Nordic Saint

Trump is not going to leave the White House voluntarily. He is now in the process of replacing anyone in the administration who might accept that Biden has won the election. So who is president in January will come down to who the military takes its orders from.

Ralph made the right call. Stephens is far more experienced and did a good job defensively. Anyway, Bertrand will be back for the Wolves game.

And the BBC Man of the Match award goes to Sims. It's good to see him scoring goals. I always felt that if one of his near misses had gone in here, he'd have gained immensely in confidence. He always looked to have plenty of skill.

This is one of the best nights of my life as a Saints fan since my first match at the Dell, a 2-0 win over Newcastle in 1963, and I was at the 1976 FA Cup Final. I can't stop smiling. I've been reading online newspaper reports from all over the world, with headlines, saying Saints are top of the Premier League. It's been a long wait but we got there! I'm grateful to Ralph and every player who was out there tonight for getting us there. This is a good report: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/nov/06/southampton-newcastle-premier-league-match-report

It was 1981/82 and we were at the top of the league for longer than any other team that season but then faded away in April. In 1988/89 we were top after winning our opening three games, starting with Paul Rideout's debut game when we thrashed West Ham 4-0.

1988-89 season, I believe.

I bet Stoke are now wishing there was a way they could sub-loan him to another club.

He defended in England brilliantly for us, just the same as he is doing in France for Lille now.

Jose Fonte's Lille team won again They have the best defensive record in Europe and are now clear at the top of the French League, unbeaten in their last ten games and they've only conceded 2 goals in all of them.

Werner's 2nd goal was handball so we would have won it if the VAR ref had been watching

The last 2 news items for Les Reed: "Les Reed (Technical Director) presented to the Board on his review of the Technical Directorate and the measures being put in place to give England men’s senior team the best opportunity for future tournament success" was quickly followed by "Les Reed to step down at the end of the year" "His tenure at the governing body has been a strange one, because he hasn't done a media interview since taking the job. Staff have also complained privately that he's failed to communicate his strategy to them." I guess the FA were less than impressed. I assume they've had to give him some notice. I wonder if they will have to pay off the remainder of his contract? Knowing Old Les, he'll probably have negotiated a massive golden handshake.

It looks like he is a much more defensive player than Hojbjerg, rarely ventures over the halfway line or even passes the ball over it. No wonder he has never scored a goal in his career. But, he is a good tackler and perhaps that's what we need. If he were another Wanyama, it would be great.

There are so many Diallos in football nowadays that it can get confusing. But, this one is the younger brother of Abdou Diallo, a central defender at PSG. There is probably an agent somewhere who tells young players, call yourself Diallo and I'll be able to find you a club. Incidentally, Habib Diallo means Dear Bold or to be less prosaic, Darling Dashing.

And he was very good too. You should know how good he can be as he scored when they beat us at St Mary's last season. In fact, Everton have never lost a game against us when Davies has played.

Everton are though. The Merseyside derbies will be the key fixtures in the title race this season. Leicester will be top 4 challengers again but they don't have the same depth in their squad that Everton have.

They certainly saw Old Les coming. I read a Monaco fans' forum at the time and they were absolutely amazed that they were getting that much for him. They thought he was worth no more than £5 mill. Talking of transfer fees, Mané is currently valued at more than £120 mill. In fact, taking the age of players like Messi and Ronaldo into account, he is probably the most valuable player in the world.

Maybe Saints haven't paid for it yet.

There are more deals to come yet. Puel, his former club and one of the greatest French talents of his generation: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54348516

Jack Butland from Stoke.

And he was terrible.

Lille extend their unbeaten run to 6 games and they've only conceded 1 goal in those 6 games. Fonte has had a tremendous 2 years there and has been a very positive influence on Lille's youngsters. His new central defensive partner, Sven Botman, would be a great buy for Saints.

Pied is getting a rare start, alongside Fonte, for Lille today.

Liu Zhiqiang certainly doesn't lack funds. He is a billionaire listed in the Forbes China Rich List. The issue is the cold war that Trump and his junior partner Boris have started with China. Boris obeying Trump's order to scrap the Huawei deal was the final straw for the Chinese government so they have withdrawn their backing for Chinese investment in the UK and that includes LD Sports. I guess the investment will be diverted elsewhere in Europe. It will be interesting to see what happens at Espanyol, as they have just been relegated so they wouldn't be particularly attractive to any sponsor. https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1090141/table-tennis-ld-sports-ittf

He's always reminded me of Neil Lennon, a player I wished we'd signed after we played his Crewe team in the FA Cup. He's a real midfield battler but he also has some skill. Let's see what Ralph makes of him.

He's trying to cover for Vestergaard. We need an extra central defender, when he plays.