DuncanRG

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/irony

Or Crystal Palace...

Hats off to whoever sorted that deal for Arsenal.

It's an amusing notion but doesn't add up to stupid amounts of money. Would anyone bat an eyelid if it were reported as £3m in appearance-based add-ons if he were to start every week for two seasons of league football? Does start to add up if he becomes a superstar and plays until he's 36 though...

Hahahahahahaha No We might finish above Everton if they have a poor season and/or we have a really good one.

There's declared interest and interest which has been leaked to the press. These things come from insiders.

Almost had a punt at 17/1 the other day. ****

How on earth is it poor journalism? The article makes no allusions to a willingness to sell from the club or willingness to go from the player. All it says is that Man United are looking at him, which is perfectly reasonable considering they are in the market for a left-back.

This wouldn't surprise me greatly, Pochettino has never fancied him much. I think it would be a shame though, as he was one of our better players last season and definitely our best option from the bench in terms of attacking impact. Perhaps he wants to be more than that - in which case fair play to him. I can see the logic in earlier posts about Pochettino moving away from natural wide players in midfield.

Music is my biggest passion in life, but I can't say it's ever bothered me what footballers listen to. The only thing that does annoy me is the likes of Barton and Baines being hailed as trend buckers and sometime-rockstars because they like a bit of Oasis or whatever.

Impressive if we had a good allocation.

I wouldn't have expected it before the game but having watched it unfold those stats make sense. West Brom were very organised and part of their defensive strategy was to crowd the midfield, forcing the opposition into making long passes which their big, strong centre halves could easily bring down. Thankfully Dejan and Jose both coped with that pressure quite well, and delivered some good balls to Lallana, Ward-Prowse, Rodriguez and Wanyama as well as Lambert. Plenty of cross-field balls as well, some of which came from the split centre backs when Boruc restarted play at the back. It should be stressed that this is different from 'playing long ball' in the sense that the term is typically used, which involves playing percentages and aiming for areas rather than players.

Hopefully.

Not really. Two if not three of those players did turn us down, it just so happened that we overcame it in Wanyama's case.

There we go, let's make sure we get behind him. I'd rework the entirety of Dark Side of the Moon to fit his name if it meant he could score us 20 goals.

It's interesting you say that - if Moyes had stayed at Everton would Ross Barkley have been able to fulfil his potential there, where he wasn't getting a game? We wouldn't be naming him as one of our top talents if Martinez hadn't started him at the weekend. We might not have known that Luke Shaw has the potential to become a top class international full back if Southampton had brought in a good left back from another country. It's naive to think that the young English players getting games are the only ones who will ever be good enough to play for the national team.

Let's get that Gimme Shelter video out on Facebook when Saints make posts. It would be disappointing to hear his name go into a dire Seven Nation Army chant or something like that.

Right-o That's exactly it. The raw talent doesn't change, but in the latter stages of a player's development, when they need game time at the top level to improve, these players can often find their pathway blocked by foreign players who have been brought in already developed - see why Southampton are trying to give academy players opportunities in the first team. It's no good saying 'if they're good enough they'll get in the team', the point is that if they're not given the opportunities they'll never become good enough.

I'm starting to think that, if we were to qualify, we could be ready for a half-decent Europa League campaign next season. Would take another summer of big investment as you need serious depth to manage it (see how it hurt Newcastle last season) but thinking about who we could field in a midweek game right now, it's do-able. And of course we're infinitely more likely to get there via one of the cups, which only adds to my hope that we take them seriously this year. Pochettino has made a point of mentioning the cup competitions a few times in interviews, which is good.

What an unbelievable article. Serious, fundamental upheaval needed at Arsenal if large parts of that are true.

Boruc.

Perhaps we should all take a book to the game and read it too much.

Absolute disaster, not helped by losing their best player at the last minute. Pardew looked absolutely fuming in his pre-match interview and rightly so, disgraceful from Cabaye if he's really not able to play because of a bid from another club. City are my favourites to win the title, their squad is just so much deeper than anyone else's.

Jay Rodriguez and Adam Lallana are beautiful, beautiful men. Growing affection for Dejan as well.

Thanks for your input