Ivan Katalinic's 'tache

Great. So when we needed him back to bolster our front line, once again, he's unavailable. I do begin to wonder if we should cut our losses and get someone else in and that's as someone who really wanted him to succeed. Disappointing and again we are short of real competition up front.

If Katharina is truly serious about maintaining our heritage, we should rename 1 stand the "Ali Dia stand". Any suggestions for the other 3?

Crabby has shared some details of his source(s) with me before and they would know this sort of detail + has usually come up with good info. It's not my place to divulge the details but I would trust the snippets he posts.

At the start of the month I was hoping we'd add a centre half and maybe a quick forward plus shift on a couple of the fringe members of the squad but, in the light of Cortese's departure, I'd probably settle for keeping all those we have as Katharina said. The outcome of the injuries to Gaston and Dejan may change this but at the moment I guess this would see us through to the end of the season. Any other views?

At one point Kelvin was getting his gloves on and looked like he was about to come on. Whether the injuries to Gaston & Lovren meant he had to stay on even though he was not quite right, although Johnson had scored by then anyway and he went on to make 2 decent stops.

Goes to show that how ever well you do something, there is always room for improvement. Missing body language assessment noted...

Maybe he wants to go for the money before Cortese and Wang Jianlin replaces him with Falcao?

Two dropped points against a poor, but spirited, side. Boruc should've saved the second, if not the first, and dreadful to lose 2 players inside a minute. If the ref stops the game to see what happened to Gaston, Lovren doesn't get hurt. Katharina, we need reinforcements, if it truly is business as usual.

Grant Holt syndrome? Or just out of form? Or disinterested because he's aware his move to West Ham may be off with Cortese gone? Or worn out after 20+ games of MoPo's high intensity pressing game? Who knows! Only thing clear is that maybe a chance to recharge his batteries by sitting out the Cup game will help, with Osvaldo in need of a game after his ban. If it's true he does want to go to West Ham, maybe it's better we do let him go, if his hearts not in it any more. But, for me, I reckon it's a combination of a bit of poor form and the cumulative effects of the pressing game we play on an ageing striker.

MoPo, no go! Great news. For now. :D

Sky are never normally there. What's changed?

...give a toss about the fans at a time like this and how well they've been backed and supported each week or will it all be about loyalty to departing individual(s), new career opportunities being presented, avoiding the negativity of being at a club in supposed turmoil, a financial decision with a chance to earn more cash with a move and/or thoughts of saving prospective World Cup spaces? My feeling is that most players may wait until the end if the season to see how this pans out but some will move on for the reasons above and almost certainly the fans will have minimal bearing on any decision. Is that how others see the tiny influence of supporters too?

Might explain why Poch has seemed a bit more subdued on the touchline recently? Or he may be angry at Cortese after saying he'd loyally follow him out of the club last May and then only potentially finding out today Cortese has been leaving since October. All complete conjecture at the moment and I doubt we'll ever really know it all.

Managed to get a buyer for Liverpool. Would that be a brief for us?

Thanks Nic and for saying 'hello' to me that day you said hello to me. Thanks for masterminding our return to the Premier League taking us from our lowest ebb to where we are now. Now, we have a lady in charge, I'm hoping we will spend big because all women like shopping whether they need things or not.

Les Reed's red & white army?

S'funny how the stories about him leaving seem to coincide with transfer windows (last summer, now) - posturing to draw more cash for transfers or genuine substance? Hopefully the former, for me!

Freeing up wages for Diego, no doubt...

This one sounds too good to be true at this price so I've decided to believe it is true. Welcome to SMS, Diego!

Don't worry. If Cortese were ever to leave, Mike Wilde has told me he is ready to step back in. Let's go Wilde...

Deserved win in a tight game. Took the introduction of Ramirez to create the game winning chance, the coolness of Lallana to convert it & a stunning point blank save from Artur to preserve it.

Exactly, I don't think he could ever give a definitive no. Imagine if Barcelona rang up and said "hey Southampton, remember that Ekelund kid we loaned you before? Well we've got this lad Lionel we want rid of, inetersted?" and we said "sorry Barca, we're not buying this window..."

Malcolm Waldron as someone said earlier was decent and held his own with Nicholl and Watson.

I suggest we pray for the holy goalie...

Do they all have interpreters too? On a more serious note, would be disappointed to lose him as we've clearly progressed tremendously under him.