The Kraken

Exactly right; there is simply no reason whatsoever that Lallana would sign a new contract before the end of the season, it just isn't in his interests. Much better to take a decision at the end of the season when he knows which division we'll be in, and what other offers are on the table. And given that we will due a development fee for him, which will decide his value by tribunal, it's not completely imperative that we sign him to new contract. It is of course more of a risk in that his valuation will be determined independently rather than us holding out for a set figure, but a number of previous multi-million pounds development fees awarded suggest that we should receive a true reflection of his value.

What most impressed me was the amount of options the players created for themselves so as not to play the long ball. From goal kicks the full backs and centre backs were demanding the ball from Kelvin, and every time the defence were in posession there was usually more than one option for a short pass. Adkins has clearly been getting the message across of how he wants us to play, and the players are clearly taking it on board. I think it also will help our cause massively that, for all of October, we have no midweek games. That means that NA can spend the whole week reinforcing his ideas of our playing style, so hopefully we will continue to improve further. NA has also mentioned that Lambert needs to keep working on his fitness, so its more chance for him to do that.

Unfortunately this is painfully true. When Pardew arrived we had a training ground report, outlining how much of a tactical thinker AP was, always stopping play and telling players where he wants them to be, what he wants them to do etc. Roll on 12 months and apparently Pardew is tactically inept with only hoofball tactics. That said, I do think Adkins has that certain something about him, and the upturn in performances since his arrival is obviously noticable. Long may it continue, including a strong winning performance today please.

Lallana properly up top with Lambert would be my choice, with Holmes or Dickson coming in at LM.

Sky need a kick up the arse in terms of how much they charge to pubs, as they're pricing all but the larger chains out of having the footy. A mate of mine is the landlord of a local pub and he has seen annual subscriptions for Sky rise from around £12K 2 years ago to just under £20K this year. For smaller pubs, that just simply isn't viable, so he has had to shelve it, and many other pubs are considering doing the same. Especially as the advent of streaming games is growing, it's much easier to watch from home. But then Sky have such a monopoly and are so powerful I can only see this court case going in their favour.

Kasey Keller

There's a quote in today's Echo from Adkins, saying that Rickie obviously needs to keep working on his fitness and the club are helping him with that. We now have all of October where we have no midweek games. That means NA can get all the players up to the fitness levels he demands, and has all week to work with them to get his tactical ideas across. Give it a week or two and I would expect RL to be firing on all cylinders again, he maybe just needs another one from open play to really get him going.

Bless them. And what wonderful humour. "We've got more points than you", they sang. Brilliant little scamps.

Your first sentence makes no sense. But I have no desire to turn this into a Pardew v Adkins argument. We certainly tried to pass it much better today, and looked a much better team for it. Don't agree with punch for MOTM, though he was admittedly better than in recent weeks. Barnard was the stand out performer for me, followed by Lallana who just oozes class. Also hats off to Hammond and Morgan for controlling midfield so well, a completely different game to Colchester when they both got bullied by a blonde midget.

Seriously, does it in any way matter? Adkins was clearly the first choice, and as it turns out the right choice.

Absolutely right. Pardew would never have been able to secure a 2-0 home win against Bournemouth. Oh.

To be fair though, on another day either of their pens could have been given. And they were so needless, one shove in the back from Seaborne with his arm out and one grab from Fonte when his marker wasn't really goign anywhere. No idea where Howe gets the other two from. And ours were both nailed on penalties, albeit equally soft.

No width I could perhaps accept, Lallana cut inside a lot and obviously so did Puncheon when on the right. However: no imagination, I can't understand that. From teh back, whenever it went to Kelvin we noticably had a player each side of the pitch dropping back to take the ball from him so as no hoofing. Seabourne hardly hoofed it at all, which says a lot. Morgand and Hammond were both very solid in midfield. Lallana continues to be a class apart at this level, and while Punch was a bit frustrating he still did ok. Lambert is well off the pace in terms of fitness and thinking time, thankfully Barnard was full of industry and clever running and gave their defence a torrid time for the whole of the game. Room for improvement? Certainly. But this was a very polished performance where we did what we had to do and never looked in real trouble. Definitely a step forwards from recent performances.

