Lallana's Left Peg

Why do you think they have financial problems? Don't presume that means they don't pay their players much. Last season they paid David Villa 125k a week. Koke signed a deal worth 90k a week. Neither of those pieces of information mean Toby is on 75k a week there - but it does show that they can pay a lot in wages and that 75k isn't exactly a reach for them.

Sounds viable to me - they're a big club with good players.

Inter have already signed one striker, they may well sign another this transfer window. Say we get to the end of January, haven't signed a striker, and Jay Rod isn't ready. If the option was there to recall Osvaldo, would you? Or go without no matter what the status of our squad?

What happened to all the people that said Shane Long would score more goals because he was now playing in a better team? Plenty of people changed their tune now I see.

Lambert has probably played as much as he thought he would when he signed in the summer. He hasn't played as much as he thought he might in the circumstance of being one of only two fit strikers at the club and one of them well out of favour.

Hard to say - had he not left then maybe one of Toby or Gardos wouldn't have arrived. His departure maybe had the least impact on the team in the present moment, but he still would have got plenty of games for us given our squad size etc. All the news coming out of the club at the time was that the £16m was too good to turn down for a player considered backup in his best position. Only time will tell if that was the right decision - in terms of how good he goes onto become and how we spend / spent that money. We certainly don't miss him - at the moment.

A few months ago I was of the opinion that it felt right to create a space for Stephens or Turnbull and let Maya go but his performances of recent have been very good and I can't say this is a bad deal for us - as long as he is happy to understand where he is in the pecking order. I suspect (and hope!) that *if* we have European football next season he will be of even more importance to us with the increase in games. One criticism of him (and it is not unique to him to be fair) is that it takes him a while to get up to speed when he hasn't had many games - and as a backup that poses a bit of a problem. But we'll just have to live with that as it is understandable.

A great piece for the club. Nicely positions our 'angle' of having the most productive / renowned Academy in the league for new supporters and general interest from casual fans. I thought everyone spoke well and there were a few bits and bobs in there which were news to me as well. As to whether or not it makes a tangible difference to the club will be hard to know, but it certainly doesn't do any harm.

Howe talking of a good relationship between Saints and Bournemouth and one which they will seek to use to mutual advantage in the future.

If his hold up play and other aspects of his game have significantly improved then I stand corrected. But I haven't seen any of it the past few years to think so. Plus he can't even get in the Scotland squad so Strachan thinks there are other strikers who can contribute more, even if he is a better finisher than others who get in ahead of him.

I believe the modern Premier League striker needs to be able to do a few different things very well to make an impact and contribute. A poacher like Rhodes (and no doubt he can finish) is going to find the contribution he can make decrease the further down the table he plays. Just look at how Gary Hooper got on in a relegation battle last season. I think we can, and should, do better - regardless of the fee.

Lallana has been good tonight. It's no surprise that Liverpool look better with Gerrard on the bench. And Coutinho has been more inclusive in his play. Still think their defence is awful and tonight hasn't been better for them in that respect but if they can't fix that they may as well try and score a few.

My interpretation is that Fabregas cut inside knowing that Targett was rushing towards him and wouldn't be able to stop his momentum. Fabregas knew he was turning into traffic and sensed an opportunity and anticipated contact. What he didn't anticipate is that when Targett planted his right foot that he would slip. Fabregas though he'd have to move further forward to manufacture the contact and as he did so (and started to break his stride to go to ground) he was caught by Targett which led to the exaggerated trip - which did him no favours in terms of how the Ref may interpret the clash. It's a penalty - now doubt that Fabregas was looking for it but managing fouls is a part of being a professional footballer. The rules of the game do not stipulate that a player must stay on his feet if he feels he is fouled (though you may argue the spirit of the game suggests otherwise). Fabregas went looking for a foul and got it in a different way than he expected - to that end you may feel like justice was done however truth be told Targett over committed, couldn't stop in time, and impeded Fabregas (whether or not Fabregas was already on his way down). We got fortunate in my opinion.

Our momentum is vitally important to us. We don't have a game for a week after the Ipswich game. There is no reason why we shouldn't play a strong team without taking any unnecessary risks with players. For me it is not about whether or not it is a cup game, it's about keeping the momentum going and that is why we should play a strong team.

The resiliency Love a good old battle like that - brings different things out of the players. Definitely a major test passed.

And here are our fixtures over this time:

Yep - absolutely crazy appointment. The chasm between what it takes to be a successful Manager in the Championship and what it takes to be a successful Manager in the Premier League is widening all the time. Someone told me a crazy stat the other day - in the last 10-15 years (something like that) only ONE foreign Manager has got promoted out of the Championship. Yet the moment most young British Managers get into the Premier League they look like lost little puppies.

Mane up front

What formation is that then!?!

Yep Merry Christmas everyone - it's been another great year for Saints and we're in a great period to be a Saints supporter despite the fun and games over the summer.

No, but it isn't a question of whether you can tame a character like that, it's a question of whether you can get the most out of them on the field. You can't change a person from football training. You can only try and hope that they enjoy their football to make a contribution that doesn't come at the expense of other elements of management around team spirit and togetherness. It's 50/50 whether or not it happens but in football talent always gives you another chance. Always.

Too many cooks in that Liverpool team. Sterling was to do it all. Coutinho wants to do it all. Gerrard wants to do it all. Markovic is just crap. There is no cohesion and no balance, and what is worst whilst trying to find it Rodgers completely negates any sort of shape or defensive work when they don't have the ball. Poor Lallana is trying to be inclusive in his play and build things up but he's playing in a team of 'me first' players. That said, Lallana too is snatching at things - maybe in a desperate bid to impress or maybe he is just out of form. I do know the best Liverpool team likely won't be full of their best players, but until Rodgers can work things out it's quite funny watching the train wreck.

I don't have any stats to hand so I took a quick look at Wkipedia for the clubs I suspect would have a lot of Academy graduates play for them: Man Utd - 15 (Rafael, Evans, Welbeck, Scholes, Cleverley, Fletcher, Fabio, Lawrence, Wilson, Januzaj, Mcnair, Lingard, Thorpe, Keane, Blackett) Arsenal - 9 (Szczęsny, Wilshere, Fabianski, Coquelin, Mannone, Gibbs, Gnabry, Miquel, Akpom) Aston Villa - 12 (Clark, Lichaj, Baker, Albrighton, Bannan, Herd, Agbonlahor, Gardner, Delfouneso, Wiemann, Robinson, Grealish) I don't think any other club would be anywhere near us four.

We've been back in the Premier League for two and a half seasons now. In that time we've had the following Academy players either make their debut for us or play for us in the Premier League: 2012-13 Adam Lallana (sold summer 2014 to Liverpool for about £25m) James Ward-Prowse Luke Shaw (sold summer 2014 to Manchester United for about £32m) Ben Reeves (released summer 2013) 2013-14 Calum Chambers (sold summer 2014 to Arsenal for about £16m) Harrison Reed Sam Gallagher 2014-15 (thus far) Lloyd Isgrove Matt Targett Jake Hesketh Dom Gape So that's eleven players in under three seasons which is absolutely prolific no matter what way you look at it - even more so when you consider the progress we have made as a club and that we have always spent money to improve the team as well.

He's a very good footballer with a lot of upside. England U20 Captain (or has at least captained them at times), solid defender, great mentality, very good on the ball. Not explosive like Luke Shaw, isn't going to be up and down the left hand side all day but another great Academy graduate who will have a very good career.