Wes Tender

Well, Shylock, it seems that once you are quizzed about it, it becomes clear that you were not prepared to take Andy Durman's opinion at face value without adding your own little caveats, which you then edited. We'll all have to become mind-readers to recognise that when you asserted that AD's opinion that Cortese was a Champagne Charlie with somebody else's money was illiterate, you were referring to your own definition of illiteracy appertaining to the financial sense rather than the written word as expressed by AD. You then go on to raise as a separate issue whether Cortese had effectively managed the Liebherr assets under his stewardship, which goes nicely around the houses once again to AD's opinion that Cortese was a Champagne Charlie (read the dictionary definition again) and that it was not his money. In other words, he also questioned whether Cortese had managed the Liebherr assets assiduously, just as you have done. Comprehend?

Are you going to enlighten me as to what your point was then, Shylock? I see nothing wrong with the way he expressed his opinion, which you labelled rather ungrammatically as illiterate

His description was perfectly reasonable and simple to understand. As it was not at all illiterate, then presumably you don't find it to be over-melodramatic either. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/Champagne-Charlie Maybe Cortese has put the Champagne Charlie lifestyle behind him now, as has Souness.

Yes, you're right. But thankfully the glory teams just think that the easiest route to improving their teams is to throw money at any player who is doing well elsewhere. There is the added benefit initially in their minds that by buying PL players, they are not only strengthening their own team, but weakening an opponent at the same time. Man U have found out that not every player with a big reputation and a high purchase price will produce the goods for them and Di Maria and Falcao in particular proved that. But then they are wealthy enough to cut their losses and buy somebody else and the attraction of Mane/Pelle is that at least they have proven themselves in the PL, even if it might subsequently prove to be the case that they have excelled because of the players around them in our team, as with those we sold to Liverpool. We can indeed be thankful that by and large because of our scouting network and application of technology via the black box, we have the knack of finding replacements for those we lose, who in turn become the targets for the glory clubs a year or two further down the road. The value of any player is determined by supply and demand, but if the downside of the glory clubs not being prepared to buy our best players is that our business model is affected adversely because their value decreases, then the upside is that we will be able to keep those players ourselves. As far as I'm aware, we do not have to sell players for exorbitant prices in order for our business plan to succeed. We only sell when we are offered prices we cannot refuse, surely? Other clubs of around our size have recognised what a good business model we have and will seek to replicate it themselves, but it will take them some time to put in place the infrastructure and technology to find the right players or to improve their academies up to the standard of ours.

Now the rumour mills are attempting to suggest that Man U are thinking about going for Pelle too. Surely the lesson ought to have been learned from what happened when Liverpool tried to buy half our team, that it isn't necessarily the case that because players are good in our team, that they will be as good elsewhere. It could be solely a case of the Koeman/Van Gaal rivalry in operation and Van Gaal just trying to annoy Koeman by being mischievous. On the other hand, it makes Koeman appear better, that he has been capable of identifying players that are good enough for Man U to contemplate buying, whereas some of those Van Gaal has bought turned out to be sh*t for them.

This sums up nicely where we are at the moment. Whereas it is galling that we need to expect that players who have proved themselves to be effective and very capable at the highest level with us will wish to leave for the glory clubs, we are set up very nicely to address that situation. We are strong enough financially that we do not need to sell those players, so we have a strong hand in negotiations. The better the player, the more demand for their services from cash rich elite clubs, so the price can be inflated upwards until we reach a point whereby it is too good to refuse. We have proved ourselves to be very adept with our scouting and black box technology at finding these previously undiscovered gems and turning them into World class players who are then coveted by the glory clubs here and in Europe. However, there is now only a small handful of clubs who are considered to be an upward move for an ambitious player employed by us in our current position and on the other hand, because of our recent skill at identifying those previously undiscovered gems and developing them so effectively, we are a good club for those ambitious players to join as a career move. Needless to say, our academy has been a destination of choice for the best youngsters for the past few years now and that position has been compounded still further since we invested heavily in improving its infrastructure and facilities. Yes, it would be nice to keep those star players for longer, but there are hardly any clubs capable of doing that and it is arguably even more exciting to have that element of expectation when we unearth these players like Pelle, Mane, Tadic, Cedric, Van Dijk, etc and enjoy watching them whilst we can.

Whereas the good ole USA is a paragon of virtue when it comes to not interfering in other countries' affairs, isn't it? You've certainly developed the trait that is associated with most Americans, that they don't understand irony.

