SNSUN

Felt under the weather this afternoon so postponed my trip to St Mary's and am now watching the goings on on Sky Sports 1. Sigh. Still, massively money saving, so could be worse.

I've just checked and if you buy your ticket online now, it's still £18 with a £1 cost. So worth it to book ahead instead of buying at the ground. Only Itchin, Northam and a tiny bit of the Chapel behind the goal is open though.

Kid has dump on side of the pitch.

8-10 points, but only if we find our goalscoring touch against Palace. Start scoring and IMO the goals will flow - that little bit of lady luck has been missing lately, as we had great chances against the Hammers and their keeper was on fire, or we hit the post. I agree though, with that run of fixtures, if we can perform to our best we could, COULD pick up even as many as 12-13 points, which would almost definitely see us in the top 4 come November. Heady heights, if we can reach them. On the other hand there are no easy games, and we could quite easily mess up some "easier" fixtures, especially if we continue to struggle for goals.

I hope he does get an England call up. Deserves it AND he's used not to getting a full game. :-D

I'd worry about starting Barnard - if he scored a brace or more against what is effectively a team from his level, people will start claiming he should be in the first team on Saturday! Hells no. I think he's been frozen out for good, and we'd be more likely to start Rowe, Sinclair, Guly or Lee up front than him.

Probably head down to this on my own. With Palace, that'll be Two games in a week! Thank God for Annual Leave. Two games in one week is almost heard of for me - bloody shift work. I think the problem attendance-wise is the knowledge that the team will probably be completely different. That doesn't bother me, it's a team game. I'm looking forward to seeing what the youngsters can do against a team underperforming in League One. (Although it must still be noted they did knock out Premier League opposition in the last round, in the form of our rivals next Saturday. Psychological advantage if we win, I wonder?) Davis Chambers Yoshida Jos Fox Cork Davis JWP Ramirez Guly Lambert I doubt that will be the team, but it's what I'd play. Possibly even Isgrove starting in Guly's place, although Lambert starting depends on how knackered he is from recent exploits.

I thought Wanyama started very poorly against West Ham, but he noticeably got better as the game went on. I think he's a powerhouse that brings so many positive attributes to the game and we must remember his age, he's still learning the game. I think him and Morgan will have a great partnership for years to come if we can keep them together. Yes, that sucks for Cork, who has done no wrong for us, but football is now a squad game and Corky will still get quite a few games.

I was thinking we should try cheeky bids for world-class players - who knows, one of them might come off! We definitely need some creativity though, and I thought that even before Puncheon was allowed to leave. I see the BBC Gossip column has Spurs in for Ciprian Marica, who is currently a free agent. He has a great record - perhaps worth a punt to strengthen things up top? He's still a reasonable age. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciprian_Marica

Dejan Lovren: Good tackle.

How we didn't score when Mignolet made that triple save, I'll never know. We've not had much luck against the opposition keepers recently. Fielding and Speroni coming up...

There's no "O" in team. :-D (Wait, that doesn't make sense...)

As I put in the post-match thread, the goals will come, and results are what matters overall. If we're solid defensively, we'll nick wins, as we have shown. Palace at home next week people - Osvaldo will fill his boots!

Cracking win. Gives me bragging rights twice in succession against my Liverpool-supporting friends! People may point out that we still haven't scored a goal from open play this season, but who cares! It's points that count, and I'm sure we'll rectify that statistic against Palace next week! (The first game I get to see live this season! COYR) Look at QPR for inspiration - as my colleague pointed out, they're top of the Championship and yet have only managed to score 8 times all season. But they've conceded only 2, and it's the points that count. As long as you have a good defensive structure, you can nick a win, as we've showed against WBA and Liverpool. The goals will come, it's just a case of being patient, and thankfully it's the points we have already that will keep the fan base contented. Exciting times being a Saints fan, but we MUST follow this up with a win against Palace.

He's definitely a Lundekvam-type player that plays better alongside a dominant centre back. I always though he improved playing next to Jos when Jos joined in the Championship, and despite being out of favour to a Yoshida-Jos centre back pairing at the end of last season, he's started this season strongly alongside Lovren, who's been outstanding. Long may it continue. He always looks like he could nick a goal at a set piece, as he showed against Sunderland. I do get the impression that he's capable of making a mistake, but so far we've not been subjected to that this season.

That tactic worked OK for Stoke a couple of years ago... Pleased for Sharp and Baird. Both good players that can only improve Reading. Losing Kebe was a blow for them.

I would take a point at Liverpool, but only if we got all 3 against Palace. So you'd have to offer me two results rather than just the one. A point would be a good result at Anfield, but as has been put already, we have a chance to win this, but all the players, especially the strikers, need to click.

"No make-up" is a very loose term. It's obvious that some of them are wearing some form of make-up (like mascara) and have had their hair done to the Nth degree. Laura Whitmore looks good though...

And who could forget Alexander Buttner and Hans-Jörg Butt. I bet they all played at Shrewsbury's old ground, Gay Meadow.

I have it on good authority that Mario Licka's middle name was Willy.

It's quite something, especially when you see it in that time lapse. I hope they find the missing 2 bodies so their families get closure, although it's a possibility they floated away the night it happened.

Still would. Can't believe Arlene Phillips is 70 either.

Hasn't Fonte scored in all 3 divisions too?

Lovren looks class, a really good acquisition, and Fonte has started the season well alongside him. I worry slightly about Fonte though, I always think he's capable of a massive brain fart. It's good to see he's played himself into the manager's plans though - at the end of last season it was Yoshida and Jos that were the favoured pairing. Perhaps Pochettino sees that Fonte is the better fit as partner to Lovren, who was obviously going to be first choice. Still they'll all get their look in this season, I'm sure.

Wanyama started slowly yesterday, his passes went astray and he has very little ball control, but he did improve as the match went on. Pochettino must have more confidence in him than Cork, as Morgan is getting more chance to get forward, as shown by his cracking attempt at an overhead kick and his acrobatic shot, both of which, with a lesser opposition keeper in goal, might have gone in. Wanyama is the future, but in no way does this rule Cork out of our future. He still has a part to play in the squad, especially as he's so versatile, he's invaluable for that reason alone. Once the strikers click this season, we'll be fine. Neither JRod, Rickie (England aside) or Osvaldo have truly got started yet, but that's still a quality forward line that will get goals. I still worry a bit about our creativity though, I'm surprised we didn't bring an attacking midfielder in, but the transfer window has passed now and there's no point thinking of what might have been. A little bit of patience is required, that's all. We've perhaps missed out on a few points so far but it's still early days.The defence is looking strong. That's a plus.