Lallana's Left Peg

I don't think we'd sign him to just be a benchwarmer. I don't see how he would agree to that or how we could even justify it from a wages perspective (unless we're paying such a small percentage of what he earns at QPR). I'm not overly enthusiastic about genuine competition at the goalkeeper spot - I can't think of a situation in football where it works out. The uncertainty from goalkeepers doesn't really promote better form - it brings on nervousness and apprehension which can be seen in how they play. I prefer having a clear number 1 and a competent (if not as good) backup. I think we should go for an older experienced keeper who doesn't mind being a backup due to age but is a safe pair of hands in the Premier League - but they are pretty rare I know.

Very shocked to read that they don't spend any more than a few minutes on the opposition. You've got to have an incredible amount of belief in the way you play to almost completely ignore any element of how the opposition play or the things they do. It might also explain the amount of times Pochettino is frantically giving players instructions in the first 20mins of the game.

It was a chant that happened after the bench incident happened, it wasn't one that was pre-meditated or sung through boredom. Of course no-one had an idea what caused the brawl or which team is at fault, but Pardew over history isn't known for placid behaviour on the sideline and John Carver (his Assistant) is a gobby ***** who also enjoys confrontation.

Just back. Strange old game today. The 4-4-2 was an unmitigated failure. Lambert and Osvaldo don't work well together, poor JWP looks lost in a middle two, and without that extra body in midfield we get over-run too much. That said most of Newcastle's best moments came from our carelessness with the ball. I was grateful to go in only 1 down. Not that Newcastle were much good, but we looked like doing nothing and they were getting plenty of set pieces. Far better second half, players were more comfortable, tempo was better, there was always a spare man to pass the ball to and the team looked much more confident. I don't think we're good enough to start messing about with the formation now, we need to grind some results out in this period with our most effective team available. Enjoyable day out as always.

Bottled it

Pompey fans trying to get to the Saints fans

I prefer it when Morgan arrives late in the box rather than get too involved up there with the ball at his feet. We tried a lot of Morgan with the ball in and around the area at the start of the season and it didn't really work too well. He likes things a bit more direct and for him to run onto and it doesn't gel too well with the rest of the guys at the moment. Though he would be epic at winning the ball back even further up the pitch.

He's already had training sessions with the first team as well.

I can see why they'd get wound up to be fair. Although quite funny to see one of their better players completely disrespect their fans

Given Harrison Reed is being promoted full time to the first team squad on Jan 1st (or so the Neil Ashton Daily Mail article said) who do we think could be leaving? Pochettino has previously been quite straightforward in the squad size he wants so does that mean someone will leave?

He's a very neat footballer, hopefully he'll grow out a little but he is very good with the ball and not afraid to get stuck in as we saw against Sunderland.

Immense effort from the players, I have questioned over the last few weeks whether the belief and the system is sufficient enough to cover for the loss of big players. Today it certainly was and against a top class team as well. Also we finished the game with three 18 year olds and one 19 year old on the pitch - all Academy products as well. Never lose sight of the bigger picture that is going on as well. Very proud and excited of that.

He was jogging backwards as he was waiting for the free kick to be taken and the Aston Villa defender saw him coming and barged him in the back - very cowardly. Osvaldo reacted which I assume resulted in his yellow. The Villa defender deserved one as well for his role.

He was neat and tidy but it wasn't anything more than you should expect as standard as someone who plays in his position. I was really disappointed with his mistake for the goal - its a lack of concentration and composure in an important part of the field and it isn't the first time he's done it this season as he made the same sort of mistake at Sunderland. Maybe it is because he is rusty, but I don't think that is the sort of mistake a rusty player makes.

I think we all knew that heading into the season, but the moment it happens people are acting a little shocked. If we won in the manner Villa did we'd admit we were incredibly lucky. We had an ok performance unfortunately punctuated by mistakes made by players who are rusty and do not play at the level of the players they replaced. We cannot get too disheartened by this and hopefully neither will the team. That is not to absolve them all of criticism - they have set some high standards and the club talks of ambition and Top 6 finishes so they must bear the burden of that as well. I am frustrated more than worried, if that makes sense.

The performance was decent, even if we did lack a little imagination in the final third against a deep defence. Against teams who sit back sometimes I feel like our best chances of scoring are just when we win the ball back or when we just lump it in the box. However, there were many issues tonight: 1. We knew the squad was a little thin on quality and we saw that tonight - the selection of Yoshida couldn't be justified whatsoever and that is a mistake from Pochettino. 2. Wanyama needs to be dropped - he was growing on me but tonight he was awful. How can he keep on making the same mistakes? I don't mind mistakes but I hate when players do not learn. He is young and relatively inexperienced but he comes with a price tag. 3. Why is Chambers on the bench if when Clyne gets injured we put on a centre-half in his place?

Players are not playing with confidence or crispness. It can come but we need to be careful on the break.

For me this is one of our biggest tests as a team this season. A couple of defeats, a couple of injuries, and now a winnable game. We'll find out how strong we are as a group in this situation - both with respect to the quality of the team and belief we have in the system. Ever since the League 1 days I've always thought we've been a confidence team built on momentum. Without that momentum I've always thought we can be a bit soft at times. Tonight is a game where we need to show we can bounce back and deal with a bit more adversity than we've had at any point this season. I'll be looking at the general body language of the players and how expressive they are with the ball - you can always tell when professionals play with a bit of fear and trepidation. I hope we've got enough but it feels like one of those games where if we do go a goal behind the team may take a while to pick itself up during the game and by then it may be too late. I hope to be proved wrong!

I'd have him back. I can only assume its peoples pride that is saying they wouldn't have him? He's one of our own products and would fit in nicely. I don't think he'll come back though, I don't think he'd leave Arsenal.

January is shaping up to be another quiet one I think. By and large the club has adopted the policy of finding internal solutions for depth, and buying players better than we already have to improve the team and not to pad the squad. Fonte's form has been outstanding but at a stretch I could see us buying another centre-half as whilst in other parts of the pitch we can do some shuffling about to maintain a decent quality in the team if Fonte or Lovren got injured I would be very worried about our ability to maintain a level of performance in the team. However, you don't hear of many good centre-halves joining clubs in January, and I am not sure just buying a new player and kicking Fonte out is the right thing to do either. But then if we're in a half decent position come February and then injuries or loss of form hits we'll be pointing fingers at the squad depth and opportunity missed in January. Damned if you do, damned if you don't in this case I think.

The delusion. They were probably laughing because they scored their fourth goal after their own keeper was doing kick-ups in his own box then when he aimlessly hoofed it forward it ended up with their striker clean through on goal

http://www.football-italia.net/41809/osvaldo-had-allergy-attack Hopefully not too serious.

Will the book only be available through the website or will it also be available from other shops (even if they have to order it in)?

I don't think it is - whenever the interpreter says something Pochettino wants re-framed he interrupts. He understands English well enough to do that so I don't think much is getting lost in translation at all.