Lallana's Left Peg

There was only Long ahead of the man who won the ball back and he was quickly marked by two players. There was no obvious pass available.

Good work from Tadic and Bertrand allows JWP to make a trademark scuffed shot straight at the keeper.

Looks like Long could get some success with the balls over the top but when we get the ball in the final third there isn't much cohesion. Fonte mistake lets Howson in and only an awkward bouncing ball stops him putting Norwich one up.

Lots of possession early doors but not really making any inroads and then just pumping it long to Long. Look half decent on the counter though.

It won't stop others speculating - the timing isn't great from him.

It's the right thing to do but it makes it harder to get anything from this game. Why is he always late - someone told me he's often late to training too.

We should be able to offer more wages than most under the new rules though. Everyone with a wage bill over £52m can spend £80k a week more (£4m a season) plus any anything from commercial income (we have new shirt manufacturer deals and shirt sponsorship deals that should be worth a lot more if our club are competent in that area). Plus we also wave goodbye to Caulker, Stek and Ramirez - with the first two already having replacements at the club and the latter not needing to be replaced (I reckon they earn £125k a week between them). Very rough estimates but I reckon we'll have near £300k a week we can offer in wages to new players (or existing) within the FFP rules and still be financially stable. Because we haven't done it this season and thus far we're a concerning 5 places worse off. You keep selling your best players and take punts on replacements and you will get worse - it's guaranteed.

That is the crossroads. With the amount of money we will have this summer that is a strategy that is far too risky and won't allow for a top half finish.

The owner isn't taking any money out of the club though, if anything she has further invested into the club. What is fair enough is that she is saying that the club should be financially self-sufficient from now on. I don't think anyone on here can argue against that given the overwhelming generosity her family has shown for the club but at this point for me it is about investing in a good quality of player within our budget which we can easily do this summer (and could have done last summer if we didn't pad it out with average players). If we don't invest properly this summer then I would question our strategy.

Not possible with our current quality of player. We're like 75% of the rest of the league in that we piece together good periods over the course of 95mins. The difference last year is that we had a defence that could withstand punishment and not concede. No Alderweireld, Clyne and Foster has taken that away (as well as less protection in midfield of course). Think VvD is a good replacement but the farce at right back is costing us and whilst Stek is a good loan I think it is clear he isn't as good as Forster. And of course a leaky defence is highlighting a lack of cutting edge up front which has cost us last season too.

One of the things the club does before it makes any signing is check the appetite of the player to play for the club and to move to England (if they are coming from abroad). There are also background checks undertaken on their character and personality which are in part done to mitigate any risk of them integrating into the group and acclimatising to England. 'Failing to settle' is usually shorthand for 'I'm not happy with my playing time' these days as money means players tend to settle easier than they use to. The only other consideration is whether or nor a player is physically capable of playing in England. But you can tell that from scouting and video - and the risk of assuming they can get better over a period of time (Clasie, Juanmi etc.) is that they contribute very little for the period where they have to get up to speed.

Wrong time of year to do it really, but we do need help because of a weak summer in the transfer market. As for Caulker that news is laughable. Recall McCarthy or Stephens and get rid of Caulker. Gardos is back in training there is no need to keep Caulker around. He's awful and eating up money. EDIT: My only guess is either that we can't cancel the loan, or the financial penalty for doing so makes keeping him around more viable.

This summer it must change. Stek and Caulker off the wage bill (we're already paying their replacements - Forster and Gardos). Ramirez off as well. That's at least £125k a week free'd up I reckon. Plus all the new money in from the new shirt sponsor and shirt manufacturer deals (and any other commercial deal - lets say that's an extra 80k a week) can be spent on wages over and above the extra 80k rules allow (which is easily covered by the new TV deal). By those back of fag packet calculations that is about an additional £300k a week we will have to spend on wages (minus any wage increases built into existing deals for players already at the club). That is before anyone else leaves. Other clubs will have the same scope to increase their wages as well but we should have a little more than most in our 'section' of the league and if the club are serious about pushing on then we can spend that money and it won't jeopardise our financial stability either.

