Professor

For once, I'd like Big Sam to get an away win.

A good reminder that the team should return to STRIPES. I'm got fed up watching Saints play in Liverpool colours last year and I'm fed up with seeing them in Arsenal colours this year. You won't find Liverpool or Arsenal adopting our colours just to try to force fans to buy another shirt.

If Lawrensen's note about Saints v Swansea was submitted as an essay in year 11 it would get about 15 marks out of 100. There is no evidence of research, no understanding of the history of Southampton FC and the assessment of a premier league club chairman approving the purchase of international players as being 'clever' is infantile. Why the BBC pay this man for such a useless job in journalism and punditry is beyond belief. He's an embarrassment.

In a sense, because other teams had games in hand, we never really were 4th or 5th, and although as fans we did get excited, it was good to see that the management and the players remained realistic. As it is, 11 points from 6 games is 1.83 points per game which if projected over the whole season gives a finish of 69 or 70 points, which would probably still be outside the top 6. There are valid reasons to think our team will improve as Wanyama and Osvaldo become more settled and the young players gain more experience week by week. No one month of 3 or 4 games determines the whole season but by the end of October the picture will look a lot clearer. Win at home to Swansea, which we should if we really are a top 6 contender but win that game and then win away at OT and I will probably open a bottle of champagne, even though WBA have already shown it's not that difficult.

Re the Chamakh dive, looking at the Palace fans message board is both encouraging and discouraging. See:- http://www.holmesdale.net/page.php?id=106&tid=137933 Its encouraging to see many Palace fans being critical of blatant cheating and their support for post-match video checks to punish the cheats. Football fans, whichever team they support should want the game played by the rules otherwise they are being defrauded of their gate money. But discouraging were the post-match comments by the manager and the player. Let's be quite clear, Chamakh had pushed the ball too far past Boruk and rather than try to get to it, he immediately went into a dive, with no contact at all,and then dragged his leg towards the keeper so that he made contact with Boruk. That was a deliberate foul by the striker, not by the keeper and it was simulation for which he was booked. Holloway was unhappy that his player dived instead of attempting a shot and called it 'going down too easily'; Weasle words if ever there were any. No concern from him the manager about cheating. The player was sure there had been contacxt. Well, there would be wouldn't there - if you deliberately run into another player. No admission by him that he cheated. This shows that those who make money out of the game, the managers and the players are prepared to cheat because the result is all that matters, their income and career depend on results alone. Those who watch the game and fund it with their money don't want cheating, and in fact if you condone it you might as well dispense with rules altogether. This leaves us with the administrators, FIFA, the FA and the Leagues, as they could do much to eliminate it by real punishments to those who cheat that hit them where it matters by long-term bans from the game. Lee in Snooker, Armstrong in cycling; if Ashley Young was banned for 12 months, or Chamakh, players would think twice about cheating.

A meaningless story manufactured by an insignificant local newspaper, regurgitating the same old rubbish to encourage a few Spurs fans, at least those able to read, to buy the paper. A local reporter working for the East London Guardian won’t know that Southampton buys players for £15m and is not in the business of selling academy products who will be worth a lot more than that if they are not already. Neither will such a junior reporter have any real information about the plans of Tottenham Hotspur FC but it is a reminder of why Cortese has signed his star players on long-term contracts to counter the speculation that will be regularly manufactured by the media in order to write stories about the London/Manchester/Liverpool clubs.

Good to see that NickG now recognises that replacing Adkins with MP has moved the club upwards, a decision that Nick's unwavering loyalty to the club management didn't allow him to support at the time. Also interesting that the two players Nick regarded as brilliant acquisitions in the Adkins' era, Ramirez and Yoshida, have been reduced by the present manager to the role of squad players. The transformation of SFC's position in the Leagues over four years has been amazing with credit due to Cortese's choice of managers and to the men themselves, Pardew, Adkins and Pochettino, but the change has come about because of hard decisions, not through complacency or misplaced reward for past effort. Other recently promoted clubs have got into the top six in the Prem in early season and sunk down the table as the season has progressed. Its OK for fans to congratulate the club for four years of progress but words coming from the dressing room suggest that the present coaches are not allowing the players to be complacent.

A common example of boneheads who know what the rule says but don't understand what it is there to deal with. The rule is there to stop people, especially young blokes, knocking back cans of lager and bottles of spirits all through a match and potentially becoming violent. It isn't to stop any drinking of alcohol as you could take five pints onto the terraces as long as they are in your system. This is Jobsworth gone mad. Sadly, whilst its to be expected that some stewards will be boneheads, its a sad indictment of the police that none of them had the intelligence to tell the stewards to use some common sense. Must hope that there will be some common sense within the club.

Once you saw the Chamakh dive on MotD you could see what the referee had seen - a blatant attempt at cheating because he'd pushed the ball too far ahead and away from the goal. People who cheat in other sports are banned - Lee in snooker, Armstrong in cycling - so a red card in football would be a very mild punishment for cheating by comparison. Instead all players get is a the same as for a clumsy tackle - a yellow card warning. FIFA and the FA have got to stamp out cheating and as long as managers try to cover for the cheats it will go on. Contrast Moyes' reaction towards Young with Holloway's begrudging comment that he couldn't understand why Chamakh didn't try to have a shot instead of going down.

As we found with Gazzaniga, flair isn't enough to be a first choice Prem GK; experience is essential which only comes with the years. Butland was faced with a problem because Birmingham needed the money so were anxious to cash in his value but only cover roles were on offer in the Prem. Barnsley does look like a step down but you can only play in a first team where there is a vacancy and it is only for a limited period. If he is as good as his selection for the England squad seemed to indicate, his chance will come but if we had taken him, its likely he would have been third choice here, so he probably wouldn't have chosen us anyway!

