Lallana's Left Peg

Small-time mentality: When a club doesn't focus on what it does and says and more on what other clubs do and say. What is so important about what Southampton say to Brighton? Man City fans were accused of small-club mentality recently because despite their prospects and money they didn't change their mentality as fans and instead of focussing on the future of their club they were still thinking like fans of a club who got angry over what others said about them etc. Brighton have prospects and are walking the league, yet are using comments that are 5 months old - small-time mentality, as I say. As for the comment itself, why on earth was it in the programme in the first place? The club clearly looked for the comment if not Poyet himself, yet if you are prepared to cut Poyet some slack because he was asked a question by an interviewer and responded, then why not Adkins who made the comment in the first place? Or doesn't that suit the agenda?

Good point. To get the players up for the next game dig out a 2007 episode of Location Location Location because I think Kirsty said something particularly hurtful about Brighton property prices not being worth it. It is unnecessary from Brighton - they should be better than this. It just reeks of small-time mentality, something they should be above considering their prospects in terms of promotion and the new stadium.

Does it not concern Brighton fans that on the verge of Championship football, and clearly the better team over the course of the season, that the club is having to dig out 5 month old comments in order to get the players motivated for a home game against Swindon?

A club like Brighton, 10pts clear at the top of the league and on the verge of Championship football, shouldn't be hunting for comments that are 5 months old in order to find motivation to go up. It's a small-time mentality and they should be better than that. Good luck to them, they are up, and I will be interested to see how their 'passing from the back' style goes down in a league that is even more physical, faster, and obviously better. A friend went to Stoke vs. Brighton in the FA Cup and said Brighton tried this and got humiliated, so it will be interesting to see if they try to mix it up a bit or stay with it.

Brighton will be champions and rightly so. As Turkish says, they are the most consistent side and the games they lose are to teams 'in and around' them, as opposed to Saints who generally do well against the better teams and are prone to slipping up against some 'bad' teams. It's frustrating when Saints do this, as we aren't beating teams in the manner we should at times, and clearly there is a lot more to come from the team but I seem to recall Leeds somewhat stumbling home to second last season and I can see Saints doing the same. As long as we get over the line it will be success. Not a resounding success, but job done.

I'm always trying to be positive about Saints, football is there for enjoyment and people who seem to revel in negativity and always act so pessimistic must find their enjoyment of the sport diluted. Doesn't make them any less or any more of a fan, but it must surely take away from the enjoyment. Supporting a football team doesn't have to be a burden, there are dozens and dozens of clubs in a much worse position than Saints with nothing to look forward to and yet with the way some fans on here act, you'd think Saints were like Stockport right now. We've signed a young lad on loan as cover who seems to be rated by the Oldham fans and other clubs in divisions higher than us. Better than Howard? No. A better fit for what we need right now? I would argue yes. I'm not interested in us bringing in short-term quick-fix loans of players who oust first teamers as I think it disrupts the essence of trying to build a team and a club. But that is just personal preference.

He isn't joining up with the squad until after the Bristol Rovers game anyway.

Satisfied with this signing. I always thought bringing in a player from a higher league as cover wasn't required and could upset things more than help. Dale Stephens is a young lad who will be keen to make an impression and help us over the line in order to help himself in the long term. It also means that the injuries to AOC and Lallana can't be particularly bad.

The premise behind this thread is a massive and unnecessary over-reaction. It is also very silly. It wouldn't surprise me to see Lallana and AOC both be ready to play against MK Dons, and having drawn away at Charlton just 24hrs after Posh lose a game there is no need to suggest 2nd is a far fetched idea. People who think so negatively, in particular about the football team they support, must struggle on a daily aspect with other aspects of their life.

We hardly score let alone win when Lallana isn't on the pitch. I hope the lads prove me wrong tonight!

Well that couldn't go much better. Peterborough by far the better team for the 60mins of the match I saw, yet they have somehow lost this game (a bit like us against Walsall a few weeks back...). So Posh drop 3pts, and MK Dons look very beatable. Perfect!

