SNSUN

He's only 22, there's a lot of life in him yet. But whatever his talent, he's failed to show it on a regular basis for Southampton, which for the money we spent on him, is poor. I'm one of the party that desperately wants to see him prove us all wrong and suddenly come good and take the league by storm, but I can't see it, with Pochettino preferring the likes of Davis, JRod, JWP, Lallana, Guly or even 2 strikers over him, it seems his days are numbered. I agree with the £10 million figure IF it means we go out and sign a quality replacement for him immediately. In my mind we're already 1 creative midfielder short.

In five years time I'll have just turned 38, though God knows what I'll be doing, as in that time I aim to start a family, buy my first house, and become a millionaire. (The first two are achievable...) What the OP's team shows is where we need the signings in the future. We'll need a new top class goalkeeper before long, another top young centre back, one or even two top attacking midfielders and a new striker. And that's before we consider losing the likes of Shaw or Morgan. Keep the core together, really fight to keep the best players, and the majority of our team could be together for years.

I was chatting to a colleague about our recent success, and he said that we're doing well because we have the luxury of owners that are wealthy enough that we can pummp money into player transfers. This got me thinking that two of our biggest signings aren't even the ones making the difference at the moment. So I came up with two Saints first teams based on how much they cost us, or didn't cost us, to show him: Expensive: Davis, Clyne, Lovren, Yoshida, Fox, Cork, Wanyama, Ramirez, Rodriguez, Mayuka, Osvaldo Cheap: Boruc, Chambers, Fonte, Jos, Shaw, Morgan, JWP, Lallana, Guly, Davis, Lambert. Obviously you could mess about with the formations, and include players like Martin, Barnard, Lee and Forte, as well as some more youngsters like Rowe, Isgrove, Stephens et al, but I suggested the cheap side would currently beat the expensively assembled side. What do you think? Which would win?

Incidentally as crucial as Lovren has been for us this season, we ended up doing pretty well last season with Fonte/Jos and Yoshida, so Lovren is further down on my list, after the three named above. (...and maybe even Morgan.)

A good thread topic, although asking for trouble! There's two players we would struggle to replace long term if we lost them to injury, Boruc and Shaw. With Boruc, we have Davis and Gazzaniga as back up, and while both can do jobs, neither are close to being as good as Boruc, and I'm convinced our form would take a noticeable dip. That said, if you look back at how many shots Boruc has faced since the start of the season, it's not many, and that's due to the solid unit of 6 in front of him. Ergo Davis or Gazzaniga wouldn't have to face that many shots either, unless their very presence unnerves the players in front of them. Losing Shaw would be perhaps more worrying, not only is he an outstanding youngster, but his replacement is Fox, who most of us rate as simply not good enough for the level we are striving to achieve. Ok, perhaps Chambers would fill in at right back and Clyne would get pushed to left back, but I'd still rather we didn't lose Shaw. The only other player I'd not want to see us lose for any length of time is Lallana. He's been key for us creatively this season and while there are players who can fill his positions, I'm sure we'd lack a cutting edge in attack without him. For me though, we cannot lose Shaw for any length of time. The January transfer window will be a blessing though, as any bad injuries before then can be rectified. God help us if we lose anyone in February though! *Touch Wood*

8, although Barry is probably beyond an England call up. He's joined by Fonte, Lallana and Morgan on the next page too. What a turnaround for Fonte!

He's keeping good company - he's the fifth best player (in any position) in the Premier League this season according to this linky: http://www.whoscored.com/Regions/252/Tournaments/2/Seasons/3853/Stages/7794/PlayerStatistics/England-Premier-League-2013-2014

It's either Mourinho's or Pochettinos, and while Chelsea won all their games, they were lucky to beat City on Sunday and for a club the stature of Saints to go to Old Trafford and get a point, is very good. I agree, Pochettinos.

