Latheal

The games against Spurs, Liverpool and West Ham are key. Get 6-9 points from those, and I think we'll be third. Can't understand the Liverpool live in at the moment. They look to me, exactly what they are; Liverpool without Suarez. I'd also throw the same critism of them that we had recently - they haven't really played anybody in their recent run. People who go on their recent Chelsea performances kind of miss the point. The Drew/lost. They need to win those games in the league. Starting with the hammers. Their best chance of Champs League is the a Europa I reckon. Be interesting what Brenda does if they progress. Arsenal look strong, squad getting fitter, but their defence is still awful. Still think they'll be top four. Man Utd - can't work them out. They've been lucky so many times this season I keep thinking they must start hitting top form...but they don't. I just think the bigger sides will find them out. Spurs are a massive threat. Similar to Utd in that they don't actually look great but still get results and Erikson is a player. League Cup and Europa may play a part. That Champs League place for the Europa may be a blessing. Imagine both Spurs and Liverpool in the semi's. In about a weeks time we're going to have around £60-70mil of talent back in Morgs, Wanyama and Toby. If we can get a result against Swansea, that's a huge boost. Right now, I'd be gutted if we didn't get at least Europa. It's just amazing when you look at it objectively, we've probably got the best chance of the top 7 to finish 3rd. Whatever happens, what a season. They've made me believe.

Great result. Mane impressive. 4th in league with the chasing pack of Spurs, West Ham, Arsenal, Swansea and Liverpool all to play at home. Europe this year is in our hands. And obviously they all have to play each other. Think 3rd to 7th will be a hell of a battle this year.

Thanks!

You sure? Just logged in and no sign of it.

Play Lambert in the same formation with the same instructions, you get same the same result. Completely isolated first half. Showed better control and touch second when had better delivery. Need to get closer to him, the players to do that are injured at the moment. Actually think we'd be better off in a 4-2-3-1 at the moment like last year. It's a blatant 4-3-3 but the other 2 of the forward 3 are too far away. That will come as we get players back/in and players get used to it. Last year, Lambert dropped and other players ran in behind. Pelle isn't dropping, as per instructions I assume. The formation works when players run off him.

Positives- 1. thought we were solid. Forster makes a massive difference - just seems to gave an authority about him. Plus he can kick. 2. Tadic - a complete bag of tricks, settled already. Seems to have an understanding with everybody. 3. Morgan - appeared more on "it" this week. He and Wanyama are a great pairing. 4. All the back 5/6/7. Including Forster and Morgs and Vic. Only one real chance in 90mins. Maya did not look out of place. 5. Still trying to play the right way. Will obviously take time. New formation and new players to understand but our best chance came from a great bit of football (Tadic and JWP I think). 6. Wanyama. Gets better and better. 7. Set plays. JWP delivery is awesome and really unlucky from free kick not to score. Also Tadic in reserve, both as good or better than last year. 8. We're only going to get better. 9. Northampton singing Morgan's name. Every little helps. Negatives. 1. Lack of chances. WBA did the same last year as others commentated. We didn't look threatening enough and really strange with the Cork sub when we should have been going for it. 2. Support to Pelle. Not Pelle himself. So isolated at times, even if he won a flick on, it wouldn't have mattered as nobody within 20 yards of him. Totally different than how Lambert played, as he's not dropping deep. The balls into him first half were awful, let's see what he can do with balls to feet before judging him. Better second half when this happens. Needs players running off him though. We don't have that at the moment. 3. Thought JWP was bullied off it too often. No disrespect to him, as going to be a great player, but we have to sub when that is happening. We did this a lot last season too (jet the kids on even though bullied off the ball). Could have subbed JWP for Cork and pushed Morgan on, and done Taider for Davies. 4. Whichever side Tadic wasn't on. Crying out for another player there. We have them to come back, so not too worried, but until they are back (Jay, Gaston) we are very 1 dimensional. It's a great dimension though. 5. Jeers for Pelle. Seriously...we are two games in... 6. Playing Long on the wing...makes no sense at all... Could go to either an advanced 4-2-3-1 with Long central behind Pelle, but playing him wide in a 4-3-3 just doesn't work. Defensively exposes us. Hell,we could afford to go 4-4-2 today. Overall, not too disheartened. Will get better. Surprised me how solid we look and how much difference Forster makes. His claiming of crosses was exceptional, and distribution such an upgrade. Lots to be happy about. No arguments about the result - although it was there for the taking...

