FloridaMarlin

You can't go blaming Beattie. He is there to work with the strikers. OK, you might argue they are not scoring many goals, but as somebody pointed out earlier, they sold their best striker in Bony, so he can only work with what he's got. I think it's amazing we recruited Koeman and in my humble opinion, he is the best manager tactically and motivationally in the Premier League. But I also have a sneaking admiration for Swansea for giving Monk a chance as a young English manager. I've had Monk earmarked as successor to Koeman when (or hopefully, if) Ron is prised away. He fits our profile; he's young, hungry, tactically not bad and although he is English, he and Swansea are not afraid to look abroad for talent. I don't want Koeman to leave, but that is probably going to happen at some stage. Monk, allied to our successful scouting and recruiting, could be a good combination.

It's to do with how this got into the Daily Star a few years ago. http://www.themouthpiece.com/forum/threads/tabloid-journalism-at-its-best.16898/ It got picked up by other media, and eventually made Sky Sports News' transfer gossip.

For reasons I can't explain, I laughed aloud when I saw this story had got into the public domain.

Not sure why he would use the Itchen Bridge to go to Marchwood. From the Eastern side of the city it's quicker to use the M27/M271. Besides, when he needed a 60p sub for his bridge toll, he was heasing out of town, in an Eastward direction.

Jurgen Klopp said he felt "alone" in the closing stages of the game at Anfield? Surely not. At Liverpool, you'll never walk alone. Proof of that is the Malaysian/Chinese/Taiwanese/Qatari/Scandinavian scarfer tourists, whose highlight is the rendition of YNWA just before the final whistle when all Liverpool fans can unite, hold their scarves aloft and sing. At least until the Malaysian/Chinese/Taiwanese/Qatari/.Scandinavian scarfers realise they can't indulge in their desire to be glory hunters following Liverpool and shove off up the East Lancs Rd to follow Manchester Utd/City.

The goal was the linesman's fault. He never spotted it was a foul throw by the pompey player. He clearly cracked under the pressure.

The head of Royal Mail was on Radio Solent last week and among the whingeing, wailing and gnashing of teeth, calmly and categorically said this will not be reversed. No doubt the Minister for Portsmouth will plead that they are a special place but it looks as though it will forever be a Southampton postmark on pompey post.

Thank you, nail on head. Sky's adverse effect arises from two source. One, which you alluded to, is the need to fill hours of post-match analysis. The second, is their attempts to curry favour with players by not being critical of them. In either or both cases, the officials are an easy target. And while having 18 cameras at each Premier League game makes for great coverage, it means referees are subject to the sort of minute scrutiny they would not have undergone in the past. Of course Sky want football to adopt technology. As we have seen in cricket, it heightens the tension and makes great television (apparently) as the decision is drawn out. Once broadcasters start to get their way by forcing sports to adopt officiating technology, it doesn't take a quantum leap before they actually take charge of the games. Sky pretty much do that already in cricket.

Cook on Radio Solent and in other media today saying that his 26-man squad is too big and that he wants to reduce it in size. For that, read; "One of the HNWs has found a calculator, run some figures, and realised their outgoings on wages for over-priced journeymen with a good reputation exceeds their income and might force him and the other HNWs to write out another bail-out cheque and has told Cook to ship a few out." As Cook continues to reduce the size of his over-large squad, watch this space. The Phew already being softened up for a disappointing transfer window as Cook declares he is not concerned with getting anybody in when the window opens, but is more concerned with: "Getting a few players out of the building."

The article on that website would benefit from some punctuation.

Pompey has just stolen a base for the Toronto Blue Jay against the Kansas City Royals. He didn't get caught, so he stole a second one. How appropriate.

For all the stick that football agents get (often deservedly) this is the sort of thing a responsible agent does, provide for his clients long-term future, and not just make easy money by agitating for a move and taking his cut of the fee. Matt Oakley's agent worked with him to set up a business which operated while Oaks was still playing, but which Oaks himself could go into once he hung his boots up. The more intelligent players (of which Bertrand seems t be one) tend to have better agents, the more genuine and committed ones who properly earn their money and have a genuine interest in their clients. Players earn so much these days, they only need a couple of sensible investments to ensure they never have to work again when they finish playing. And it's also something to keep them occupied. It looks as though Bertrand's agent or somebody among his people have earned some of their fee by writing his quote for the piece. Intelligent as he might be, I'm not sure too many professional footballers would use the word 'synergies'.

