Latheal

Take a point there, we normally get very little at WBA anyway. In the context of this game, it was there to be won. Chances like Jay's just have to go in. VVD was quality but didn't have a lot to do - strange decision in midfield to leave Romeu out after last week, especially with Wanyama, Davies and JWP all playing internationals. Stek - 6- heart in mouth moment when he dropped the ball on our line. Cedric - 7 - some good crosses and link up with Tadic Fonte - 7 - solid, back to his best VVD - 7 - solid and flashes of his passing ability. One cross field ball to Tadic was out of this world. Had sweet fa defending to do though. Targett - 6 - needs minutes and could have given a penalty away. He's fine as a backup leftback and will get better with minutes. Had a difficult opponent in McManaman Wanyama -7 - Solid, looked up for it as well. JWP - 6 - nowhere near as good as last week, but nowhere near as bad as some are making out. Didn't have the tempo he played with last week. Davies - 6 - busy, but lack of quality in final third. Tadic - 7.5 - thought he was our best player, some great crosses, some lovely footwork. If we were going to score, it would come from him unlocking the defence. Pelle - 5 - not his best day. Service wasn't great, but when he got it, it didn't stick or his layoffs were unusually off today Jay Rod - 5 - couple of flashes, has to bury that header, but he needs minutes. Subs Mane- 6 - added a bit of spark and pace, looked more dangerous with him on the park Yoshida - 6 - not sure what that sub was all about, especially with Juanmi and Long on the bench but did what he had to. Overall, take the point and move on. 3 clean sheets in 5, Clasie and Bertrand to come in, real competition for (most) of the places in midfield now - just need to take our chances. But them I'm a glass half full kinda guy.

Gotta finish that Jay

http://cricfree.tv/update/live9/stream50.php

This. Mane will get most of the plaudits but Tadic was another level I thought. He's so unselfish and seems to pick the right pass - some of his link up and creativity today were outstanding. No wonder their right back got sent off. After 30mins of that, I would want off as well. Didn't have a clue what to do with him. As much as I love Big Vic, his passing game (though improved) is woeful. He does slow us down. He's needed against the stronger sides, however - but only if he's up for it. Today, the tempo was excellent and it needed to be. JWP and Romeu were excellent at that today - they switched the play a number of times, quickly and accurately. Whether or not they can do it when they have less space in their will be interesting. No idea where Koeman see's Clasie playing either. Interestingly, last couple of league games, we've limited those shots on target again. Much easier game when we do that..

Back to the Saints of last season I thought. Fast, inventive, passionate, great work rate. God knows where the confidence has come from as some of the football today (even before the sending off) was brave and exciting. Tadic was MOTM for me. Was on another level first half. Some of his skill in front of the Northam was just joyous. Had an end product today as well - however, it was really, really hard to pick out anybody. Don't care about the sending off as we were miles better than them anyway. What it did do was give Romeu and JWP a lot of space to play their passes which is why they're not my MOTM - however both were exceptional today. Some of their long range passing was excellent and the tempo they both set meant both Mane and Tadic received the ball in space to take their man on. Its amazing how much difference passing quickly makes. Targett was much improved, Mane was excellent, Pelle lead the line brilliantly and Jay Rod is getting stronger (if that little juggle goal has gone in at the end, wow...). Davies good first half, Jay's movement was excellent second half. That 2nd half formation could be great in some games but we'll have to sacrifice against the better ones. Massively enjoyed it - not sure how it sounded on TV but the crowd seemed up for it today as well. Great backing from Itchen, Northam and Kingsland corner. Supportive and not on the players back. Did not miss Big Vic at all. He needs to be careful here. He's not Morgan, he's not on that level. He has a strop, not sure he has the clout to be as easily forgiven. There's still Clasie to come back too...he could be frozen out here and not play for a while... Overall excellent. That's the standard now...

The Morgan influence is glaring (but it was last year when he was missing). You can't just go out and replace that type of quality. Fonte is off form, Targett looked nervous first half and Yoshida offers nothing going forward first half. Both fullbacks improved after the break. We're too slow at the moment. Passing needs to quicken up. Hopefully Clasie can bring that to us when fit. Surprised Tadic wasn't brought on. Positives that Pelle looks sharp, Jay got stronger as the game went on and JWP played well. We do miss some chances though. Fancy us over there though.

