shurlock

Should have been more comfortable - Pelle deserved a goal and we're increasingly looking a threat from corners, the first time in ages. A few hairy moments -Tadic and few others faded badly towards the end; but ultimately, apart from the Diouf cross and a few speculative second balls that broke kindly, they created nowt. Things were pretty much under control as soon as Wanyama was introduced.

Tadic if the cup game is to be believed.

To be fair, Zamora did exactly the same to us.

IMO he hadn't stopped - not least because he slid feet first. Clearly when you're coming out, forward momentum makes it virtually impossible to stop on a six pence. But he could have done a better job of standing up. As such I wouldn't have been surprised if a pen had been given. That said, we should have had one minutes earlier from the hold on Fonte.

Why? The switches weren't motivated by any deliberate policy. Mane didn't start the Swansea game (before the cup game) because he had only joined up with the squad on the Thursday/Friday. Likewise Gardos played in the cup because Alderweireld and Yoshida were both rule out with injuries. The only position where we appear to be rotating is LB.

Pal, you're the only one who sounds like they can't deal with others having a different opinion.

Decision could have quite easily gone against us - the important thing IMO was that Forster was still coming forward when he hit Fletcher. Had he tried to stop his progress and stand his ground, then we wouldn't be having this debate, even if Fletcher ended up getting flattened.

Koeman seemed to suggest that the two changes were forced on him by the international break and traveling, so wouldn't be surprised if Long or Cork drops out.

To be fair, we haven't been really tested at the back, but his distribution -presumably because he's a right footer- isn't the greatest. He also tends to get bullied in the air and dragged out of position. Am pretty sure if Yoshida had been making similar mistakes, they would have been picked up on.

Great result. Agree with most of the comments above - suffice to say that Alderweireld doesn't inspire the greatest confidence on the left hand side of central defense.

Being a public service broadcaster (PSB) means far more than 'covering the clubs that people are interested in'. That definition is far more accurate for commercial operators -and the BBC was consciously established as a counterweight to simple market forces. Being a PSB means taking on a far wider range of causes -often unfashionable ones- and looking to educate the public, at least it's original Reithian incarnation. Up to you to decide whether that means showing P'boro vs. Barnsley at 10.30pm -couldn't give a s**t either way- but in theory the BBC is better positioned to resist the trends we're seeing in the game.

Excellent touch and vision Was OK yesterday but he was a 7 out of 10 whereas the others were 8s and 9s. Most of our threat went down the opposite side. Mané provides far more threat. Don't think Long is much of a footballer. Not as pacy as I thought he would be but has surprised me with his ability in the air. He's essentially a grafter -a poor man's jonathan walters if you believe Martin O'Neils national team selections. But at the very least he won't go missing -workrate wise- which could be valuable as we look navigate a very tough December.

Fair enough, the thread was bumped once, posters had their mongboard moment in the sun. But to repeatedly bump the same thread in such a short space of time is not particularly fun. It's just plain weird.

Why is it incredible? We werent in the prem for a large chunk of that time.

Not so sure - cant remember exactly when I saw the first big team come to the Dell -roughly 10-15 games in when we played Leeds- but the quality of the opposition was never the be all and end all. And ultimately the quality of the product -watching the same southampton side in the top flight- is not significantly different. We're not talking the dross the skates are served up in L2. Not sure what you mean by price inelastic -arguably that applies most to category A games- and is one reason why prices IMO could be ramped up further without causing any reduction in attendance: in the absence of a larger stadium, nobody knows what would happen from such an experiment. Either way, that surplus could be used to subsidise the less fashionable games so as to be commercially viable. As I say, am dubious that any real supporter only comes for the category A games; but if you claim as such, perhaps prices for those games could be frozen if supporters (in general or a specific group) had bought a certain number of category C games. Ultimately, we're coming at it from different places - you see pricing as an opportunity to maximise revenue; I see it as a way of making it more affordable for people who were historically the mainstay of the game. The two positions have their own merits but they are basically incommensurable. That said, I don't think cheaper prices in some limited cases has to result in throwing the commercial baby out out of the bathwater.

Not sure how some selective or targeted discounts would amount to a £4 to £6m loss. Maths not your forte it seems. More sensitive pricing could be achieved without compromising the ability of the club to compete in the dire, ludicrously exaggerated terms you present. Conservatively, I'd experiment with increasing the differential between category A and C games, one subsidising the other, a move that could actually be cost/revenue-neutral. Otherwise modest redistribution (i.e. consumer surplus) would make scant difference in the big picture. Every little helps.

Nobody is suggesting making tickets free The point is that the revenue foregone in the short-term from ad hoc reductions and additional discounts for targeted groups/games is likely to be small in the big picture.

Gate receipts are a drip in the ocean compared to TV money and being successful on the pitch, so while pricing tickets more cheaply is unlikely to maximise revenue in the short-term (which is to say price optimisation software is garbage for capturing more complex dynamic effects), that revenue gained will hardly move the dial and affect the ability to compete for better players.

In terms of the headless chicken, run all day, nuisance stakes, seems Walters has got the nod over him for the oirish.

Who has the knobbish number plate?

He wanted to build a squad around Lovren too, you conveniently forget.

Beaten by a dour if organised side - the silver lining is that I didn't leave as livid as I was after the last two trips to WHL. We were pressed and strangled, though it did seem odd how much we attempted to play out from the back when in other games we've been happy to go direct pretty early. Neither Wanyama nor Schneiderlin got going which set the tone for the rest of the day. Saying that, the goal resulted from terrible defending (though arguably there was a handball in its buildup): we got done by Eriksen last season and if that wasn't enough allowed him to try his luck on two occasions prior to the goal. Fool you once and all that. Both fullbacks were decent, though we didn't use them enough. We had acres of space down the left in the second half but were ponderous shifting there out there. Manė looked a handful - showed some great touches, though obviously the miss will define his afternoon. Tadic had his worst game for us - thought Spurs physicality was too much for him. Even last week, thought QPR did a good job shackling him. The sub was the right one but arguably a little late - other than sacrificing a midfielder for Long, not sure how else we can mix things up when chasing a result. In all, we continue to flatter to deceive - we've put in some decent performances over the first seven games -Wham being the highlight; but feel there are still quite a few growing pains to go through which our league position masks.

Ridiculous - Mané has probably been our most dangerous attacking over the past two games. Long is a mediocre grafter who's shown no real talent on the left or right. If he's to play anywhere, it's down the middle.

Agree.

When they're not drooling all over Lallana.