I might have agreed a couple of years ago, but I think that under Koeman we are made of sterner stuff. There's nothing he would take greater delight in that going to Anfield and making Klopp's first game there a nightmare, and putting pressure on him from the word go. There's a lot said about players getting a lift from the appointment of a new manager, but the pressure on players to perform for a new manager can work against them.

Mark Wright had pretty much the lot.

BREAKING NEWS; Liverpool have decided not to appoint Jurgen Klopp but instead have given the job to his brother Klippity. (It's an old one, but worth wheeling out)

I don't suppose he is in any rush. I've no doubt his agent has already taken soundings on the likelihood of other tasty jobs becoming available soon. At the very least he could take advantage of Liverpool's desperation and play hardball with them.

I think that's what panicked Liverpool today. They think that Mourinho is on his way out, and the Chelsea job would be more attractive to any managers they would have identified to take over from Rodgers. They might have given Rodgers a few more weeks, but as soon as Mourinho unwisely threw down a challenge that Abramovic might well take up, Rodgers' number was up. Of course, they are such a great club with great history (which they never bring up) and even as we speak, Jurgen Klopp an Carlo Ancelotti are learning the words to You'll Never Walk Alone, which the fans demand every manager knows by heart. Rodger was always on borrowed time, but this looks like another panic move by a club who have turned the knee-jerk reaction into an art form

Oh dear. But then he does have previous form. And there were those who were shouting from the rooftops that we should get him back. He's a decent keeper - as he proved with his second-half save - but prone to this sort of thing. Steck's kicking might not be of Manuel Neuer class, but at least he doesn't try to take opponents on.

I'd be very surprised if the fire came as a shock to him.

Champagne Ian on South Today earlier tonight reiterating that promotion is the minimum expected this season. So no pressure there.

When I saw on the news that NASA was going to make an important announcement about life on Mars, I wondered whether it would concern sailors fighting in the dance hall.

On a slightly different - but certainly Hampshire related - note. I heard that Robin Smith is not having a particularly good time of things. His marriage broke up, he is living in Perth WA with his ageing parents, he has ballooned to around 20 stone and has had a drink problem. I can only hope my source is wrong, but I suspect and fear his info is spot on, If this is the case, then it is very sad for a batsman who gave us so much pleasure. I think we would all like to wish The Judge the best of luck.

As other people have remarked on here, it is a question of fine margins. In the Everton game, Howard pulled off a wonder save which would have given us the lead and caused their heads to drop, and they swept down the other end and scored. Yesterday, after taking the lead, if Pelle's shot had gone in and not hit the post, we would have been 2-0 up, and the pressure would firmly have been on them. Some people have said you can't blame the linesman for their equaliser, but you can if he is not doing his job properly. Replays showed he wasn't in the correct position to spot the offside, and it has cost us dearly. You can't legislate for the sort of error Yoshida made. It was poor, and we were punished. Even then, it took two superb saves from De Gea to earn their win. I'm as disappointed as anybody that we lost, but I don't think Utd were streets ahead of us, especially considering their outlay during the summer. It's all very well criticising Koeman's team selection at the end of the game, but for 30 minutes, nobody would have given a thought to that, as we completely bossed them. I think the question that needs to be asked is why we stopped doing what we were doing after that first half hour. Utd didn't materially change what they were doing and they looked bereft of ideas until gifted a goal by the linesman. At that point, Saints belief and confidence seemed to evaporate, and some of that has to go down to the skipper, who I think has had a pretty dodgy start to the season.

Perhaps Koeman knows that Memphis is not keen on tracking back which will give Soares licence to push on. We're at home, seize the initiative. Make their wide men mark our full-backs in their half.

Only if they are smart enough to install a sell-on fee. Selling clubs don't pass on a share of their income from a sale out of the goodness of their hearts. I seem to recall us missing out in the past, partly out of our desperation for ready cash.