Personally, took a vow that will remain positive until Sept 1st and give the club the benefit of the doubt. Looking at our "current" 1st 11 I'm really struggling to see how we would be anywhere near relegation. We finished 8th. Have all the 12 teams below us really improved that much? And we really lost that much? I can see Newcastle and Crystal Palace being stronger, possibly West Ham. But the rest seem the same or worse off. I share the same concerns of many posters about our defence, but I'm pretty sure Koeman does too. Hopefully that will be rectified I the next couple of weeks. Of course Lallana, lambert and Lovren are massive losses. Truly believe that Tadic will be an adequate replacement for Lallana (give him a bit of time). Juries out on Pelle, but it's not as if Lambert was an out and out goalscorer last year. Jay was our biggest goal outlet, and no reason to believe he won't be back at some point this season. Gaston's cameos this pre-season have been encouraging. Let's not forget, he was originally purchased to build a team around. It's interesting to hear that people still moan about him losing the ball. So did Lallana. We forgave him, because he created so much. I'd love to see both Gaston and Tadic in the side, gives us a real creative threat. It's just whether we can keep the other end out, which I don't think we can at the moment. It is a bit of a bonus that both of them can shoot however. Something that infuriated me with Lallana. We've still money to spend. Agree it's not going to be as fluid as last year, but hell, it's not relegation material. We're no worse than Hull last year. And they got into Europe.

Define graduates? At the club at one stage, or had to be a 1st team player before they moved?

I've gone through a multitude of different emotions so far this pre-season. Thought RK's statement before Rickie's sale was completely naïve. For the first time in ages I thought about not renewing. I'll admit that most of this is influenced by logging on to twitter, here, bbc and seeing our best players linked elsewhere. And then I look back. I remember the 30k against Leeds in Lg 1, the match against MK Dons when we 2-0 down and Jonno Quick, the 4-0 v Coventry and realise I'm upset not because of the raised expectations, but because the heart of the team who had been there during that time is probably about to leave. I thought they were like my mates and we'd been through this together. i felt that we were on the brink of doing something special, and doing it the right way; upsetting the status quo makes you a threat, and other teams look at you as such. I've no doubt now that part of the raid on our club is to protect other clubs positions as much as it is to improve their own squad. I now look it in a different way. I love Lallana, but if he was to leave for £30mil, and Shaw the same, hell even Lovren for £20mil, I prefer to look at it as you've just armed us with £100mil (including the £20mil rumoured budget) to go and improve on 8th. Add a manager who obviously wants European football and can attract big names, and I'm actually now excited. I tweeted it earlier but if Koeman is the manager, he's left a Champions League club to (IMO) try and get a new team into the Champs League or at least Europe, then what are the players going to say to him? You can't say that Koeman couldn't have got a Champs League team. I also like to think to that with most of the teams above us reportedly after all our 1st 11 players, and our players reportedly capable of playing in the Champs League or Europe, then MoPo under achieved. Not saying it's right, but it makes me feel better. Been said on here before, but always felt he had no plan B. We played some great football last year, he obviously improved the players, but how many points did we lose from being in front? At points, it felt he was playing youngsters just because it was the "Southampton Way". The papers can say what they want. If we get Koeman, then the board have done a great job. I don't care what anybody says, his resume is second to none and is a massive upgrade on Poch in status alone. They needed to hold on to the stars until we had a manager, if the players still want to leave after meeting with that manager, let them go when the buying club meets the price. But make a stand. Make a point. Lallana goes for £25mil up front. Shaw £27mil+. Lovren £20mi+ All with add ons. Then reinvest wisely. I'd love to have £80-£100mil to go and spend on players to improve our team, even with those three gone. Let the media have their say. I'm happy to give the board (apart from RK, he should never speak in public again) a fair crack of the whip. We were supposed to give MoPo an unwelcome first game due to the sudden Adkins sacking...Saints fans didn't. We were supposed to be in meltdown after Cortese left...we didn't...we're supposed to be livid that Shaw and Lallana are being sold...yet to meet a Saints fan who Doesn't think that £50mil+ for those two is good business. We're the media's plaything at the moment because we dared to be different. They are loving the fact that it's open season on us. I'm loving the fact that we've played hard ball over Lallana and Shaw. Years ago, they'd already be gone. The worst that happens is that we sell everybody and we end up playing our youth team again. And then maybe Cortese's master plan (11 from the academy) comes to fruitition. Enjoy the ride, I think it's still moving. We're about to name a world renowned name as manager. We have six players at the World Cup, and two of them can't even get in our first team. Either one of our right backs could have gone to the World Cup and improved the England team. I'm starting to believe it's not as bad as the media reports. I'm starting to believe again. And even if it goes all Pete Tong? We've always got the days like Leeds and MK Dons to look forward to. Reading on here, League One was better than the prem anyway, right?

