Lallana's Left Peg

Apparently Milan have rejected a 10m Euro bid for Abate from Zenit and have instead demanded 15m Euros. It was suggested that moving out Abate was the deal that would give Milan the finances to fund purchasing Astori. So potentially sounds positive for us and for Cortese playing the waiting game...

Hard to work out where we're going with Rodriguez. I have a little suspicion that the club had doubts about Lambert in the summer and Jay Rod was purchased to be his replacement. But as it turns out Lambert has done well and Jay Rod as shown he needs some refinement to be a starter in the league as a lone striker. The trouble with Jay Rod is that he has a lot of tools and I am not sure any single one stands out as what defines him as a player. But at the same time I think his movement is brilliant and it will definitely come together in time - however it won't come if he doesn't play (so a bit of a Catch 22 situation). If he can keep his composure in the final third he will score lots of goals - in fact I think he'd have another half dozen by now if he relaxed and didn't tense up a bit when opportunities come. Whether that is because he is trying too hard because he is in and out of the team or whether that is something down to his age and lack of experience at the level we'll have to see. The finish against Chelsea was certainly very composed so maybe he can push on now. Overall I am happy that we've got him at the club and very happy he isn't playing left wing any more. In terms of the interview, he said he was frustrated but I think it was said in a way that every footballer who doesn't play is frustrated, not that any promises were broken nor that he can't understand why he isn't playing.

At least he is back doing some light training - and that doesn't look like straight line training either so progress from the Echo report that anything other than jogging in a line caused discomfort.

He has indeed - Matt Targett getting a run of games for the u21's gave Nehemie a chance to start several U18 games. I saw him first hand in Manchester at the Trafford Training Centre and he didn't look out of place. Has a long way to go but with Shaw now a staple of the first team and Targett taking his opportunity for the u21's this is a good opportunity for Nehemie.

Well I can't see this one being sorted any time soon but if I attempted to summarise the last few weeks of activity with Saints glasses on I would say: 1. Cagliari are in financial trouble and seem forced to sell their most valuable asset (Astori) 2. Saints, Liverpool, Napoli, and AC Milan are credited with serious interest 3. Napoli's interest was born out of having two defenders suspended for 6 months - although in the meantime they have signed a winger on loan from Udinese. 3. Liverpool's interest appeared to be at a value far lower than Cagliari wish to sell for regardless of their financial state 4. AC Milan would like the player but they have financial problems themselves - much of their activity will depend on selling Robinho (deal fell through) and Abate (in talks with Zenit) 5. Saints are credited with having made a bid that Cagliari haven't rejected out of hand and also that Astori has agreed personal terms. So from a Saints perspective we must feel confident that neither Napoli or AC Milan will be in a position to bid more than our initial bid, hopefully leaving us in a position in a few weeks to be the only serious bidder about and chance to get the player for less than Cagliari are demanding right now? The risk is of course that Napoli and / or AC Milan do make a bid better than ours and that in the meantime we do not pick up points in the league that Astori may otherwise help us if we stumped up the extra cash. I am all for playing the long game but would be interesting to see how long Saints are going to hold out for on this one. Although perhaps if I was being negative after Villa we've got Chelsea, Everton, and then Man Utd before the transfer window closes and whether Astori would make a real difference in those fixtures could be debatable.

Ah yes, so it was.

We were linked with this guy back in the summer. Someone who can play central defence or left back from memory.

So Pompey roll the dice again and mess it up. After all that happened up until the summer, someone somewhere determined the most appropriate thing for them to do as an organisation in Administration was bring in experienced players with nothing to prove and by doing so paying them wages other solvent clubs could not afford. Crazy. The consequence is the club only existing due to HNW individuals funding the pensions of players who don't really care and Pompey (with the 10pt deduction) finding themselves rock bottom of League 1. It's quite pathetic when you think of it, even moreso when you consider what seemed to be their entire fanbase not questioning a thing until this thing all fell apart in the past month or so. The very least they could do while in Administration is behave with some sort of responsibility given the somewhat lenient punishments they have endured during the past three years. Anyway, be interesting to see the Trusts response to this as on one hand it is behaving with fiscal sensibility but on the other it is another big step to League 2 where the business plan and thus credibility of their takeover takes a hammering. League 2 football is not in the projections for any cash income and if they dare suggest it'll result in the same income it will be a complete joke. Plus this news may well result in even less pledges being converted than any revised target set since Christmas and then the focus shifts towards the fans being nowhere near major shareholders in the club and it just being a land bank exercise for property developers. I don't wish any ill-will on the Trusts bid, but I am surprised at the lack of transparency over some aspects of it given the whole thrust behind the supporters having a major role to play in running the club is....transparency.

