Lallana's Left Peg

Academy Manager at Everton.

I think the fans choice will be obvious but I'll be interested to see who the Players Player of the Season is.

If you want proper football analysis and discussion then there are publications and podcasts / radio shows that will do it. BBC know they need to counter to a football supporting audience that is by and large made up of morons and so tailor their content accordingly with lots of nothing discussion and obvious statements by profiled individuals. I can hack that because their editing of the matches in highlights is very good and I shudder to think ITV ever get anywhere near the Premier League highlights again.

Not convinced existing demand justifies the suggested financial outlay required to expand the stadium, especially after just one season back in the league.

I don't think they would be teasing contract news in this way. The club wouldn't tease significant news (or at least if they are, it is a big departure from their existing policy). I suspect it is just some photos for the programme or something like that - nothing to get excited about. But a bit of fun for the Media team to see how the fans react.

If you'd have told me at the start of the November that come mid-April we'd be upwardly mobile, 6 points clear of relegation, -7 goal difference, 11th in the league and 100/1 for relegation I would have bitten your hand off. And in case you forgot what the table looked like after the West Brom result: http://www.statto.com/football/stats/england/premier-league/2012-2013/table/2012-11-05

Has a good head and a calming influence about him. Keeps it simple and does it very well. Very tactically aware as well. Fills a few gaps in an inexperienced squad.

We've not started at all and the passing has been terrible. Need to adapt quickly.

It's a pointless exercise trying to plot positions in the Pochettino system. You can plot a standard 4-2-3-1 as a base formation but the team play so high up the pitch and you can have up to four players chasing the same ball at times which means attempting to attribute positional discipline to our tactics is missing the entire point and principle of how we play in the first place. I'd much prefer to see heat maps of positions of when we have and do not have the ball - that would tell you more.

Should have just said 'Don't be a **** supporter like you've been all season and I know the novelty of players passing a ball will be new to you under my management so try and get behind the team for once'.

We're capable of performances to break into the Top 7 but over the course of a season I don't think the current squad can. Teams in the existing Top 7 aren't getting weaker so it isn't as though a spot is opening up for us either. The other thing that will be interesting to see is how the team plays when there is no pressure. For the past four seasons we've had something to play for. Next season, if we stay up and have a better season (say, comfortably mid-table), it will be interesting to see if the drive is there. Not suggesting it won't, but it will be a different type of challenge from what we've had.

It just goes to show how different tactics and systems can either accenture or hide weaknesses and strengths in players and defenders are no different in that regard. Where we do have a big problem at centre-half is distribution against teams that sit back on us. Fonte and Hooiveld have poor distribution into midfield and attack and while Yoshida is slightly better it isn't good enough. I guess that is where Forren comes in but we'll have to see how he goes.

I spent the last three years telling friends who supported Premier League clubs that they shouldn't be moaning too much about Refs as what we had in League 1 / Championship was worse. After this season, I'm not so sure. I don't recall the Refereeing being this bad in our last few seasons before relegation from the Premier League. I think the game is too quick for them these days. The decision making seems to be getting worse and inconsistencies are far more frequent. Something has to change.

Football attracts a wide spectrum of people and with football being a social game many of them feel the need to impress their opinion on others around them. It's the same home and away. The worst I've seen this season is a bunch of well oiled morons at Wigan away who were having a go at Ramirez all first half and got into a fight with the people in the row behind them. The people in the row behind them told them to get behind the team during the game as the negativity doesn't help, and even if they didn't like Ramirez shouting it at the game was pretty stupid. This then caused a fight where the people having a go at Ramirez then tried to sarcastically get behind the team in the second half to prove a point over something and of course they ended up looking like idiots as Saints played very well and in the end they got into it and behind the team.

More than one way to skin a cat so not to say Adkins wouldn't have been able to achieve the same results but Pochettino has us set-up considerably more aggressively than Adkins plus it appears any efforts to stop the opposition playing is based on a default framework he likes his team to play whereas Adkins will change far more tactically to counter the opposition.

At 27 and a reported 30k+ a week I suspect the club will be looking to move him on in the summer no matter what. I wondered if he'd get a chance under Pochettino as he has the sort of energy we were told Pochettino likes, but it appears many of the existing first eleven players have been able to adapt quite well so the chance for players to come into the team are minimal.

I expect any lift Reading will get from Adkins will be negated by the determination our lads will have to win for their new Manager, to beat Adkins, and just to beat Reading anyway. I don't think Adkins will be given a choice to sit back at home - they sacked a Manager because he did that so if it is an open game then you'd like to think it would come down to quality and we'd win.

I always had the view that he was a bit of a panic signing after our pursuit of several wingers came to nothing during the summer. Not to say he is a winger by trade, but it was clear we were after a forward with pace who could also play on the wing. It is very confusing not to see him more involved - I appreciate he may be one for the future but he doesn't play for the u21's, he isn't going on loan, and he doesn't log minutes for the first team. So what is the point?

Gallagher has been injured for a lot of the season, only really come back into it since February. Also well done to Jamal Branker who today played for the first time since coming back from a very bad ligament injury that has kept him out for the best part of a year.

You've misinterpreted what I've said. I don't want Sinclair as I've think we've got prospects in the youth team who can make the step up to the first team squad. I am happy with Lallana / Rodriguez / Ramirez / Puncheon contending for those three spots behind Lambert. Sinclair wouldn't join us from Man City to sit on the bench, and whose place would he take in the team? However if we were to buy a winger I'd prefer Matt Phillips over Scott Sinclair for the reasons I stated.

Not too enthralled by this link. I think we'd be after someone a bit more powerful than Sinclair. Plus we've prospects in the development / youth team who need a pathway. Would prefer Matt Phillips if I am honest - cheaper, cost less in wages, and got that element of potential about him which makes him quite appealing.

I think there is little doubt that the club owning playing style and transfer dealings is better than being 'all in' with a Manager, however the hard part isn't determining that it is implementing it. The writing was on the wall for Adkins ever since we got promoted. On that basis you would maybe understand why the club did not favour Adkins input into some things given perhaps they did not see him being around too much longer. It will be interesting to see where we go under Pochettino - and in particular whether a level of trust from the club in his management of the team sees him more involved (or at least having more influence) than Adkins.

He's nothing like Lambert. Seager is shorter, quicker, and sits on the shoulder of the last defender shoulders looking to make little runs in behind. Seager is the sort of player who will get his chance in the first team on the wing before he does up front on his own. Sam Gallagher is more comprable to Lambert, but only through his size and height.

I was gutted when Adkins went as there was an emotional attachment to him as a fan after the few years he had given us. I also felt more relaxed about relegation - not because of our prospects, but because of the view that relegation wouldn't be so disappointing if Adkins wasn't there - again because for some reason there was less attachment to the Manager and wanting him to do well. But to be honest the afternoon of the Pochettino replacement I was focussing on the future and what it would be like. I'm very impressed with Pochettino - I like his ideas and aggression in the way he plays. I like that we are the team taking the game to our opposition. It looks like the players enjoy it too. I would imagine Adkins would have the same number of points at this stage, but long-term I think Pochettino is likely to be a better option - not that we'll ever know.

Not sure why you would think that. Using that logic Chelsea (who have nearly their entire first team squad on international duty) won't too well in their next match (against us) as well. No harm in the development squad training with the first team. Many of them get drafted in when we have injuries anyway, and it is standard to always have at least one of them training with the first team as a part of their development. Plus at this time of year thoughts are turning towards scholars getting contracts, and those who have contracts either being promoted to the first team squad or staying where they are so the club and Pochettino will get an awful lot out of it too.