Lallana's Left Peg

The way he takes out his own teammate celebrating the last goal

If a bigger club can offer some sort of first team promises then he has absolutely no reason to stay at Saints, and our Board would have no chance of getting him to sign a new deal in my opinion. We'd be best off selling him in the summer to get £10 - 15m. There isn't a natural replacement in the rest of the squad (we sold the one we had this summer...) so it's another tough ask for the club to go out and buy another Premier League ready right-back. I know the club like Sam Byram - I wouldn't be surprised to see us renew interest in him.

Does anyone know the total amount of money that has been invested into the club and wrote off since the takeover? Whilst I like the talk of being sustainable and so on, quite clearly our growth has been fuelled investment rather than any other method. There has been nothing clever about that part of it.

I don't think he will change formation at all. The only change we've seen all season is 4-1-1 with Long in the number 10 role (which I absolutely hate). More change is as big of a risk as playing 'weaker' players. I would rather we stick to the formation we know and think is suitable for the game and slot players in - if it is a good formation then the impact of other players slotting in shouldn't be too negative. And Reed will play deeper than Davis if both play on Sunday.

Reed is ready it's just that there are other better options ahead of him in the pecking order. Injuries to JWP, Cork, Schneiderlin, and Alderweireld mean he should be given an opportunity. If not he may as well join a bigger club and not play because plenty like him, Man Utd in particular.

I sincerely hope we do not become one of those clubs who patch up their squad with senior players whenever we have an injury crisis or whatnot. We have one of the best Academies in the world and whilst you'd prefer to ease the kids into the fold in a more controlled manner one of the very few things I actually enjoy about modern football is seeing youth players come through the system. If we turn our back on that a little I'll become even more uninterested.

Would be surprised if he got a new deal. Even if Alderweireld doesn't sign I wouldn't expect the club to offer him a new deal. His role could / should be fulfilled by Stephens or Turnbull next season.

Quite clearly Koeman plays a system where all of the creativity comes from the wings and all of the midfield three need to be able to defend as well as attack so that very much leaves him out in the cold. Can't see him playing another game for us.

The new look team that has played together once all season

Best not to confuse it with the role that Recruitment plays in HR in a traditional organisation. His work at Saints was based around establishing the framework and process that all footballers are assessed / analysed - both within the club and outside. This is about creating a process that focuses on the attributes of a footballer that are important to the club (that fit our 'profile') - both on and off the field, and using it to determine whether the footballer is the right fit for our club. What comes out the other side is a list of transfer targets for the club. Conversely, these principles are also applied to players already at the club, all the way down to the Academy. He determined how we appraise them and this in turn allows us to understand if they are making progress towards the first team (or rather, is one of the many things we use to determine that). He does not negotiate with players, and nor does he ultimately decide who we sign. He simply presents a list of players to meet a certain requirement asked of him based on his process and method to appraise players. To help him in this process he has scouts and analysts in his team. The 'black box' is simply a bespoke room designed to focus those inside it at the task at hand, and the 'software' we use to assess players is simply a database with player cuttings and clips to hand to allow us to compare and review things at speed. Paul Mitchell helped establish the structure that we now operate in recruitment and player assessment, him leaving does not mean the end of the world but it does mean Spurs will be looking to copy what we did. I have no doubt he will be able to replicate it - whether or not it has the same effect on Spurs is another matter as that will be down to other people, namely Levy and Baldini. But if you are going to get your salary doubled / tripled, then why not take the risk - he is a professional like anyone else.

It certainly didn't click in the final third but I wasn't unhappy with our general performance whatsoever. We looked by FAR the better team and kept going. We stuck at it and kept grinding away. I am pleased we dug out a point after what was a bad day at the office - but not one where we left Villa Park with nothing. A few lessons to be learnt for Koeman, but that is in no way a criticism. It's certainly an opportunity missed but not one to beat ourselves up about. Disappointed but not downbeat.