The wife likes me in John-Paul Gaultier. I get a bottle every Christmas. I prefer Hugo Boss. My brother-in-law swears by Paco Rabanne. Just go into Boots, try a shed load of them, and come out smelling worse than before you went in.

Some of the crosses he put in were exceptional. He has a great delivery of the ball, both in play and from set pieces, and is a bundle of energy that can run after the ball all game but still has the discipline not to lose his position and the sense to cover his teammates if they bomb forward. Give the lad a run in the side.

See, that's another one!

The storm affects some people worse than others...

The calm before the storm? Incidentally, some pictures of the storm have hit Twitter...

Baton down the hatches! :-D Here in East Berkshire, there's little more than a bit of wind at present and some light showers. What's the weather like where you lot are? Are you looking forward/dreading the big storm? Will it truly be a "killer" storm, or just a damp squib that the media have overhyped?

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/439517/Southampton-star-Luke-Shaw-to-turn-down-Manchester-United-for-Chelsea I guess we should get used to reporting surrounding our much sought after players...

http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/fulham/id/1476?&cc=5739 POV from a Fulham journo. Incidentally, have we well and truly banished the Sky curse now?

They're both different in their own right, however Davis has a lot of experience in the role so AS I SAID BEFORE.. IF Lallana gets injured or suspended, Davis would be my choice as captain. Am I not wording it right? Davis is not replacing Lallana, but he's whom I'd choose for captain as back up to Lallana if I were manager. Which I'm not. (Acknowledging also that there are many good candidates for captain within our ranks.)

I didn't say anything about Lallana not leading us by example, I said that Davis would be a good choice for captain because he leads by example.

Makes approx 2 litres/3½ pints: enough for a good party. Feel free to scale down. Juice of 8 limes 35ml grenadine syrup 500ml/17 fl oz dark rum 250ml/8½ fl oz white rum 500ml/17 fl oz pineapple juice 500ml/17 fl oz orange juice 8 drops of Angostura bitters A dash of grated nutmeg Pineapple slices, to garnish Soda water (optional) Combine all the ingredients in a large jug and fill up with ice cubes. Stir well and top with soda water if you don’t want it to be too strong. Garnish with pineapple slices ...and that's how you make Rum Punch. Oh, Bum Punch, sorry I misread...

OK, so Lallana has played himself into form as well as being our captain, and long may it last. I maintain that Steven Davis would be a superb captain for us. He leads Northern Ireland by example, he led Rangers by example, and he could lead us by example. The main question about that is whether he's guaranteed a first team spot, like Lallana is, but if Lallana (God forbid) gets injured or suspended, I'd like to see Davis leading the team out.

Berbatov... "And no-one wanted me, but then Fulham turned round and offered me £80,000 a week, and I took it. I don't even have to do much to earn it either!"

BBC put this on the match report: [h=2]Fulham fail to threaten[/h]Fulham's poor attacking display at St Mary's saw them become the first side to fail to manage a shot on goal in the first half of a Premier League match this season. The Cottagers did manage two efforts after the break, however. I thought Palace failed to put a shot on target the whole game against us? Am I right? Incidentally what Palace wouldn't give to have their old boys Fonte and Clyne still in their side!

Utter, utter dominance. We were class, Fulham were shyte. Perhaps we could have scored more, but that's the only qualm over what was an all-conquering performance. Not one poor performance today, everyone was exceptional. MOTM? God that's a toughy. Lallana bamboozled their defence, JRod was back to virtually his best, Wanyama was dominant and beast-like, and Clyne was everywhere. I'm going to give it to our little 18-year old James Ward-Prowse. Quality set pieces, quality crosses, quality touches (most of the time) and he ran after every ball. He also protected the defence when Clyne bombed forward. What a player we have, and all for next to nothing, unlike Ramirez, who still cannot get a look in.

Well done Jay, though he was very good today, not brilliant, but very good. Guly on to score goal of the season.

Wonderful scissor kick attempt from Jay! Unlucky! We're beating them to every single ball - they really don't look arsed today.