andoru

The BBC has the story about the Liverpool link now. They don't tend to put rumours on their main news page, so it must have substance. In a really stupid way, if Ings goes to Liverpool it will feel like another defection, after the way everyone on here talks as if he's one of our own, and the fact it's Liverpool. http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/31054584

Well then let's ship out the whole squad and start again with their better replacements. We'll be top of the league in no time!

Looks like I'll have to change the wallpaper on my laptop then, which is currently Cork celebrating his goal against Newcastle, with Tim Krul sprawled on the ground behind him.

Yeah, but because football is a team game, they get to claim a part of any success they might have. Every championship winning team has average players riding on the coat tails of better ones. That's why I personally place little value on what titles a player has 'won' in their career. Likewise, there are plenty of great players who have no medals in their cabinet because they were at weaker teams (see one Matthew Le Tissier as an example). If Liverpool were to win the Europa, or Man Utd the FA Cup, Lallana, Lovren, Shaw, etc. won't think about the size of their contribution, they'll just pocket the medal and forever consider themselves a [insert cup name here] winner.

He's booked on the next Malabo–Portsmouth P&O ferry.

God, I hate Christain Eriksen. No more has done more to keep Pochettino in a job. Can we buy him?

I think most people's support for Jack Cork comes from the fact he is generally dependable, and we need depth because we have a pretty thin squad. I don't think I've read anyone say he's better than Wanyama (on the contrary, many have picked Vic as their player of the season so far). We need players to rotate in, and already have Cork on the books, so it makes more sense to keep him on the books than to scout and buy a similarly capable replacement. Also, a new contract protects his value, which means Saints can actually make some money from him if he does leave.

WTF? I checked the score before I went to bed last night (2-1 then), and woke up to news of a whole bunch of upsets. At least we lost to PL opposition I suppose, and a team on a good run. I gather we couldn't have been very good if we let in more than two for only the second time this season. What happened? To make things worse, with Chelsea, Man City and Spurs all out, Liverpool and Man Utd have a decent path to the final. I so don't want LVG to get a trophy, ever, but especially in his first season, and Rodgers ... well, for obvious reasons.

We're not talking about what they've done in the past, but what they could do in the future. We're talking about them taking a Southampton-style approach hereafter, while still financed by their substantial bank balances. City's new academy facility has only just opened. Given time, it will produce talented youngsters.

I appreciate it's not going to happen overnight, but it's a real 'threat' nonetheless. Man City just unveiled their new training and academy facilities which are very impressive, so they are obviously laying the groundwork for future sustainable growth. With their wealth, they won't struggle to hold on to their equivalents of Luke Shaw and Theo Walcott if and when they emerge. We're forced to sell because those players know they have the talent to demand more than we can pay. This is actually one of the more insidious ways big clubs buy their success - when they do produce homegrown talent, they can offer a salary that keeps them at the club. We're not in that position yet.

Good article, but I do fret slightly over the exposure of the Saints model! The 'Southampton Way' is our competitive edge - we don't want other teams copying it, least of all the ones with more money than us. Imagine if the likes of Man Utd and Man City combined their bank accounts with sensible backroom management ...

Same. I'm trying to put off all thoughts of another summer like last year's, but you know it's going to happen all over again. I'm not confident we can keep on replacing like for like as we managed this season – we'll get it wrong some time. If we happen to be in the Champions League and then our squad gets picked apart again, I'd doubt our chances of doing much in the competition. We'll see, but I'm not holding out more than a modicum of hope we'll keep hold of Morgan and Clyne, and possibly Wanyama and Toby as well. Money rules unfortunately.

I suggested the 'Sweet Child O'Mine' for Clyne in a previous thread on this subject. I call intellectual property theft.

Still an outside chance of an all defectors final then. Hope Chelsea put Liverpool to the sword in the second league. Can't see Sheffield Utd being good enough to see off Spurs over two games, but we can hope. Which would you least hate – Liverpool winning the cup or Spurs winning it? Whose smugness could you stomach most easily – Pinocchio's or the Liverpool Three's?

If Gaston wasn't on silly money, I'd take him back as an option off the bench. But he is on silly money, and it's not worth paying it for the odd ten minute appearance. Osvaldo can do one.

