Lighthouse

I'd say PD and EE were brought in as it was apparent none of our youth team players are ready yet. However the fact that they are only loans could suggest that we are expecting players to step up next season and that they are simply an inexpensive stop gap to help bolster the squad for the rest of this season. I've never at any point agreed with the signing of Long. I'm not saying we have a better academy player right now but I'd hope the likes of Gallagher and Seager can push him down the pecking order next season. I don't think Les really believes half the stuff he says but it's his job to big up the club and the academy. If the next Messi sees him singing the clubs praises and the effect we've had on Bale, Walcott et. al. It might just convince him to come here instead of Chelsea or City. He's like an estate agent, he is hardly going to tell you the bathroom is too small and there is a landfill site 500 yards away. In three years in the Prem we've seen Shaw, JWP and Chambers making their debuts, two make their England debut and one captain the U21. If we can keep averaging one properly decent player a season, that is still a pedigree nobody else in the Prem can dream of. An academy starting XI is a bit of a dream but you can't blame Les for trying to big us up in the media.

Teams can bring through young players and still compete for League titles. Gerrard, Sterling, Owen, the class of 92, Terry etc. have all come through into teams competing for League titles, or at least in the fight for the top 4. Even Harry Kane has made it into Spurs first team, in spite of all the garbage they brought in with the Bale money. Out of those players, I count 8 who will be playing Premier League football next season (if you include Bale) and 6 in the Champions League. Nobody can say whether they would get their chance if Saints were a top 4 side but I'd like to think it was possible, if you have a man like Reed who believes strongly enough in the youth set up. It just relies on teams not signing dross like Lamela, Soldado and the enitre Man City squad.

'Rolling the dice' with youngsters. What exactly do you mean by that, because it just sounds like some bullsh*t metaphor for chucking kids randomly into the team and hoping they might be good enough. The fact is that they aren't; yet. However a lot of young players have their first taste of Premier League experience and playing in front of a capacity crowd, which is a promising milestone. Let's have a look at the players who have made it into the first team, regularly, from the academy in the last 10 years. Chelsea - Nobody - Terry is the last player I can remember Man City - Nobody - SWP the last I can remember Man Utd - Welbeck - Left because he didn't get much game time. Liverpool - Sterling Arsenal - Gibbs, Wilshere, Fabregas - Gibbs joined when he was 15, Cesc 16 Saints - Walcott, AOC, Bale, Surman, McGoldrick, Best, Blackstock, Gillett, James, Chambers, Shaw, Lallana, JWP Our track record sh*ts all over the biggest clubs in England and the next batch are well on their way.

Off the top of my head we've had first team appearances from JWP, Reed, Gape, Hesketh, Targett, McCarthy, Isgrove and Seager this season. What exactly were you hoping for?

Unless I've misread the article, all he says is, "It wouldn't be our intention to sell any of our players this summer." That's a bit different to 'we wont' or 'we don't expect to'. I'm sure we have every intention of keeping all our top players but I'll eat John Westwood's hat if we do.

Any excuse to watch this again

Our next manager will be Marian Pahars. You heard it here first and probably last.

Unlikely, unless they start selling out their 60,000 seat stadium, which I very much doubt. Players only really care about money and Champions League football and Wham can't offer more of either as things stand.

It was Bradford's last home game of the season. Makes sense really.

I hear Lovren's head is already at Dean Court.

Just looking at what's at stake I'd say we need: Leicester to lose to Newcastle (yeah right) to end their winning streak ahead of our game. Villa to beat Everton, would be nice if Villa were safe when they come to SMS with both eyes on the cup final. Burnley not to win, which would help the above scenario.

If it was up to me, players out would be: Gazza - Just never looked anything like a PL 'keeper Kelvin - I don't think he is good enough even as back up. CDAJF a Championship club S. Davis - A solid pro but I feel he has taken us as far as he can. Some will say he is better than JWP but he is also 10 years older. Elia - Haven't seem much to suggest he is worth keeping. Djuricic - That signing made very little sense to me at the time and still doesn't. Long - CDAJF someone like Hull or WBA but he is not a top half player. Mayuka - Almost forgot to put him on the list TBH.

Win, draw, draw lose. We finish 7th and Arsenal make hard work of beating Villa in the cup final, which is on Steven Gerrard's birthday but nobody in the media has mentioned it yet.

What is highly patronising about saying well done?

Pelle has never had the luxury of Lallana and Rodriguez playing around him. I wonder how many chances Pelle has created, only for Davis, JWP or Tadic to smack them into the car park. Pelle has also been unlucky hitting the woodwork about 8 times and I'd still personally give him that Bridcutt o.g. Fine margins but Pelle could easily be on 17 or 18 goals with a bit of luck.

By what criteria? I'm intrigued.

He could well be playing Champions League football next season with Dynamo. On the other hand the Ukrainian domestic league has pretty much collapsed. Tavria and Sevastopol were expelled after the annexation of the Crimea. Kryvbas and Arsenal Kiev went bust and 5 teams can't play in their home cities because of the civil war.

There is if they are a decent player. Supposing we don't sign Toby permanently, we're still better off having him this season.

Can't think of a better game than Bolton at home though. Very average bottom half team but mathematically safe and packing for their holidays already. 4 away wins since this season, so they aren't great travelers either. Also defeat for Boro and a draw for Norwich against 2 crap sides today are a massive bonus for Bompey. They were probably expecting to start Monday's game in 4th.

Sunderland should be well up for revenge... should. Recent performances would suggest they aren't really up for anything. A draw at Stoke today was reasonable but after what Villa and Palace did to them at the SOL we should be going up there for a win. Victor should be back. Might Jay Rod even make the bench?

Interestingly, Spuds now need to win their last 4 games or else Poch will be worse than AVB and Sherwood last season. Could be a candidate for the sack race next season. Supposing someone came in with a big offer for Kane and/or Erikssen. Our best players all f**ked off for Champions League football I can't see why theirs would be much different.

You could say that about virtually any goal. Unless it's a 40 yard wonder-strike somebody should have dealt with it before there was a shot on target. I didn't see the goal but if Kelvin was at fault, Yoshi's error doesn't change anything.

Please for Watford, a decent local away game for us, lets hope we win another on Monday night. Could be a big shift in games Southwards if someone like Ipswich or Brentford won the play offs and Burnley, Hull and Sunderland go down. Can't for the life of me understand Boro sending the 'keeper up with 10 men. They could yet miss out on the autos by a single point.

"If someone offered me the chance to finish my career at Southampton I'd bite their arm off" ...

I think my favourite stat of the season was when Watford and Leeds had more managers than Villa had goals.