Lallana's Left Peg

A picture I've seen shows that the ball was hit nowhere near as 'top left' as it seemed from the crowd from where I was standing. The ball only just made it over the part of the goal where the crossbar meets the post, which made it look absolutely ridiculously good from the Saints end.

We train in the morning and afternoon on a Thursday, so it is being done first thing before training starts. Done on a Thursday for Saturday away games as Friday afternoon they travel up to Liverpool.

One thing I have noticed, and I am not sure whether it is a tactic independent of the presence of Wanyama or not, is how far forward Schneiderlin is getting. Could that be because Wanyama's presence means Pochettino is happier for Morgan to flood forward, or is it something that he would have done this season anyway? Either way we don't know and perhaps won't until Morgan is unavailable and we see whether his replacement does that or not.

I think Lloyd Isgrove is ahead of Rowe in the pecking order at the moment.

Fair enough. For what it is worth I find the issues in the final third by far a bigger issue than the Wanyama / Cork debate, but when you see Saints drop £12m+ on a player you have certain expectations and one of them is most definitely that you can see he is a better player than the one he replaced, and I'm not totally convinced at the moment based on a very small sample of the first four games.

I've no issues with the strengthening in the DM area, and Wanyama certainly ticked many of the boxes of things we were lacking. The fee is nothing to do with him but his performances aren't at a level yet where I feel totally encouraged that he is a complete upgrade on Jack Cork, and I found it very peculiar that he could perform as he did against Norwich and yet still not even be threatened by the presence of Cork on the bench.

In that case there is no genuine competition then. Cork has been ousted and is just squad filler, and no matter how he plays Wanyama comes back in when fit, regardless of his level of performance. I'd bugger off if I was him, he is better than that.

Bide his time for injury or suspension? I have no issues with Cork being out of the team. But if his direct competition has an absolute stinker and he still can't make the matchday 18, it doesn't really reflect genuine competition in my eyes. There is something weird going on at Saints, there appears to be a favourite and non-favourite list of players who get played regardless of form. It makes no sense. By the way I am not writing off Wanyama at all, but I just don't think a squad that has genuine healthy competition would see a terrible performance by a player have him retain his place in the first team. And I appreciate you can't keep chopping and changing and need to show loyalty, but you need to give squad players a carrot.

Yeah of course. But what else would Jack Cork have to do to get a game after the Wanyama performance against Norwich?

Jack Cork is only 24 and made a massive difference to our first season back in the league. Could he not get better too?

I think they are all fair points. Whilst I certainly do not attribute any of our issues scoring goals with Wanyama, and he has certainly contributed to a solid defensive unit, there are just some things you see that are so bad you go 'wow'. I suppose he is a relatively inexperienced player but Cork has done nothing wrong and appears frozen out while we allow a new guy plenty of time to make mistakes that Cork just would not do.

So on the basis of first impressions would you say it was worth investing £12.5m on a marginal upgrade on Jack Cork? I'm just offering an alternative view.

Makes everyone around him better, which is when you know you've signed a class player. Keep up this consistency and I would make him captain without hesitation. He seems to 'get' elite football and what you need to do.

I think it is fairly clear people are only judging him on four games - there is nothing else to judge him on. Four games is enough for a first impression and he gets too many touches of the ball for my liking considering he doesn't seem to particularly value possession. I was impressed against WBA but he made me want to stab myself in the eye with a rusty nail at Norwich. Whilst he is only 21 and relatively inexperienced I can see how performances could be up and down - especially in a new team in a harder league than he is use to - however, at the same time he cost £12.5m and he is doing plenty of things a £5m player shouldn't be doing, let alone one who cost over twice as much. That said I appreciate the transfer fee is nothing to do with him. I suppose in summary I hope there is plenty more to come.

I don't wish to be picky but that was evident throughout last season and it seems the same this season as well. Nothing we've done has improved the way we deal with that?

Double-post.

I agree on an individual level but as far as the team goes I always think it bodes well when you can identify straight away what they are trying to do - whether you agree with it or not. What I saw at Norwich and yesterday was a complete cluster**** and the players didn't seem much more informed either. That really worries me, as whilst I wouldn't expect thing to work straight away, you'd want an idea of what we were trying to do and / or a sense of what combinations were being put forward.