26 / 31 Forgot about Magilton and Pahars :mcinnes:

He seems to have settled quite well to me considering the circumstances, and I think he'll play every game he is fully fit for given the way he impacts a game - even if he isn't having the best of times when he has the ball he impacts how teams defend because of his pace and directness - he creates space for others. And his workrate is top drawer as well - he seems very motivated.

Haven't seen much of him and not aware of the reasons behind the move.

I'm a big fan of Cork I think he's a really understated footballer which is important for balance in the team however you have to look at things pragmatically - Ward-Prowse (England U21 Captain) was promised significant minutes in the first team this season and he is already competing with Schneiderlin, Wanyama, and Davis for one of three positions. Then you get to Cork. So at what price do Saints value what is potentially the fifth choice central midfielder for three positions? If Schneiderlin or Wanyama leave then it changes but right now for a club our size should we be spending 30-40k a week for that sort of depth? Or instead think that Harrison Reed (England U20 player) is a player more suited to that role? Would Cork be happy to sign a new deal and then see no playing time? We know it is a squad game and Cork has had many minutes this season however were it not for a bad injury to Ward-Prowse would he be near the team? Just a few things to consider.

Clearly wooed by Koeman otherwise he wouldn't be here. And he is keeping his options open, fair play to him - at least he is up front about it.

I am suggesting that signing Clyne to a new contract in the face of reported interest from Liverpool and Man Utd, and signing Rodriguez to a new contract in the face of reported interest from Spurs and Liverpool is a far bigger deal and far more challenging than signing Steven Davis and Jose Fonte to new deals. Davis and Fonte are both great players for us but they clearly do not garner the same level and calibre of interest from other clubs as Clyne and Rodriguez, and that using the fact they signed new deals as reference points for Clyne and Rodriguez is way off the mark.

Davis is a valuable squad member for us as a club but if anyone thinks the level of interest in him from other clubs would be anywhere near as much as it is for Clyne they are mad. And who was Fonte linked with before he signed his contract? Cardiff was it? Wow. It doesn't make sense for Clyne or Rodriguez to sign a new deal with Saints at the moment - they both have interest from bigger clubs and hold all the cards. At best I think we sign them to new deals where there are some release clauses, but that is just a guess. It would be great news to sign either of them to a new deal but they'd need a pretty compelling reason to stay in the face of bigger clubs being interested and, presumably, offering far more wages.

It's that time of year where players start to accumulate knocks as the wear and tear of the season starts to kick in, and the games come thick and fast. We already have Davis, Schneiderlin, and Tadic managing knocks / minor injuries, and Pelle is one booking away from a suspension. How should we approach the next 6 weeks - risk players and go all out or pick our battles? What is the priority for you? What should the priority be for the club? I wouldn't be adverse to the club picking its battles here - maybe prioritising the more perceivable 'winnable' games if players are struggling and need a rest. The impact is that a weaker team against the better teams gives them a chance to catch us in the league, but personally I think that would happen anyway and as Arsenal have proved year after year you don't need to get results against other 'big' teams to finish in the Top 4 as long as you handle business against the 'lesser' teams. I am heartened by the reports that the players aren't as tired from training any more as that would suggest fatigue may not be such a factor, but then again there are elements of it you just can't escape at this time of year.

Absolute worst case scenario is that he manages to replicate our approach to recruitment and player evaluation / analysis at Spurs. He has to do that in very different circumstances over there though, and ones which make the fruits of his labour harder to be effective. I don't blame him for leaving for one second either, but now this is also a good opportunity for us to attract a high calibre of applicant and get even better.

Porto players leave for amounts we can't afford.

But conversely he's also upheld his end of the bargain in every way, so I am not sure how / why he would owe us anything. He's been a model professional and played his part in the clubs success over the last two seasons. It's been a mutually beneficial relationship.

If memory serves he's had an injury like this several times over the last few seasons.