Saturday put that one to bed for me. Just hope we come out of the blocks quickly and don't give Charlton any encouragement and we'll be fine. And lets face it, this game was due to be played on Boxing Day when they were a very different proposition, so in a way it is a nice little bonus that they are dire at the moment.

Lallana has a great football brain when on the ball and his decision making to determine what he does when in possession is also great. One area he can improve is getting involved in games and dictating them more rather than having 'moments'. Some of that is down to playing on the left but also some of it is knowing when to drift inside and when to stay out wide. It would also be nicer if we played through him a bit more rather than relying on him picking up layoffs from the strikers after a long diagonal up the pitch.

Our defensive record is also quite impressive considering it can be argued that with all players fit and available, we'd play two strikers and two attacking midfielders / wingers as well. The team is set-up to attack.

I don't think we played that well. Plenty of misplaced passes in the first half, as well as a lack of fluidity between the players. It started to give Sheffield Wednesday some confidence as well. I am not one of the pessimistic supporters, but I would not say that we played particularly well with the ball and moving as a unit going forward. It was solid, workmanlike, and professional. Not too much to gripe about but we can be much better when in possession, both retaining it and creating chances. Our defence gives us the platform to not play too well and still win, and I think that was the case today. You could see the relief when we got the first goal. Anyway, used up my three posts for today now so I can't reply back but I still think we can play considerably better than that.

The game was probably a fairly decent reflection of most of our season. Not firing on all cylinders, fairly solid at the back, and a few moments of quality get us the win. People will moan that we aren't playing very well, and they are entitled to do that, but I am very happy with our ability to dig out results more often than not. We are right in the thick of this and whether we are playing or not, every weekend and Tuesday from now until May has something of interest going on. I was worried about Sheffield Wednesday reacting to their recent poor form tonight, but it didn't happen. I hope the same happens with Charlton on Tuesday.

It's a little flat, a few poor passes coupled with poor decision making as well, but Wednesday are sitting so deep, they are inviting us onto them. I've always said it is a few moments of quality that can win games at this level, and that is what will determine the winners of this game - for either team...

Whilst I agree with your idea, it is not realistic to expect players like Brian Howard to drop a division to sit on our bench. What is his motivation for doing this and getting some minutes for Saints when he would get the same chance at Reading for a better team in a better division? It's just not realistic. The only player we get from a league higher above to sit on a bench is a youngster nowhere near the first team at their parent club at the moment.

Who would you drop then? The midfield 4 of AOC, Hammond, Chaplow, and Lallana seem pretty set. Why did we sign Chaplow if we could go and get a better midfielder than him on loan in the first place? For what it is worth anyway, I don't think Howard is the type of midfield cover we need. I'd rather a Hammond type player at the moment, even if that means the player we bring in has less quality than Howard.

While we'd all like to think Posh won't sustain the form they've recently had, I'm not getting worried about them tonking Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 at HT. I'd obviously prefer it if they didn't, but since the start of February they have conceded on average twice in every game, including shipping four at home recently against Plymouth. Peterborough winning, in whatever manner, is not a season breaker tonight. And in fact as I mentioned before it bodes well for Saints at the weekend.

Yeah but half decent teams score at least two against them as well. If Sheffield Wednesday can't score against them and get dumped by 3 or more, I really do expect us to win comfortably on Saturday.

Posh now 2 up. At least this gives us some encouragement for Saturday, Sheffield Wednesday really must be garbage.

I would hate for clubs to manage their own commentary for matches. If you think local stations are a tad biased now, the thought of clubs being in charge of how their club is portrayed in match commentary is concerning.

Javier De Pedro.

For those that are bothered by what the bookies think, these are the odds to get promoted: Brighton 1/50 Saints 1/5 Huddersfield 6/4 Peterborough 6/4 There appears to be an awful lot of confidence in us whether we go up automatically or not.