Professor

Thought he came as close as he could to saying he was disappointed with Osvaldo's first appearance but was genuinely confident he will be big player once settled in.

Were there two Osvaldos playing. I didn't see this one. The one I saw I only glimpsed occasionally and didn't see him do very much at all. Expect him to do better when he's settled in and has become accustomed to the team, but I'd say his debut wasn't one he'll want to remember except that the fans and the players welcomed him very well.

Nothing to substantiate this, but the comment on Football Rumours that LB Aaron Cresswell could be coming to Southampton with Billy Sharp moving to Ipswich would seem very attractive if true. A Championship FB regarded as having Prem potential would be the ideal competition or cover for Luke Shaw.

It may not occur to Al Jazeerah that in the UK those pundits are probably regarded as about as low as you can get and that both would struggle to work here. Poyet may have blotted his copybook with the BBC over claiming on air that he didn't know about his dismissal, which Brighton stated afterwards was untrue. Having to work with the disgraced Grey shows he really is sinking without trace.

Being anxious is characteristic of a true fan - surely we can't win 2 out of 2 to start the season - but this isn't the Saints' teams of old. We now have our fair share of full and current internationals, plus a manager who really knows how to motivate his players. Feel confident of a win this afternoon and by more than one goal. On predicting MP's selection, I think he might keep JWP and that it could be JRod who will lose out if Osvaldo starts, although wouldn't be surprised if MP holds Osvaldo on the bench until the second half.

Always very hard to compare with the past. We had some excellent squads during the Div1/Premiership years although once The Dell went all-seater and capacity dropped to 15,000 it felt as if we couldn't compete and St Maryy's took so muych in resources there wasn't enough left for the team. But compared to when we had the likes of Channon, Ball, Keegan, Williams, Shilton and later MLT, the bigger clubs had not built such massive squads of internationals. We are faced with harder competition these days so although our squad looks good, so do a lot of the others. I think we'll do well this year but not the heights of second place as in 1984.

Was keen to go but the ticket price at £41 was too much for my pal and borderline for me so we decided against. On top of the ticket you are looking at £5 parking, £3 programme and £20 road fuel so even without catering that's £110 for the two of us. Really is getting very high for 90 minutes entertainment. Maybe do a match in Sept but can't see being there regularly this season.

It could have been worse:

Who is 'JS' whose initials are under the Guardian paragraph on Saints? Understandably trying to print something controversial to make a story so doesn't give credit to the club, that a striker was needed and instead of taking the easy route of bringing in cover for Rickie Lambert, they bought the best they could find, a full and current Italy international for a club record transfer fee. When Man City or Chelsea buy such players the same story isn't run about how Rooney would undermine £50m Torres or £9m Demba Ba and so Chelsea should not think of buying another international. Little Southampton should understand that they are just a make-weight in the Prem and only buy second level players, as Norwich have done with Hooper. Norwich know their place, so should Southampton.

The so-called 'Fair Play Rules' will be ineffective as long as those who are supposed to promote football on a level playing filed have their own self-interest as a main priority. Michel Platini and FIFA are our best hope for a fairer future but I would hold my breath.

Ocean Village is fine if you are going out over the Itchen Bridge but not if you're in from the west. Bonus at Ocean Village is cheap beer at Wetherspoon's.

With the group of strikers and attacking midfielders in the squad there isn't much of an opening for a winger except as an impact sub. My guess is also that Isgrove will get his chance. He's in the first team squad and I suspect the 1-year contract was just to be sure that his injury problems have been overcome. Can't really see what the point would be in buying a winger to push Lloyd down the pecking order or to spend £5m or whatever on a player who wouldn't be a regular starter. If there is another player to come in, cover at LB seems to be what most of the fans think we need, but it depends on whether the coaches have as little confidence in Danny Fox as the fans. The fans always have the down on one player and currently that is Fox but it doesn't mean the negative reactions are justified as fans are not, in the main, qualified coaches.

