Lallana's Left Peg

Well that is another thing that is a bit weird. Gallagher is given the weekend off of the Stoke game to deal with the passing of his Father and then comes straight back into the travelling squad for the Hull game. He doesn't get on (but is given a lot of running to do before the game) and then instead of taking him up to Sunderland to be the option of the bench for when we need a striker we decide to give him 90mins on the Friday for the U21 team and instead send McQueen up there. Gallagher only missed a few days of training and two games and although he didn't play he wasn't injured and there is no doubt he could have contributed at Sunderland if we had decided we wanted him to do so. Therefore whilst I could understand why we had to freshen things up a bit to deal with knocks etc. some of the other things we did just absolutely showed that the FA Cup is not a competition the club cared about anywhere near as much as the fans did.

Academy debutants in all competitions: Lloyd Isgrove (I think), Harrison Reed, Omar Rowe, Jake Sinclair, Sam Gallagher, Sam McQueen Academy debutants in the league: Calum Chambers, Harrison Reed, Sam Gallagher. With others on the bench in games.

Variety is the spice of life. I find the people that get so offended by the obvious wind ups as silly as those who do the winding up. But it is just a messageboard to mess about on and although I've only been on it a few years whenever the club pulls off a great result everyone is on board and getting on. It's when there are some negative things that happen when people argue and wind-ups start.

Hmm so on that basis only Boruc, Cork, and Schneiderlin were rested. Chambers and Clyne appear to be splitting games, and Wanyama is a senior player. If the changes were forced then I have some sympathy, even if the performance wasn't good enough.

It wasn't quite that bad but for an FA Cup game the intensity was poor throughout the team. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out throughout the week as even with a weakened team the players on the pitch could have raised the tempo and done far more. At times it felt like we were playing the game out of obligation and I bet Sunderland couldn't believe their luck. There is massive expectation on the West Ham game now and failure to get 3pts there will really make this result seem even worse.

Not all, but he is responsible for the team selection and must take his share of the blame for their performance as well. Whilst I understand the need to rotate when we make the players train so hard and run so much in the game, I don't understand how we can play Sat-Tues with the same team but then the next Saturday we make 6 changes. For me, if the FA Cup isn't a priority we should never have talked about trying to win it over the last week.

That was unacceptable, and it is the first time I've said that in a long time. **** team selection, insipid from those who did play, and just feels like a wasted opportunity all round and what is worse I absolutely do not understand why. Hope they ram it down my throat with a Top 6 finish, but that seems incredibly unlikely.

Every club can do this to be fair. Over the course of a 38 league game season you can have no complaints. I think our league position is very fair I don't think we can feel hard done by in any respect.

Haha - it's an American term for when players are feeling a bit hurt without a specific injury. I fully appreciate means something else in England

I wouldn't be surprised to learn that more than a few players are carrying knocks / banged up. They may well declare themselves fit but I am not sure if they could perform to usual levels. Still, unless this game goes to a replay we're only playing on weekends from now on so lets negotiate this game with a positive result and then we should be ok.

The press have wound themselves up into such a frenzy that if they cannot make sense of a Managers comments they assume it is mind games. I am sure some Managers hold themselves in such high regard that they think what they say will impact other teams but thankfully our Manager puts all his effort into managing his own players and getting their head focused on Saints.

If he joins we should copy what Palace fans did when they were both there. Jose is called Font-A and Rui is called Font-B

Yeah that was very peculiar. Did their best to get involved with us and go back and forth with the chanting, and then the moment we scored they just shut-up and started moaning at their team. From one extreme to the other.

As he wasn't on the bench this evening before the game he was put through his paces with a very intense running session and the coach taking the session (I think it was MoPo but someone may know otherwise) made sure he finished right in front of our fans and he then presented Gallagher to the fans who all applauded him very respectfully which he acknowledged. Then a chant started for him and he smiled - it was a nice moment.

