Saint Charlie

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3332313/Southampton-determined-Sadio-Mane-Manchester-United-eye-January-Senegalese-striker.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490 This seems a fair summary to me.

I wouldn't say "stalled" but he must be quite frustrated when he sees how the likes of Alli, Mason and especially Dier have jumped into the England squad and he isn't a regular Saints starter after 4 years in the PL and the sale of our best central midfielder. I still don't think he knows what kind of midfielder he is or what his best position is, plus has obvious physical limitations. Also the best free kick specialist in Europe to have never scored a free kick in a pro men's match. But he is still a decent player and still has loads of time.

If the good thing results in a goal and the bad thing is a misplaced pass or poor cross then I can put up with it. He always wants the ball and always tries to do his job, which is to create. Worry when he stops doing it, or look at others who take the easy option each time. If he produced the goods every time then he wouldn't have cost less than £12m or be playing for Saints. The same accusationd could be labelled at Coutinho, Lallana, Sterling, Hazard, Depay etc. Tadic probably has as good stats as those players this season in terms of creation.

Gold.

We have been given Madley for the Liverpool game. Hope he feels he owes us one after the poor decisions at Chelsea.

If you send me a SASE then sure.

He isnt going anywhere in Jan!

Could argue Poch went to Spurs with a clear remit to have a clearout, develop a way of playing and philosophy and I'm sure there is the intention of him building something there over 5 years or so. Saints had just come off the back of losing a number of good players from the heart of the team, were labelled relegation certainties in some quarters and had a Manager who hadn't managed in the PL before. Koeman was and is managing with a view on today as he knows he won't be here in 3, 4 or 5 years whereas Pochettino has a slightly different remit. We have a number of players in or strongly approaching their peaks, like Forster, Fonte, Bertrand, Davis, Tadic, Pelle etc.

Probably to hit their quota!

Tadic the only one (Mane aside) who is creative. Its not always going to work. If you want 95% pass completion then play JWP, but you need to allow a certain amount of risk to get the reward of creating chances in the PL. You don't need 5 at the back versus City. Its the attacking midfielders that you need to neutralise.

I don't know any Spurs fan who wanted him sacked. Most of the morons were the ones on here saying he would be "sacked by Christmas"...

With Pelle and Jay out then yes. There isn't anyone else. I would just tell him to hassle their defenders as they can be shaky. But I never trust him to take a chance or control the ball first time.

Lovely goal from Lanzini. What a find he was!

Yeah like that stupid ball to Pelle versus Chelsea! There is definitely room for it every now and again if it is accurate. Especially with Pelle.

He scored 21 in the Champ in 2010/11 but never more than 8 in a PL season (next best Championship return was 9 so has only ever got League double figures once in 10 seasons). His PL record by full season: 2, 3, 8, 8, 7, 5 He is the definition of PL average and has pretty much done as expected when we signed him in that post exodus period, oddly amongst other really clever, well thought out signings. Handy player for a WBA, Bournemouth, Villa etc who want to stay up. Not good enough for a team that want top 8 finishes.

Anyone else think the pitch seemed poor yesterday? Cut up badly compared to other matches across the weekend, and didnt seems as slick as usual. Note: an observation, not any kind of excuse

We only really have Mane and the full backs whose instinct is to move with the ball. Tadic to a lesser extent. Yesterday the passing was poor. But the movement and amount of options for the man on the ball were also poor. Cedric couldn't get forward because Long combines better with the other team than his teammates (Tadic by far the best we have at combining with his fullback) and we missed Mane finding pockets of space. I do wonder if Wanyama and Clasie work well together though. Both are quite slow off the ball and neither really want to move with the ball although Clasie looked tidy the couple of times he did burst forward. Do we need two sitters like that, especially at home. Effectively Stoke played a more attacking system than us, with Bojan, an attacker, playing where we have Davis, who is a genuine midfielder.

Kane with a total **** up in front of goal. Spurs could easily have 4 after 40mins and are relentless! He is an excellent lone striker though. Generally a good finisher, good in the air, can beat a man, great attitude and not slow. Gives them a lot of options.

Class header from Toby. 2-0 Spurs against a poor looking WH. Loads of Intls in the Spurs team but they are full of energy. The tenacity is great to watch. Should be 3-0 as Im typing. Poch an excellent Manager. The pace of this game seems from the league above ours yesterday! Bit of a shame we barely have any games with added spice. Kane has scored 11 goals in 14 London derbies which shows how many there are in London.

Liverpool are really well placed to be top 4 IMO. Key players nearing fitness, a shot of confidence from wins at Chelsea and City plus has anyone seen their fixtures? Virtually all their played aways have been against the good teams, so they have those to come at home with virtually any 'big' teams away, plus their next 6 are all very, very winnable.

Bony won't partner Aguero. They will play 4-2-3-1. Tough ask especially with no Pelle to hold the ball up, but their defence is getable as Liverpool showed. Mane for Pelle the only change I would make as otherwise its clearly our strongest lineup and isnt a game for powderpuff JWP.

There were no red cards Stoke should have had. The atmosphere was totally flat from the start, even before it was apparent we were not playing well, which is surely when the support is needed most.

Ha, you obviously did the same as me also? The number of fans who actually start songs is surely very, very low? The vast, vast majority join in. But there wasnt anything to join in with today. Doesn't mean you can't say the atmosphere was awful - which it was.

I was waiting for someone else to start. Thats what normally happens, right? Not a blame game, collectively it was just awful!

We do miss Schneiderlin's mobility though. Neither Wanyama nor Clasie are overly mobile and we are quite easy to counter attack this season.