RobM

Yeah, it's nonsense this 'could' talk...

Absolutely. Lallana looks jaded today, so Ramirez came on and looked really good. That sub worked well. Lovren went off injured, replaced by Yoshida. That wasn't a tactical sub, that was forced upon us. Sadly we don't have a better third-choice CB than Yoshida, so what more did you want? Do you think Jos would have been better? Other than that, we had no quality on the bench. Nobody to come on and change a game. All we could do was bring on fresh legs, but the injuries and stoppage time changed the game dramatically. The problem is our thin squad. Only an attention seeking WUM would fail to realise that.

Whilst I find it hard to argue with the example in your OP, Duncan, it would be wise and fair to consider that example alongside the money Cortese's leadership approach has made. He led the club to our current position, which has had a financial reward for sure, not least in the sale value of the club increasing significantly since Marcus bought it. So I accept he may restrict income at times (sponsorship deals were also mentioned to be 'difficult') but he has also made a small fortune with the very same approach. Player sales, for instance, are famously higher than expected due to his decisions and negotiation.

We already own Clyne, so would need to buy a replacement LB still. Who would you suggest who is also at least 'just as good'?

Easily replaced by who? Which LB will easily replace him with equal quality, ability and longevity and want to come to us? That's the main question for me. If it were that easy to replace Shaw, he would be worth less (supply vs demand) and teams like City would be in for them too (since they're as good as Shaw). As it seems to stand, the only two LB's that are attracting interest from top, top clubs are Shaw and Baines. So again, who would we easily replace him with?

He was fairly average, pretty much the standard for ref's these days. Unlike many other ref's, I think he has the respect of the players, which really helps. He doesn't always get the decisions right, but you don't see a huge amount of arguing about it. Sian Massey was superb yet again though, she rarely seems to misjudge decisions.

Utterly awful in fact, a real shocker to see him play that badly and make such simple mistakes.

For the sake of clarity I mean Premier League games, but can't edit! I'm less concerned about Cup games where our best 11 don't start.

23 goals in 20 games. Pretty decent defensive record, especially compared to the rest of the table. Only three teams have conceded less than us this season.

I would put him alongside Hooper and that calibre of player. He will clearly do a good job in the Premiership, but at the moment at least I don't see him doing it for a team pushing for top-6 finishes next season. Lower-to-Mid table Premiership would be a better match. As said in a previous thread on this subject, there is a reason the other teams pushing for top-6 aren't currently in for him.

We need to win the midfield battle, so Gaston really shouldn't start IMO. We need players who tackle well and distribute the ball effectively, whereas Gaston tries to be too clever and can at times be reckless when tackling. I would look to bring him on later in the game though, should we need some creativity or a different dimension to our attacking play. For me, that means Morgan, Cork and Davis just ahead of them. JRod up front with Osvaldo if fit, Rickie if not.

What is funny though, is a joke poster who used to be just on the right side of WUM to be funny (if you 'got' their humour) has now moved entirely into the tosser category and is largely disliked by all but their other user accounts.

Said on a football forum by somebody with over 6000 posts, that's quite funny

In the Premier Leagues team of the year: http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb.html Currently at 11% Scroll down the page to see the vote.

I think more people need to watch the video for themselves. You can do so via services like Overplay, the same sort of thing you'd use for AJS streams. It's not all that obvious that he is saying what is reported, even when you're expecting it. He is clearly annoyed and makes a 'chopping' or swiping action, but the words really aren't clear. This really could be some commentators in Norway getting it wrong... lost in lip-read translation, perhaps. Perhaps watch it first, then decide whether it's worth debating, rather than arguing amongst yourselves about somebody else's opinion.

2-0 Saints. JRod to score first.

This. This. And a bit more This. Morgan is French.

But how is he going to integrate if he's sat on the bench? I agree he has had some bad games, Newcastle being one of them, but he's had some great games too that show he can offer us a lot. I would play him as much as possible to give him the chance of adapting and integrating into the team.

Yeah, I hate it when we have the ball and the opposition don't. Really rubbish.

And most sensible and sane supporters will know you're right. Judging Lambert purely on this season, it's fair to say he isn't prolific and he is getting older, which inevitably means he won't always be our best striking option. Saying this doesn't for a second forget anything the man has done for us, nor how great he was last season.

I really don't think Utd are the biggest club on the planet any more. Real Madrid and Barcelona are ahead of them in almost every measurable way. Those two clubs have also proven they have the structure, leadership and quality of players to not only survive a change in manager, but often improve as a result of it. However, let's be realistic, there will always be players coming through our academy that wan't to play for clubs like them, Chelsea, Arsenal etc regardless of where we are in the league. This won't change overnight, but might change in a few years if we've had sustained success at the highest level.

Who the **** does he think he is, complimenting our players and academy. We're Southampton FFS, he should know who we are, he should be saying our academy produces excellent players who could improve top teams! What a jerk.

Chambers is actually a midfielder by trade, but can play full-back when required. Getting forward will be no problem for him.

Agreed. We should have made more of the possession we had, the amount of time we spent in and around their penalty area and the amount of attempts we had. And again we frequently had the chance to break forward quickly but stopped and waited. We're a slow team - not in terms of pace and running, but tactically.

One player who has tried this way more than everyone else is JWP - he has that eye for a pass in behind the defence, plus the ability to whip the ball around defenders backs. Sadly he is the only person who seems to want to do it.