Saint Albert

A great way to start a Sunday and nice win after a bad run of results in the league. It has to be said that Leicester looked dire. I'm very happy for JWP...has he ever scored a PL goal from open play before? I'm trying to figure out if VVD's injury was from being raked by Vardy or if he turned his ankle. Hopefully it's nothing too serious and he can play Wed.

Me too. He stayed when many teammates left.

...and you'd have to be a masochist to listen to his answer.

I hope that we can keep him for another year, but there is a lot of noise re. VVD in the media linking him to the likes of City for huge money. Recent history has taught me to lower my expectations on the star player retention front. Ralph's recent comments to Kicker magazine have not left me feeling optimistic.

"Thank you champ for everything you have done for me and also for the club, was a pleasure to play with you! #saintslegend #champ #gutted" -VVD's twitter.

Well, good luck Jose I suppose. Could have been a Saints legend. I keep on reading comments in the media along the lines of we have Gardos and "highly-regarded" Jack Stephens (Telegraph's account of the transfer, for example). I can't help thinking that the club is laying track in the media and there will be no CB replacement this transfer window.

Talksport also reporting that Saints have offered 13mil for Gabbiadini: http://talksport.com/football/southampton-make-ps13m-bid-napoli-striker-manolo-gabbiadini-quest-bolster-front-line

Talksport are reporting that Stoke and WBA have reached a 15 mil. deal for Berahino and WBA have authorized Stoke to enter into talks with the player.

Daly Mirror: "Southampton and Swansea chasing transfer of assist-machine Yoric Ravet from Young Boys" Cue the Hamlet jokes...

Here's a rumour re. Lorenzo Pellegrini, CM with Sassuolo. Both Saints and Spurs interested... http://sportwitness.co.uk/southampton-tottenhams-attempts-sign-young-midfielder-crash-wall-set-serie-club/

The Telegraph is reporting that Man City want both VVD and Ryan Bertrand as part of a summer overhaul. According to the article they originally wanted Danny Rose at LB, but have gone off him because Spurs won't sell: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/01/16/pep-guardiola-plots-major-manchester-city-clear-out-disastrous/

4 losses on the trot for Saints. 7 wins in 9 home games for Burnley, but still we just lost to a very ordinary side.

...and Sims comes on for Redmond

Crap...Joey Barton

...and Vokes for Defour

Barton is on...

Lovely challenge by Cedric on Gray there.

J-Rod on for Tadic.

0-1, Long to score his 7th goal in 10 against Burnley.

Decent but unspectacular half for Saints with two good opportunities. Burnley looking to create chances at set pieces and on the break, but have so far done little to threaten FF, except perhaps for Mee's shot which ended up going well wide to FF's left. Not exactly a thrill a minute.

Nice build up and decent scoring opportunity for Tadic.

This business model currently employed by the Chinese league surely cannot be financially sustainable.

Thanks for the info, Shroppie. Posting ITK type info on this site can be a thankless task. I find myself hoping that your info is wrong. I'm less than convinced that they have enough financial clout to run a Premier League side. Count me in the "worried" camp. This does not look like an Abramovich style sugar daddy takeover so anyone thinking that we're about to throw ridiculous sums at new players should consider lowering their expectations.

Porto midfielder Sergio Oliviera? https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/2581794/southampton-transfer-news-sergio-oliveira-porto-claude-puel/

I should protest about your characterization of Cananda as a footballing non-entity, but it is probably a fair assessment. Still, there's always hockey...