starts than Newport County do in their squad though.

Our "Saints scarf on the station sign" at Fratton on the way to Brighton away in 2011/12 was way more impressive, and the missus was responsible for that one. Plus a couple of Saints ST inside Fratton Park pics at recent Newport matches. Don't get me wrong, it's utterly lame though, we were going for the cheese factor.

Oh come on, you'll be telling me every bureaucrat ever associated with a non-Southampton-based association hasn't got it in for England/Saints next...

Also, when you say "the radio", do you by any chance mean TalkSh-ite?

He doesn't give a toss about it. Really. The top English clubs already have more clout than all but Real, Barca, Bayern and maybe PSG and it's not done them any good at all, in fact results have significantly worsened overall in the past few seasons, which correlates to the rise in TV money (as well as Platini being in situ, but that's still hardly relevant in terms of his actions).

In the second one maybe, the first one's from Selhurst earlier in the season. Though any Lovren-fails are fine.

At his age I'd say he needs football every other week. By the way, the "consequences" are that he doesn't have to play as much, gets paid more than he ever has before, gets to watch his boyhood team for free, and earns more in a week than most do in a year for another couple of years just for turning up to training. I don't begrudge him that at all, but he'd be nuts to move again unless the money was ridiculous.

You think? I think they'd have to be nuts to even offer him a coaching job, but Rodgers has at the very least been saying nice things until Gerrard's actually out the door, which isn't surprising when he's also continued to pick him long after he ceased being beneficial to the team.

Absolutely, but it's more a measure to allow for a price freeze if they drop back into the Championship, where that money is much more important overall. Fans have short memories and will be asking for a price drop on relegation even if they didn't have a price rise going up.

Not sure why he'd care, when 13 of them won't even play in his competitions and none of them have made the last 8 of either competition this season.

I'd say it was "good", no more than that. Even Clyne's Tadic-assisted goal at Anfield was better than that.