edprice1984

Neymar, what a c***

Ah the conspiracy theories are beginning. Firstly Russia have played two of the weakest teams in the competition. Secondly, due to the stupidity of the FIFA rankings because Russia haven't played any competitive football over the past two years their ranking is artificially low. Finally, don't underestimate the effect that playing at home can do for a teams confidence. I expect that they will lose to a savvy Uruguay side and then lose to either Portugal or Spain in the second round. Iceland could effectively knock out the Argies today, while ze Germans have to beat Sweden tomorrow. French were unconvincing again and I am not convinced that Deschamps knows his best team - also think that there is a mental fragility. Belgium have looked most convincing of the big sides, with Spain and England not too far behind.

When fit (and that hasn't been very often unfortunately) Wilshere is a fantastic player. I suppose it depends on if our offer includes clauses based on time played etc. If he gets an offer where they pay him loads of money whether or not he plays (I am looking at West Ham here) compared to say quite a lot of money with bonuses if he plays 30+ games etc, then his decision will tell a great deal about him as a Professional.

You will get a chance to test your theory on Friday when Brazil play Costa Rica. Neymar is struggling with an injury according to reports. I don't think even a fully fit and firing Salah would have helped last night, Egypt were dreadful. Difficult to assess Russia's performances based on how bad the other two teams have been. A similar performance v Uruguay would certainly get people talking. Although having to beat Portugal and or Spain in the last 16 is pretty unlikely.

Becoming a very very open World Cup. As I said yesterday, could quite easily see Argentina and Germany out in the group stage. Colombia v Poland is a massive game now - depending on the Senegal result, it could mean one of them goes out on Sunday.

Panama look awful. Worse than the Saudi's. Just a matter of time before Belgium score. Then the flood gates could open.

England to win 2-0. Tunisia to give us an early scare before we settle into the game and grab a goal midway through first half. Tunisia push for an equaliser and we catch them on the break to seal it with about 10 minutes to go. Might even be time to grab a third if their heads drop/we bring on Vardy to catch them again on the counter. For all the caution most England fans are sensibly showing, Tunisia's best player is Khazri (formally of Sunderland). England SHOULD have more than enough to win the game tonight. Obviously we do have a wonderful ability to f*** things up, but I would expect us to be in the 2nd round on Sunday afternoon with a Group decider v Belgium to look forward to. Interesting to see how important the next round of matches are for Argentina and Germany though, no room for mistakes! I fancy Iceland to get a win against Nigeria, if the Argies slip up against a confident Croatian team, a mutually helpful point in the last game between Iceland and Croatia would see them both through. The Germans HAVE to beat Sweden, as again, Mexico should have enough to beat Korea and then a similar scenario to that in Group D could develop.

1-0 Russia after 13 minutes.

I am not a fan of the Home shirt at all. Hopefully the away shirt mock-up/leak is accurate. However it did dawn on me earlier today the new kit is reminiscent of the 03-05 kit. http://www.colours-of-football.com/colours03/eng/southampt/eng_southampton_1_0305.gif

Only going by the Premier League site. My point is that there has been very few signings. A few of them were players already on loan or signed last year. You also need to ignore the Top four anyway, their business is normally done early and at prices that’s e wouldn’t compete with. If we get to the later part of July with no rumours, no signings etc and the likes of Everton,Burnley and Palace are improving their squads then I might start to worry

Just to clarify the current state of transfers across the Premier League: Arsenal: 1 in; 3 out Bompey: 8 out BHA: 3 in; 4 out Burnley: 5 out Palace: 1 in Fulham: 1 out Huddersfield: 2 in; 7 out Leicester: 2 in; 2 out Liverpool: 2 in*; 2 out Man City: 2 out Utd: 1 in; 2 out Newcastle: 1 in Saints: 7 out Spurs: 1 out Watford: 1 in; 1 out West Ham: 1 in; 2 out Wolves: 2 in; 14 out *Naby Keita was signed last year! The World Cup starts on Thursday, some of our targets are likely to be playing in the tournament. It appears that most clubs are holding off until July before making any significant signings. We clearly have some irons in the fire. Patience is needed.

