Professor

A warning, which is all a yellow card is, is simply not enough punishment for blatant cheating. Sessegnon should have been sent off.

Whilst can't disagree about the quality of the goal, we can't get win games if we can't score. Sinking Saints. Its been a good season and doesn't justify using the razor blades but to make top 4 we are going to need a stronger squad so that can cope with injuries and suspensions.

Could try Stream hunter

This is almost certainly not just a disciplinary issue. The pre-match meal is not a social occasion, it is part of the team's preparation on medical advice as to when the last food should be consumed prior to a game. By arriving late, Mané probably disrupted the plan and may have been regarded as unready to play from the start.

Found myself feeling quite irritated by the BBC Breakfast TV Sports reporter on Monday morning, telling viewers that Man U's draw at West Ham had taken them "back up to 4th". Before the weekend they had been 3rd, above Saints by 1 point. After we won at QPR they dropped to 4th and when they drew at WHU they stayed 4th. It would be interesting to know how much the reporter is paid to give wrong information to millions of TV viewers but like the rest of the media, she is probably so focused on the so-called big clubs, that she probably sees Southampton as just a temporary anomaly in the table. So just for the benefit of BBC Breakfast, - Manchester United dropped a place to 4th this weekend and remained there after drawing at West Ham.

The Admiral Curtis is quite a good place for a pre-match drink, being a short walk to the SMS, although as you'd expect it gets very busy. You get home and away fans mixing happily there and there is reasonably priced parking behind the pub or on nearby streets.

Only three years ago that both of our clubs were in the Championship so it has been good to see that teams like ours can compete despite the hugely unfair financial advantage given to the wealthy 5 or 6. As for what to do after the game on Wednesday, one of the Wetherspoons pubs is a good place to drown your sorrows in quality beer at low prices, and they do food, if you can call it that, until 11pm. The nearest to St Marys is the Admiral Sir Lucius Curtis by Ocean Village. If you go back to the City Centre you won't get there until after 10.00pm. If you want a night spot, there are several to choose from, as Google will show you.

Our win at Upton Park might be too early season to indicate how things will go in the home game but we are playing a side that has just managed to draw at home against a team that we beat away from home. OK, so that sort of form isn't reliable, but we are a better team than them so we really should expect a win.

Not only that bizarre behaviour at Leicester's game with Palace but his attitude and comments in his MotD interview made him look like someone not fit for a high profile role. Whilst that probably wasn't what got him sacked, if that is how he has been conducting himself in the club, it's understandable that Leicester would want shot of him.

I blame the ref for allowing WHU to score. The officials are always against Man U. Confirmed by their manager.

Expecting to see some variation in tactics today. Koeman and his coaching team know very well what was wrong last week, Koeman talking about a lack of sharpness in the area. They will have worked on that this week, so it will be interesting to see the outcome.

If you take what is arguably Saints' strongest current line-up, 4 players were inherited by Pochettino from Adkins or earlier, one was recruited during Pochettino's 15 months in charge and 6 have been recruited under Koeman. Players inherited when Pochettino arrived in Jan 2013 - Clyne, Fonte, Schneiderlin, Davis; One player recruited during Pochettino's period - Wanyama Players brought in under Koeman:- Forster, Alderweireld, Bertrand, Tadic, Mané, Pelle. What did pass on to Koeman after Pochettino was the Southampton ethos but Pochettino didn't create that. He inherited it as do all Saints' managers.

In saying that JRod is a good player, Koeman also said that "You" the press reps, might know that better than me. He was making the point that he hasn't actually seen JRod play. It was good to hear Koeman saying that a player's health and fitness are paramount to all else. Jay needs no encouragement to regain fitness as it's his career that depends on it but he is being helped, not only in the practicalities but by the lack of pressure on him. Once he is fit, though, it will be down to him to convince Koeman that he's as good as people remember.

I suppose the ball, as they say in a different sport, is in Djuricic's court. Seems unlikely that Koeman agreed to the loan just so the player can watch the Saints play from a seat in the stand or from the bench. When he gets on the pitch it will be up to him to prove that he's better than what we already have.

We will know, come the Chelsea game at Stamford Bridge in March, whether Bertrand is allowed to play in that match but slightly disappointed that the club statement on the signing becoming permanent didn't say whether he would now be able to take part or if an agreement had been made that he would not play.

I'd have been happy with Djuricic if we hadn't already got Mané and Elia as well as Tadic. IMHO the greater need was for cover at striker, even before Long was injured. The squad looks unbalanced with midfield players, some of whom are likely to get very little game time. I'd like to see Djuricic in the team but at the expense of whom?

This a shock because I'm sure I heard that more than one tabloid newspaper had been printing stories about that JRod being sold this January. How could the gutter press be so wrong? Still, I expect the reporters who manufactured the articles will have been sacked.......

Gallagher may well be back in full training and the club will give him as much game time as possible, but I don't expect to see his name on the first team bench this season. It is encouraging to see Martin Hunter saying he thinks Gallagher will make a full recovery but an injury such as the one he suffered leaves a psychological obstacle to overcome as well as the physical one.

As the club were prepared to keep Cork if he would accept the offer, this has had to be in the hands of the player so that a firm offer for Vilhena couldn't be made until the Cork deal was signed. As it is, I think we can assume he will be a Saints' player within the deadline because we know from bitter experience that if a player wants to move it's hard for the selling club to stop it. Even if Vilhena isn't guaranteed a starting place here, the Prem will be seen as a step up so he's probably keen on the move as well as the link with Koeman.

The Lineker Tweet means that the Adrian Chillies sacking isn't such a great loss to Football on TV after all............

Could it be that this decision is driven more by money than it is by football? What a shock! Cork had refused to agree a new contract so he could have left on a free transfer in July. With no transfer fee involved that may have opened the door to a signing-on fee or higher wages. As it is, Southampton will receive a fee for a transfer in this window. The opportunity is there for the club is to improve the squad if they can sign a player of international quality. Names have already been mentioned and given past experience of their recruitment efficiency it seems very likely they have someone on standby.

Good move by the club. Cork could only be a squad payer here for the foreseeable future and if that wasn't enough for him, or didn't pay well enough, then moving on is best for both parties. The replacement must be ready to sign and may well prove to be a step up.

Living the dream. £50m worth of transferred players not good enough for the starting XI of a team 5 places below Saints in the league.

The Daily Star piece fails to mention that Koeman has stated publicly that no Saints player will be leaving in this window. Whilst the club could backtrack on that if they thought that an offer was good enough as to be in their longer term interests, Koeman's statement should have formed part of that story if it was a genuine news item. But, of course, it wasn't. It was just a routine column-filler. The press constantly fill their pages with transfer speculation that never happens just to sell papers to the body of football fans they think are interested in the 'big' clubs.

You cannot fail to be overwhelmed by Lawrenson's insight as a football expert. His incisive observation that after 22 games it is now clear that the team laying 3rd in the Premier League is a top six team that has a chance of finishing in the top 4, fills you with admiration for his comprehensive awareness of the game.