Ask Liverpool, they managed to keep a want away striker last year, against his wishes, who wanted to play for a Champions League Club. Think it was something to do with him having signed a contract to play for Liverpool and they weren't prepared to sell at any price, nor let other clubs talk to him, even after they had met the release clause.

Renewed, but literally last minute. Had thought about doing the payment plan but realised I was kidding myself. Stupid thing is, if we were going through this situation with Cortese in charge, wouldn't have even questioned it. Would have trusted him to get the right manager and bring in players to replace those going out (if they even went out in the first place). With the new board, they've done nothing to inspire any faith. Desperately wanted to give them benefit of the doubt, but finding it so hard. Club has my money now. Will just wait and see how it unfolds.

Like others, starting to question the point, but still find myself handing over £1,260 to the club. I was not too bothered about Poch going as felt that he was always moving on. It just meant his replacement was so important. I wasn't being swayed by the pending Shaw transfer and whilst Lallana's does really worry me, as long as all the money we get for those two (minus sell on clauses, obviously) goes to the new manager then willing to accept it. What has really, really angered me is the way we have basically rolled over and "given" Liverpool an International striker seemingly one day after declaring nobody would be leaving the club until a new manager came in. People can play with semantics all they want, argue over the actual words that RK used, but the underlying message in his interview was that nobody would be going until a new manager was in place. For the talisman of the club to be going the very next day, with seemingly no fight, no forethought to the interview just broadcast, undoubtably makes us look like a laughing season. I keep hearing its "Rickie's dream club". I really don't give a ****. He's under contract, he was a Saints player, and if he's been pushing for a move, how the hell did he find out about it? Ironically, I'm pretty sure Real Madrid was Suarez's dream club last year but Liverpool managed to hold on to him. I cannot find a valid reason why we should have buckled to Liverpool's demands to sell before a World Cup (or even before a new Manager is in place). What does that, in anybody's right mind, have any baring to us? They'll move on? Let them. We end up with an England International rather than 3mil we can do sweet FA with. It's also set a precedent. What if they now come back and say its £25mil for Lallana before the World Cup or they are off. What if Utd do the same with Shaw? The players may now push for it as they've seen no backbone in the club and we're willing to roll over and just give in. It's just a pathetic way to manage any business. We even had a perfect get out of jail card by simply stating we are waiting for a new manager before any sales go out or in. The new board have just put even more pressure on themselves - the new manager was already going to be under immense scrutiny from fans and media. Now, it's even worse. We've already got to replace 30 odd goals from last season with Jay out and Rickie going. It's just really difficult to have any faith in them at present.

