Ivan Katalinic's 'tache

I don't know if anyone else has spotted it but he's rather good at them?

I assume pre-match Ralph will tell us we can "expect a reaction" but "it's not so easy in the Premier League" and we need to go back to basics and become "a nasty opponent" again? And then a team who finds it hard to score goals will roll us over 3 or 4 nil? I live near Brighton so this is a 'must not lose' for the sake of my earholes but I'm not convinced we will be bothered enough to break sweat to do that. As always, though, I live in hope no matter how faint that hope may be...

Normally give a bit of thought to what I've seen but today all I can come up with is "rubbish". Crap all round (bar Forster). Fully expecting a dire, uninspiring end to the season with half arsed performances all round.

This was tweeted just over an hour ago:

Set up defensively from the off and that was well marshalled by Bednarek & Lyanco. Valery was on it too. Full backs did well out wide. I do like Perraud's spikiness & tenacity when he's in the side. Took our only real chance when it came. And, of course, Forster was superb once again but on the right side of a result, which is more than fitting for this performance.

At first glance more defensive than I'd hoped for but it will be interesting to see Diallo more advanced. Also interesting that there's no place for Theo, Djenepo or Rednond on the bench. Not suggesting any would start by any means but would think Rednond in particular would be a better option off the bench turn Smallbone and he really seems to have fallen out of favour at the moment.

Or, in this case, the day after?

Yep... Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl agrees with Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp about five subs - HampshireLive

I can only assume Mike Dean's retirement is a cunning ruse to earn him more money. In his own mind he probably believes the Premier League will implode without him leading to inevitable calls for him to return and save our national game, thereby maximising his earning potential and cementing his position as one of the all-time legends of English football.

This chap fits the right sort of profile for a Saints type signing but there are some bigger fish in the mix for him. Plus the source comes with the usual caveats...

With the Cup game meaning the Burnley game had to be re-scheduled, the combined genius of Sky and the Premier League has decided that a Thursday night trip to North West England would be most appropriate (21st April). Once again this has the net effect of pushing our nice Saturday 3pm trip along the coast to Brighton back to 2pm the following day. FFS.

Home draw. Playing well. Toughest draw we could get but, nonetheless, bring it on!

Beating decent opposition with pretty much our second string? No worries for this bunch of Saints right now. Brilliant stuff. I'll admit to being worried when I saw the team but fair play to Ralph for knowing better. Shout outs for Stephens & Valery at the back, Broja when he came on, Perraud for the goal of the 5th round and the tannoy guy for playing The Lovecats at half time. 😂 Especially nice to silence those cheeky Cockney chappies again.

Would he legitimately be allowed to wear one of those horrendous half and half scarves to the game though?

Some good news for Josh. Signed for Ross County where Kayne Ramsay & Jake Vokins are on loan: https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/19923578.ross-county-announce-josh-sims-signing-malky-mackay-thanks-southampton/

Deleted. Wrong thread.

And, based on his performance on Wednesday night, cost Spurs a lot of goals. He's not all bad... 😂

Spiky, tenacious, keen to get forward, not afraid to put his foot in and getting better with each game. We have 3 brilliant full backs and one will have to be disappointed each week.

Marvellous performance. Should've been out of sight in the first half, tremendous resilience in the second. And bloody delightful to silence Conte after his histrionics when Broja was hurt in the build up to their second goal.

Will probably sign for Newcastle. No reason, it just seems to be the done thing these days to say about transfers...

One appears to be enjoying keeping the story going though... 😂

Not been the same since Paul Mitchell took his black box with him, to be fair...

Does this mean the "Dele Alli, what a wanker" chant still stands?

Could we about to bring in Sam Johnstone??? Probably more BS but at least it's some news on Deadline Day... 😂

Still on a par with Walcott and Long. [Sorry Theo and Shane...]