Pat from Poole

You could see that Hodgson was in a difficult situation, particularly given that the FA had pushed the boat out to get Rooney's initial ban reduced from 3 games to 2 after he got crazily sent off against Montenegro. Supposedly having got some all-important game time against Ukraine, he'd then be on storming form for the quarter-final........ To be fair, Rooney did take a cracking penalty in the penalty shoot-out. Though he admittedly did little else that night.

I think I would have preferred it if we had signed Danny Guthrie.

I wouldn't be surprised if Cortese insists that potential new signings do not fly in to Southampton Airport, on the basis that it makes it a lot less likely to be news, what with all the spies there are who are straight on here with exclusives. I dare say that Chilworth Manor is now also on the list of places not to be used.

You've been drinking haven't you, sir?

I actually half-hoped Young would miss as he ran up to take his penalty. And I used to follow England home and away 10 years or so ago.

Did they? When was that?

I seem to remember Tottenham fans having a song that vaguely alluded to this.

I think we should make a move for Gilkes from Blackpool. A really good keeper who wouldn't command massive wages.

I've not commented on this issue before, but if you take the case of Paul Lambert walking out on Norwich to go to Villa, I can see little sense in him having done so, other than that Villa have a bigger ground and hence more potential is seen in their ability to win trophies. If Norwich had a 40,000 capacity stadium, to my mind it is less likely that he would have jumped ship. I see potential similar problems could affect us if Saints do well in the Prem this year. In the mad hire/fire world of Prem football, Adkins could potentially be in demand. Now, if Saints were playing in a ground of say, 45,000 capacity, I think Adkins would be less likely to walk.

That is totally wasted on Franchise.

I'd like to think a Hodgson-less West Brom should be a realistic team for us to look to finish above.

I think they should go to cricket instead.

Barry Davies. "Just look at his face! Just look at his face!" Legend. If a game was crud, he would truly tell it as it was.

He must be on big money, surely at least £30,000 a week. I'm not sure about him, I think he's a bit like Morgan, goes for the showy-off long pass quite a bit. Also prone to dirty challenges, remember a pretty nasty one he did on Bale, could easily have broken his leg.

Completely agree. Hansen is an embarrassment and should have been sacked by the BBC when he refused to slag off Dalglish following his deranged interview after the Mancs v Scousers game when Suarez wouldn't shake Evra's hand. The only pundits on the BBC that I rate are Lee Dixon and Claridge. Mark Bright and Robbie Savage are just a joke. Oh, and Colin Murray should be got rid of as well on MOTD2. SKY are streets better. I even think ITV pundits are better than BBC, am particularly impressed with Carragher.

You're not alone. my son is also called Matthew, I dare say there are many other Saints fans who have done the same.

And somebody who works within the air travel industry must be able to confirm details of whether he may have been on an England-bound flight at any point within the last few days. Good fun, all these transfer rumours.

And probably Stuart Ripley as well. Shocking.

If Green were to sign for Spurs, I'd be delighted if we were able to sign Friedel from Spurs. Even at his age (over 40 I think), he's still a top keeper.

Precisely.

Or Cheats. There have been a number of Cheats players living in Poole over the years; Hreidarsson (sp?), Muntari, Anderton, not to mention their thieving ex-manager.

Jay Rod's agent is Ade Akinbiyi??? This surprises me more than the fact we have bid £7 million for Jay Rod.

We need a younger version of Fabrice Fernandes to do the crop circles thing. Weirdly, that kinda worked. Mainly as he very rarely gave away possession, I guess.

I could imagine him signing for Bournemouth actually. Since they've got that wealthy Russian guy in alongside Mitchell, they've started to splash the cash. He'd probably get better wages at Bournemouth than if he signed for Cheats.

I think we could be making a mistake if we let Hammond leave. His distribution admittedly isn't the best, but he's been a really key part of our success over the last three years. I think he deserves a chance to play at the highest level, and he could be good enough.