Why isn't it? It seems that you deny the possibility that we might have any luck this season too. Also you go on to list a series of factors justifying why we might be in a better position than last year, which seems at odds with your opinion that it is unrealistic to expect the same points haul as last season. A series of injuries to key players last season derailed our progress, but we do have more depth to the squad this season, which could turn out to make a significant difference. It rather depends on who gets injured though, as some players absent would affect us more than others.

Thanks for the comprehensive reply, Steve. I suppose to a certain extent, it depends which matches eelpie can't attend. If he cannot attend around five during the season, if any of those are with the glory clubs, there is an increased chance that the match might sell out well beforehand and that he could get something back for reselling his ticket. So far, we have only played Man U and Everton maybe of the clubs who are deemed to be greater draws. The other factor is that when we do play the glory teams, the guaranteed seats become a greater plus factor. So it only needs another couple of matches where the ticket could be refunded, to mean that the costs are similar but with the advantage of guaranteed seats, peace of mind and less hassle. On the other hand though, the cost is spread out if there is difficulty in paying the whole amount up front.

What would be the break-even point of number of matches bought match by match instead of with a ST? It can't be too far adrift against the five or so you couldn't make, surely? Then there are the mitigating factors for having a ST, like the guaranteed seat, not having to undergo the hassle of booking, priority over those solely with memberships and although I am not sure about the details, can't you sell those matches you can't attend back to the club?

Please no. Any fans who steal another club's song deserve to have derision heaped on them for their small-minded lack of imagination and originality.

Yes, you're right. Elected unopposed apparently. There is also the Guardian article very similar to the Mirror one, but digging a little deeper to see what else there was, I came across this little bit of satire, which seems to be the right-wing rag-week type student response, and nicely balances irreverently the extremist views of Ms Mustafa with the extremist views from the other end of the spectrum. https://encyclopediadramatica.se/Bahar_Mustafa

As you say, interesting that Clyne isn't in the top ten. Also notable that apart from Lucas, Cedric has played one less match than the others. On his average of four tackles a match, that would raise his position up 4 or 5 places, possibly retaining the highest percentage of tackling success too.

Why does the University need a "Diversity Officer" in the first place. In the second place, judging by her misguided and confrontational attitudes, why on earth would they employ somebody like her? Too right that if this was a WASP making these sorts of remarks, the left-wing establishment would be baying for blood.

Shylock, you would have thought that they would have learnt from the benefit of their experience that little old provincial Southampton were capable of producing players like Bale, Walcott, Oxlade Chamberlain (although the last two being Arsenal players they will probably think that they are crap) and their manager wished to buy Rodriguez and Wanyama. Those fans you speak of must have a pretty poor opinion of Poch wanting to buy these players from little old us. No universal law, just human nature to defend one's own club and players when a rival attacks them verbally. Despite your amateur attempts at psychological diagnosis, my attitude towards current and past players has consistently been that we are unable to stop them leaving for the glory clubs, but generally we get over-inflated prices for them and replace them with players usually as good as them, for much less money. This is also what several articles in the more rose-tinted, whitewashing media have said.

Please see my observation that fans generally view their managers and players through rose-tinted glasses and view the comments in that context. Also bear in mind that Spurs' supporters' expectations are higher than ours are. My in-laws family are Spurs supporters and were unhappy with how they did last season and recognise the part that Kane played in them getting to where they ended up. In an unguarded moment, there was even grudging respect at how we seem capable of replacing players and managers who depart with such good alternatives.

Sorry that you did not recognise Fry's post for what it was; his usual supercilious and sarcastic attempt at a put-down. I was talking about Spurs' dealings with us, but in a vain attempt to appear clever, he somehow thought that my post encompassed Liverpool too. When these sorts of transactions work out reasonably well, the club management get the plaudits. When they work out less well, the management get the brickbats and seek scapegoats, as at Liverpool. Fans generally view their own teams' players through rose-tinted glasses, so it is not surprising that the majority on here including me, take the view that we have a stronger squad (but maybe a slightly weaker first team without Schneiderlin). These rose-tinted glasses also make it difficult for fans to admit that they have been taken for patsies when buying another team's players. In the case of Liverpool it was apparent to most people that we had seen them off, so it is difficult for them to put a brave face on it and Rodgers' stock fell as result.

This time last year, we sat comfortably above them. Last year, Chelsea were champions and who would have predicted that under Mourinho they would be where they are presently? Because we are out of Europe, our chances of player injuries and suspensions are diminished. At this early stage in the season, not much credence can be placed on a team's eventual league position based on what they did last year.

