There when Franny scored

I tend to agree with you, but it is a bit strange Cortese has removed his kids from their school. Suggests a move away of some permanence.

If he's coming back soon why would he take his kids out of their school though? See post #702 on the "Cortese has left..." sticky

Totally agree. The possibility of Cortese taking over the club with a different backer is surely a valid topic of conversation given his past assertions of having other interested parties waiting in the wings. Even if the OP's source was a bit vaugue it would be interesting to have some sensible contributions on this. My opinion is that he appears to be a single minded man who has already put a lot of effort into the "project". Not sure he would walk away that easily if he sees an opportunity to come back with a more ambitions backer.

Alex Goring Crook ‏@alex_crook ·1 min Is now likely family will appoint a ceo with experience of buying and selling clubs with a view to finding new owner in the summer #saintsfc

Adam Blackmore ‏@bigadamsport 4m Two likely outcomes to Cortese problem - he leaves, owners stick a chairman in & instruct someone to sell, or agreement signed for 2-3 yrs Quite poignant - http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/espnfcunited/id/704?cc=4716

Worth considering the timing. We are pretty much safe now so Cortese probably feels he can afford to destabilise things a bit. If he was walking away for good he could have done it at any time as I doubt he would have cared what happened to Saints if he was never coming back.

Tancredi Palmeri ‏@tancredipalmeri 33m Southampton have been contacted by Inter for the loan of Osvaldo. Deal very difficult Marc Wilson ‏@marcwilson87 30m @tancredipalmeri do you know if he would like to leave? Tancredi Palmeri ‏@tancredipalmeri 3m @marcwilson87 he would

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/video-the-secret-footballer--has-this-crafty-danish-journalist-exposed-dave-kitson-as-the-anonymous-author-9024314.htmlhttp://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/video-the-secret-footballer--has-this-crafty-danish-journalist-exposed-dave-kitson-as-the-anonymous-author-9024314.html sorry, link doesn't seem to paste. Just google "Dave Kitson Secret Footballer". Third hit

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/fa-league-cups/southampton-fume-as-mark-clattenburg-is-cleared-to-work-9038118.html Pleased the club are not letting this go. I appreciate that there is a lot to be said for conducting yourself with a quiet dignity, but Adam doesn't strike me as a player to make a fuss about nothing so we should back our club captain.

Gave his shirt to a disabled Everton (?) Fan after he scored. Got booked for it. Would love to see some common sense applied every now and again. Surprised he didn't get sent off for not having a number on his back thereafter.

The worst thing about the clear penalty not given was that he was in a good position, up with play, but you could almost see him consciously decide not to give it. No wonder AL got booked protesting. Very poor and he does this regularly in other games I've watched not involving Saints. Not a Prem ref and never has been.

He and Osvaldo have been pretty poor this season. If we are serious about progressing, Lambert ill need replacing.

I think you are right, although the undertone of the article does perhaps convey a slightly acerbic agenda as you say. However, I appreciate that she is saying that the media would perhaps turn these stats against Pochettino if he was at a bigger club, but having looked at the stats more closely I'm not sure that that's accurate. Possibly the preconceived starting point of the article has led her to select statistics that are neither negative nor would be perceived as negative in the media. Hence she is falling foul of her own message because she failed to apply the rigour advocated in her article when assessing performance to her own interpretation of the statistical analysis of Southampton's performance. For example, I don't think the media would pick up on the 80% pass completion rate when Man U and Everton are 83% and Chelsea and Liverpool are 84%. That Fulham have a 1% better completion rate than us is more an indication that Fulham are overachieving in that area relative to their overall performance. The long ball one possibly, but again if you look at the stats more closely the most long balls in home games are played by Chelsea and the most in away games by Swansea. I think if it were any reputable sports journalist they would be critisising the disparity between our home and away performance (as they do with Man City). E.g. pass completion home 83%, away 76%. You could select several others, but for the top teams the difference is much smaller, i.e. they generally maintain performance away from home. We still do not, although we have had more difficult away fixtures. To belatedly conclude, she says "Nobody is pointing out that Southampton play more long balls than any other Premier League side and have a pass completion rate lower than Fulham". I think nobody is pointing that out because nobody sees, or would see if they applied more scrutiny, those stats as particularly negative. If she'd applied the same thoroughness to the selection of statistical indicators that she's demonstrated in assessing MP's performance I don't think she would have selected those stats in the first place.

