Lighthouse

Good point. Probably Lovren and Jos in at the back in that case.

I don't think Wanyama will play in the hole. I'd take a guess at Boruc Clyne - Yoshi - Lovren - Fox Wanyama - Morgan JRod - Guly - Lallana Lambert

1. Overall we finished about where I expected. We knew there was enough quality in the squad to keep us up, especially after some decent additions last summer. Unfortunately we started the season poorly and a tough set of opening fixtures left us with an uphill battle for the rest of the year. Once we sorted our defence out, after some early season nightmares, we looked a decent midtable team and could have finished top half given a few better results in the last 6 games. 2. Improvement and to be solidly in the top half. A venture into Europe isn't beyond question although getting in amongst the likes of Spurs and Liverpool will be a pretty tall order. 3. Both Saints and West Brom (well Clarke at least) could suffer a bit from second season syndrome. Lukaku isn't there this year and he ripped us apart at St Mary's so I think he will be missed. I would say somewhere around midtable again. I don't think The Baggies are likely to have any trouble with relegation they are comfortably better than quite a few teams down the bottom. 4. We would have liked more than 2 players in so far but most fans are sensible enough to know that big deals take time. We have made some ambitious moves so far and 2 of them seem to have paid off in Wanyama and Lovren. Wanyama especially has impressed me and will add some considerable strength and skill to our midfield. 5. We are all expecting another striker in at some point as Lambert and Rodriguez are the only 2 who look up to Premier League quality. Many fans would like another LB, Shaw got a nasty looking knee injury in a friendly and looks likely to miss the start of the season. The backup, Fox, looks less than convincing to me. Apart from that we look a decent squad. 6. Both games in 2007/8 we pretty special. Early in the season at St Marys we went 2-0 up with Rudi Skacel scoring an absolute thunderbolt from well outside the area. Koren got 2 to bring the scores level, then we went and won it 2 minutes after Koren's equaliser. The 1-1 draw at the Hawthorns was the penultimate game of the season. Lallana scored his first goal for Saints and the point helped keep us up. We nearly won it but you got a fairly late equaliser. I'd imagine you will remember that as the point that got you promoted back to the Premier League. 7. Both performances last year were just terrible. WBA were excellent in both too, I'll give you credit for that but Saints didn't turn up for either. 8. We were sh*te. 9. I'll say 2-2. Saints score first and last.

The first goal we conceded was pretty messy on a few accounts. It looked like Chambers wasn't tracking his man after the rebound from the initial cross and allowed him to get a second cross in unchallenged. From that Shaw was caught ball watching and I think Morgan either got a call to leave or decided he couldn't get a decent boot on it without risking an o.g. Second goal was pretty much Chambers' fault really. I don't want to be harsh on a young player but he needs to be much tighter on his man with those. Lambert's scuffle looks like a bit of handbags to me. Think a booking each was fair but it's odd to see Lambert lose his rag like that, he's normally very level headed. Maybe the stress of a new-born kid and a lack of sleep got to him. Who knows. That kind of thing hasn't done Rooney's England career any harm so we shouldn't worry too much. Third goal highlights exactly why Fox and Davis are inadequate. On it's own I could forgive this kind of thing but they were both mistakes we've seen repeatedly from those two in the past. Fox being left behind by his man and Davis getting beaten near post.

Personally I'm quite happy with our central defenders. All 4 looked decent enough today. The first goal we conceded I would put down to Chambers being a bit naive positionally, which will come with experience. The second a bit of a lottery with the ball bouncing across in front of the goal. The third was a combination of not closing down in the middle, fox not blocking the shot and Kelvin pulling out his near post trick from the League 1 days. Going forward we look decent. We need another striker and I'm still not convinced by Mayuka. On the upside Rickie and JRod looked decent and Lallana and Guly seemed more effective than they did for large periods of last season. Good news in midfield too. Morgan and Wanyama have the making of a world class partnership for years to come. Puncheon looked a real live wire when he came on and deserved his goal for a lot of decent work in the build up. That song will haunt him for the rest of his career. His tombstone will read, 'here lies Jason Puncheon. He shat when he wanted'.

