Saint Albert

Ron is one hell of a cheeky bastard. I wonder if he crossed his fingers when he said that bit.

I've enjoyed watching him improve this season. Look at Redmond's first goal against Watford in our last game - lovely interplay between JWP, Redmond and Tadic. Puel seems to rate him. He's not the finished article but I like him.

On the plus side (for me anyway) Begovic lived / played youth football in Edmonton. I'm not sure if his subsequent career at Pompey would win him many fans though.

The Sun thinks that FF may be off to Everton and we're after Hart: https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/3068080/southampton-join-race-for-manchester-city-outcast-joe-hart-amid-fears-fraser-forster-will-leave/

Unless Ronald Koeman posts here incognito, that's a no.

Fair enough but I think that age is a huge factor for the club when a player gets to this stage. It certainly played a role in the departures of other players like Lambert, Fonte and Pelle.

I wonder what the club's intentions are re Stephen Davies. He's 32, contracted (I believe) until the end of the 2019 season. I can't see them offering a long-term contract. Has had a few calamitous moments this season (including yesterday's game when Stephens bailed him out with some solid one on one defending). I'm not sure that I would particularly miss him but I know he has some boosters on this site.

FT: 3-4. Well done Saints.

3-4. Poor defending.

Lovely footwork from Boufal. Shame about the shot.

Great response from giving up the tying goal. How big was that moment when Stephens bailed out Davies? We scored right after.

Great, composed finish from Redmond. Classie comes on for Tadic. And the home fans are leaving.

REDMOND!!!!!

Long on for Gabbiadini

Thank you Gomes!!!

GABBIADINI!!!!!!

2-2 Okaka from a Success delivery.

Boufal replaces JWP.

Watford looking a bit more lively now.

A bit casual from Romeu. Good save from FF!

Another one! Great finish Redmond.

Lovely finish from Tadic. The Wembley linesman would have disallowed that one.

This is right re Trump. Many of the wackier republicans complained that he was not one of them during the primaries. I don't think that he is particularly anti-gay, anti-transgender, anti-public health care or pro life or any of the US right wing's other pet social issues, but he won't stand in the way of Republican initiatives that limit these things and he may even push some of them through to enhance his Republican credentials, and to get what he wants on issues that he actually cares about like trade, the wall and immigration.

I don't think that holding players to their contractual commitments works these days. West Brom did it to Berahino and it went poorly for both club and player. West Ham tried doing it briefly with Payet. He went on strike and forced a move back to his old club. It seems like the player holds most of the cards. As has already been pointed out, several departees were on brand new contracts when they successfully demanded moves from Saints. I'm hopeful that VVD will stay for another year. There have been some encouraging rumours after he was made captain but we are left hoping that he won't act like all the others if a bigger team comes calling.

I was wondering that myself. I'm pretty sure that I saw him in some of the training footage leading up to the final. He can't be feeling too good about life if he didn't even make the bench. They call it a "healthy scratch" over here.