I did understand the point which I suppose can be summarised as MP has received, almost without exception, praise in the media for his style of play, use of young Englishman etc., but a closer analysis belies some of the hype. The point I was making, althouth perhaps tangentially, was that the statistics she herself is using are a little misleading so you might argue that she falls foul of her own message!

You can interpret statistics however you like to suit the point you are trying to make. We also have the 2nd most possession and are 7th best for short passes. We play an average of 69 long balls per game whereas Chelsea in 10th place play 64 so the range is compact. We are in 10th place for pass completion with 80% which is indeed 1% below Fulham and 6.9% behind Swansea who are the best but are below us on points. http://www.whoscored.com/Regions/252/Tournaments/2/Seasons/3853/Stages/7794/TeamStatistics/England-Premier-League-2013-2014

http://www.tuttomercatoweb.com/europa/rennes-il-southampton-sulle-tracce-di-pitroipa-508727 Jonathan Pitroipa Sorry if already posted.

Agree with you kwsaint. McNulty is one of the most unimaginative reporters out there and epitomises the BBC's bland and "safe" stance towards sports reporting in general. I suppose you might say that he is only going his job in that regard. Vickery is the obvious exception of course. You're not the only one - http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/584743-football/65330227

They are also the first pair of football shorts I have bought in about 10 years. I can confrim that they are the nicest pair of shorts, and possibly single piece of clothing, I've ever owned (although somewhat transparent) and I've even taken to sleeping in them. I also have made a speacial request to my wife to wash them only with her underwear.

Good post and good points well made. Although he is out of his depth the abuse he gets is disgraceful and can only make things worse. I think he is a better player than he thinks he is, but is chronically short on confidence and petrified of pace meaning that he tucks in too far leaving our left completely exposed and dragging other players out of position to compensate.

Dani Osvaldo ‏@danistone25 2h Southampton, 03 de Octubre de 2013 De mi consideración: ​Me dirijo a Uds. con el fin de contestar las (cont) http://tl.gd/n_1rpdafr The link in the tweet is to a longer message that is in Spanish, but the gist of it is that his ex-wife is spreading derogatory comments in Argentina about his failure to pay child support and visit their son whilst at the same time allegedly preventing Dani from seeing his son when he attempts to do so. Anyway, he sounds genuinely very upset about it all and has published this message seemingly in attempt to set the record straight.

Apologies if already posted - http://www.whoscored.com/Blog/7fHxs0eUAkSGk2Jf9sUAOg/Show/

From the Harvard Business Review. Long, but worth a read. http://hbr.org/2013/10/fergusons-formula/ar/1 There are certainly some similarities with the way Saints are trying to do things.

I don't think you're being harsh, difficult to say if it was lucky or instinctive!

Lovely assist from Gaston in Uruguay's crucial game - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAdhC77kJIc He came on as a second half sub when it was 0-0.

I agree with the observations in the OP. The recent Tim Vickery Blog contains a quote from a player who played under Sampaoli the Chilean manager who models his teams on Bielsa, the same as MP. I think this is what MP was trying to achieve which is why he does not want traditional wingers who are generally quite restricted in terms of their positional play: '"We are not allowed to be afraid of playing," said Rodriguez. "We always attack with six players and defend with four. The six rotate, keep the ball moving, occupy and create space, and the four wait and close down space to win the ball back. The order of these four is fundamental, as is the disorder of the six." It is straight out of the Bielsa handbook.' Interestingly, this ties in with the recent quote from one of the coaching staff "We don't play in positions. We play from positions." I also think we have departed from the original mantra and certainly against Norwich without Shaw and Clyne (who would normally make up the six attacking players along with the front four) we appeared instead to attack with four and defend with six which is why we were so limited and produced no crosses at all from the by-line. Predictably, our defence has improved greatly while our attacking threat has suffered. I think MP is working towards a more fluid front four (with support from attacking full-backs) that are able to create spaces amongst the opposition without necessarily having to outnumber them thus creating chances and remaining tight defensively. This hasn't really worked as yet from an attacking perspective, but it may take more time (and possibly additional personnel). A couple of further observations / questions: - I'm not sure if Lambert fits into this system although I think he's more adaptable than people give him credit for, just not that mobile. - I think this is why he really likes JWP as I believe he is quoted as saying something like he feels JWP's technical ability allows him to play in any of the midfield or attacking positions (bar the central striker presumably) which I don't agree with as against Sunderland and Norwich he did not look comfortable in the wide role. He was much better when he moved to a central position against Sunderland. It has certainly been an interesting tactical journey so far with MP and at least he has a clear idea that he is trying to implement rather than the sort of trial and error approach we have seen from several previous managers.