Or...should we read anything into the style of the zero in the date? Ø (but in reverse) A strange typeface for a numeral zero. It could have just as easily been 15.06.18

The problem in the past was that English players were routinely labeled as less technically gifted or lacking in guile. To an extent we do seem to mistrust players who don't work hard off the ball - see Arsenal fans and Ozil. But compared to previous decades, we now have some incredibly talented kids coming through winning or challenging for trophies. This does give me some hope for the future. I do struggle to watch England games, they can be dull. But with the exception of the glamour friendlies against Brazil, Germany, Spain etc most of the teams we play sit 9 or 10 behind the ball, stay compact and try not to get hammered. Rather than lump it forward to a big man or fire in hundreds of crosses, we try to pass it round them and play football. Maybe not the most exciting but it is probably the right way to do it. I still get passionate about England, but it does tend to be only the crunch qualifiers or the tournaments. Another factor that might account for the lack of enthusiasm is the sheer amount of televised football. 30 years ago, leading into Italia 90 (even Euro 96' unless you had SkySports) International football was the main televised football around. But the lack of any success (Semi finals as a minimum) does appear to have led to a whole generation of fans feeling disillusioned with the National team.

It is a football kit. You don't have to buy it! Personally I have thought ever since the sash kit, we should retain that design - it would give us an separate identity compared to the numerous other sides who play in Red and White stripes. I am looking forward to a return to Yellow and Blue in our away kit - its been a few years.

I want them to win it. Most of my family (on my Dad's side) are Liverpool supporters. I always want the English side to win (with the exception of the Skates). The only time it has ever been difficult was when Man Utd played Chelsea in Moscow.

Santi Cazorla - doesn't he nearly lose his foot!? Had to have a skin graft from his arm following MRSA. My personal wish for a player we should be looking at is Josh King.

Liverpool are talking to Buffon (according to Tancredi, who is normally pretty hot on these things). Nothing to see here.

Likely Hojberg, Cedric, Tadic and Yoshida, with Bednarek a possibility too. I'm not sure about Boufal (if he even really counts). In 2014 we had three overseas internationals playing at the World Cup - Yoshida, Gaston and Lovren. Plus Shaw, Lambert and Lallana. Overall not a huge difference. Also, I would imagine that many on here will be wanting us to be signing some decent players this summer - unless they are all Italian, Dutch or American we struggle to find many outside of the 32 nations playing in Russia.

The reason why La Liga (outside of Real and Barca, and latterly Athletico) are poor by comparison in terms of depth in quality, is that until recently only the big two got any money. Valencia, Deportivo, Celta Vigo and Villareal all chased the dream but have also found financial problems. The reason why the Premier League is as competitive as it is, is because of the equal share of revenue. If that ever changes then it will be a different story.

Last post of the day... Danny F*CKING Welbeck?! Everyone else I can understand - obviously gutted for Bertrand, but I would imagine he is on the standby list. Very little creativity in the midfield too. Looks like we are going to rely on pace and counter attacking football (which is fine by me, but I am not sure we are strong enough defensively). I think we will get out of the group and may surprise a big team if they aren't 100% - but Quarter Finals are going to be a real success.

I don't get the Silva fascination. Other than Estoril he has never had more than one season at any club. If he joins Everton then that will be 5 clubs in 4 years. Also what does success look like to Everton? Top 6 and attractive football? They are going to have to spend a hell of a lot of money to catch up with Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs - all of whom are going to be spending this summer too. They have a decent squad but, very much like us, you could see them getting dragged down towards danger again.