Don't get the meltdown. No doubt the player will have his head turned - any player that plays for us would have his head turned by the top 4. The fact of the matter is, they pay enough money, he goes. I've pretty much accepted that since last season. Its a lot easier to accept when you do. Really disappointed in Utd leaking this as well - especially on the eve of one of our biggest games of the season. Thought we had a pretty good relationship with them and the way they appeared to deal with Shaw and Morgan was professional. This is more akin to the Liverpool way of doing business and leaves a sour taste. Not saying its right or wrong but its the way it is. Nobody here would turn down the chance to work for one of the biggest companies in their industry if they were offering 3-4x the money. I can't see us selling for anything less than £25mil - and I can't see Utd paying that. My only worry about it is the possibility of Mane forcing the move. He did something similar in the move to us and had disciplinary problems last year (Koeman dropping him for being late ect). If he did go there, be interesting to see if we could get one of theirs in return. Lindgard (sp) is somebody I've always rated. For those of us comparing against over teams that have kept their players - there is no difference to us at the moment. Mane hasn't gone yet. Stones hasn't gone yet. Berahino hasn't gone yet (even we can turn down bids from Spurs) Kane - if one of the top 4 (with the exception of Arsenal) really want him, they'd get him. If Barca, Real or Bayern came calling, and offered stupid money, he'd most likely be off. Judge the club on Sept 1st respecting transfers. We should learn from last year where the transfer window is concerned. Oh, and whoever it was who said they felt sorry for the season ticket holders - don't, I didn't buy the ticket to see Mane play. I bought it to see Saints play, whoever that may be.

Oh we definitely looked more solid last year up there - might just be my memory but didn't think we created a lot and remembered being under pressure most of the game. Always felt this time round we looked dangerous every time we went forward and we had another goal in us. Even in the first half when we were playing bad, there was the Jay Rod header (should have done better), Cedric's chance, Tadic's shot and the goal. Perhaps battered was a little over the top but I felt like we were well on top in the second half and had the better of the clear cut chances overall. Last year, I thought we got away with it a little bit - end of the day we got 3pts last year and 1pt this year. I supposed I just like the way we were attacking and throwing caution to the wind. Trade off was defensively, first half at least, we were awful.

To be fair, the Mane misses didn't look that bad on TV. In the stand, they both looked a lot more clear cut. The first one is a great block in fairness, the second one - I think the entire away end was half way through celebrating before we realised he had missed. He had just run half the length of the pitch, in the 94th minute, past two defenders and pretty much created it himself. Anybody slating him is off their head. He's an enigma - let him do what he wants. Yes he'll be frustrating but he's going to create and score us bundles this year. Newcastle didn't know how to handle him - our own players didn't know what he was going to do. Same with Tadic to some extent. He created far more chances than MOTD showed last night. Going forward, he's going to frustrate and entertain. If Yoshida hadn't missed what must have been the second easiest chance of the game (after Cisse's) then we'd be talking about Tadic having two assists. They offer nothing in defence - but I'm prepared to put up with that as we look so good going forward. Its going to be exciting. We're going to concede a lot more than we did last year, we're also going to score a lot more. Out of interest, for comparison sakes, last years win at Newcastle was a smash and grab by all accounts. They battered us for most of the game. This year, we looked more than a match for them in the second half, and the amount of chances created bodes well. Get another top class defender and Bertrand back, we'll be fine, and possibly a better team than last year.