Our set piece delivery the past two seasons has been the best I've known it since Le Tissier retired. Quite like the pace and whip on the corners, don't mind hitting the first man frequently considering when we do get it right we look very dangerous. Better than just floating one into the box inviting the keeper to collect or giving the defence plenty of time for someone to get into position to clear.

No idea if true or not but I always assumed it was a loan deal as we were hedging our bets as to what to do with him next summer when we see what division we'll be in next summer. Very valuable player in the Championship however I do understand why he is one of the promotion team / squad not given a chance in the Premier League given the sort of player he is and what we might need this season. Although that said if the club bombed him out to get Mayuka in then it was a pointless exercise. If he has left for £4m then we've at least flipped a good profit on him and if the deal is confirmed in this transfer window then it may point to some decent activity from ourselves.

0.5% of transfers would happen if anyone adopted that policy. Very few deals are clean cut and quickly concluded, that is why the last few days of every transfer window are bat**** mental as that is when people are forced to make decisions. For the calibre of player we need, there are very few clubs out there who would be in a position to accept an offer straight away without having to line someone up to replace them beforehand. If we had a great offer for an existing first team member who played for us we'd be mad to accept without first understanding who could replace them and then going through the process of learning if they were available etc. All of the transfers that have occurred at the start of this transfer windows have involved players unwanted / unneeded by their existing clubs. By and large those players aren't usually too much in demand and I would be far happier the club didn't panic sign and worked to sign the right player in the right deal for long term benefit. Saints have developed a big scouting network and the number of players they keep track on are staggering (as do all Premier League clubs). But there does have to be a very particular set of circumstances for a deal to happen. If we were to profile the sort of player the club are after with respect to spending decent money on them it could be broadly described as: 1. Best years ahead of them 2. Will retain value 3. Will grow with the club 4. Saints will be a step up for them (or at most a sideways step) so they retain hunger and ambition (and wages aren't too extravagant) 5. Must not have a greedy agent Then add on top of that the complexities of actually completing a deal even if the player was interested and met the criteria it is no wonder nothing happens too quickly.

Never understand why people get so frustrated with the lack of public information from the club over transfers. It doesn't do us any good whatsoever to share any piece of information publicly - there is literally no good that can come from it. Adkins has alluded that there may be some activity in the first few days of the window and then some at the end of the window, I think that is the best we will get from the club. But I am confident that there is no lack of effort - it takes a lot of work to get a transfer sorted and there are a lot of things that can change during the course of a deal.

Our last away game at Walsall was a Tuesday night. We battered them but lost 1-0. Remember the massive over reaction on here after the game as those at the match said it was 'one of those days' (it was) and others who just saw the result and wrote off any chance we had of automatic promotion. But you are right - the supporters club (a few quid to get in) did run out of food and they had about 2 people serving and all the food on a few trays and kept having to cook more. Then once you finally got your food after 45mins of queuing you'd turn around to see there wasn't a spare seat anywhere to be able to eat your food and instead had to eat standing up for yet more ballache.

It's just a part of the game playing. I dare say it happens all the time - talk a figure to get a club interested enough to allow you to discuss terms, then agree terms, then try to negotiate the fee with the advantage that the player wants to come so it puts the buying club in a slightly stronger position. At the end of the day Cagliari only appear to be selling due to their financial problems (same reason we got Ramirez) so it makes sense for his to try and nip and get him but still some room for gamesmanship at the end. Less than 6 months ago Caglari accepted a 15m Euro offer from Spartak Moscow for him so if they now will take 10m Euro and maybe even less it appears we're potentially getting a player for a good price on the face of it. Never seen him play and no idea how good he is but does appear to be the right sort of signing for us - perhaps our Premier League pound goes further abroad and whilst there is the added risk of no Premier League experience the club clearly trusts its scouting network. At that price though there will be pressure for him to perform straight away though.

