david in sweden

Excellent read, informative detail without too much " over-kill " content. I'm sure many of us would also have liked an opportunity like that, too Thanks.

THIS. ......eventual qualification for a Euro competition might see a few bigger signings next summer (when we're off with the deadwood.)

it isn't just those top four teams who are struggling to establish themselves in Europe. English Premier League football is at low-point - when we look down at the " great names " below us. Bolstering a club's squad with £100-150 million clearly isn't the answer. The appeal of playing in the Prem. (for foreign players) is £100K /week salary, and much less the honour of playing for the club. I was (as many others) very impressed by the video of the new Staplewood, and that the trainees can see the names of former scholars who've made it to the first team and a later career in the game. Looking at the four Prem. sides mentioned above, it would be difficult to find half-a team from the lot, that has come through their own Academies. Arsenal " little group " came through ours . I've been disappointed by English clubs Euro performances for seasons past - yet not surprised, it needs a major re-think for the " big four " after recent results....but for them - it will also be an expensive one.

I think Rodgers problem is .....he has no idea what his strongest side is....although having watched most of their matches, I'd be no closer to that answer myself.

I don't think the mistake was in signing him ART, but having done so in NOT playing him - together with Lallana. He's not been given a chance or a run of games. Balotelli is surely little better, but he just cost more Lambert and Lallana made the Saints' team tick under our previous regime, now at Liverpool the only contact they have is sitting next to each other on the bench.

although I don't really think it's his fault. Rodgers has systematically avoided RL selection and generally gives him the last 10 minutes of a game, as some sort of desperate move. When he doesn't score, he gets labelled poor, but what about the other deadbeats that are continually picked every week. Ballotelli's goal tally doesn't look much better. Lallana situation isn't much better, although he does get selected more often. Brendan Rodgers hasn't yet realised that L&L were a partnership at SFC but now plays them apart from each other - as if they've never been introduced.

.....barely a frost in southern Sweden, but it's the end of the Swedish season already. TITLE winners? MALMO (of course), Not that they have stopped there. Having qualified their way into the CL group stages, they landed in a group with ..Athletico Madrid. That return fixture (tonight-read 4th Nov.) may decide if they go out, or a chance of progressing as group runners-up.. Two titles on the trot and they've looked impressive all season and could have won the title a month ago.Gothenburg and AIK came as poor runners-up, ahead of the mess in mid table. At the bottom Brommapojkarna are down again. A typical situation for the Stockholm-based Academy club, who seem too good for Superetten (Championship) but always struggle when promoted. To be fair, they did lose their better players to other clubs in the summer, and their top striker to injury early in the season, and losing too many games by the odd goal sealed their fate early on. However, the big headline was promotion of Hammarby back upto the top level. Relegated in 2009, their club history sounds a bit like Saints' in the last few years - but without Liebherr and Cortese. The fantastic thing about Hammarby has always been their fan-base. In a country where football isn't always a BIG sport, attendances of more than 10,000-15,000 are somewhat rare. Hammarby have drawn 30,000+ to several games in the newly-built stadium they share with arch-rivals Djurgården. Their style of football has always been swashbuckling, and good to watch and they will brighten up many games next year, with such little obvious opposition - except maybe Malmö.

Of course there goes my sense of humour again. Naturally, totally impossible if it was all filmed on Saturday. Did his time at SMS spurn a wave of MP look-a-likes ?.

ah, but he is under contract for another 2 seasons ....on what he described as an unbelievable salary (when signed). He's young enough to still make a career back in Italy and go back as a millionaire.

I'm sure Koeman said something to that effect in an interview some weeks ago...

Absolutely typical.....the Beeb only shows it in the UK ....we overseas fans are snubbed again !

Mmm. so.... is that 7 games in 25 days in December? Hope they all stay fit ....and injury-free...

very interesting video .... which may have been filmed at different times..? The kit man named Fraser Forster - a summer signing. BUT .. in the early sequence talking about music in the dressing room (@1.05)........is that Pochettino sat on the bench in the background ..or.?

Totally agree, the success of a player doesn't always depend on his own skill / technique, but that of the players around him, who .. sometimes ..make him look better than he is in reality.

really ? ..I wasn't aware of that....maybe he was trying to beat Daniel Levy and Abrahamovic to become the Chairman who sacked most managers in the shortest time ...

As a former " youth player " he must have felt a bit miffed when we parted company with Steve Wigley and he followed him to MC ...but it took a while longer for his career to get going.

Agreed!. .I think there may have been a " friction " between Mick and Lawrie Mac, but as it turned out we got Phil Boyer and Ted MacDougall for a couple of seasons. A very productive goals-scoring pair. Mick returned ....for a while, after which LMac ditched him ...again.. His later performances at Norwich showed he still had some good games in him.

Thanks.

..and the ultimate follow-up question to that is ....." do you think we'd have had such a successful start if we still had the " Feckless Five " on board - if Pochettino was still manager at SMS ? ..and we didn't have Pelle, Tadic and the rest of the new gang.

although I'd rather we went for John Guidetti who is on loan to Celtic from Man.City. A former Koeman graduate in Holland, he's back amongst the goals again, after along lay-off. Many Swedes recall that he was " one to watch " - even when he was only 16.

Question: When a player collects 5 yellows - does the ban start from the next game, or from a specified date ..... like Jan. 1st.?

AHA, you mean that now that we have (practically) a new team, and a more stable back line / goalie ....and a far superior manager ....Cortese deserves the credit Looking at the present set-up, the new players we've signed, and superior manager that we now have, I think Cortese deserves enormous credit for employing Les Reed, and not sacking him along the way.

Bit of a misunderstanding there....soton joe...I was actualy agreeing with you ..it wasn't a good example for me to quote Villa; I was more upset (at the time) because we had so much possession in that game - yet failed to do enough to win. However, I think that most of us would agree that when we consider the volume of ball-possession we had (overall) during the season, we ought to have created more chances and scored more goals. Although the current stats. are somewhat lower% this season, we are far more creative and win more second balls than we seemed to under MP.

Brendon Rodgers still hasn't cottoned on to the fact, that the success of Lambert and Lallana was playing them together. As all Saints fans .....I've immensely grateful to both for their contribution to our history, but they made a decision and now they must live with it. In this case : something like ." ....first you make it to the bench ....and then sit....and sit...and sit .. and sit ". .....and then take the blame, when you eventually come on and don't win the game..... for the deadbeats who've played all of the previous 80 minutes.

Good overall analysis. HDAJFU when we were down on our heels and created a 21st century Premier League Club. Seems that KL has instilled a very good feeling around HER club. ..and now that Cortese has gone . Is it just me? ... or do I sense a huge sigh of relief still reverberating around SMS ?