Lallana's Left Peg

Lallana get a lot of stick from Liverpool fans off the back of Sunday. They seem to be irked by Rodgers' insistence on shoehorning him into the team resulting in Sterling playing right wing-back etc. I thought Lallana was doing ok for Liverpool and they have far bigger problems than his presence in the team but Liverpool fans' confusion this season over a number of things has been very funny to see.

It usually takes 48hrs for the swelling to settle down enough for a meaningful scan to be taken. That said, if there is a lot of swelling its not usually a good sign. If we miss out on the Top 4 it won't be because Kelvin Davis is out keeper for the final 8 games. There is no doubt that Frazer Forster is a better keeper but Davis will do for us.

Could be 4-4-2?

There are lots and lots of reasons to like Fonte, but as a quality of football player, he is not as good as Alderweireld.

I reckon we have a 78% success rate.

Well the leaked kits that are getting everyone excited do have a sash on the away shirt which as far as I am concerned correlates with what Turkish said - I don't think he stipulated it was the home shirt at all.

Becoming rich doesn't stop you wanting more. How many rich people do you know of that turn their back on more money despite having an amazing life? I would say it's minimal compared to those who continue to want to accumulate.

Interesting - so basically a 7th place finish means qualifying in July, a 6th place finish means qualifying in August, and a 5th place finish means no qualifying.

This news is massively disappointing.

There is no doubt our U18 team is young but so are many others in the league - we aren't the only team that fast track kids by any means. The current group of U18's are mixed - some of them (not all of them) have been with the club a while. Many of them haven't - in fact, a good half dozen or so of them only joined us in the six months leading up to last summer. We took rejects from other clubs as our lads weren't that good. The current first year scholars aren't great. You talk of Sims and Seager but they are not first year scholars. When I talk of intake I talk of the first year scholars for the season i.e. the players joining the club as scholars that summer - either from other clubs or from the U16's. If you take a look at the bench for our last U18 game you will see a lot of 'Trialist' - and that will give you some indication of what level the current first year scholars are at.

I would suggest he isn't aware of the hundreds of players Saints are scouting at any one time and so can't comment!

Reed, Stephens, and Turnbull in U20 squad.

Matthew Targett called up to the U21 squad along with JWP.

Yep, plus was subbed after 20mins last season home vs. Villa after starting there. To be fair he does play very well there for the U21's and has made the position his own.

Regarding JWP, he was namechecked by Hodgson earlier this season when talking about players to play at the base of midfield in front of the back four. I think Carrick and Wilshere were the other players mentioned. Wilshere is injured...

When clubs publish scouting attendee lists at their games (or rather, what clubs are represented) the papers then have to guess who we were there to watch - they have a 1 in 22+ chance of getting it right. I doubt we were there scouting Odegaard - our link to him in December was because some in Norway suggested we'd be a good club for him and then that rumour spiralled out of control. So he seems like a natural fit for us now after learning we had scouting representation at that game. Slattery is going to be an interesting one - he's been fastracked to the U18's this season but in general the U18's aren't very good at all (their intake year was around the time we went into Admin) and I can't see too many of them getting contracts after their two year scholarship has finished. There would be a home for him in the U21's where we lack a natural attacking midfielder however is it wise to introduce a 16 year old to that level of football all the time? Not sure myself but he won't be satisfied struggling with others in the U18's. Great talent though.

If all the players ahead of Bertrand were in form and / or playing then he shouldn't be in the squad. But they're not. And the disappointing thing would be that should he not receive a call-up for his form over the last 9 or so months it sends a bad message to other English players at 'big' clubs - being a bit-part player at those clubs is seen as more important to the national team than playing regularly and performing.

You can't, which is why it happens. The game moves too quickly for the existing officiating set-up, which means it is prone to numerous officiating errors. Much of that is a part of the game (I would personally find it very boring if the game was devoid of Ref errors and every decision was correct) however until diving can either be retrospectively punished (unlikely given the current rules) or the players become more honest (never going to happen) then diving will always happen.

Burnley play direct and organised. It'll be the same as when they came to St Marys last season and went for it. If we can deal with the long balls and workrate of their forward players you'd like to think the quality we have at the other end of the park will create some chances - whether or not we have the guile to take them based on current form will be another matter. They'll play two up front so there should be plenty of space for us 'between the lines' if we move the ball quick enough. Could be a good game for players who can beat a man and create some space for others too.

They all made good choices for their career though. And they will all earn millions more than had they stayed at Saints. They will all succeed apart from Lovren I think - but even then he'll make an obscene amount of money so he won't be too bothered. The main thing is that we appear to have invested the money well (or rather, better than average) so everyone wins.

At the time it didn't seem a bad shout though. He got to stay in the area, and although Reading were as good as down their financial situation appeared far better on the face of it (and even if not, they had the parachute payments to fall back on) as well as a half-decent Academy and a respected DoF in Nicky Hammond. Can certainly see why he took the job.

From what I remember our fee for him was going to tribunal until we settled before the hearing. There were rumours of a sell-on fee being agreed, especially as the fee (reported ~£2m) was so cheap.

The length left on a players contract definitely impacts his transfer fee. Southampton will not reject a decent offer (£15m is very decent in the circumstances) for another season of service if the player will leave for free at the end of it. It would be mad. We can do so much more with the money than presume it best not attained because we might try and get in the CL next season.

Not sure if true or not but I found this: http://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/uefa/calendar2015.html

McCarthy isn't an obvious replacement - he is more of a central defender (quite limited going forward too) and at this stage the backup for Clyne on the right is Alderweireld with Yoshida coming into the middle. If Clyne leaves we will 100% sign a first choice replacement.