Lallana's Left Peg

I would too. But that said Davis and JWP have between them both performed well on the right. For me the only thing we have missed from him is his goal threat (and goals). But if a player wants to move then he wants to move, I wouldn't have seen the point in stopping him leaving.

He got the ball - just. But if you tackle like that outside the box it is easy for the Ref to give a foul as it was a dangerous last ditch lunge. In the box it is harder for the Ref's to give it as they often bottle marginal decisions. Foy did bottle it but I can see the argument as to why it wasn't given when it occurred in the box. If anyone did that outside the box he is giving a foul - because even though the ball was touched first it was excessive force and a dangerous tackle. We know there shouldn't be different rules in and out the box but history says the Ref's interpret things differently like that.

It'll be interesting to see what the reservations are that Puncheon has. Given he asked for the move (apparently to be close to his family in Croyden) I am not sure what could have changed in the past 6 months. Maybe he sees a better future for himself at Southampton? Maybe the family issues are resolved?

Apart from the last half an hour I thought he was good today. He wasn't the only one to have a poor last part to the game. O'Shea and Brown are very clever players who have Champions League winners medals. They are both good in the air and mark their man well with aerial challenges.

Just back from the game. First half we were great, really disappointed to concede to be honest as I felt like had we gone in at 2-0 and seen out the 10min storm that would have come at the start of the second half that Sunderland would have been broken and we could have managed the game properly to win. Second half was messy - Sunderland pressed us a little higher up the pitch and we lost some of our composure. It was also disappointing to lose the ball in some important areas when we had men forward which allowed Sunderland to attack dangerously. I know that is the game we play but the players often realise when it is critical to keep the ball and in the second half a few of them passed without conviction at times which also got their crowd up and changed the momentum of the game. However, in terms of the bigger picture I am happy with a point away from home and the way the team played for the most part at the end of a potentially distracting week. Ramirez looked very smart when he came on and I hope his injury is not as serious as it sounds. Lovren's sounds better than expected as well so that is a relief. It's been a unique week but overall I think the team (and staff) can hold their heads up high after that.

Don't worry about what Neil Aston is saying. He is being asked what to write from this lot on behalf of Mr Cortese: http://square1consulting.co.uk/team

That is good to hear. I know all good things come to an end at some point but I'd be absolutely gutted if players left before KL had a chance to make her changes and / or the club was sold (I still feel that is going to happen personally). If the current group stick together until the end of the season I think that is fair for everyone. But I appreciate football isn't always a fair game!

Sounds a bit ominous

I'm not guessing at all. It is a fact that the media are reporting she is interested in selling the club. I'm not starting new rumours, nor pretending I know something either. I'm simply stating what is being reported.

Pochettino's press conference is being shown live on YouTube at 3pm. The club have only just confirmed this. I could be reading too much into it but the club wouldn't show the press conference live if there was bad news coming. Perhaps the talks with KL have been productive?

I see no reason why KL would want to retain them. When you consider the nauseating articles in the papers that emerged back in November / December and suggestion that Cortese has been serving his notice since the Autumn then I am sure she could see through it all (as in, Cortese hands in notice and gets nowhere so then uses his media pals to make it seem like he is God) and wonder why she needs anywhere to leak information when she won't have anything to leak. My biggest concern is whether or not KL wants to remain as owner of the club. It shouldn't be hard for her to come out and say what her plans and ambitions were. I would interpret silence as bad in this instance given the situation we're in.

I would be disappointed if Pochettino goes in the next few weeks. That said, you never want a Manager loyal to someone at the club rather than the club itself so it would be for the best. However, there is no reason why he couldn't be backed to the same degree he was under Cortese if the club wants to support him. If the owners really don't want to sell then the next few weeks could be used as a very good PR exercise around any number of things which would make fans happy.

Reports suggest she wants to sell the club.

As long as this lad is back doing his thing we'll be ok: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5G6vE_NAoE

I don't think he wants to leave so on that basis it is just disappointing that he feels that to get whatever he wants he has to play this out in the public. Given Pochettino's future seems to go with Cortese's, I've pretty much written off this weekends game as there is no way the coaching staff and players won't be negatively impacted.

Given the clubs recent PR strategy in terms of buddying up with journalists and 'leaking' stories to them, I would suggest an amateurish approach fits right in with recent events.

There could be, but then, why make it so public at this stage of the season? Why not recruit his replacement privately and deal with it in a private manner? One day Cortese will move on but in the space of a few weeks we've gone from a Ben Smith article praising Cortese for everything at Southampton to a news piece saying he could be on his way. For me, this is another bout of public posturing by Cortese - we just need to find out what his objective is. Does he want a better salary? Does he want more money for transfers? Is he trying to scare the owners a bit because he has heard they may replace him? I would be thoroughly disappointed in him if he was leaking genuine information about his future to the press. He should know what impact this has on the club and to do it with half a season remaining is very stupid and he isn't a stupid man. For that reason I think there is an ulterior motive - and that this has happened with a few weeks of the transfer window remaining may not be a coincidence.

Ben Smith is one of those journalists the club works with on things. That they are using him with this story makes me think they don't mind this story being 'out there'. I'll wait and see what happens but even if there is some credibility to the story that Ben Smith is involved in the story suggests to me that there may be ulterior motives.

He is on a massive amount at Wolfsburg and I would imagine Santos can pull together a very lucrative deal as well with the use of sponsorship. If he is willing to join a club for the amount of money that Saints would offer I would imagine he would have the option of joining a more attractive club than Saints. Got a feeling we'd be interested given he wouldn't command a transfer fee in the summer but he is a step too far for us at this stage.

People forget that Lee was preferred over Sharp for a run of games before he got injured. I'm not saying he was much good for Saints over the term of his stay however he still made a contribution to a team that got promoted and enabled the club to secure the Premier League money as well. You can focus on how much he earned as much as you want but compared to club income now it's been justified. Makes sense to let him go early if his spot in the pecking order has been taken by Gallagher.

I don't think we can as I don't think we'll be able to keep key players together for long enough to create a charge. Our other issue will be FFP which maintains the status quo and is another barrier to entry. However, if a circumstance exists where several clubs have an off season we could always pounce - that said, it seemed this season is ideal and we're just going to fall short from the strength of our squad rather than the strength of our team.

Still plenty to look forward to given the age of most of our players. We'd like to think they haven't reached their potential yet, so to sit in this position with the best to come is a privilege even if the last few months have been rough.

Here you go: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x19jkjp_all-goals-southampton-1-0-west-bromwich-11-01-2014-highlights_sport?search_algo=1 I still think the ball was meant around the corner for Rickie, especially when you see the way Ramirez rolled out after playing it but whatever, it doesn't matter.