Lallana's Left Peg

I would imagine so. And I also think his agent is smiling heavily right now.

I suspect Liverpool will bring in Sterling for Lallana and Markovic for Ibe on Sunday. Maybe Gerrard for Allen if he is fit. Liverpool so easy to break on in transition. I don't think Rodgers will ever be able to fix that.

Apparently if Atletico want to sell him to a club other than ours then they can just pay us £1.5m to break the clause. So all the other club would have to do is offer more than £6.8m and then cover the additional £1.5m fee and it would make financial sense for them to sell to that club.

Was always likely to happen. Not sure if he'd be first choice though, despite Mangala looking like someone who has his limbs controlled by a separate brain at times.

At best, at absolute best, I think he may well salute a part of the stadium at the final whistle as he trundles off. Or do a quick 360 on his way off. I can't see him doing anything too much, and that isn't a sign of disrespect from him, I think fans are just overplaying it all (and that includes Lallana the other way as well).

Win, lose, or draw there is no way he'll do a lap at the end I think he'll loosely acknowledge any warm reception at an appropriate time but not much beyond that - nor would I expect him to. He can say something nice after the match if he wants.

I don't think so. He rarely moves forward with the ball himself - I think he just drops deeper circumstantially to create more space behind him for the runners.

Wouldn't be wise to absorb too much pressure from Liverpool I can see both teams having a proper go at it and both sets of fans having their heartrate increased considerably. I suspect we have more faith in our defence than they do theirs but I can't remember another time this season (other than the opening day) when we have played a team with so much pace in the final third.

*cracks open popcorn* EDIT: And when I hear 'consortium' I immediately think bad things. I don't know why. Has there ever been a successful 'consortium' takeover in football!?!

I recall it first flaring up in the Championship promotion season which makes it a fairly long-term thing I suppose. Here is a log of his Premier League injuries and it's definitely a concern: http://www.physioroom.com/news/english_premier_league/players/3903/morgan_schneiderlin_injury.html

He has a dodgy groin he is constantly nursing and he always did pick up quite a few cards.

Agreed. So that would make the WBA away game even more important than the Liverpool game then? It's an important game but they all are, that is my point. This is not some huge game we must win etc.

I'm still none the wiser why it is much more important than our previous league game or our next one. It's just a league game at this stage. It's February. No disaster if we lose, and nothing won if we win. It's bigger to the fans than the club I think.

I see no reason for wanting him to leave, however from what I can gather he appears to have mainly been tasked with two things. 1. To support better harmony in the club throughout all employees. 2. To drive an initiative towards a more sustainable future for the club with one of the primary drivers for this being increased commercial revenue which was a huge issue for us. He seems to have nailed 1., but 2. is very important as well. He references 2016 in his interviews but I don't see a reason why commercial revenue cannot increase before then.

How do you work that out? This match isn't more or less important than the vast majority we've already had this season. Nothing is decided from it, and its only February.

Of course. But there are also plenty that will stay for more money. Or maybe we can attract an ever better calibre of player. Either way a big increase in commercial revenue is very important in the FFP rules.

I think our 'native' intake for the current crop of first year scholars was quite poor (I believe it was the group that were scouted when we were in financial trouble in around 2009) therefore towards the end of last season we went out and attracted / acquired / signed a number of prospects from other clubs. I think around half of this years first year scholars come from other clubs and were only signed towards the back end of last season. Willard is one of them from what I've been told.

With this newfound popularity aboard I look forward to the huge spike in commercial revenue which will allow us to offer better salaries to players in order to keep them here. Or else someone isn't doing their job properly.

Completely forget about Christer Warren!

He's a bit of a precious flower which makes me think that a bit of grief would affect him but at the same time I think that he has a bit of an ego too which could thrive on that sort of reception and the thought of him giving some back in celebration is incredibly annoying. Would rather we get behind the lads at this stage - if we're winning comfortably and in no danger of throwing the game away then I would be tempted to have some fun.

I edited just before you posted

Only JWP and Chambers have captained the national team. So I think his point stands - that a player from Saints was chose to captain the national team ahead of others from bigger clubs.

He's definitely had one. It hasn't been signed. Why that is could be down to either party, but a contract offer was definitely made. He also had it in his existing contract that after he made 40 starts in the league he was due a new contract. He hit that target sometime around March / April last year. Whether the contract offer was token due to that obligation or a serious offer that was rejected I don't know.

Central midfielder.

A far more polished interview than those he gave in the first 6 months of his tenure. Unless I'm reading too much into it, it sounds like the Clyne situation is that he wants more money than we're willing (or can) offer. Which is a positive for me as I thought he wouldn't want to sign regardless. Come the summer I suspect we may be in a stronger financial situation but time will tell on that.