Why would SkyBet suspend betting if there is nothing in it? No idea what to think, it's going to be a long summer!

Skybet suspended betting. This is getting silly now.

Far comment Pap. Don't get me wrong, I'm very interested in the PS4, but until there is something worth playing, I'm not going to bother. As an owner of PS4, can you answer some (genuine) questions. 1. Do movies start instantly on PS4 from the PS4 network? I've only got 3-5mb broadband where I live and I've been well impressed with Xbox's instant Video, even in HD. On my PS3, or Sky, I had to wait for a film to download. It makes the impromptu purchases impossible. 2. Is Killzone actually any good? 3. Do games install to the HDD and do you need the disc in the drive to play them? 4. Out of all next gen games, what is the one you are looking most forward to? 5. Is the PS4 controller actually usable in games? The touch thing (to me) looks awkward to use. Just a couple of things around my Xbox experience. Out of the box it wouldn't update. Had to reload the OS from a USB drive. No issues since then to be honest with the OS. Have a few issues with Lovefilm app just crashing out in the middle of a film. Not sure if this is an app or Sky downloading its latest films, or even Xbox doing it (the films as mentioned on Xbox video instantly start. There must be some kind of pre-loading going on as no way m internet can cope with streaming a 2gb movie straight away). Everything else has worked as advertised. Little peeved that it's an extra £20 for a charge pack for the controllers so people need to add that in to the cost (as well as Xbox Live for £40) unless they have an ever growing stash of batteries. Also, you'll need a Microsoft account to make it work. Haven't tried out Skydrive, think its photos only but not sure. DLNA works fine when pushing it from a PC. You can even control that from a smart phone. Smartglass is pretty useless at the moment, apart from browsing the net and sending that to the TV.

Pap, maybe I wasn't clear on the judder. The point I was trying to make was while the gf has never noticed it, I did at the beginning, now I don't. It's not even an issue. If it is for you, then fair enough. Buyer's remorse? Didn't pay a penny for it, so have none of that. It was a birthday present from the girlfriend. Before the Xbox One, I was a massive Sony fan. Still am. I'm also a media centre lover so I get the idea of what they are trying to do. I've owned every console since the CD32. I work for one of the world's largest manufacturers of Enterprise systems. I've designed systems that are helping CERN. I work with the guy who design's Rockstar's servers for their GTA V Online system. I think what I'm trying to say is I understand hardware, and also how software talks to it. The first party games, the ones that are designed for their respective systems will be miles more advanced than what we see now. Completely take your point about pixels. For me, that's not the be all and end all. After all, if there's a multi format game, I'll probably get it on my PC as it trounces both consoles. They'll be the Fifa's that will always be purchased on Consoles, and my decision will be made on probably price and who is online on what system. The Skyrim's of this world will be on PC. If there is a killer app on a certain system, a certain game that is only available on that system, then that's a reason to buy that console. But my personal situation may be different than others. The fact is, it's not just about games for me. The TV integration could be fantastic. At the moment it's simply ok. The games on both systems so far don't really have a AAA status to go out and buy. So when there are no games, what else can it offer? PS4 has gone down a games route and fair play to it. It looks a great machine. But I want more than games on my console now. And at the moment, it fails there (I'm sure updates will sort this out). I just don't think the Xbox One is the car crash you are making it out to be. The original question is about Xbox or PS4. I'm just giving my view on My experience with Xbox. I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand. I wouldn't under estimate the power that is Microsoft and what they are prepared to do. It's a great time to be a gamer, both choices have their merits. If I didn't get one for my birthday, I wouldn't have bought either yet. Always intended to get both in time, but some of your comments just aren't right. The judder is over blown. And god, if it causes that much issue, just plug sky into the tv directly. It's a choice, you don't have to do it. Personally, for me, the fact that I can snap it to the corner whilst playing a game outweighs a judder that I can no longer see.

