Wes Tender

The trouble with somebody applying labels to others, is that when others wish to believe them, they stick. Despite saying on more than one occasion that I am a Conservative, you label me as a UKIP voter. Well, I did vote for them in the European Elections, as did many others whose traditional allegiance is with other parties, but that is one single incidence against dozens upon dozens of votes for the Conservative candidate in various elections since I was 21. The trouble is that some have difficulty in differentiating between parties when some important issues overlap party boundaries. Believe it or not, concerns about immigration and membership of the EU is not the exclusive preserve of UKIP. There are factions of the other major parties who also share those concerns. Wade Garrett recognises this, but it seems beyond you.

Shame that we're not going to see you bare, Lou.

Schmeichel was nowhere near getting back to save the lob had it been on target. His Dad was closer to the goal line when famously Le Tiss lobbed him than his son was on Saturday. My vantage point was the Chapel/Kingsland corner, which provided a decent perspective of where Schmeichel was when the ball was struck and where he was when it went over him.

So nobody feels that it is worthwhile commenting on whether Schmeichel was outside his area when he tried to get to the ball before Mane?

I don't see any comment on it, so perhaps it was a non-starter, but several in the Family centre including me, thought that Schmeichel had handled the ball outside of his area when he went to try and dispossess Mane who was going for a 50/50 ball on the edge of the area. Apart from that, I concur with many of the opinions of others that we missed Davis when he went off, that Romeu might have been the better option than Rodrigues and that Clasie might well be a decent option for the future, but that match was too early for him. We are too often in the habit of trying to pass the ball around the back and I've had enough of it, especially when it invites the other team forward onto our defence. When Leicester were pressing high with their tails up, it was crying out for balls over the top of the midfield, but there were hardly any. Mane had opportunities from two of them and might have scored from both the time he rounded Schmeichel and the time he attempted to lob him, but I can't recall any other opportunities from getting the ball over a packed midfield that they were dominating. Full credit to Leicester though, who outfought and out thought us. What we also should have done though, was to learn to run the clock down when we are a goal up with just minutes to play.

I just found this article about a Liverpool fan who applied for the vacant manager's job and thought it hilarious. I don't think that it has been posted before, although it would also sit well on the Pompey thread, what with the connection to the Skates in the letter. http://www.thesportbuzz.com/413411/this-man-applied-to-be-liverpool-manager-and-the-club-responded-perfectly/?utm_source=outbrain&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=sportbuzzROW&utm_term=5056105

Of course he is, Lallana's Left Peg (the clue is in the name)

How many can you take into your household?

And also publishing articles praising ex-managers for the role that they have played in getting so many existing and ex-Southampton players into the England national team, as well as continuing the process with his new charges at Spurs. Naturally we are talking that genius manager at getting the most out of players on a shoestring, Pochettino. Annoying that they also seem to credit him in that list with Lambert and Lallana, who were playing for us long before he arrived, but of course it was he who brought them up to the necessary standard to don the England shirt. I suppose though that we should be grateful that the Daily Fail didn't go overboard and widen the scope of his abilities to include those here under him who went on to play with other National teams, like Fonte and Davis.

What a boring match! And can somebody kindly explain how the likes of Walker, Jones, Gibbs, Shelvey, Vardy, Ali and Townsend get to put on England shirts, even of they are perceived to be second string? Walker and Gibbs carried a fraction of the threat out wide that Clyne and Bertrand had in the previous game. As such, a lot of the play had to go down the middle, where there were lots of misplaced passes and cheap loss of possession. Barkley and Lallana acquitted themselves well enough, but Shelvey and Vardy produced very little of note, Vardy in particular showing a very poor first touch more than once when he hit the ball too far ahead and out of play. The Lithuanians were fairly solid in midfield, but a better team with good strikers would have torn apart our defence.

