Graffito

Shawcross and Cameron banned. Upson and Shotton likely to replace them. Weakens their defence a little.

Not yet.

It wasn't the best of matches so why highlight it?

Thought the midfield pair of Cork and Schneiderlin got a grip second half and we took the game to them. Pity about the final ball. Clearly miss Lallana. Must get Ramirez on the ball more. Play him in the hole.

Tatty Bye.

Your avatar. It's got a face like a sack of spanners.

Think we're capable of getting something from this one and will be looking for a reaction to the tepid performance of last Saturday. Not sure Kelvin should have been pointing out how few goals Berbatov has scored so far though.

I've seen almost all of our matches this season and I think Lambert is not being marked out of the game. His stats back this up.

You used the term one dimensional. "He is fast becoming a liability as we're too one dimensional and static in attack " The stats put lambert in the top 10 most creative players in the league alongside the likes of Cazorla, Mata, Gerrard. And he's scored 6 goals.

I remember mayuka beating the offside trap once in the first half but can't think of any others. I agree about not in the air. Would have preferred trying to move their defence around a bit more to create openings and guly might have been a better option therefore than mayuka who didnt link up well with lambert. For all the possession we created very little yesterday.

They defended well. I was impressed with Cuellar and Rose. Gardener was fairly comfortable as a stand in right back but we didn't test him.

The unexpected selections of mayuka and de ridder suggests maybe that Adkins thought we needed pace against sunderland but they sat so deep that there was rarely an opportunity to get in behind them.

This suggests Lambert isn't at all one dimensional but quite the opposite. http://www.eplindex.com/23536/top-10-creators-premier-league-1213-cazorla-jumps-2nd-place.html?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/southampton/9762263/Southampton-striker-Rickie-Lamberts-new-lease-of-life-comes-from-living-like-a-saint.html Nice one on Lambert here.

Straight up the A3 and over Putney Bridge. Ground is to the left of Fulham Palace Rd and as you probably know, alongside the river. If you park on roads to the right of Fulham Palace Rd they are probably outside the parking restrictions but don't take my word for it I haven't been down that way for a while.

But the Holt reference is there. Jeeze this is a strange forum sometimes. Happy Christmas anyway.

Not really. I think he's better than Holt and doing more than just a job in the PL and I'm not alone in that.

I'd have been disappointed if you had.

You are right it could be read both ways though it seems customary for Managers to be outwardly complimentary of opposing teams in pre-match interviews and this just seemed a little patronising to me. It seemed to me Lambert was being damned with faint praise. There's the lazy comparison again with Grant Holt

Of course not. That would be silly.

http://www.sunderlandecho.com/sport/sunderland-afc/safc-news/sunderland-boss-no-excuses-1-5245389 Martin O'Neill comes across in this as a tad patronising towards Lambert and even, I would suggest, towards Saints. Rickie knows what to do.

Well said Huffton. Perhaps the moderators will act on this.

I'm aware of that.

We weren't overawed at Anfield we were just crap. Struggled to play a high pressing game because Liverpool have an extra player at the back, Reina, probably the best keeper in the PL.