Graffito

By that logic you must be devilishly handsome.

You have a response to your comment but I won't dignify it with an answer.

"..they have at least one good player in each position and all appear to complement each other well." Seems to contradict "paper thin squad."

We don't need to play them but I certainly miss the derbies. They are the best atmoshperes by miles. In most seasons a derby would be the highlight.

"The football club is too nice, we treat the players too well. I don't know another club in League Two that has three physios that do massages left, right and centre. It'll stop." Massages left, right and centre - that's going too far. Strange club.

Enjoyed that more than the anodyne qualifiers. Always nice to beat Bonnie Scotland even if they are cr@p. Sensible change of tactics second half to press them high up the pitch. They play the right way but they're not grat on the ball and have no out ball nor anyone to hold it up, so fair play to Hodgson, or was it Neville. Still miss Lallana and Lambert from our side.

Wehey!

If AOC comes inside occasionally it will open up for Clyne to get down the wing.

There's a book out called Southampton Match of my Life: Eighteen Saints Relive Their Greatest Games which includes a chapter on Lambert's greatest game (Man City away, first game first season back.) In it he says: "Mauricio arrived and I did not really know him but full credit to the people in charge who brought him in because he was unbelievable, a top class manager. He, Mauricio, played the situation very well because he made an effort to get close to the main core of the senior players. He bedded in well and made his ideas very clear. He was very good to me because I think he could tell I was a little bit uncertain and wanted to reassure me but it didn’t take me long to be very impressed with the way he went about things. There was a time a couple of months after he joined when the players were questioning his training regime because he worked us so hard. Mauricio didn’t like us questioning him and we had to decide if we were going to keep on moaning or accept it and believe in him. We decided to go with it and from that moment we never looked back, avoiding relegation with a few games to spare before kicking on the following season."

Only explanation but it was a poor decision. He should have challenged for it. Either he puts off the opposing player or he wins the ball and concedes a free kick around the halfway line. Either would have been preferable to a goal scoring opportunity for Leicester.

Must admit this made me smile. You should try humour more often.

Koeman's identified the risks tomorrow, Leicester's defensive setup, by implication Pelle tightly marked so goals necessary from midfield, and above all weight of expectation. He hasn't sought to play it down. It's there now and he's challenged the players to deal with it. The crowd has a big part to play tomorrow. It's happened before; a large expectant crowd, no early goal and the crowd gets frustrated. Important that the crowd gets behind the team and stays behind the team. It could make all the difference.

He's one of those players that must play his way to match fitness so if Rodgers bought him as back up its a questionable signing. No reflection on Lambert whatsoever. Would love him back but only if he were to get sufficient game time.

Why would Lambert swap Liverpool's bench for Saints'.

Nice use of irony.

Walk to Finsbury Park. Ignore the long queues for the Underground and make your way up to the Railway Station. Take a train to Kings Cross, journey time about 10 minutes.

One of those fillers prompted by Mourinho's comments. Anyway he's talking out of his @rse. Agree Palace. Nowhere else has impressed.

You lot think it's tedious? I'm fcking stuck on here waiting for you tell me who we've drawn.

Quite right. You have to know what all the West Ham nobs think to be able to generalise.

This is a curious comment. "The first few days I got tears in my eyes when I saw my players on the training pitch, there was a lot of senseless running and the players seemed not to be able to control the ball." A feature of Saints' play has been the ability to retain possession and play a highly drilled pressing game. It seems odd to suggest that the players could not control the ball and ran around like headless chickens.

Boos at full time. Third home defeat for Tottenham. Newcastle now a point behind them.

Newcastle 2 - 1.

More sunshine blowing this was. This from the Stoke Sentinel: "Early evidence suggests Southampton have upgraded on Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert by signing Dusan Tadic and Graziano Pelle. They even have a manager who speaks English now. They were high on confidence, always dangerous going forward and tight at the back. It was a tough day for Stoke who should get some credit for keeping the pace, even if they could not find the cutting edge to steal a point. Can Southampton maintain their form and book a place in Europe? They may be a unique case, with a world class academy and complicated recent back story. But they are still flying the flag for clubs outside the red tops’ favourite four and keeping the dream alive that eighth isn’t the best a big middle-sized club can hope to achieve. It is to football’s shame that no one thinks the best side a club like Southampton can produce in 30-odd years is able to mount a challenge for the title with one mega season."

Yep. We're upstarts who will get put back in our place in November.

West Brom v Palace now. Perhaps we're really will be on last.