Imagine what you like, if you wish to use a bizarre analogy like that with absolutely no idea of how I went about buying the four houses that I have owned in my adult life, none of which was purchased at half price unfortunately. What is risible and naive, is the notion that the EU would grant us concessions based on the position that we might leave if we were unhappy with them, when there are those in the "stay" camp spouting forth the sort of rubbish that you do and where the likes of Cameron wish us to stay in. Your position reminds me of Jeremy Corbyn who wouldn't push the nuclear button if he was PM. We will only gain the concessions we seek if it appears that the "leave" camp could command a majority in a referendum. Failing that, the major change we will have achieved on leaving is to rid ourselves of all the federal aspects of the successive treaties that the electorate did not vote for. As for trade, once we have left it will be negotiated as I said on the basis that the major European Countries will not wish to lose their exports to us and that any tariff reprisals on our trade with Europe would also be imposed by us on them to nobody's advantage. And one of the first things that we ought to do on leaving, is increase our trade with Norway and Switzerland.

Law = justice. If you wish to debate why English Laws enacted by our democratically elected Parliament should be subservient to the legal system of the EU, then please take it that I meant the European Court of Justice, not the European Court of Human Rights. But I would be grateful if you did respond that you attempt to do so using better English.

Now that you have rightly had scorn poured on the notion that we would be treated by the EU like they treat Norway and Switzerland, the scare tactics move on to how there would be difficulties in arranging more reciprocal trade with America because we already export more to them than they do to us, therefore negotiations give them the whip-hand. Presumably this is like the whip-hand that we would have if we chose to leave the EU, as they have a large imbalance of trade with us, as we import far more goods from them than they do from us, so we ought to also have them by the short and curlies. The goods we import from America we couldn't buy elsewhere you say, but equally those American companies are reliant on us buying those items, or the manufacturers would risk going under. There is always the possibility of course that we could manufacture those things here in the UK. What we sell to them, mostly cars, does not necessarily compete with their own industry. These are luxury marques, which they do not have an equivalent for. America only wants us in the EU so that they can gain a trading foothold there via us. Ford was one of the big guns telling us how we should remain in Europe and then they promptly closed their Ford Transit operation in Southampton and moved it to Turkey, so the motor industry wasn't exactly a good example for your points 3 or 4.

I would vote to leave, for many reasons already covered by Orange, Lord Duckhunter, Aintforever in particular. We originally joined a Common Market and have been denied a referendum on the subsequent Treaties that changed it into a federal Europe, with the resultant loss of sovereignty. The entire process has been hugely undemocratic and the pro-European factions in our government deserve a good kicking as a result. As is to be expected, there are the usual mutterings about how our trade will be devastated, how matters like immigration will continue unabated anyway, that British passport holders who have moved abroad will somehow be denied the rights of their citizenship if they have to return. During the campaign to leave, this scaremongering needs to be tackled head-on and debunked for the nonsense that it is. Those European companies will not wish to lose any of the trade they currently have with us and we can justifiably demand reciprocal trade agreements. If trade tariffs are imposed on us, we can reciprocate. That will be in nobody's interest, so I doubt it will happen. We will quickly establish profitable trading links with the rest of the World, so the longer term trade prospects will be improved. Immigration is the main issue of concern for many in the "leave" camp and the obligation to allow unrestricted immigration from the EU zone on top of any moral obligation to accept immigrants from other parts of the World, notably the Middle East, is unsustainable to our infrastructure. Leaving would enable us to pick and choose who we allowed in on a points-based system. It will be refreshing once more to have control of our own legal system with laws passed by our democratically elected parliament not being subjugated to the European Court of Law. I would be happy to remain in Europe on the basis of the original Treaty of Rome but as there is no chance at all of returning to that, the best chance of obtaining serious concessions on the most contentious issues of our membership would be to vote to leave. If the EU was inflexible after that, then we will go our separate way.

If Mane carries on in the vein of form that he has shown so far this early in the season, then there is no way that Man Utd will be not be paying through the nose to prise him away from us. If anybody else comes in and there is an auction for his services, then so much the better. Who else is out there to replace him? Some other player just like him playing for a minor club in Europe or Africa whose potential has not been spotted yet, but who will already be on our radar. It isn't the first time that we have identified players whose value has shot up after we have polished them and put them in the limelight of the PL and it won't be the last.