A comment on The Guardian newspaper which also seems interested only in matches that feature clubs from three cities, London, Liverpool and Manchester. No report in yesterday's paper of Southampton v Bristol. Maybe the editor of The Guardian thinks the paper only sells in those three cities and isn't interested in serving the cities of Southampton and Bristol despite the combined population of about three-quarters of a million. Seems rather short-sighted, and I for one won't be buying The Guardian on a Monday knowing they can't be bothered to cover Saints' games except when playing a side from one of their favoured places, and even then the report will be from the other team's viewpoint.

I hate to say it but with Fox not in the team, who is the next likely target for the miserable player assassins to have a go at next, if not Lambert. But if Lambert wasn't playing you can guarantee they would move on to someone else. As for Lambert, obviously a player good enough to be picked for England can't be worth a place in the Saints' team.

An office rumour, (or shop staff rumour) is just that a rumour, meaning its one person's opinion that they have passed on to others dressed up as fact. It doesn't make it true. There's a perfectly sensible reason for not playing in stripes every year - which is that if the shirts are too similar from one year to the next, the fans who want to wear one to matches can get away with last year's shirt. the greater the change in the shorts, the more will be sold. Saints fans should adopt the fashion widely followed in Rugby, that you wear as old a shirt as you can to demonstrate that you've been a supporter for a good number of years!

No More Bets........

Regardless of how long, it does make the table look very nice. Man U have also lost their goal difference advantage over Saints although they have scored more goals. If we can get at least 3 against Palace next weekend even some of the doubters may have to accept that things are changing

To have a £12m player on the bench is almost an essential for clubs aspiring to Champions' League football. Have look at the value of the subs benches at the likes of Chelsea, Man City, Arsenal etc. Its no longer possible to compete at this level with 11 payers and 11 reserves. Over the course of the season we will need Ramirez and when he gets a chance it'll be up to him to try to keep his place.

BBC Sport's so called 'football expert' only got one correct result this afternoon and then didn't get the correct score. His preview of the Liverpool-Saints game wasn't worthy of being published and his prediction "...even without the injured Philippe Coutinho, I would still expect Liverpool to create a lot of chances and win comfortably." could not have been more wrong, since Saints did not only win but did so deservedly and could easily have had 3 goals. The MotD pundits who are a boring bunch at best are usually at their worst when Lawrenson is propped up in one of the chairs but for once I really do hope he's there tonight! BTW, Sturridge did not 'go to ground too easily', he dived. That phrase is used by commentators to avoid being sued for libel, but we know it means - dived.

Amazing that the coaches and manager who see Wanyama performing at training and in practice matches have him ahead of Jack Cork but some people on here, most of whom who haven't seen Cork play since last season believe he's the better player. Just as well its the coaches and the manager who make the team selection. As for today, I see its standard stuff from the BBC talking about Liverpool, Liverpool, Liverpool. I want us to win every game, of course, but to win this one and stuff it down the throats of the pundits will be absolutely brilliant. How about goals by Wanyama, Osvaldo and Lambert as the cream on the cake.

Lots of Liverpool supporters wouldn't be at all happy with 0-0, so lets have some goals and beat them 2-1

Do remember chaps and chapesses, although mostly chaps, that this is the real world, not fantasy football. A team with 10 defenders or ten strikers would be just as relevant as some of the suggestions being made, ie, not relevant at all. MP will make the selection and trying to anticipate what his line-up will be is interesting, but fans trying to act as substitute managers is not. I for one don't want to know what someone else thinks the team should be but I do want to know what you think MP's team will be.

The team that played on Sunday could easily have had 3 goals if luck had been with them but even if just Lambert's header had gone in the fans' attitude would now be very different. I doubt that Pochettino will make any unforced changes in the starting line-up. He has his settled League side and has only changed it when forced by injuries. I expect him to make tactical substitutions as usual during the game, most likely 2 from JWP, Ramirez or Davis depending on how the game is going with any other subs depending on injury, tiredness or yellow cards. I also feel confident that the Lambert - Osvaldo partnership is going to produce goals. Both were very close on Sunday and another day the on-target attempts will go in.

Quite. But it was the obvious scrutiny she was giving the training match that caught my attention. Thanks all for the details and I now know it is Frankie Hunter and that her role is to analyse training intensities and loads on the players giving feedback to players and coaches. She is part of the Academy team working with the u-13s through to the u-21s. Looks like we are lucky to have her and personally I think it is great that SFC have a female in a sports science role.

I agree. It is odd that he was so much better at Doncaster in 2011 and for Saints in 2012, but Adkins and Co clearly assessed him as not being good enough to step up a level and it seems they were proven right by his record on loan at Forest and by Pochettino's team making the same assessment. I just don't think its right to blame the player if he reached his peak earlier than people hoped, or to blame him for the contract he was given by SFC. Neither should the player be expected to get SFC out of a contract that was of their own making, although let's not forget that it was Sharp's goals that probably confirmed promotion, so it could be argued that he repaid the transfer fee.

You really do need to be very well off to forgo close on£1m over the next two years. Sharp will not command anything like that with his next club, whether he moves now or in two years' time, so he is doing what most people would do, which is to earn as much as he can, whilst he can for the benefit of himself and his family. Professional football is a business and a career, not a 'game'. Having said that, I doubt very much if he will 'sit on his arse' as some people have suggested, because it will suit SFC and one of the interested clubs to compromise, and with that income he can afford to wait.