Not yet. At the moment it's just 'week commencing 26th'.

So long as he doesn't agree to any behind the scenes documentaries and start telling Sky about other players drugs ban, he should be alright.

Well they wouldn't be. Andy Bachlem overlooked yet again...

Brilliant, well deserved. Great to see a hard working and honest professional getting the recognition he deserves. Well done Rickie. I hope he gets onto the pitch at some point.

This is a double post, so I've replaced it with this picture of a cabbage

Not really boring just because you've been there, I've seen 4 Lions on several occasions doesn't mean it's a boring film. Sorry if I sound like MLG but I find it odd that so many people say the LC 2nd round draw is boring EVERY season, like they're expecting a trip to the Bernabeu or something. Back to the game, I might actually be able to go if it's on the Wednesday. Thoughts on the team? Kelvin Chambers - Fonte - Hooiveld - Fox Cork - JWP Puncheon - Guly - Lallana Mayuka Something like that

Not really sure what you guys were expecting, it's the League Cup second round and we're a seeded team. We're guaranteed to be playing a lower league side, aside from local convenience for some people, I really don't know what you were hoping for. I don't see why a trip to Barnsley is any worse than any of the other teams in the draw. It's winnable if nothing else. Lets at least not embarrass ourselves like we did at Leeds last season.

There you go.

Not sure if this is a massive coincidence but I've just watched the UK premiere of this film on Syfy. Christ alive was it bad.

Yeovil, Cheltenham or Bristol City away would do me. The only ones close enough to bother going to.

To be fair, you did click on a thread entitled, "What is the attraction in keeping a pet snake?" If I'd posted this on the Pompey Takeover Saga thread you might have a point.

A good rule of thumb is 1 adult to every 5 feet of snake. Anything up to about 10ft and adult should be able to handle safely. 10-15ft you're better off having a friend there to help out handling. Above 15ft 3 people, if you somehow managed to get hold of a 20ft plus snake, 4 people. etc.

Got 2 king snakes. Always wanted one as a kid, so when I left home I bought a couple. They're pretty cool to watch sometimes, much the same as having an aquarium really. Having said that, the novelty has worn off a bit now and I'm looking to sell them. Obviously keeping a 15ft python in the same house as an infant is ridiculous, although no different to having a large aggressive dog.

Glass knees 50p head Toblerone feet Turning circle of a North Sea ferry As much pace as a herd of wild tortoise stampeding through a puddle of warm marmalade Sent of at least twice for punching another player All the subtlety and finesse of a WW2 air raid Apart from that a good solid pro.

I'd agree with that, I thought Yoshi was excellent overall last year. Especially considering he has never played in England and was throw in at the deep end (with sharks) in that Emirates horror show. Once Cork, Boruc and Yoshi slotted into the team we sealed up massively in defence. It was only our lack of scoring towards the end of the season which cost us a top half finish. I'd definitely start the season with Yoshi and Lovren. Chucking 2 completely new CBs into the team is more than a little risky IMO, we'd be trying to fix problems which aren't really there.

I'd be happy enough with JRod playing off the last man and Gaston in the hole for now. It's all a bit pointless debating this at the moment, we will sign another striker this month and he would probably displace Rickie as first choice striker anyway.

Was a decent striker but when Burley lost the plot in summer 2007 his form completely flopped. He would have done well playing in a decent team as he did in his initial loan period.

Brilliant

Except he wasn't. Pulis was an utterly hopeless football. So were Darren Powell, Lee Molyneux and Zoltan Liptak. De Ridder just never fitted into our team and our way of playing. He had some talent but Saints progress through the leagues just overtook him. I will always remember his goal away at Coventry completely emptying the Ricoh Arena for the last 10 minutes of the game.

Hull and Ipswich at home in the Championship he definitely made a positive impact. The Blackpool miss was bad but a lot of players have moments like that. No worse than Lallana missing an open goal at Norwich this year, yet he seems more easily forgiven.