GK: Pickford; Pope; McCarthy (I know it isn't going to happen - he will take Butland) Defenders: Bertrand, Walker, Stones, Maguire, Cahill, Tarkowski, Young (but I would prefer Sessengnon) Midfielders: Lallana, Loftus-Cheek, Henderson, Dier, Alli, Sterling, Lingard, Delph, Shelvey Strikers: Kane, Vardy, Rashford, Solanki I do think Southgate will bring in one of the wildcard young players and I would also expect him to play them. I would have Sancho (currently at Dortmund) in ahead of Delph but I understand that the latter brings a bit of flexibility. Despite my hatred of FIFA, I absolutely love the World Cup. They form my earliest memories of football. Also having the ability to watch football on Terrestrial TV at prime time nearly every night for an entire month is just heaven. I have now got a stage where I quite enjoy the over hyping of England's chances only to be left deflated. We aren't going to win it this time (although I do think we are very very well placed for the next 3 or 4 tournaments), Quarter Finals will be an achievement, anything more will send the country in to meltdown. I have often wondered what would happen if we did win it (or the Euro's) one day. Pretty sure the next day would be a total right off, National Holiday as no-one would be in any fit state to work, while the Scottish and Welsh would either commit mass suicide or go into hiding. It's nice to dream!

There are obviously plans in place for additions this summer. Rogic, Sisto/Promes (depending on which is the better deal) and one other judging by the initial noises in the media look like happening relatively soon into the summer. I would also keep an eye out for Dembele from Celtic - none of the big clubs have been in for him and we may be able to persuade him as a 'stepping stone'. We don't need another GK, McCarthy and Fraser are more than adequate. We will probably need to replace Bertrand and possibly Cedric (a lot depends on their respective summers). Boufal is obviously gone and I would expect to see one of the Strikers go too (probably Gabbi on the basis of rumoured interest from Italy). Sam Gallagher needs an opportunity next season and he needs to take it. The one thing I wouldn't change is the structure at the top. Get rid of Reed by all means, but we need a long term approach to signings and the culture of the club. The mistakes of the past few years can always happen. Football is not an exact science and I do believe whoever we had as a manager would have struggled to play attacking football following the loss of Mane and Pelle. Both the previous managers played a continental style not suited to the Premier League, Koeman seemed to have the right balance- but again benefited from probably the best squad of players (all playing at their absolute best) for nearly 30 years at Saints. To me, it seemed we reached our 5 year goal to early and then when Koeman left we struggled to set new, achievable goals. Looking ahead to next season, there are some bang average sides who are going to struggle. Watford, Cardiff, Bompey, whoever stays up out of Swansea and Huddersfield, West Ham, Leicester (particularly if they keep Puel). I don't expect Wolves or Palace to struggle too much. With the right additions and a more attacking style of play (rather than just pass - pass - pass - pass etc) we should be comfortably mid-table. Which after this season is fine by me!

I can honestly say that the last 20 minutes of last night was probably the worst I have ever experienced in my life - not just in sport. I am not ashamed to admit that I simply couldn't stomach the first 65 minutes, I watched the first 5 and was nearly sick. I turned back on at 65, we scored and then couldn't turn it off (although I really wanted to). I measured my heart rate after the game and it 148 bpm, god knows what my blood pressure was and I would love to know how much adrenaline was in my system at the end too. I didn't go to sleep until nearly 2am. It sounds counter intuitive now but not beating Everton may have actually helped in the end. Would Sparky have put Gabbi on if we had a two point lead on Swansea? We could have been caught between a stick or twist scenario (like Be'er Sheva last season). Personally I hope Swansea stay up, always had a soft spot for them since my uni days and being witness to their 'Great Escape' from total oblivion back in 2003. They need to focus on Huddersfield, just win the game and hope the Terriers don't pick up a point. Even for the most pessimistic Saints fan, we are not going to see a 10 goal swing. As others have said, we should never be in this situation again - a clear out of some players who clearly do not want to be here (Boufal) and a return to the formula that has worked so well - offer ourselves as a stepping stone, to attract the best young/undervalued and tenacious players and give them the opportunity to impress a get a big move. Invest in the academy and add solid players as you go.

Stoke and WBA HAVE to win at the weekend. WBA could still win and be relegated (if we win at Everton). Personally I think 4 points will be enough, but we want to get the three on the board straight away. The Swansea game is almost a free hit for them because they have the back up of the final day v Stoke. Looking at the fixtures, form etc I think it is between us and Huddersfield. Whoever gets a result on the last day will stay up. Hopefully we will have done the job by then anyway and have 6/6 from the next two - but we all know it doesn't quite work like that.