Lol. Just use Skype with Kinect then try and have that "it's poor on registering movement" argument. It's actually one of the most impressive aspects of it. It follows you around the room, zooms out to keep you in focus, zooms in when you sit back down...it's just dynamic. Sorry Pap, the tv "judder" is acceptable. Christ, I don't even notice it anymore, the girlfriend has NEVER noticed it and I watch a hell of a lot of football. Not sure what all the Xbox bashing is about, everybody that owns one seems to be happy with it, isn't that what matters? I'm not criticising PS4, haven't had the pleasure of playing it. When there's something worth playing, I'll get one. Voice recognition is mostly fine too. Works well in Fifa for example, and the "Xbox, record that" command has already become the new insult in Fifa 14 after you've scored a 25 harder against a mate. It will improve in time. They certainly haven't made the wrong console. This user absolutely loves it. If Sky bring their integration to the box like the US networks have for their sports that's as much as a killer app as any game. Both launches have actually been quite staggering in the numbers sold. I too, wasn't so sure about it before. But now I'm completely sold on it. Even when I get a PS4, the XBox One will be the system that is always on. To me, smart move by Microsoft. It's a slow burner, certainly, but in can understand their endgame and unless they do something ridiculous, I'm on board.

Got an Xbox One and love it. Had problems with LoveFilm and initial start up but overall well happy with it's the screen judder on the footy is so minimal I don't even notice it all anymore ( to be fair, when you first see it, it was a bit jarring for me). I'd actually forgotten about it until reading this thread. Haven't seen a PS4 so can't really comment. However, there is so little games out there for either it's hard to justify either yet. Kinect works well, and when the one guide comes out I think it will really take off. Really depends what you want - Microsoft acting as a media hub in your living room or a sony games machine. The fact that I can stream from your PC to the Xbox One is more important to me than any feature on PS4. You can do this via your Tablet or phone with the right software as well.

But that pales into comparison when the club is now worth 150mil+. They stand to make between 70-100mil depending on the investment they have put in when all is said and done. Cortese has brought her that.

Just listened to Solent. Makes no sense. Why don't they sell now instead of waiting for him to leave? It's almost saying (if Solent are to believed) that he and Katrina can't work together but if he goes they sell, if he stays, they don't?

Agree with GS. Far too slow in final 3, needed creativity which Gaston provided, so far play to Poch. Looked more of a threat with Jay, Lallana and Gaston running at them. We seemed to move the ball quicker when he came on as well. WBA came to snatch a point. I do feel we struggle to break down teams who come and park the bus. We rely far too much on Lallana who needs help in these situations. The crossing was woefully poor from both Clyne and Shaw as well. Would love for Shaw to go at his man more, he's obviously got that in his locker. Difficult game, great 3 points but I feel Lambert's threat is ebbing away just by how he's being asked to play.

Thanks for the support guys. Only got three posts so will try and answer all questions! NY Saint, manual upload, so it will probably only be updated in evenings next week when I go back to work after my 3 week Xmas break! Jonny boy, it should auto update every time you open it. Not sure how it works on a Nexus but on Ipad, after I've added something, it shortly appears on the magazine. Think you have to click on "subscribe" to get the updates though. Still having issues with auto uploading of twitter so leaving it out for now. Thanks again for the support. Over 400 people have used it since last night which is pretty incredible.

Don't get to control res, they are just scanned from the web site the articles are on. Get to choose whether there is a pic or not, and the cover page. Will see what else can add to it, a twitter feed might/might not be good if it can be integrated.

Thanks, but can't take credit, the software does all the hard stuff. All I have to do is find it!

Couldn't see any Saints related magazines on there so created one myself. Available here http://flip.it/mLmkJ if people are interested and uses Flipboard. If you like it, please tweet out the link to stop me spamming #saintsfc! Also, if anybody feels like contributing, let me know and I'll provide access. You basically just press an extra button when browsing the web and it automatically adds it in. For those that don't know what flipboard is, it basically takes web pages and turns it into a nice looking digital magazine.