Two years left and heavily rumoured to be wanted by two of the biggest clubs in the world (Man Utd and Bayern Munich). He won't sign a new deal in my opinion (why would he?) and because he plays in a position that attracts a premium price the club are unlikely to allow him to leave with just 1 year left on his deal. Jeremy Wilson suggested Saints will offer him a new deal - what do you think the chances are he will sign it? Or rather, what is his incentive to?

It's obviously not as a bad as that but say Mane (inevitable) and Wanyama (sat on a new contract for 6 months now, he isn't signing it) leave in the summer and we 'replace' them in the way we did Morgan and Clyne this summer then we're screwed. However, replace them in the way we did Toby with VvD and we'll be fine. Maybe the board will work it out.

There isn't much we can do when the rules handicap us in terms of wages we are allowed to pay and other clubs can offer far more and players want to leave. However, I think we can be more ambitious in the transfer market in replacing them. It only takes a few bad summers and you're in a relegation fight.

People remain fixated and continue to judge a players contribution because they assess the size of the investment that the club has made against what return is made on the pitch. There were a number of things that determined the £12m fee and just a part of it is Longs ability as a footballer - but regardless I still think that £12m is a lot for Saints to invest in a player and I expect him to be one of our better players for that amount. As always it's 50/50 whether these things work out. As for Long I think £12m is very steep for someone who is rarely first choice, and certainly not in his chosen position. I like his attributes and am glad he is a part of our squad but on the face of it £12m is a lot of money to invest in him - and on the face of it not really justified by any metric thus far. None of this is his fault as he has been exactly as we thought he would since he joined. For me, he now has a chance to get a run in the team in his favoured position with us playing a way he will enjoy - it's a real opportunity for him not step up but score more goals and prove to the club and fans he is worth the money we paid.

That is quite some injury list West Ham have.

Koscielny caught Long with an elbow in the second half. Long laughed it off when he got back up as it was a result of him terrorising Koscielny throughout the game so he knew he got in their heads. As an aside did anyone else notice VvD treating Giroud like a little child off the ball all game? Giroud would make runs across VvD during throw ins and try to leave a little on VvD and VvD would just absolutely bully him and throw him off course. This made Giroud try harder and every time VvD just shoved him a little bit harder to the point with 15mins left VvD was two hand shoving him

They are so different as players it's a bit harsh to suggest they try to play in a similar way whatsoever. Pelle's aerial play is about retaining possession and Long's is about unsettling and creating that bustle. One thing is for sure - if we plugged Pelle into that formation and asked him to play like Long and if we plugged Long into our 4-2-3-1 and asked him to play like Pelle we'd not be very good.

Giroud's reaction 'Right that's miles wide lets launch a counter...what da fuq'

We beat Arsenal at home last year too, and Pelle played in that. So Shane Long playing last night because Pelle was injured doesn't prove that Long was preferred to Pelle at all. If anything I think there is only one time in Koemans tenure where in the league both have been fit and Long has been preferred (Chelsea away last season). The reason they both play for Saints is because they are inconsistent - Pelle goes through massive streaks of playing well and then playing like dirt, and Shane Long's touch will come and go as well.

It's not a tactic that will work against most teams but its a tactic that will work against more teams this season than last due to a lower amount of quality in the team. The team seemed to come together with the management accepting we can't always play like we how to because of the change in players (or players who are unavailable) and what came together was a team performance that gave us a chance in the game and once we got our tails up the rest followed. Completely did not expect that but what a great performance. The team clung to an identity of what they wanted to do and executed it very well. Hopefully this acts as a kickstart of a mini-run that can secure a comfortable top half finish.

But the idea was if we couldn't hold onto our better players then we would continue to invest in good players to maintain our position. We would sell high and invest wisely using whatever metrics our recruitment team do in order to maintain our position and eventually the tide would turn and we could push on. Only, that didn't really happen his summer.

He'll have a new Manager soon.