Lighthouse

There's room for someone else but I don't see why it should be someone so uninspiring as Elia. We struggled to score goals with him in the squad last season, I don't think he is the answer to anything.

We don't need a massive squad for Europe. A few extras yet but it's hardly as if we need an entire second 11 to put out on Thursday nights. I don't see the point in buying players who aren't good enough. Koeman isn't infallible and I think he is wrong on this one. Elia isn't a consistent player and never has been. I don't think it's worth signing a player for the occasional Newcastle/Old Trafford performance.

A guy I used to work with was best mates at school with Feliciano Condesso, famously part out Saints youth team along with Sparv, Gillet, Surman, McNeil and some 12 year old called Joel Speight in CM03/04. No idea where he ended up though.

Midtjylland or Brentford?

You don't get to share Van der Sar's jersey by being sh*t, so that's good enough for me. About as good a player as we were likely to get on a short term deal.

Does anyone have any pictures of what a possible stadium expansion might look like?

Lambert hasn't been consistently decent for 18 months now, I don't see any value in bringing him back here. He's older, slower and not the player he was 3 years ago. His confidence and match sharpness will be gone after last season too, it would be a complete waste of wages. I don't think anyone would argue Liverpool are a better club but I still don't think it's a sensible move. Clyne is good enough to get into the England team on merit regardless of who he plays for but if he ends up under performing in another poor Liverpool team he could lose his place altogether like Chambers. Of course it could go the other way and he will cement his place for Liverpool and England but I don't think it's the no brainier some people would have you believe. The financial benefits are obvious but the career prospects more dubious. Especially as Liverpool would be unwilling to sell him to a rival in the Chamipons League should he want out.

They could do a Newcastle and get enough points from their earlier fixtures to stay up, despite dropping like a stone at the end.

Any Saints fans interested in doing the whole weekend and camping?

Know Juanmi Knowing you Ahaaaaaaaaa

Happy anniversary Ron.

He's the Spanish, Irish, Latvian Michael Owen.

Would be nice to get one of our guaranteed defeats out the way early on.

I never got why the whole boxing day thing was so complicated. It's ALWAYS on the 26th December, as are the Boxing Day fixtures. It's only the bank holiday which changes if boxing day happens to be on a weekend, like this year when the BH will be on 28th. That's the one and only post I will make on this matter, it was bad enough last time.

I know, I was replying to a different post that the Dutch have under-performed because they haven't won a World Cup. I wouldn't really count that as a win, it's basically a lottery because you can't separate two teams after more than two hours of football. The teams we did beat weren't all that good either. That Dutch team played out a 0-0 draw with Scotland and Argentina scraped an ill-deserved draw (injury time penalty rebound converted from a blatant encroachment IIRC) against Sweden. I was being kind stopping at Euro 96, which was our last decent tournament. We didn't qualify for USA 94 and finished bottom of our group at Euro 92.

A man goes to the doctor and says, "I feel like a deck of cards!" The doctor replies, "yes, I'm afraid you have herpes."

Not really. That's the kind of logic the Skates use when they bang on about their trophies and stuff they won before WW2. I would rather been Dutch and know my team has a half decent chance of making it to the final of a tournament. England you can pretty much guarantee will amble through the qualifiers with unispiring performances against Montenegro or Azerbaijan then come up short against anyone remotely decent in a tournament. When was the last time we beat a properly decent team in a major tournament? 2014 - Lost to Italy and Uruguay 2012 - Drew with Italy and France 2010 - Spanked by Germany 2008 - DNQ 2006 - Drew with Portugal 2004 - Drew with Portugal, lost to France 2002 - Hey, we beat a below par Argentina side 1-0 2000 - We beat Germany but they really were sh*te back then. Lost to Portugal and Romania. 1998 - Drew with Argentina 1996 - Beat the Dutch Drew with Spain That's two decent teams we've beaten in 20 years. A trophy we won 50 years ago really isn't much comfort.

According to Townsend, "that's what the best players do." What? Miss a hat full of absolute sitters against Slovenia, then get a tap in from a lucky deflection off a third rate defender?

Is Rooney really going to go down in history as our all time top scorer?

They need to sort out their system first. Decide what suits our players best and find a manager who has had success playing a similar style. It doesn't need to be an English man or a guy who knows the Premier League. Look at Pochettino, fighting relegation with Sevilla and couldn't even speak English but he played a system that suited our players and was the right man for the job. The same with Adkins to an extent, struggling in the Championship with Scunny but he knew how to get our team playing the right way.

Surely it's well beyond the point of wonder by now?

That's the thing through, I don't think they are average and Hodgson was a decent manager at Fulham and West Brom. Everyone associated with England seems to under-perform and it's been like that for a long time. We aren't a world beating team but the likes of Rooney are far better than the performances the churn out for the national side. I don't know if it's some ingrained coaching philosophy or just the pressure and psychology of playing for the national side but something is rotten to the core with our whole set up. Our tactics and organisation just aren't their collectively. It always just seems to be bodging the biggest name players who play for the big clubs into whichever formation is fashionable.

That's actually funny.

In the half a century since England made the final of anything, the Dutch have been WC runners up three times and came third once. They've also won the Euros and been in the semis four times compared to our record of zero wins and two semis. Their record sh*ts all over England's.

If there's one incident which totally sums up England it's Calum Chambers. Didn't get a look in after a string of very good performances for Saints two years ago. Then last season he signs for Arsenal and bang, straight into the England team after two games. The team is riddled with that kind of thing. Rooney on the left side at the World Cup instead of Lallana. Utterly bizarre.