I started supporting Saints when they reached the top four of the Premier League for the first time. As soon as they drop out, I'm off again No, the real reason is simply they are the local team. I confess that I briefly toyed with the idea of supporting Liverpool, just because my next door neighbour did, but my semi-regular Dell trips had won me over to Saints. It didn't hurt that Saints beat Liverpool in my first ever game, Matt Le Tiss getting the winner in a 1-0 win. I also lived down the road from Staplewood and went to plenty of reserve games. I stopped watching football for a few years in my teens because I was interested in other things, and generally disillusioned with the dominance of Man Utd, but I came back to it eventually. When I returned, the only option, morally speaking, was to follow the Saints. A season or two later we reached the FA Cup final and it actually felt good to be a Saints fan – I could look the local plastics in the eye with a bit of pride for a change. Granted, that didn't last long, with the relegation coming soon after, but by then it was too late. I was hooked and still am. Saints might not be very 'local' anymore, as with all clubs, but I follow it because it represents where I'm from. I live overseas now, so Saints are a link to my home.

1. I was referring more to the knockout stages, although teams generally can't risk dropping points in the groups either. One game is usually the most a team can get away with losing. Then, in the later rounds, teams have to hit the heights against everyone they play. There is little margin for error when you have only one chance to get things right. In the battle for Europe, teams have little margin for error too. 2. I was talking about consistency of performance in the context of tennis. A player has to be at the top of their game in every game, or they’ll get knocked out. They can afford the odd double fault, but not a poor overall performance. The whole point of elimination competitions is that they test endurance and focus as the pressure increases with every passing round. Wild card players might earn the occasional scalp against the ranked players, but they can’t generally sustain that level over several matches, so they rarely progress very far (Ivanisovic was an outlier). In a round-robin league system you can get away with the odd bad game, but not so in any tournament where having a bad day results in going home early. 3. 'Keep your eye on the ball' is an idiom meaning ‘to pay attention’. It does not mean to literally be looking at a ball. Moreover, it’s an idiom used in non-sporting contexts. I have to keep my eye on the ball in my job, but since there are no balls in my office, I don’t do so literally. Football involves a ball. Football players are therefore literally watching a ball when they are paying attention, although I appreciate that they don’t track it constantly for 90 minutes and will blink sometimes as well. Hope that helps.

Title decider on the last day of the season? We can dream, but no. Not going to happen.

Staying at the top is about so much more than simply being good, it's about being good consistently. I liken it to winning the World Cup or a Grand Slam in tennis. There's not much to tell between the best national teams in one-off matches, but going all the way through to the final requires total concentration. One mistake, and your out of the tournament. Same with Grand Slams. Andy Murray is as good as Federer, Nadal and Djokovic on his day, but is less able to hit that level in match after match after match, hence why he's won fewer titles. If Saints are to make top four, they need to maintain high levels of fitness and focus. Nobody can afford to take their eye off the ball for even a second, literally.

Yeah, I get that. As Liverpool found last season, you can't afford to slip up even once at the top end of the table. If you do, you lose ground on the teams above, and give up ground to those right below. And as you say, those teams win more often than they lose. We were lucky to have been 12 points ahead of Spurs and Liverpool before we went on our bad run. They've pretty much caught us up now. All we need to do is match them though and our position is safe, but that brings its own pressure, as you point out. It's almost like tournament football in a way, where you have to be on your game in every game, or you're out.

As I said, the rule sheet St Chalet shared appears to be for the National League System, which is everything below League Two.

The worst part though is that he is at another club on loan. I believe he can only be recalled if that was agreed in the contract terms, which we're not privy too. The rule sheet that was shared earlier about how we can recall him applies to non-league football. FIFA's transfer rules are here: http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/administration/01/95/83/85/regulationsstatusandtransfer_2014_e_neutral.pdf

The first paragraph of the rules state they are for "Competitions at Steps 1 to 6 inclusive of the National League System". I don't think this includes the Premier League, Championship, League One or League Two. The NLS is everything outside the professional divisions. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_league_system

If we're going to make Europe, clearly we have to surpass our best ever points total in the Premier League. We need 17 more points to equal it. Looking at our schedule, when you do predict that is most likely to happen? Here's the fixture list for the rest of the season: http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/teams/southampton/fixtures

"Disregarding City & Chelsea, we're top of the damn table." This was a comment from an Indian fan of Manchester United I came across earlier today. Apparently Saints are invisible. Maybe he was viewing the table on Excel and the row was collapsed or something. Probably the most stupid football-related comment I've read in years though. Why not disregard all the teams below Utd while we're at it? That puts them bottom of the table. Pure idiocy. Some people should stay off the internet. What are the most ridiculous comments you've ever seen made by fans of other teams, especially ones related to Saints in some way?