Lallana's Left Peg

I was told the original deal was loan to permanent (already agreed) anyway.

Are they going to asset strip this summer as well

I think the new Board should know now about summer budgets and desire to push on though. Or certainly be in a position to tell Pochettino what is what. That said, maybe they are and the moment the season is over they talk.

Fair enough I suppose.

The 25% sell-on fee may prove to be a saving grace. Saints can dig their heels in and insist any fee they want has to be net of that, and hopefully that will scare teams off. Can't say it would mean Lallana is happy though. Of course, one way to completely circumvent this is to chuck some players into the deal and lesson the fee. Now then, would could we realistically take from the potential suitors of Lallana. We know Pochettino likes young English players...

My away days: League West Brom - 9/10 (last minute winner really felt like the momentum kicker as the game was turgid) Norwich - 4/10 (just a bad day at the office) Liverpool - 10/10 (great atmosphere, great weather, great performance and great result) Man Utd - 8/10 (decent performance, enjoyed poking fun at the Man Utd supporters, and a late equaliser - should have won though) Stoke - 6/10 (horrible weather, decent performance, crazy goals) Newcastle - 6/10 (never really got going in the game, but a decent point) Sunderland - 6/10 (threw it away but was good to watch a game after all the Cortese stuff) Hull - 8/10 (great performance, really controlled the game and should have had more, decent atmosphere for midweek away as well) Man City - 6/10 (decent performance albeit limp second half after the ridiculous officiating mistake, and horrible injury to Jay Rod) League Cup Barnsley - 6/10 (not a great match but saw five goals and great to see the kids play) Sunderland - 5/10 (bad performance, seeing Reed was the only enjoyable part)

I don't think selling his best players was a surprise to him - he only got the job in the first place because they were broke. I think it just wore him down that season after season he'd have to sell his best players and get in replacements. You can see why there is no point him hanging around in Southampton if that is going to be the case. His stock is pretty high right now so no need to get stuck into the same cycle again.

Usually 18 months or so but not unusual to wait until the summer of the penultimate year. Would like both to stay myself.

Cork and Fonte are under contract for another year.

Don't really like all this game playing being done. My best guess is that Pochettino and the players want assurances the club wants to continue to progress - basically, they don't want to be given a reason to want to leave from Saints (regardless of the lure of other clubs). I don't know if those assurances can be given from a financial perspective as I don't know if the Board want to sustain what they've got (that may be the only option given our wage bill?) or if we really do have the financial flexibility to push on further?

What makes it worse is that bar Lovren and Davis (S) every single other outfield first team squad player right now is one we have developed as well (Wanyama is up for debate but I see some good progress in his game this season alone). So we don't even get the medium term benefit of that. Say we do scout well and sign a decent player, we've then got to develop them over a few years etc. Selling when we should be the ones to benefit from our hard work is just a terrible idea.

And that, unfortunately, is the problem. There is no way if we sell any of our best players that we replace them with someone as good. It's not going to be a case of selling Shaw for £30m and signing his replacement for £30m. Selling players is just a bad idea for us.

Great find - will give it a listen

The only thing you need to do after high intensity exercise is replace glycogen levels as that is what the body is screaming out for. However, you need to eat the right glycogen food sources for this otherwise its no good. The only athletes who need to worry about salt levels are distance runners, and not footballers.

Absolutely nothing with a kid in Shaw's shape eating a Burger King every once in a while but if you think salt and saturated fat is what the body is craving after a workout you are mental

He is the heir apparent to Steve Davis I think. He plays deeper for the U21's but he'll get gobbled up playing there for us (although he did look good as one of the deeper two away at Sunderland in the Capital One Cup).

Pochettino systematically fouling anyone

I don't begrudge him it for performance. Would have been nicer if most of the staff didn't hate him / live in fear though.

Possession is respected because it gives you a foothold in the game. Where you have possession and what you do with it is more important but it is hard to find a way to measure that. In general stats in football are over-rated because they are so circumstantial and focussing on one thing in particular can be misleading. It would appear to be a contradiction to learn that we have second most possession yet play the most long balls. But anyone who watches Saints know we use possession as a form of defence and when we get pressured we tend to hit it long (and we also play a lot of diagonals). For me I wouldn't want the way we play to change. I think we have a wonderful style and aggression in our game. It has its risks but I don't think there is one style of play in the modern game that doesn't.

They definitely mix it up but they are very rigid in principle and there isn't much fluidity as to how they play. If we had even better players than we do now I am sure we'd be more successful - I do not believe the way we play is an issue in any respect whatsoever.

Chelsea play attractive football!?!

Highly doubt someone uncapped is going to get the call be that our lads or Flannigan.

He came in for some stick under Adkins but under Pochettino he has shined. He plays front to back. He starts upfield but actually moves back towards the ball when we have possession which creates space for others to move into. He is very diligent on and off the ball and looks after the ball as well. Just a year left on his deal...

I don't think we've copied Barcelona's style at all personally. I'm quite happy with the way we play - we're open on the counter but we play as the protagonists and I like watching us play. We don't have the players to play on the counter all the time anyway.

Having had to sell his best players for 4 years at Espanyol I would suggest a part of the attraction of coming to Saints was Cortese telling him we'll keep our best players and he'll have the opportunity to build a team. This summer he gets to see if the new Board feel the same as Cortese (not withstanding whether or not Cortese would have the ability to back up his words with actions but Pochettino clearly thought so). You can understand why Pochettino is waiting even if it doesn't feel great to know his commitment is to the ambition and means of the club as opposed the club itself.