Rasiak-9-

I don't know if anyone remembers it as clearly as I do, but Nathaniel Clyne made one of the best sliding tackles I've ever seen today. It was around the 15th-20th minute or so at near-ish the halfway line on the Itchen side of the pitch as Deuleufeo was sprinting with the ball on the counterattack, just about to carry the ball over the halfway line. Clyne, who started about 10 yards behind him, sprinted after him and made one of the cleanest, most perfect tackles from behind I've ever seen, and not only won the ball, but wrapped his foot right around the ball so that he could claim possession, shouldered Deulefeo off the ball and sprinted straight back down the line and get Saints back on the attack again. Hope that isn't too much of an elaborate description but hopefully others will know the moment I'm talking about.

Amazing that the people who in one thread say we ought to be higher up the league then come on here and dismiss us as even having a chance against the team three places above us in the league at home. Lets see if they're as happy to magnanimously accept defeat by a better team on the post-match thread should Everton beat us.

I think there's definitely a third opinion to be had here. Glasgow will never answer the fundamental question that all complainants must answer; which is precisely who of the above teams are we actually are better than and as such *should* be ahead of according to the strength of our squad. As such, I for one am more than happy with our overall performance this season. Having said that, the fact that we are the only team to have failed to win a match from behind in the Premiership this season and have not, as I've so often pointed out, been able to get a win from any match in which we've conceded an equaliser (only re-taking the lead at any point in a match ONCE all season) does seem to highlight where our weaknesses lie. I'm happy with our season as a whole but feel that there is room for improvement and that a statistic/trait as poignant as what I've mentioned above certainly highlights where that improvement needs to come.

Well done to Wanyama, Lovren, Fonte and Shaw who all had excellent games. Unfortunately I think these past couple of games have highlighted the (severe) limitations of Lambert as a goalscorer as well as Davis/Wanyama/Cork/Schneiderlin as a creative threat in the final third. I'm happy for Morgan and Victor to sit back in a quarterback/destroyer role, but if we're going to use two of our central midfield selections on purely defensive players then we're going to look very toothless without a pretty darn serious attacking centre-mid and a a thoroughly inadequate centre-forward who can't seem to buy a goal from open play. The shopping list remains the same. New centre-forward in the Lambert mould but with a bit of mobility. A left-footed, left-winger with pace. Additional decent centre-back. New goalkeeper. Relatively decent left-back (assuming we lose Shaw)

Lambert again the weak link. Hopefully he can prove me wrong. At least he's getting chances and does look like there'll be more to come.

We've never won a game this season after conceding an equaliser either, and only been able to re-take the lead once.

For me, it isn't just our inability to hold on to a lead, but our inability to RETAKE the lead that frustrates the hell out of me. Everyone concedes equalisers, but if and when City or Chelsea concede an equaliser at home to a mid-table team with even 20-30 mins to go, you praise the underdog, but just generally assume that the poor sods have equalised too early and City/Chelsea/whoever are now going to go back into attack-mode rather than defend-the-lead mode and effortlessly retake the lead before the game is up; prior to going back into their shell/scoring a third and putting the game beyond doubt as they see fit. Granted we're not City or Chelsea and I don't expect us to do all of the above with anywhere near the same consistency, but bloody hell! Its been literally over a year since we've won a match having conceded an equaliser, and we've only re-taken a lead ONCE all season in any Premiership game regardless of the result!! (Davis' fluke at home to Stoke).

I already am, he's a Saints legend and its going to be a great shame having to watch him playing a million miles out of his depth in Brazil. I'd say that Schneiderlin and Lallana were both equally, if not more important to our promotion than Lambert, but hey-ho. He's the striker and the guy who scores the goals is the best player etc. Anyway, Lambert is also the main reason we're still a long way off Everton and Spurs despite the overall strength of our team. Here's a challenge for you gentlemen: Name for me the worst striker in the Premiership that you'd have above Lambert in our centre-forward position, i.e the player you feel is one above Lambert were you to make a list of Premiership strikers in order of ability.

Still waiting pal.

You aren't surprised at this stat? You don't think it betrays any sort of weakness in the team? It doesn't concern you at all that we haven't managed to gain a single win when conceding an equaliser or going behind? Give me an honest answer instead of a sarcastic, predictable response that already been posted anyway. Guess how many teams in the league have a similar stat? None. Zero. Zilch. Cardiff, Fulham, West Ham, West Brom, Hull and Norwich have all come from behind to win games whilst Sunderland and Swansea are able to win games after re-taking the lead. We haven't. We are the only team in the league that has this revolting stat hanging over our head. The last time we won a Premiership game having conceded gone behind or conceding an equaliser was the 2-1 against Chelsea 30th March 2013. Over a year ago. "Unless it happens in the remaining four matches of this season or the opening four of next, it will be fully two calendar years since we came from behind to win a Premiership match." We beat Villa in our fifth game of 12/13. I make that 8 more Premiership matches until it will be two seasons since our last victory after conceding the opening goal.

Thats another match we couldn't win after conceding a meaningful goal (an equaliser or an opponent taking the lead). Unless it happens in the remaining four matches of this season or the opening our of next, it will be fully two calendar years since we came from behind to win a Premiership match. This is is a stat I've told fans of teams up and down the league, all of whom are flabbergasted it could apply to any club let alone a side in the top-half of the table. It is really, really, really easy to defend against us once you've got a result you're looking to hang on to.

In games against Norwich and Newcastle, who on form are currently the worst two sides in the league. Sure, if we're playing well, score four goals and we provide him with enough service he'll help himself to one. He never makes a difference in games where we're up against it and I for one will feel a little bit silly if he goes to the World Cup.