Oh, and I absolutely loved Boruc laying into the Ref every time the Ref told him to hurry up at goal kicks One time the ball didn't come back from the Hull crowd quickly so when it did get to him he calmly placed the ball down and then the Ref gestured to him and Boruc wasn't having any of it and threw his arms up and shouted at the Ref and all sorts

I'm not long back from the game. Obviously great to get the 3pts. Didn't quite click in the final third but I thought we defended well and the midfield were very diligent. When Guly's touch was cleared off the line and Harper just watched as Cork smashed it against the bar I was really worried Hull would get an equaliser but the team has a really good mentality where they shrug off potential momentum changers and get on with their job and I like that. Hate giving away cheap set pieces though. Was a good atmosphere in the away end tonight and the Hull fans to our left enjoyed giving out some grief and took it well back so all in all it was good fun. Towards the end when Wanyama came on we kept the same formation but shifted it slightly - so he and Cork sat, JWP was the outside right, and Morgan played behind Jay Rod with Guly on the left. Sometimes if Cork was forward Morgan would drop back. Everyone on the pitch seemed to be happy enough with what their job was, but obviously their characteristics as players defines how well they are at certain aspects of it. Hull were shocking. Absolute hoof merchants - worst long ball team I've seen in a while. Very surprising. Not sure if they decided to do that or we forced them into it but they had nothing to offer. I really want Luke Shaw to score soon because I think he is desperate to ahead of what may happen in the summer.

Quite likes hitting things doesn't he...

We don't even have our new Board yet, so how we could expect Pochettino to commit himself to the club I don't know. He's said he'll be here until the end of the season. Then we have two challenges - the first is whether or not a better club is interested. If not then the second are the conditions that he would be happy to stay at the club for. I think we've got a good shot at keeping him if no better club comes in for him and at a sporting and operational level we: 1. Reward him and his team for their great work (not just progress the team has made, but also the way he has integrated our young players which has seen them develop and worth massive amounts of money) 2. Satisfy him that the new structure at a Board level won't impact the way he wants to run the team (I have a horrible feeling we'll be appointing a DoF and that this new Kruger guy sounds like bad news - I hope I am wrong) 3. Satisfy him that he will continue to receive backing in the transfer market so he can believe this team can progress. 4. Take a hard-nosed approach to keeping our players. 1. and 3. shouldn't be a problem because of the money we've got as a Premier League club, 2. and 4. are harder and where I worry.

They signed him from the Nottingham Forest Youth Team after he stuck 5 past us in the FA Youth Cup.

I suspect he'll just play in the Europa League for them and grab minutes in the league wherever he can. Whether or not that is enough to secure a place in Italy's World Cup squad I couldn't give a ****. I've resigned myself that the club will take a loss on him. Thankfully even if it was a £5m loss it hopefully won't be too much in the grand scheme of things with the Premier League TV deal income. The main thing is that when he does leave in the summer we don't contribute towards his wages as that kills us with FFP rules.

Lovren said 2 weeks today. If he means match ready as well then he thinks he'll be ready for West Ham away.

An opportunity missed but given the circumstances of the game (conditions, a few players not 'on it', and a lack of options from the bench due to injury and absence) then I think a point is acceptable.

He's come off after 5mins of the second half to be replaced by 16 year old Josh Sims. Unsure if injured, tactical, or to rest him as he may be in the matchday squad tomorrow.

Isgrove is in the starting 11 as well to be fair. Both he and Reed could still make the bench. Reed played against Charlton in a friendly just 24hrs before he played against Sunderland in the League Cup if I recall correctly. EDIT: I don't see Rowe on the bench so maybe he has a chance with the first team squad tomorrow? Unless he is injured of course.

Fantastic news. I've had lots of friends around mine who don't support Saints but the book caught their eye on the coffee table and they thumbed through it enjoying seeing players they had previously forgot about. The more Saints fans have the opportunity to see and buy this book the better.