beancounter saint

Sorry to be pedantic, but when was this? The time I remember when Saints were 4th (which led to the famous Strachan quote about going home and looking at Ceefax) was in 03/04 when we drew first 3 then won next 3 (only to lose the following 3). There's a big difference between 4th after 6 games and at Xmas.

That's great but my conclusion from that is that they need to take another look at their model!

I thought Lallana did OK yesterday. I think Pochettino has a bit of a dilemma over the midfield slots though as, whilst Lallana looks far more creative and attack minded than Ward-Prowse, it seems to me Ward-Prowse's set piece deliveries are consistently more dangerous than Lallana's. Of course he can drop Rodriguez for Ward-Prowse as last week but then you lose the genuine pace. If he could somehow morph the three of them into two players combining the best characteristics we'd be laughing!!

I agree on Chris Perry. The way he competed physically as a centre back was amazing given his small size and advancing years.

Good stats - I like it. Though doesn't answer the question of who is likely to bring the most in absolute terms as depends what their average home gates are (I'm guessing City is higher than Rovers but is it more than double?)

Loving the link to the older article at the bottom - "..... three top targets snub the Saints" - 2 of whom have now signed!!

I guess it will probably cool down a bit by the start of the season but one place I would not want to be in the current heatwave would be in one of those dog costumes!!

You may be right. He certainly has the physique of a goalie!

That's the first one of those I have actually watched - enjoyed it! The best bit was the guy (couldn't make out who it was) who redid his hair each time after heading the ball in the pool.

I see - I have been known to take things too literally sometimes!!

Is that Jacob Mellis you're thinking of? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Mellis At Barnsley apparently

Think you have missed Rory Delap off your list - not that it makes any difference to the conclusion!

Maybe, just maybe, his performance at Southampton is justifying his post!

I disagree, QPR players were continually being dispossessed by Saints. Other than some good quality from a couple of individuals and a brick wall of a centre back I don't think they matched up to Saints at all. Whilst I don't think we played as incisively as in some of the last few games I'm in no doubt that QPR were very lucky to come out of the game with a win.

I learned that the Newcastle game isn't on the telly. Saved me feeling a bit of an idiot come one o'clock on Sunday!

I know, I do have a knack of restating the obvious sometimes. What I'm trying to say though is that I'm sure they're only trying to maximise their total income like all the others so if they did get lots more fans through the doors, they'd only go and jack up the prices! I'd hope Saints keep renewal prices roughly the same but that may be wishful thinking. I seem to recall one of the tweaks they made for 12/13 was to extend the "centre" premium priced section of the two side stands which would have yielded a bit extra on top of the other increases. I was pleased that we managed to avoid that in Block 5.

Surely the lack of support is precisely why they are so cheap!

He did deliver the two balls for Delap at Highbury in I think 03/04 though. A bit like Jonno Forte - one stand out contribution in his Saints career!

I really like Adkins and find the decision a bit bizarre. However, if we assume that Cortese's job is to try and make Southampton FC successful and it turns out that this decision actually helps to achieve that why would anyone singing his name be a "mong"?

Interesting take on cause and effect. If you ask me you could say that about almost any player. What the other poster said about Puncheon's strength is true IMHO. He very rarely gets pushed off the ball.

There was an incident at a hotel involving a fire alarm being set off and waking players prior to a QPR v Cardiff playoff final which might explain that one.

Every time I've seen Evans he looks a complete donkey to me but maybe Ferguson knows more than me!!

Exactly. Alan Sugar's "Prune Juice economics" as the Radio 4 reporter also mentioned.

I've seen him in Waitrose before so he clearly just likes to vary his Chandlers Ford grocery shopping experience!

Great idea, but only if they get Beattie and Prutton back on to revive their legendary show!