The essence of a forum, is that people can ask questions about whatever aspects of the club concern them and express their opinions about them, just as on here. As a matter of interest, is there anything about the club, the players, the management that is bothering you at the moment?

Maybe, but what's to complain about? In my opinion the club has never been better run than it is right now. I didn't hear much of an outcry when we didn't have fan's forums recently before the start of the season. There might have been some uncertainty then following the departures of Schneiderlin, Clyne and Toby, but the recent pick up of form and the performances of V V-D, Cedric and Romeu as their replacements and the sizzling form of Mane, Pelle and others goes quite a way towards the belief that this is probably the best squad we have ever had. There is scope for improvement in the catering and the Beer though.

Really? That's a bit drama queen, isn't it? What exactly has it affected? Was it any more cringe-worthy than Mourinho's speech after our win against them for example? That must have brought them lower than a snake's belly. The more that people talk about it, the more that the message about our way of doing things will get across.

An interesting article and always instructive to read the comments of fans from the glory clubs. One of them thinks that it is all down to how good the club's scouts are, ignoring the bit where we also rely on the backroom team of 20 analysts who look at the attributes of players often years ahead of when we make a move for them. Another ponders whether technology analysis can possibly be superior to a top manager appraising a player, ignoring the possibility that the wider ranging analysis will take into account character and temperament and the importance of those players being capable of bonding well with their team mates. He then asks what the point of it all is when clubs like Swansea and particularly Southampton have to sell those star players. Well, the evidence of the past few years of success by both clubs has proven that despite it always being the case that players will obviously wish to move to the glory clubs and substantially improve their wealth, nevertheless it is not the case that they are guaranteed to play as well as they did with the former teams. Neither is it the case that those players cannot be replaced with better players costing less money. He then asks what those two clubs have won, ignoring Swansea's League Cup win a couple of seasons ago, which is later than Liverpool's last Cup in the same competition the year before. It is early days for us, but we are certainly capable of winning a Cup. Another opinion by this poster asks what is the point of long term vision when the success ethos is based on short termism. Well, it is all very well for the glory clubs to rely on their income from their bigger stadium capacities and their millions of plastic fans around the World, but the rest like us and Swansea have to rely on the well developed long-term strategy to grow gradually and sustainably. What is clear though, is that clubs like us two and the likes of Crystal Palace are capable of producing teams of players capable of beating the top four on their day and that clubs like Liverpool and Spurs have declined from the forces that they once were and we are now breathing down their necks.

And Falcao even wore one boot the same colour as Stekelenburg's in an attempt to to confuse things even more

Why does that make them hypocrites? Of course there was bias towards Chelsea, illustrated by their two yellows against our five and the denial of two clear-cut penalties that we should have had. Ramires wouldn't even have been on the pitch had the succession of fouls he inflicted been punished and it was nonsensical that he was not yellow-carded earlier.

He was already a friend - a diehard Saints supporter. He writes very well though, and it comes across as not being too unreasonably biased.

It wouldn't surprise me if he did encourage his players in the art of gamesmanship (cheating). I believe that it is a trait particularly of the managers and players from Southern Europe and the Latin American countries, who are the most adept at diving theatrically, feigning injury, moving the ball forwards, shirt-pulling, moaning at the ref, etc. Success at the top is now down to such fine margins that any advantage that can be gained will be taken, however unethical.

And yet apparently the match replays show that Willian had moved the ball about five yards forward for the free kick that he scored. It amuses the hell out of me that fans would get so precious over the ball being an inch or two away from where it should be for a corner, but I can see that if the ball would otherwise have hit the post, the additional inches would mean that it would go in.

I think it will come to pass that we will ask whether the win away at Chelsea was better then the win away at Old Trafford this season. Comparing it to the away win at OT last season, I think that the Chelsea win was better, because we got off to a slower start to the season and the way that we dominated a Mourinho team at fortress Stamford Bridge has made a few sit up and take notice.