doddisalegend

3 on the hook already nicely done..

Move to Liverpool must be imminent..

Did you read the article? He signed contracts earlier in his career with promises of game time he never got. At saints he was told upfront he was cover and would likely never play.

He already told Everton "no" once his family don't want to move to Liverpool apparently. So he probably wants a London team WHU it is then...

From the guardian this week Southampton’s Stephens emerges with real credit It was an afternoon when Jack Stephens needed to show a maturity beyond his 23 years. Mauricio Pellegrino, the Southampton manager, asked him to play as a right-back when the team had possession but tuck in on the right of a central defensive three – with James Ward-Prowse outside him as the wing‑back – when Arsenal pushed forward. There was no margin for error against attackers as slippery as Alexandre Lacazette, Alexis Sánchez and Mesut Özil but Stephens read the game superbly and did not put a foot wrong. He was part of a collective effort that restricted Arsenal to precious few clearcut chances and after which Pellegrino felt empowered to say that “little by little, the team is growing”. The club remain resolutely opposed to cashing in on Virgil van Dijk. On this evidence, they have a defensive prospect that could give them a decision to make. https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/dec/11/premier-league-10-talking-points-weekends-action

Come on trousers the forum cool word is "triggered" now "tick" is so last season..

last season I think we were better away from home so we can actually perform away from SMS.

Our strikers are sh it...god knows you've pointed out how bad Austin and Long are enough times on here...

Interesting little article on our 3rd choice keeper. http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=BDIGeneric&aid=C98EA5B0842DBB9405BBF071E1DA7651530FFE51&tid=BCE49B4D6AFA4E82BE792A85BEB73704&url=https%3a%2f%2fwww.nytimes.com%2f2017%2f12%2f13%2fsports%2fsoccer%2fpremier-league-goalkeeper-stuart-taylor.html&c=6798483885049092842&mkt=en-gb

Not exactly news though you'd be lucky to find a saints fan that thinks we are having a good season. It's not just us though 2/3rds of the league are average dross. Even Burnley are average dross when you actually see them play. Basically "best of the rest" might as well be "luckiest of the rest for this season".

oh dear Watford ...Palace out of the bottom three. Woy the miracle worker?

It won't be freezing when we play tomorrow just ****ing down with rain if the forecast is correct.

Got to be bollix? Report claims Southampton prepared to break club record for Giroud http://www.bing.com/cr?IG=AA7197FA7BE442C9855F5F1C62D84F4B&CID=15196A3A127A62E6174B616F13BB63FB&rd=1&h=hlf_zMVHIIhpAWGPkmAdbdV_mMMw3j_2FKKeRg3z8-Q&v=1&r=http%3a%2f%2fwww.hitc.com%2fen-gb%2f2017%2f12%2f10%2freport-claims-southampton-prepared-to-break-club-record-for-giro%2f&p=DevEx,5043.1

so if I'm reading that right Crystal palace would actually be above us in the table if they had scored all their xG

but had we finished 6th last season and not gone to a cup final most would have hailed it a great achievement.

Claude Puel and perception How quickly a reputation can change, and proof that a manager is so often reliant on the proficiency of his players. Claude Puel is persona grata again. At Southampton, Puel earned a reputation for dismal attacking football, critics pointing to a poor record of goals scored. Yet Puel suffered because of the underperformance of Southampton’s strikers. That is not to say that there were not issues with Puel’s style, nor that he should not share part of the blame, but those selected to take chances and score goals failed to do so. In Leicester’s seven matches under Puel, they have scored at a rate of 1.6 per game. Last season under Puel, Southampton scored at a rate of 1.1 per game, a clear difference. Yet dig down a little more, and the results are surprising. In 2016/17, Southampton created chances and took shots at a rate of 10.4 and 14.5 per game. Under Puel in the last seven games, Leicester have created chances and taken shots at a rate of 7.8 and 9.7 per game, a comfortably worse rate. The difference is that Leicester’s shot conversion rate over that period is 20.8%. Last season, Southampton’s shot conversion rate was 10.1%. That can be sold in two ways. Either you say that Puel is not a better coach than at Southampton, more that he has got lucky with Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez (although it’s worth pointing that both are performing better than they were under Craig Shakespeare). It would be more accurate (particularly given the struggles of Mauricio Pellegrino) is to say that no manager could deal with the abysmal shooting that Southampton produced last season. Under Pellegrino the shot accuracy has improved only marginally, still under 11%. Away from Southampton, Puel is flourishing again, albeit in a short sample size. Since arriving at the King Power, only Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United and Burnley have taken more points than Leicester. http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=BDIGeneric&aid=C98EA5B0842DBB9405BBF071E1DA7651530FFE51&tid=AA4FFE018A154B9BB991059D5E723781&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.football365.com%2fnews%2fpremier-league-winners-and-losers-83&c=4704770564272300919&mkt=en-gb

I think over short distances, in around the box, he is reasonably rapid. But you can't play him like Long or Mane he doesn't have longer distance pace one of the reasons I don't like to see him dropping deeper to try and get involved is that he struggles to keep up with play on quick counters shoulder of the last defender is where I want him.

When we were lower league we used to get Steve Claridge a lot on that football league show despite being a Skate he generally spoke a lot of sense and was pretty fair. A lot of current lot seem a bit to partisan.

I didn't go yesterday had a bit of man flu and just didn't fancy it in the weather so I was left with Solent. This game seems to have divided opinion more than normal between the good display against a good team to the manager doesn't know what he is doing arse were there for the taking... Just going on the radio it sound like we played well first half but dropped to deep in the second. Also sounded like we had the better chances in front of goal. Still a point against Arsenal is a decent point in my book need to get 3 from Leicester though.

Really? according to Lawro . Liverpool are the best team in the league over the last few games. They are rampaging. They are every neutral's favourite team - but they won't catch Manchester City.

So that's the league title all sorted. Just the exciting race for fourth and relegation for the sky hype machine to big up.

Almost again from Austin.

Austin is championship standard ?

Listening to Mope on Solent right now sounds like this is squad set up is rotation because we have

Listening to Mope on Solent right now sounds like this is squad set up is rotation because we have another game on Wednesday.