doddisalegend

And yet were not far off another good finish this season. If you swapped Leicester and Chelsea in this seasons table people would think we'd had another decent season. It's only Leicester doing what they've done that is making a lot of mid-table sides feel they've under performed this season. WHU have been getting allsorts of plaudits this season and yet are one place above us and inline to win the sum total of diddly squat. If we secure another top eight finish, even after losing Morgan, that's got to be pretty postive Imo.

Krueger said that the club would be recruiting new coaches to go out and teach in the “Southampton way”, using a blueprint devised by those in charge of its football operations. Under Armour will provide its own expertise in this field: the company has 200 grassroots academy partners in the US, providing kit for “50,000 kids”. I guess this had a big part to play in the deal. If the club wants a state side presence and to roll out it's coaching stuff across the US then having a sponsor who is on good terms with 200 potential academies will make life a lot easier. Considering the clubs goals this deal seems like it's a good fit which will benefit the club more than it might first appear. Will be interesting to see what they've got lined up on the sponsorship side maybe a US based company?

Well hopefully the clubs confidence about Koeman staying isn't as misplaced as is was about Toby and Clyne... Plus I really can't see Victor staying ,he has been trying to leave for like two seasons, or Mane if I'm honest.

Wijnaldum has scored 9 goals this season In a **** poor Newcastle side which is the same as Long and one less than Pelle and certainly a lot more than our central midfielders have managed. As long as he is played as an advanced midfielder behind the striker he would be very useful for a team that scores so few goals from that area. I believe his recent drop in form has seen him playing a deeper holding role which probably isn't a good use if him.

No the stat was that Cedric had made the most successful tackles in the league (at the time they were published) which is clearly not the same as the best RB in the league though arguably being good at tackling it is a useful ability for a full back.

TBF I could have looked excellent against Newcastle's defence on Saturday. I like Pelle in general but he is very much a confidence player who seems to let his head drop very easily when things don't go his way.

The thing they all have in common is none of them wanted to stay. The same thing will happen with Victor (who has been making his desire to move on known for the last two seasons) and probably Mane this summer.

I'm willing to bet no one at Leicester is quite sure how the **** they've done what they done....it makes no sense nothing they did in the summer screamed PL Champions the whole thing is baffling, good for the PL, but still baffling.

Best team I've seen at SMS this season they smashed us that day. Cedric got a great big "welcome to the PL" from Lukaku that day. But since then they have become very average I think we can get a result against a team that can't defend for errr toffee.

I figure the same but I thought if Stoke got a result today we might have a chance sadly Stoke decided today was the day to become really crap.

****ing Stoke what ever position we finish I wanted it to be above Liverpool. Stoke just made that much harder ....

Maybe we can sneak in under the fair play rules....

No defiantly first half it seemed Martina was upset he was the only player back at our corner eventually Koeman called Bertrand back so there were two defenders left back at our corners.

That's the issue Martina seems to switch off at times and does go wandering into parts of the pitch he probably shouldn't be. Did anyone notice him having a barney with Koeman in the 1st half during one of our corners?

have to agree JWP was dire today just a wasted sub most weeks.

JWP sub was odd I would have taken Pelle (even though he was decent) or Tadic off and played for the counter attack with Long and Mane once we were 3-0 up JWP just made us worse.

Weird game thought we were pretty poor yet we won without really getting into second gear. Newcastle's defence is hilarious ?

Well a least they have a reason to get depressed sometimes I come on here and think saints must be cut a drift in the relegation zone....

I think this will be tough buoyed up by the news the Newcastle UTD have increased their profit margin by £13.7 million this season the traveling toon fans will no doubt be very happy and roar their team on to victory knowing they've helped Mike Ashely earn some more money

I'd argue those examples aren't open to interpretation if the rules are clear but they are subject to the refs eyesight. In that case video technology would help. With an official watching the game on video in real time and with instant playback, who is in contact with the ref, can then let a ref know he has missed something. Most people argue video technology won't work because the rules are open to interpretation so take away the interpretation and make then black and white.

A better idea would be to just remove grey areas from the rules. It would make life easier for everyone if the rules weren't open to interpretation so off side is off side none of this interfering with play stuff, a handball is a handball accidental or not, a tackle is fair if you touch the ball first regardless of what comes next and shirt pulling is always a foul. Yeah it would result in some ****ty decisions but every team would be in the same boat at the moment depending on refs interpretation of the rules it feels like some teams are outside the boat swimming against the current to keep up while some ( ahem.... Leicester) are in a super powered speed boat.

err yes we did

How do you know that is the case? the changes are more likely due to Koeman playing what he thinks are the best choices for that game and opposition.

Koeman is clearly a manager who likes to vary his team and formation to the opposition as such he picks the players on a game by game basis to meet what he is trying to achieve. Other mangers like to pick a settled eleven I guess their are good arguments for both styles.

Can't help feeling if we go five at the back, like first half today, we don't play pelle. Long was a big miss but jrod and mane might have been a better bet.