coalman

It's working for me. Just says "coverage begins shortly"

I don't remember us playing that much high intensity pressing football last season. There were odd games here and there where we looked like a football team. Agree about the confidence.

He's not wrong. The team last season very clearly wasn't playing for each other. If we can't change that we're more likely to drop again than come straight back up.

I see the playbook on how to defend set plays and corners has made its way to the B team. Every single player stood on the floor. Two defenders ball watching and the player responsible for marking the attacker not even looking at the ball. Extra bonus points for the keeper failing to command his area.

When he was hitting first time crosses into the box he looked a real threat. At our worst he got sucked back to play among our centre backs. I guess we never properly replaced Schneiderlin or Wanyama. A lot of our success was based on having incredible cover there.

Goztepe have a real chance to cement their place at the head of Sports Republic's empire today. Or as we like to call it "the Southampton Way". And, no, my optimism hasn't come back after last season yet.

I think if JWP leaves it will be a net positive for us. Not only will we get decent cash for an academy product but we'll get his wages off the books. As a player he's got some incredible attributes - his work rate, his shooting from free kicks and he never gets injured. Not so sure about corners as we have a terrible record of scoring from them though whether that is down to the goal shy nature of our team is another matter. That being said I think he's lacking one of the fundamental skills a central midfielder needs which is the ability to receive a ball in tight space and turn on it. The thing that Lavia has in superhuman quantities. The net effect of that is our play is predictable and we're easy to press out of the game. He gets the ball and moves it quickly but that tends to be quickly sideways or backwards. Again there's an open question as to whether it's because our players are crap at showing for the ball or crap at receiving the ball in tight spaces. That's the problem Saints need to solve if we're going to play any kind of exciting football or switch to a more direct attacking style. It's why Lavia was such a huge miss when he got injured as our whole style of play depended on his ability to receive, turn and release it. It's also why Elyounnousi was such a drag on our play as he'd receive and either lose it or just give it away. There's a chance losing JWP might be a good thing long term for our midfield. There's also a chance that the problem was elsewhere on the pitch.

And this is how you get Elyounoussi week in week out and trash the morale of anyone behind him in the attitude pecking stakes.

People just parrot what they've read in the press. Clubs publicly lowballing us is just part of a concerted strategy on their part to drive the price down. The bigger clubs with more connections to the press have more leverage here as well, sadly.

Because he's not a £100m player (yet). Given his age, potential and how well he did in one season in the premier league £50m seems about right.

... meets Ginsters

That is a majestic piece of athleticism. Positively balletic.

I don't think Lavia will stay but I don't see him going to Liverpool to warm their bench (given the amount they've spent on midfielders this summer). Arsenal seems more likely and him and Rice in the same midfield might give City pause for thought. He came to use for first team football so I don't see him leaving us unless that's going to be the case. And, obviously, I'm still living in a deluded dreamland where he stays with us for one more season. My head says Arsenal though.

I don't get the negativity. We have one last chance to make the record for largest defeat ours alone and a team in Liverpool who want to end in style. This has all the makings of a classic.

We're really setting out our stall to end the season on 24 points

Let's not overlook McCarthy failing to save that

We all know how this ends after 20 minutes of Saints pressure

This will be the game where they remember how to turn up then. Great escape ahoy.

Is this one a "must win 6 pointer"?

Saints to win. If only to prolong the pain before it's mathematically impossible to stay up.

It was a save but he could have palmed it sideways. By pushing it back onto the penalty spot he's offering whoever is stood there a free shot while he's on the ground.

Selles kept making suicidal substitutions until he'd finally removed any threat we had.

Someone needs to explain to Bazunu you don't palm it out onto the penalty spot.

And this is why we're getting relegated.