Thought first half, both defences were woeful. Quite possibly the worst I've seen us defend in years. For the first game of the season, the pitch looked a little dry and cut up but was so far up it may just have been my eyes. There did seem to be a number of miss kicks in our penalty area first half. Targett was awful first half but got little protection, was much better second half after the second Newcastle goal where he could have hid to be honest. Martina was a lot better in defence than Cedric, but we lost a little going forward. From the start of the second half, thought we were by far the best team. Great counter attack by Newcastle but we should have been 2-1 before then - Yoshida's chance should have been buried. We definitely went all out attack to hide our defensive inefficiencies. It almost looked 424 at times. Tadic/Jay Rod offered little protection to their fullbacks but were both dangerous going forward. Was a damn good game to watch live. Don't think I've been to many games where both teams are still going for the win in the last 5 minutes - it was end to end, nobody settling for the draw and great to see. I'll be happy with that approach with the rest of the season. We were easily bullied in the first half where Newcastle bossed it. However, they have some powerhouses in the midfield now and a lot of pace themselves. Clasie would have made no difference to that. It was one of those games that both teams could have argued they deserved a win. In hindsight, the draw was probably the fairest result.

Seems a weird one, Shalke one of the wealthiest clubs in the world, zero debt, top 4 challengers in Germany and think he has three years left on his contract so price seems cheap if he's as good as suggested. Although, Bild article suggests he's prone to injury which is why Shalke MAY sell and didn't play a lot last season. Certainly fits what we need though, we are looking very "little" in CM if Big Vic is out (which he will be).

Yeah, not disagreeing at all. There wasn't that many 1-0s at Home (obviously had a few away). Koeman's way of defending a one goal lead seems to score a second. And no arguments here. Get your point totally, but those 8-0, 6-1, 4-0 wins were important for GD - and confidence. I'd argue that it also made Spurs and Liverpool come out and play against us more openly as they had to win. They were the two game where finishing (and ****e ref decisions) cost us a place or two. The problem with strikers is the cost. Look at last season. Only 5 players hit 15 or more league goals. Three of them (Aguero, Costa, Sanchez) cost more than £30mil. One of them was the find of the season and now has a £40mil price tag (Kane) and the other is available for £15mil (Austin) if reports are to be believed. Of the others that scored more than Pelle, perhaps only Berahino we would stand a chance to sign (even that is debatable). I would love Austin here, but it doesn't look like the club is interested. In fact, it doesn't look like any of the top 10 are which is weird, so maybe something else is at play there (attitude, injury, wages?) as it seems an absolute no brainer. We play with one up most games, so would like pressure on Pelle, but keeping both of them happy would be difficult. Hopefully Tadic can be that creative player. I see Mane and Tadic as total opposites. One is too greedy sometimes, the other not greedy enough. Looking forward to seeing both this year after a season in the prem. I just don't see where Elia fits with what we have coming through. Good point about hugging the touchline, but there are those like Isgrove, McQueen ect that do likewise. Seeing as we rarely play with out and out wingers, it seems a strange one. We seem to always be hoping Ramirez comes good. he's going to struggle to get in the side as it is, let alone know where to play him. He may actually benefit from the number 10 role with Mane and Jay Rod outside him. But Tadic and Juanmi can also play there. On paper, our attacking options are much better than last year. We may well struggle at the back unless we get another CB over the line though - and soonish. Will certainly be another entertaining season down at St Mary's, that's for sure.

That gives me an issue. Me and my mate have a season ticket each, whenever we can't go, we give the other one the ticket so they can take somebody else. We never charge for this, its just so the ticket doesn't go to waste. Only stipulation is, must be a Saints fan that goes. Its worked well over the years. But now we can get money back for it. I can see arguments ahead! Good work by the club to be honest, there was a couple that neither of us could go to last year. Saintsweb disclaimer. 1) I have never given my ticket away to anybody - only MLT 2) This post in tongue in cheek, its not really an issue.

To be fair, you could remove a couple of results from Spurs and Liverpool and their Goals For tally would be hampered as well. I take your point though, and no doubt we needed extra firepower during that time. It was plain to see Pelle was knackered and needed a rest. That whole period coincided with Morgan and Toby being out as well, Dusan not being as good as he was earlier on in the season, and the blatant inability of our midfielder's to score. We needed somebody else to step up, Mane did in the end. I would love to see another striker here but can't see it happening. If we really wanted one, we'd go get Austin, surely. Jay Rod can play there, club seems to rate Gallagher highly, Seagar coming through and Long did a job there when asked (Chelsea away). Elia does seem a bit of a weird one, unless somebody else is going out. Guan mentioned a CB and RM for around £20-25mil and that he's happy with the names being touted. I remember he said the same last year after Lallana went and we ended up with Tadic and Pelle, as well as Mane and Toby. That's good enough for me for now. PS, those 14 extra goals were a cushion for a long part of the season. Pity they didn't count in the end.

