Lallana's Left Peg

Watch the goal and tell me where the foul is. Fonte doesn't even jump because he thinks the ball can't be met. His reaction is one of disappointment not one of asking for a foul. I could find you hundreds of still pictures taken in every game where you can suggest something is a foul but that split second that the photo was taken doesn't prove anything. Seriously, it is not a foul.

No it is not. Players win headers like that all the time in every game. It is a foul to push the opposing players shoulders down in a blatant way however to use their body as leverage is not a foul. Look at the way players jump for the ball - many have at least one hand out to either prevent the opposing player from jumping properly, or, if they do, use them as leverage to get to the ball. Benteke scored a great header and it was not a foul at all.

No. And besides, the ball was already headed in that picture and from memory Benteke simply outleaped Fonte.

I don't rate many of the Liverpool defenders as individual talents but as a unit they are shocking - add in a massive lack of protection from the midfield and really it is a joke that Liverpool are that bad at defending. Liverpool fans like Lucas but is there another team in the top half of the table that would want him in front of their back four? All have better options.

Alderweireld was our best player last week.

It's too early to say - I really think both of them are good players but in terms of whether or not they're in our squad next year: 1. Our own CB situation (Koeman's confidence in Gardos, whether or not Toby stays, if he doesn't if we replace him with a new signing or not) 2. Whether or not we qualify for Europe 3. Whether or not Swindon get promoted and if they do, if we think a season for them both in the Championship with Swindon is better for them than fighting for minutes with us.

Rusnak: http://talksport.com/football/exclusive-manchester-city-target-albert-rusnak-admits-he-would-be-interested-southampton

You can add Jake Sinclair and Omar Rowe to Pochettino as well. Isgrove belongs to him too. Assuming you are counting league and cup, but I think you are with Seager on there.

The club are contractually obliged to offer him a deal. That clause kicked in the moment he made 40 appearances for us. I am not sure if the last offer was made to meet that clause and then shelved because of the injury but then had to be reoffered because of the clause, or if this one is different.

I think its important to consider that we have quite a big scouting network and attend a lot of games monitoring lots of players. All a paper needs to do is find out what games we're attending (usually easily enough done as many clubs publish a scouting list of clubs in attendance) and then they can decide who we're looking at. It is also worth remembering that we will monitor players without a view to signing them unless someone leaves. The most extreme example is our Manager...right now we're monitoring Managers in case Koeman leaves. That is not to say we think he will or want him to of course, but should he leave for whatever reason we won't be starting from square one in our search for a replacement - we will already have lots of information on potential replacements. We take the same approach to players - say someone bids stupid money for Tadic and he wants to leave - if we accept we don't want to be starting to think about who to replace him, we want a list of potential replacements already drawn up. It's just a really sensible approach to recruitment. But it does mean there will be a lot of guff about us in the papers.

If we qualified for the Europa League then we'd have a decent ranking courtesy of our nations co-efficient (rather than our own, which is non-existent ). Taking a look at the teams in Pot 4 in this years groups: Dinamo Moscow (Rus) FK Krasnodar (Rus) NK Rijeka (Cro) KSC Lokeren (Bel) Asteras Tripolis (Gre) Slovan Bratislava (Svk) Apollon Limassol (Cyp) Garabag Agdam (Azb) HJK Helsinki (Fin) Astra Giurgiu (Rom) Dinamo Minsk (Bls) AaB Aalborg (Den) A half decent Saints team with players like Targett, Reed, JWP, and Stephens / Turnbull in it should be able to beat most of them, surely?

I think they are new but they also echo his previous comments too.

Les Reed again: Don't disagree with any of that to be fair. A Saints team made up of 50% Academy graduates playing in Europe? Would be stunning.

We don't have much money for transfers - unless there are player sales in the summer for big money, we won't be spending much. Not sure why you think we have a lot of money?

From a law perspective you are right. From a practical perspective you are wrong. Clyne will need to sign a new deal or he will be sold. Saints will not allow a £15m asset to depreciate over the course of a season and leave for free. Even if he wants to do that, Saints will look to push him out. Once Cork rejected a new deal he was moved on. Why didn't he wait until the summer and then earn even more money as a signing on fee? It was better for him to move on - as it will be Clyne if he rejects a new deal. That is why Saints are putting a deadline on him signing his new deal - they and he need to move on at the point he doesn't want to stay. It was different at Palace - they were due compensation for him even if he left at the end of his contract. Hence why they were relaxed about the situation.

I don't think Saints will allow him to do that. It's sign a new deal or be sold.

The club has often publicly stated that 2016/17, and not 2015/16, is the season we're targeting for significant commercial growth. That ties in with the 1 year Adidas deal and Veho sponsorship deal ending at the end of next season. Next year will be huge for us because if we can maintain a Top 8 finish AND half decent European campaign then that strengthens our 'brand' for these commercial opportunities. However, a mediocre league campaign (more likely to happen with European football in my opinion) may hamper that, though European football could help a little. But I doubt there is much money at all to strengthen the squad without sales so how we approach things will be interesting.

Calum Chambers didn't even make the bench for Arsenal yesterday. By my reckoning he is third choice right-back and fourth-choice centre-halve. He is young and has time but it is hard to see where his pathway exists unless any player gets injured as the incumbents in each position are hardly old.

It appears he is fourth choice which I am fine with. He's definitely had his shaky moments but he has also played some good games for us - Manchester United away, Palace away, Chelsea home, Arsenal home, and even Newcastle away I don't think he was at fault for the goal at all and played decent. My main concern is that he cost around £6m and he is our fourth choice, and we have Stephens and Turnbull coming through. Right now if we could get our money back on him I wouldn't be against that. If we don't sign Toby then he'll have a bigger role to play next season I suppose but right now I am not convinced overall. Not if our stated ambitions are realistic.

Maybe, but two reports have Ronald there as well: http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/manchester-city-keen-albert-rusnak-5635589 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3067643/Southampton-rival-Manchester-City-signing-Groningen-forward-Albert-Rusnak.html

Koeman was at the Dutch Cup Final. Reports have him looking at ex-Man City youngster Albert Rusnák http://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/association=ned/news/newsid=2242812.html

It's far too soon for Jay Rod. Think he is only tentatively having an element of contact in training this week. Would be surprised to see him before the end of the season.

Have PM'd you.

I'm buying on the gate but only need 1.

Well the argument is innocent until proven guilty, should he be convicted then I guess the dynamics of the situation change. Personally I am not convinced him playing helps Sunderland - whilst he may find some joy in playing to escape all of the attention (well, as much as opposition fans afford him...) I don't think he can really play to the best of his ability with that hanging over him (without wishing to now jinx us ahead of tomorrow!).