Of course they'll say he's brilliant, just as they would claim that Pochettino is a better manager than Koeman and that they have a better team than us. They will hardly admit that the manager and the player that they got from us were poor decisions. Early days yet to decide whether Alderweireld is better than Van Dijk (who is two years younger), but based on his recent performances there are certainly signs that Van Dijk has the potential to be better than Alderweireld a little further through the season.

No matter how they try to dress it up, that the second division is somehow "the Championship", that the third division is called League One and the fourth division is League Two, I was quite content to admit that we went down to the third division before beginning our phoenix-like rise back to the first division. However, I am even more content to state that the Skates are in the fourth division rather than some notional League Two. That way, when they wrack their tiny little brains to recall 4-1 victories from the increasingly distant past, there is a nice correlation between the league we are in and the one that they are in.

I watched that earlier and surely Pelle was onside when he broke clear through onto the pass by Juanmi?

I'm pretty sure it was a sarcastic/satirical jibe at one or two idiots who had labelled him as useless when he had first arrived and who now have egg all over their faces.

Seeing the team selection, I was wary of the strong possibility that Villa could have produced an upset. Having only one of our first choice defenders playing didn't fill me with any confidence and thankfully on the couple of occasions when Villa had shots on target, Stekenlenberg made good saves. I could see that Koeman had strengthened the midfield in front of the defence by pairing Wanyama with Romeu, but then had gone lightweight ahead of them with Ward-Prowse, Juanmi and Ramirez. This meant that the advanced midfield was not a threat and that Pelle was isolated and starved of service. The lack of bite in midfield and some very slack passing, meant that a better team than Villa could have made us pay for it. However, the one player who had the pace to punish us normally, Agbonlahor, had recently turned into a fat lump and his former blistering pace was therefore much diminished. Koeman had gambled on giving some fringe players some match time and thankfully we had got away with it during the first half. Had somebody like Long or indeed Mane been available, their pace, endeavour and trickery might have made a significant difference, but Koeman's substitutions early in the second half were just what was needed. With Davis he added some urgency to the midfield and with Tadic the guile and trickery to unlock the Villa defence. Almost immediately we had upped our game and looked more like our usual selves, moving the ball well and getting it into the final third and behind Villa's defence, and Pelle looked much more effective. It is telling that three of our last goals were scored by defenders and it was wonderful to see Yoshida score a cracker to get in on the act. Tadic produced a great assist for Pelle, whose strike on the volley was unstoppable. For the second match in succession though, we failed to close out the game in the final minutes and thankfully there wasn't enough time for Villa to score again and take it into extra time, even had they been capable of scoring if we were concentrating fully. If this was a league match, losing the clean sheet and goal difference would have been important, but as it was a cup match, it didn't matter. We dodged a potential banana skin to progress into the last eight for the second year in succession. Liverpool at home? Definitely winnable if we play our strongest team and I reckon that we have the advantage psychologically having held them to a draw at Anfield so recently.

Really quite a good result to get a point at Anfield away, especially coming back from a goal down quite late in the match. Although we only had three shots on target, they only had two, which must be galling to their fans, their new manager and their media lackeys. Quite how that imbecile commentator chose Benteke as man of the match when he had only played half the match is quite beyond me. As for Sky they did not see anything wrong with having two Liverpool ex-players, one an ex-manager of Liverpool, and probably thought that it was justifiable because Souness managed us for five minutes. As usual, all the excuses were made about how Klopp had his work cut-out to transform Rodgers' team of misfits and how tired they all must have been, playing so many matches in such a short space of time. Little credit to us for nullifying them, defending well and closing them down. But there was karma to be had when it was acknowledged that we are unbeaten on the road, that MOTD's pundits summed it up as a difficult match for Liverpool because we were a very good team. We at least recognise that despite them having bought what they considered to be our best players during the past two seasons, following their replacement, we still have a team arguably as good as theirs, with a better defence and a strong enough case that can be debated that our midfield and attack is also as good as theirs. Early days yet, but although it had appeared Alderweireld would be difficult to replace, V-VD looks to be at least as good. Promising signs that Cedric may be as good as Clyne a little later down the line and that Clasie and Romeu together provide alternatives to Schneiderlin, if on the face of it neither might turn out to be as good as him individually. Good to see Gaston making a decent cameo and assisting the Mane goal. Also nice to hear Souness' assessment recognising Mane as a nice guy who will become a great player.

Whereas he of course, is not. And I believe it is probably more accurate to say that he has plenty of acquaintances at the club.