True. But I just laugh at them. Club has earnt the trust and nothing wrong with the way they are doing it. As for managers, I was livid when Pardew was sacked, then Nige came in and proved me wrong. When he was sacked, even more angry, but MoPo did a great job. When he ran off, had learnt to trust in the club. Roko has been astonishing under the circumstances. Pretty sure we'll be prepared for when he leaves as well. Would love him to sign a new contract though.

Fair enough, I'm nuts. To me, their problems are far more than those three things but its only my opinion.

Best team? Perhaps, but I firmly believe the league doesn't lie. Certainly our first XI is as good as any of those you've mentioned. However, all of us can point to games where we were "lucky" and got points over the season when we didn't deserve them. When it came to the games against Spurs and Liverpool, you can argue both of them were lucky in both games. I'd prefer to look at it that we weren't good enough on the day. Same with Swansea at home. If you don't take your chances, you don't deserve to win. 4pts from a possible 18 is all you need to look at there. People have talked about beating or getting something against the top 4 when it matters, something we have done well this season against Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea but forgot about the stats against those we are now competing against. Our results against Spurs since we came up has been woeful. Club wise - that's so subjective its impossible to answer. Of course I think we are a better club but you cannot deny the history of Liverpool and Spurs and the emergence of Swansea - after all, they HAVE taken the next step and won a major trophy recently. The way we have conducted ourselves on and off the field - whether the exciting football, the transfers, Koeman's (sometimes shocking) honesty in pre-match interviews, social media engagement, sponsors...its just made me proud to support this club. There is a massive degree of respect afforded to us now from rival fans of the bigger teams. I can't remember a time before where I expected us to go to Utd and Arsenal and win (neither did the bookies, which was great as well). Whether Liverpool and Spurs like it or not, they are not part of that big four at the moment and doubt they will be for the foreseeable future. They are there with us and Swansea, Everton, West Ham and Stoke. Sure they are "Bigger" clubs, but I'd argue Leeds, Villa and Newcastle are a bigger clubs than us - what does that really count for nowadays? Would a player choose Leeds, Villa or Newcastle over us if terms were the same? Doubtful. Would the same player choose Spurs, Liverpool, Swansea over us, if the terms were the same now? Guess we'll find out with Clyne...but doubt the terms are the same... Liverpool play off their history of being one of the biggest clubs in the world and one of the most successful. They also have the increased financial clout to pay their players more (and lets be honest, somebody offers you twice as much to do the same job, you do it, you can't give people abuse for that). I'd argue a combined first X1 would have more Saints players then Liverpool's though - even with their new signings. We'd have the back 5 for starters. Spurs are a huge club, helped by location and hindered by their crap ground and being in the shadow of their neighbours. You just need to look at their revenues to see how large they are. With Poch at the helm (we all know how good he is, despite our dislike) I think they'll be a threat for years to come. Their supporters crave success however, adding pressure for instant wins. Imagine being behind Portsmouth for as long as they have been behind Arsenal - you get delusions of being better than you actually are and an expectation that doesn't really have a lot to back it up. Combine the 1st XIs again however, and its pretty even. They just had a striker on fire and a creative player in Eriksson who went through a purple patch like our own Mane. The biggest difference between them and us was that they won when they didn't play well. And did that consistently. That's not really luck. That's being a better team. I expect next season to be similar to this. The chance to break into the top four for all of us was this season with Utd's transition. Liverpool didn't replace Suarez and they won't replace Gerrard. They have no idea how to use Lallana and their defence is awful. They also have the most arrogant manager outside of Chelsea (and at least he can back it up). Stirling will go (I'm probably one of the few who don't see what the fuss is about anyway - that is no way a £50mil player) and they'll pay over the odds for somebody to replace him. Be interesting to see if Kane can do it again for Spurs. Not 100% convinced by him or whether Spurs can create the chances for him again. Amazed nobody has come in for Erikson. They've got some good youngsters though and Poch will play them. Noted that Europa League will be tough for us but if we qualify for group stages then see it as a chance for the Gallagher's of this world (after all, that's where Kane and Mason got their chances). I just can't see it as a bad thing. And Jesus, it has a Champions League place at the end of it. Never understood why teams spend all season trying to get to Europe and when they do it, just moan about it. Swansea - massive dark horses and as good as all of us. Similar to us in the way its run (why did we let Cork go there?!) and fully expect them to be top 8 and challenging for top 5. Play the game right, run properly, great manager, buy well and growing year on year. Like us, squad a bit thin. Unlike us, don't have to worry about Europa. Not sure I agree that Spurs and Liverpool have players who can do "better" than our own. Mane, Tadic, Pelle will all be better for a season in the prem, Reed, Sims, Hesketh, Targett have all been blooded, JWP needs a breakout year...we're in good shape. Keep posting Redslo, glad Saints have struck a chord on the other side of the Atlantic.