Suggestions from an Italian website (no idea how credible it is) that he has agreed terms with us: http://www.tuttomercatoweb.com/?action=read&id=411959 Although long gone are the days that agreeing terms always meant a transfer is imminent, at least should ours be the offer accepted by the player and club we know terms won't be a problem.

Izale Mcleod's wife responds to abuse from Pompey fans on twitter:

Our tactical diversity since the start of the season has been quite dramatic. The first month of the season was full of the 'Southampton Way' and an almost arrogant insistance by the club (be that Manager or Owner depending on who you believe) that we would play one way with one formation - and we paid the price accordingly. I even remember Adkins getting short with one interviewer when asked about tactics when he said something like 'listen, we're going to play 4-2-3-1, right'. Whilst we saw a little change in terms of personnel for games in the system it did seem set in stone. Then we started to mix it up - not just in terms of formation but also our style of play - and lets be honest, we've hit Rickie on the long ball far more often in our last 10 games than in our first 10 games. Whilst there are other things that have helped us in our upturn of form (introduction of Cork and Shaw, a general acclimatising to the league and for new signings) I also think our tactical diversity (in terms of shape and style) has also played a significant part. And when was the last time we heard the 'Southampton Way' when Adkins talked tactics? So the change has happened and we can speculate as to why and where in the chain of command someone caved in (be it Adkins, Cortese, or Reed). I thought we went too far the other way in the Stoke game when I saw the teams, almost changing far too much in respect of the opposition but I was shocked at how well we stood up to them and played. The defenders struggled to cope with us and in midfield we were strong too, and coped well enough at the back. In fact I thought we did so well I thought Adkins would be half tempted to play so direct and physical against Arsenal. So now it poses a new problem for us. It is no longer about us insisting on playing one way, we have developed a few different ways to play and shown we can apply ourselves well accordingly. The challenge is now for Adkins to select the right tactic in each game now, so he almost has a different pressure altogether. I trust Adkins to do enough to see us do well enough, but he will make mistakes as well and we shouldn't jump on him all the time for them. It will be interesting to see the sort of player we go for now - I suspect (based on nothing but a hunch) we'll learn towards physical players who have traits you can't coach and trust our club to develop them as footballers. Then we'll see a squad who can play both a physical game and passing game when required moving forward.

Hope he gets pelted and heckled. What a *****. He's got some front turning up.

Saints fan and PA journalist Simon Peach mentioned Spurs were tracking Fox in January. I can well believe it. And just because they are tracking him won't mean they are preparing a bid or anything. I imagine clubs like Spurs are tracking 100+ players at any one time anyway. Kudos to Fox and the club for his form. I've no doubt that Fox will do well when we've got the ball next season but his concentration will need to be top notch against the calibre of winger he is going to face.

No doubt whatsoever we will.

Bit late posting this but did anyone else see Sunday Supplement yesterday? They briefly spoke about Saints and Paul Hayward mentioned we'd need to be more media friendly and allow it to be easier for the media to communicate with directors etc. He said he thought it was a clear directive from Cortese and that next season we'd need to change our attitude to the media. Interestingly, the rest of the journalists laughed at him and accused him of being bitter as he is a Brighton fan Hayward then got a bit defensive. Sounds like he still has a bee in his bonnet over us. Idiot.

Massive challenge this summer. We need some pace in the team, but the player must also be Premier League quality. We've also got to nurture the squad dynamic which has served us so well the last two years. Lots of different things to consider beyond the quality of player alone. I personally see a couple of real impact signings and then some more activity in January depending on how we go.

West Ham 11/8 to be promoted, not promoted automatically. Slim to no chance tomorrow + overwhelming favourites in the playoffs = 11/8.

Lallana has been nursing his groin all season, just as Lambert has with his hip. He'll be right for Saturday.