Calm down dear. I'm not telling you to believe it, just sharing information. The difference between this and the Shaw story should be obvious, that Sinclair is already committed to leaving Man City, so these stories, true or not, will not be undermining either the player or the club. Do hope that isn't too complicated.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/manchester-city-transfers-scott-sinclair-2193300 http://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/southampton/transfer-talk/news/report-saints-readying-gbp5m-sinclair-bid_99764.html Same story was in The Sun although they might all come from the same source. The club planning to recruit a winger would account for the No.11 shirt.

As suggested by others this is just the kind of fiction created by journalists to keep the name of one of their favoured clubs in the news. Can't keep printing the same story so manufacture a different line, completely regardless of truth. Its not 'lazy' journalism, it's gutter press at it's worse. But when responding, its not a good idea to use reported Everton word of 'derisory'. Derisory simply implies that if you were the selling club you would sell but you would need a higher offer. There is little point a club spending millions on good players if it then sells other good players and there is no doubt that Southampton are not intending to sell any of its star players, as shown by the long-term contract strategy that's been employed. The serious issue about this story is that the Daily Express can unsettle a player by saying that a club is interested in him, when it is contrary to FA rules for a club to make approaches to players without the permission of the employing club, permission that can be refused and often is. It should be possible to take action against these newspapers and if the present rules and regulations, or the law, does not provide for that the FA should take steps to see that it does in future. Fans should be sickened by the way the media use fake stories about football to fill their blank spaces. Rant over.....

Of course its money-grabbing of the highest order. When another club wants one of your Academy players you should just hand them over, regardless of how much you've invested in them from the age of 8.

Puncheon is a good player, otherwise Palace wouldn't take him but 8 goals in 65 appearances for Saints, which is quoted somewhere, isn't quite the impact needed. He did OK for us but if he is surplus to requirements it will be because the club don't feel he is quite good enough for the higher level that we now aspire to. SFC are now filling the team with players of international quality or potential and that is not Puncheon's level. Good luck to him.

Couldn't be bothered to read all the way through to see if this had been said before but if it has, sorry......... Does anyone think that Adkins could have attracted Osvaldo here, and he certainly couldn't have held his own with him in game of football tennis in the way that Pochettino did in the video. Nice man that Adkins was, the slightly nerdish image couldn't compete with Poch in terms of gaining respect from professional footballers.

Rickie often falls deep and it has sometimes been JRod who has been the most forward forward. Rickie and Osvaldo will be a fearsome strike force and Pochettino will already know how he wants them to play. On the penalties, hopefully the punch up to decide the penalty taker will happen at Staplewood behind closed doors, not in front of 32,000 spectators. Can't see MP changing his penalty taker since Rickie has never missed one for the Saints in four years.

I think we had 6 English players start against WBA, not 7, but the point is well made nonetheless. Our non-English starters were Boruk, Lovren, Fonte, Schneiderlin and Wanyama.

This thread has shown that the best team is not necessarily the best eleven individuals. We seem to be mostly agreed on the defence, including the DMFs and nailed on starting places for Lambert and Osvaldo. Its the other two places that are fluid. Leaving out a £12m player in Ramirez is a hard decision and JRod provides a real goal threat, so both might edge it over Lallana, but Lallana is left side specialist so even if he isn't better than the other two, he provides balance in the team. Then there are Puncheon and JWP, both worth a place in the side but maybe just edged out when GR and JR are both fully fit. So my front four would be Osvaldo, Rickie, JRod, and Gaston but the secret of success in the Prem is being able to bring in players of equal quality when needed and we are close to be able to do that. I'd still like another defender to compete at LB.

Brilliant video. Great to see the manager showing he still has the skills - much as we liked Nigel its not possible to imagine him playing football tennis with a star player.

Surely everyone will agree that it will be Rickie, everyone bar one. How will Poch prevent trouble on the pitch?

Changes to last week's winning team - Chambers and Fonte were probably standing in for Clyne and Yoshida so I'd expect those two changes and its then a case of how to accommodate Osvaldo if he is considered match fit. JWP was very influential in midfield at West Brom so my guess would be JRod to drop to the bench.

And the difference is - God doesn't think he's Cortese.