Ivan Katalinic's 'tache

Just home now. Played well and although a dead rubber, it was a good test against a physical, but limited, Crawley side. Olaigbe and Mitchell were very quick on the break and took their chances well. The two full backs, Payne and Small were decent and Small in particular was very good going forward and took his goal well. At the back Olufunwa was solid and the keeper Bycroft made a couple of good saves. The one minor disappointment was Caleb Watts, who assist aside, got into good positions but let himself down with the final ball. Seemed to a bit at odds with himself really. Nice to see the next group down hitting a bit of form though.

Was Ron Davies the best in the world at heading, or even the best centre forward, during his heyday? Pre-dates my time but what I've read about him suggests he'd have been right up there.

Interesting stat about 1v1s. Maybe he feels more confident with Salisu in the backline instead of the lumbering Vestergaard? Must be a reasonable sense he doesn't need to start so far forward in the box for 1v1s with Salisu's far better pace and recovery compared to Jannik watching each forward disappear into the distance in front of him...

Ryan Fraser, Callum Wilson, Matt Ritchie - it'll be like home from home for him!

How about a returning new striker instead? 36 year old strikers seem to do well in the Prem this season... https://www.hampshirelive.news/sport/football/transfer-news/graziano-pelle-southampton-transfer-return-6030697

Tough one this but here goes... Shilton Golac, Richards, van Dijk, Dennis Ball, Case, Williams Le Tissier, Keegan Shearer Subs: Niemi, Bridge, M Svensson, D Armstrong, Tadic, D Wallace, Beattie

Too slow, too predictable, too Ralph.

Ingsjured?

Home Page | Uniting the Poodle Clubs Of Great Britain | Poodle Council Expect to hear from their lawyers soon SuperSAINT...

2 Europa League goals for Koeman flop Juanmi for Betis against Celtic tonight.

Speculation/rubbish from The Sun or is Ralph under pressure already? This appeared on the SSN transfer centre yesterday:

Scored the winner for Albania vs Hungary today.

Often linked with Saints, I see Olivier Ntcham ended up at Swansea yesterday - I guess his dream was always to play alongside Michael Obafemi...

Valery staying after all?

Ryan Christie linked with Burnley and Bournemouth. Assume we're not in the race then?

Any hint of a number 6 coming in before the window closes? Or are we done? I can see a couple more heading out on loan, like Long or Obafemi.

2 points dropped and 1 point gained all at the same time. Probably a game we'd have been targeting 3 points for but, given our poor record at St James Park, maybe we should be grateful for the point, especially with the need for a very late equaliser. More work to integrate the new boys over the international weekend and hopefully we can keep improving. Good to see Moi on the scoresheet and making a positive contribution now he's back. Long may that continue.

'Ronaldo tells Juve he wants to leave amid Man City links' http://www.skysports.com/share/12391639 Could Cristiano be heading back to England with City?

Or a great chance for a talented young keeper to shift AM out of the team pretty quickly after they arrive by just doing the basics well?

I remember seeing him on an episode of Play to the Whistle and, during the show, he feigned an injury at one point, which brought silence from the other celebs before he bursting into laughter at their reactions. Seems to be a real character which is nice when you look at the coached, robotic responses from most players nowadays.

Decent performance. Plenty of graft and some good technical ability from Saints too. Livramento looks a sensational talent and that was absurd for such a young player in only his 2nd match. Adams was excellent up top and I felt a partnership was starting to form with Adam Armstrong. Shame the latter missed that chance - it's probably a goal at Championship level - but this is the start of his career with us and I'm sure he'll acquire that Premier League finishing sharpness in due course. Perraud looked promising too and hopefully our transfer business will be having a positive impact on the first XI/squad. Good to see the tenacity coming from JWP and Romeu and Moussa seems to be benefitting from a regular start and I don't think Utd enjoyed how unpredictable he was. Sadly I don't think I enjoyed the similar levels of unpredictability from McCarthy! And special mention to Jack Stephens who could be seen talking to Tino and Salisu throughout the game. He might make the odd mistake but don't underestimate the value of someone doing that alongside a very young, new defence. Feeling a fair bit more confident about the season now if we have 90 minutes performances in our locker...

Good stuff. Was he at the game earlier I wonder?

Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney, Theo Walcott...

Brighton have signed a Japanese international before loaning him out to another Tony Bloom owned side... https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-9879557/Brighton-complete-signing-Japan-star-Kaoru-Mitoma-four-year-deal.html

Mowbray on Armstrong: “Adam’s been in this morning basically saying his goodbyes to everybody. There’s not too much preventing the deal going through now” [ @BBCLancsSport]