Bailey

Wouldn't surprise me if true, although as you say, you'd have thought that the club would have put something up on the OS about this.

Tottenham at St. Mary's please!

A win is a win. Wasn't the most entertaining of games and Saints were well below-par IMO. Full credit to Luton though, they gave it a good go and probably deserved a replay to be honest. Rickie Lambert continues to impress. He didn't have his best game today, but he held the ball up well, brought others into play and scored a top-draw free-kick. It speaks volumes when people are surprised to see Lambert fail to hit the target from a set-piece, even if it is 40-yards out! Looking forward to the 4th Round Draw now, hoping for Tottenham at St. Mary's. We haven't had the chance to 'welcome' Saggy Chops back yet, and no doubt it'd be a sell-out if we did get Spurs.

Make no mistake about it, Grimsby are very keen to keep hold of Lancashire. He's had a lot of good press up there and the fans have taken to him, but it's much more likely that he'll go out on loan to a team nearer to home, probably in League One too.

If Wayne Thomas doesn't leave in January, he'll leave in the summer, whatever division we're in. I've mentioned on here before that Pardew has been given significant funds to strengthen the squad in January, with SIX players expected to come in. Make no mistake about it, there will be a big turnover of players in January and in the summer, and WT doesn't feature in those plans. With regards to another poster who mentioned Lancashire's loan situation, he'll be back at Saints next week. He WON'T be signing for Grimsby on a permanent basis, it's more likely that he'll be sent out on loan to a League One club in the coming weeks. His contract is up at the end of the season too and whether he remains at Saints beyond that is anyone's guess.

A good game in front of a sell-out crowd. Great to see! Should have been a lot more comfortable in the 2nd half than it was, but nice to see us holding out and killing off the game with a third goal. Special mention to Lloyd James who had a fine game. Got forward well, scored a good goal and delivered a first-class ball into the box for Trotman's goal. Was impressed with Schneiderlin once again. His passing ability is second-to-none and he's really worked on the physical side of his game this season; credit to Pardew and the management team for getting the best out of him. All in all, a good result and another 3 points. Hopefully we can follow that up with a win tomorrow at Colchester, but it won't be easy, especially if we're missing Lallana who is a doubt after coming off injured yesterday.

Mills wasn't doing the job Pardew asked him to do, simple as that. Pards was visibly angry at Fish for not getting tight to his man. He was allowing the opposition too much room and AP wasn't happy about it. Switching formation and bringing Wotton on was the right thing to do, you can't argue that. On a side note, does anyone remember a similar scenario during the 3-2 home defeat by Bristol Rovers? Mills came off the bench that game and Rovers' winning goal came from Mills allowing the opposing player too much space. Their right-winger cut inside, JM backed off and the rest is history! Having said all that, I do rate Mills and I believe he's got a lot of potential. He's keen to get forward, has a decent left peg and has age on his side. He could develop into a decent little player in time but don't be surprised to see him leave on loan in January though.

It's probably worth pointing out that Simon Grayson has said that Leeds' performance today was one of their best this season.

A difficult game today but we by no means disgraced ourselves. Losing 1-0 at the league leaders isn't the worst result, but it shows that we've still got a lot of work to do, but we're getting there. Our lads showed they were up for it, fought hard and didn't roll over, so credit to them for that. Lets hope we can get back to winning ways on Boxing Day as Exeter visit St. Mary's!

My original comment wasn't a criticism by the way, but Lambert and Connolly just aren't as good as Beattie and Phillips, although they're arguably the best strike force in this division. With regards to your comment, I thought Beattie and Phillips were quite good together!

I have a bad feeling that the weather might result in this game being called off. Really hope not though, don't fancy finding out that the game has been abandoned halfway through the journey!

Lambert and Connolly remind me of a poor man's Beattie and Phillips.

Pardew said at the end of his Norwich post-match interview that Connolly was going to be fine for Saturday. Expect to see him starting alongside Lambert.

Wow. That's not the Saints we're all used to. Since when did we have the character to score a late goal AND go on to win the game on penalties? Can't fault the effort of the lads tonight though, their attitude was spot on. Still, I can't help but feel we're very fortunate to have progressed tonight. Norwich were by far the better side for the majority of the game, and I have to admit, I think Pards got the tactics wrong. We were too narrow in midfield and we isolated Harding. Norwich had more than their fair share of possession and on another day, they would have won that in normal time. Having said that, we did well to claw our way back into the game, so full credit to the lads for that. Special mention to Waigo; took both of his goals brilliantly tonight, great to see his infamous celebration once more! And well done Bialkowski too! I haven't always been his biggest fan, but he was superb tonight. He commanded his area superbly and made some vital saves in the shoot-out. At this rate, Davis may have a job on trying to get back into the starting XI! Delighted to progress, now lets go the whole way and make it to Wembley. It would be fantastic to see Saints Vs Leeds in front of a sell-out crowd in the final. Here's hoping anyway!

Lambert's going nowhere. Guys, Southampton is a good club to be at at the minute. Expect a big name or two to come through the door in January.

I'd be more than happy for this to take place. Don't know if the owners would feel comfortable with it though? They don't seem like the kind of people to take the limelight and pat themselves on the back.

Bart hasn't filled me with confidence in recent games but he was first-class tonight. He commanded his area brilliantly and produced some fine saves in the penalty shoot-out. If he can work on his distribution, then he'll be a VERY good back-up keeper. Still, if he continues in this vein of form, then Davis may struggle to get back into the side initially!

Couple of questions that I'm sure can be easily answered . . . Firstly, is FM10 still run through the Steam application? And also, when will the update be available with all the latest squads etc? Cheers in advance!

Pardew's best signing - Rickie Lambert. Pardew's most astute signing - Dan Harding.

Ah yes, completely forgot Davis is still out injured. Bialkowski in for him then, obviously. I'd be tempted to rest him for Leeds away to be honest, although I wouldn't be surprised if Pards selected Morgan for Tuesday night.

I'd rest Harding and Jaidi on the basis that they're only one yellow card away from being suspended. I'd go with a starting XI something like this . . . ----------------- Davis -------------- James ---- Thomas ---- Perry ---- Mills Waigo -- Wotton -- Hammond -- Lallana --------- Lambert -- Connolly ---------- Be interesting to see what team Pardew does go with however. Time will tell.

Great video! Cheers for that.

I have to disagree with a lot of people re: Bialkowski. Whilst he has been OK in his last few matches, he doesn't fill me with confidence and his distribution is poor. However, he hasn't played in a long while and he's getting games under his belt, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. Having said all that, he commanded his area well again today, and did what he had to do when called upon. I don't think Pardew needs to be on the lookout for another keeper to fill the void left by Kelvin, as Bartosz is more than capable of filling in. Still, I just don't feel as confident in BB as others seem to!

A poor first-half, but we got what we deserved in the end. Tranmere were delaying the game right from the kick-off, taking their time from set-pieces with players going down at every opportunity. Still, we needed to be patient as we were always going to score, and what a way to do it! Harding's strike was first-class, as was Lambert's penalty, but his free-kick was something else. I've never seen anyone strike a ball with as much pace, power and accuracy as Lambert; top draw strike! All in all, a good result and another deserved 3 points. Keep it up Saints!

Lancashire has actually been getting some decent press up at Grimsby and the general opinion amongst their fans is that he's been a decent signing. I get the impression they would like to see him stay until the end of the season at least but whether or not that happens, only time will tell.