It's unclear but think you can't draw a team in your own country till the last 16 http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/season=2015/competitionformat/

Welcome to the forum and the Premier. My best mate supports Bournemouth and I'm made up for him. Excellent analogy as well. It's exactly how I see you guys too. Anybody who thinks you lot will be an easy game next year is in line for a hiding. You won't get as many penalties in the Prem though. You have to be charged with at least manslaughter to get one up here

It's a good point but if there is no longer a charge on Companies House as others have stated (from Vibrec), wouldn't that suggest it's been paid off? That kind of makes sense, paid off by Kat in form of a loan at lower interest (or to be converted into equity at later date), releasing cash for the cash flow as we no longer have to pay that back straight away (assuming Kat not taking monthly repayments). Or am I missing something?

Not sure I get what's complicated. Ball in play, the timer ticks. Ball out of play, timer stops. Isn't that what happens for the most part in Rugby?

Have never understood why there cannot be a public timer that stops when players are injured or when ball is out of play for six seconds. Something similar to Rugby. Easily implemented and gets rid of this issue.

Totally agree. Arguably improve LFC and Man City as well. He's a Champs League player who wants to play for his country who has a manager who only (normally) picks Champs League players. I get the feeling from his interviews and performances that he wants Champs League for Saints as much as anyone, perhaps more. I don't believe he'll stay even if we did, but after the Summer, what a turnaround for him and nobody can begrudge him a move to one of the top teams in Europe. He's watching former team mates get paid probably double what he is and sitting on the bench. Actually think he's improved again this year. Not as worried as I was in the Summer with Reed and the money we'll get for him. He may have fallen in love with the club again but he can't turn down the offers he'll get this summer. I don't think we can afford to either if we want to be self sustaining and keep up with top 7. Has to be £25-30mil starting though, surely?

I work closely with around 20 Universities and the first year this happend the (£9k fees) every single one of them was down on attendants leading to massive shortfalls in budgets across the board, causing redundancies, the stopping of certain courses and options and general nightmares all round for all of them. At the same time, one of the massive changes not reported on was how Universities got paid. Before they got the money upfront, and kept it whether or not the student stayed or dropped out. Now they get it paid three times a year. If a student drops out, they don't get the payment anymore. However, this is only for UK students. I believe they still get paid upfront for overseas students, hence the massive drive for more international students. It's a cash flow issue. In the years since, the Universities I've worked with have seen those numbers gradually increase. Partly, this is due to them adopting new schemes to attract new students, a massive influx in international students (including overseas campuses), improving teaching and student conditions and focusing on Research more and more. They've basically looked at new ways to entice students (no bad thing) and realised there is a massive amount of money to be made in Research, which can offset other costs, and equally attract more students. The numbers are still not what they used to be and applicants is one thing as somebody else mentioned, actual enrolments are what counts. It's not always £9k a year either. I know a few who offer courses a lot less than that (again, it's increased competition), but obviously they aren't the top Universities. Not saying it's good or bad. Overall, I've watched Unis innovate and conditions improve. On the other side, I've seen students turn from, well students, to customers. That's how they are treated now, and still not 100% sure it's the right thing.