A bit in between really. Barnard could and maybe should have scored on 3 minutes. Lambert has a header from a corner which just missed, maybe should have done better. A few other half chances here and there, Puncheon called back for an earlier foul to us when clean through (but debatable as their defender seemed to be slowing up anyway so Punch might not have got in). Also Lambert's free kick towards the end which the keeper pushed away, but seemed a bit like one for the cameras. We dominated the game; yes we needed pens to win it but after the 2-0 lead we stopped really going for it and consolidated the victory. A good professional performance. Apart from inside the first minute Bournemouth did aboslutely nothing at all. MOTM: Barnard, such a brilliant outlet, tireless running and always looked a threat if we could just get him in. When Lambert finally shifts some bulk and gets back to last season's form those two will cause havoc.

And look at you getting all defensive about it. It's almost as if you're trying to put your fingers in your ears to block out any bad words said about your illustrious leader. Try reading the words a bit more; most people are not intent on attacking the man, but the completely avoidable mistakes he continues to make. The veil of secrecy around the club is at most times an air of professionalism, but it also betrays an obvious naievity in certain decision making, which obviously comes from the very top. Criticising those poor decisions is absolutely fair game, as is lauding Cortese in the numerous things for which he has clearly done well with on behalf behalf of the club.

I think you're seeing what you want to see. Most people are capable of judging Cortese on individual decisions, rather than some unknown agenda you ascribe them to. The fact he attracts a lot of criticism is down to the significant number of avoidable mistakes he has made, admittedly though they are all relatively minor in nature. The man, while I'm sure having many plus points, is simply a walking PR disaster who exudes the image of a lack of care for his customer.

You booed when Markus Liebherr was in shot? Shame on you. But hang on NC was in there too? And Mawhinney as well? What were they doing, squeezing together for a cheesey Wembley photo? You're making it up, aren't you?

Depends what you classify a problem I guess. If Hammond picks up a booking tomorrow; then for the next game, without the signing of Chaplow, we'd seriously be looking at a central midfield partnership of Paul Wotton and Anthony Pulis. That signifies a problem to me. Having 3 good players to compete for 2 places just makes good sense, and will keep all 3 on their toes. Having 2 players for 2 positions is a risk, and when just 1 of those players in unavailable for any reason causes a real problem.

I imagine there is plenty going on behind the scenes, but there's really not a lot we can do, the ball is in his court. However, we don't need to sign him up on a contract to ensure we get a fee for him; he's under 24 so even if he lets his contract expire we'll be due a development fee for him. It probably won't be as much as we could extract on a transfer, or it could be more, it all depends on how lucky we get at tribunal. It's not at all in Lallana's interests to sign a new contract unless we're absolutely throwing money at him and/or it looks like we're definitely going up. I would expect him to let the current contract lapse, see out the season, and either sign a new contract with us if we go up or leave if we don't.

I wasn't there so can't comment exactly what happened in the ground. However, it didn't sound like the end of a Mexican Wave boo. There was an enormous cheer for Markus first, obviously for him and nothing else, just a massive extended cheer and applause for the 5 or 10 seconds when Markus was on screen. Then it moved along to NC, and while there was indeed "booing", it was clearly tongue in cheek, didn't last for too long, and there was also some applause and laughter too. Also, as Steve said earlier, the commentators picked up on it too, though clearly didn't elaborate as to why. I think this was around the time when the fans were hoping for a public show of support for the manager from NC which hadn't come. As a consequence AP's appearances on TV were massively endorsed also, with the booing seemingly intended as a light-hearted nudge in the ribs at the CEO to endorse his man.

That's exactly what happened. I was abroad skiing at the time of the game and had to make do with watching on Sky in a bar. The camera went to Markus, cue a massive cheer, then along to Cortese for some pantomime booing. It wasn't a full-on boo, more tongue in cheek, but it DEFINITELY happened as some other guys in the bar asked me why his own fans were booing him.

If they live in a cave, perhaps...

Exactly right. Lallana is out of contract at the end of the season but, as he is young enough, we'll get a development fee for him anyway. And it would take a big money offer to take Morgan off our hands before the end of the season. Besides, the signing of Chaplow on an initial one month loan and selling our top players in January are not in any way related.

What on earth are you on about now? Since last season we've been crying out for a new CM. Someone who can give different options and provide competition for Hammond and Schneiderlin. And now that we've finally got that, you can only see the bad side? How very odd. Adkins has said it's an (and I'll use capitals here as you seem to understand those) INITIAL 1 month loan. Which means that we can EXTEND it if the player is up to the task. Also, Morgan is already ruled out of the Tranmere game as he's away on international duty, so clearly we needed to plug that gap. This is a signing we really should have made last Christmas; that it's finally happened now can only be good news.

"Initial" 1 month, as stated on the OS. Sounds like we'll probably have an option to extend.