Lambert once again dreadful and a major handicap for our team. If you can't score against the bottom club with by far the worst away record at home, your centre-forward is doing it wrong.

I've been a season ticket holder throughout our time in the Champo and League One and clearly you're not thinking back as far as I am. In the season we were relegated from the Championship, 08/09, Lallana scored one goal. One single goal. Lallana and Schneiderlin were (and actually Cork for half a season) were all part of the team relegated from the Championship. The next season, it took him a good 10 matches to really become effective. So thats about 1 and a quarter seasons to get into his stride, and this is being a fixture in the team with his place never under threat. How many starts and 90-minute appearances has Gaston had? and in an established role to settle into? Almost certainly nowhere near what Lallana had in the 08/09 season alone. Saints have once again tried to have their cake and eat it when it comes to Ramirez. Very early on any fan could tell you that he's a player you're either all in with and you're going to build your team around him in the number 10 role etc. OR you abandon ship and sell him. Bringing him on as a sub rarely changes the game even when he himself actually has a stormer (West Ham away for example). Give him 90 minutes and he has the potential to tear teams apart (Villa at home, first ever win in the Premiership, best individual performance I've seen in my life for Saints by far; you simply had to be there.)

Way, way, way above our level. Playing for a title-challenging team in Spain on loan from a title-challenging team in England; both of whom can afford to pay him more than we can. Feet on the ground guys.

The analogy I've made in the past regarding Gazzaniga is that if you put your 7-year old son or daughter in charge of cooking the evening meal, you couldn't really blame anyone but yourself when the house burns down. Likewise, its pretty pointless and unconstructive to blame a lad who bless him, just isn't good enough. It ain't like Gazzaniga is underachieving in some way or isn't trying; he's just not good enough and there is no point going any further than that. Anyway. We all know that we should have got this properly sorted in the summer rather than giving 37-year old Kelvin Davis a new contract out of blind loyalty, especially as he was our only back up (and aside from the fact that at his age he wouldn't always be fit, I don't think he's any good either). Instead, we went for the cheap option rather than spending the money on the necessary, but 'boring' signing of a solid keeper and unfortunately, it probably has cost us points this season. Well never mind, I don't think it'd have made any difference to our league position anyway. So! Lets make sure we don't make the same mistake twice. It seems to me we have two options. 1) Stick with Boruc as our first-choice keeper and buy two solid, if unspectacular back-ups. 2) Spend some serious, serious money on a goalkeeper, relegate Boruc to 2nd choice and have either Kelvin in a player/coach role or Cody Cropper as third choice. For option 1, Robinson, Lindegaard, Schmeichel and David Marshall are a few of the plausible names recommended by my non-Saints supporting friends. If we went with option 2, I personally would like to go all out and splash the cash on Samir Handanovic. I know we haven't had great success with Serie A in the past but I think its reasonable to make an exception for a goalkeeper, and Handanovic is bloody fantastic. Whether or not £12-15m or so would be enough for us to prize him away from Inter I don't know, but obviously targets for option 2 are going to be more speculative. Ossie or Ramirez as a makeweight in that deal perhaps? So! Ralph, Katerina, or whoever will be in charge of the transfer committee for next season, lets get thinking about it straight away!

Interview with Jay's dad. Kiko is his nickname.

It is funny how out of one side of our collective mouth we emphasise that Rickie is so much more than just a target man and that Carroll and Lambert are incomparable players. Yet on the other hand as soon as Lambert has a decent performance we're desperate to tell the world how much better he is than Carroll. Still, having said all of that, I was very, very impressed with him yesterday. I've been one of Rickie's harshest critics this season but he had a great game yesterday. Having said that, it is a cast-iron certainty that we will not, and can not finish higher than 8th next season if we don't improve on Lambert as our central striker.

Delusional.

At this stage of the season I almost don't care whether he makes it back in time for any of our five remaining matches, I just really don't want to see the poor lad miss the world cup.

Ji-Dong Won is nothing short of the worst player I've ever seen in the Premiership and at St. Mary's. He fundamentally could. not. control. the. ball. Every single time they passed to him we had the ball back in seconds as he tried to take someone on and failed, misplaced a pass or miscontrolled the ball. Terrible, terrible player who made Tadanari Lee look like Shinji Kagawa. Anyone see the Palace - Sunderland game earlier in the season? He literally pulled his head back from a header scared to head the ball!

Been debating this with a few Saints-supporting and non-Saints-supporting friends and it raises some interesting issues about where we are and how far behind those two sides we are in terms of making the next step, which is breaking into the top six and the Europa League . (I'm leaving United out of this just because they're somewhat of an anomaly at the moment and a club that we aren't going to be able to consistently finish above long-term. Everton and Spurs look like the teams we have to overhaul if we want to be who we want to be.) So. Spurs, Everton, Southampton. Make your best XI from the players at the above three clubs. Go.

I wouldn't take Lambert as I'm afraid he's more of a deep-lying support striker than the target-man people seem to think he is. As such I don't think he'd be able to add anything really against decent opposition at international level. Rodriguez on the other hand should be third in the pecking order behind only Rooney and Sturridge.

He makes his own chances though. Thats whats so great about him. The toe-poke into the side netting? Good ball over the top but he needed pace, strength and power to shrug off Williamson, good ball but a lot of strikers still wouldn't have managed to do anything with that. The header into the side netting? Again; good ball from Chambers but Rodriguez leapt up to ~8 feet in the air to win a contested header and bullet it down. No way was that a 'should have scored'. Was like watching Ronaldo that.

I'd happily return to the sash or go for the Ajax style of kit. Stripes...meh...we aren't the only ones.