Did you not expect a bit better though? Or at the very least get a feeling that anyone in midfield or attack were playing like they knew 100% what they were supposed to be doing?

An interesting view - thought I'd reply with my own on a few points: I think there are other aspects to our team that allows us to defend better beyond the presence of Wanyama. At this stage I couldn't attribute him making a significant contribution to our defending. No doubt he adds a presence and he has good instincts, but beyond the obvious physical things I don't see him as an irreplaceable name in the team. The one thing we are doing, rather bravely, is releasing Morgan to go forward leaving just Wanyama on his own at times. I don't think we would do that with Cork, at least to my eye we never did. But we haven't seen any gain from Morgan bombing forward yet, although with a bit of luck and more understanding I can see how it may work. Lovren has been brilliant. He makes other players better. He is decisive and makes the right decision. He is also a leader. He should be Captain if he keeps this up. Morgan looks out of sorts to me. He is pushing further up the pitch but he looks unsettled. He is not winning challenges he did last year either and that is independent of anything else - that is an individual battle. He breaks forward brilliantly but he looks confused when he has the ball on the edge of the box. I hope it comes but he is several steps away from last season. I found the above a bit contradictory, but in a way it reflects the confusion that exists in the final third on the pitch. No-one can be sure those front four can play with each other. I don't see enough understanding from them to give me any encouragement. It looks like it has a bit of everything but that doesn't mean anything to me unless there is a degree of common understanding of what they are doing or in what they have been asked to do. It all seems rushed, a bit panicked, and in cohesive. A long long way to go for me. I didn't particularly enjoy watching it either, it just seemed a mess to me. Early season review should only consider the first part of the season in my opinion, and 2 goals in four games against the teams we've played is poor. Thank goodness for our defensive record. I've seen a departure from the sort of football Pochettino established at Espanyol and it isn't easy on the eye. I like our patience at the back but there is a massive fail in how we work the ball through the midfield to the forwards. I don't know if it is the system, the players, the mentality, or whatever. But I expect Pochettino to sort it soon. From my perspective when a player receives the ball with their defender behind them we lack anyone with the control or power to shift it a yard and turn a corner, making the defender think twice about getting so tight. Right now they get tight because they know no-one in our team can take a man on without his second touch going 10 yards in front of him. Speed and pace are over-rated unless you use them to your advantage. For a team that has intelligent players we move the ball far too slowly. The tempo is awful at times. I don't know if it is the man with the ball or the lack of movement, but neither are an appropriate excuse for me. Second half on Sunday was much better. But why didn't we move with tempo in the first half? The players look confused and unsure to me. From my perspective something isn't right in the team and I think that unfamiliarity is anything more than just one of the contributing factors, and not the most significant factor on its own. You tell tell from the verve and body language of the players.

Partington? Edited my original reply as don't want to offend the opposition

I saw plenty of movement but not enough understanding between the players after the first phase of play (for example, the first pass would be ok but then it just broke down). I also thought Wanyama and Schneiderlin were too indecisive with the ball at times. Something isn't clicking and it concerns me. That said, thank goodness for our newfound resoluteness in defence.

Wanyama has had two stinkers in a row. If we've got a squad and there is competition for places, now is time for him to reminded of the performance levels required for the Premier League.

Could have won but wouldn't have deserved it. Don't know what we were trying to do formation and tactics wise but our passing was terrible. Don't enjoy watching us at the moment, an absolute dearth of quality in our play.

There has often been a need for us to play someone else up front with Lambert however my may concern is that whenever that has happened and we've played 4-4-2'ish it has resulted in lumping it long, as though four in midfield for some reason means we can't move the ball upfield and keep it on the deck.

I'm trying to get my ahead around starting the trio of Jay-Rod, Osvaldo, and Lambert starting but I just can't find a formation or balance that makes sense with Lallana starting as well. Unless I think of Osvaldo as a striker too much, and in fact he starts on the right and Jay-Rod on the left with Lallana behind Lambert? But even then it doesn't feel right - the instincts of the wide men will be to come inside all the time and right now we're not moving the ball quick enough to take advantage of 'overload' areas of the pitch flooded with players. Alternatively we've gone all in with this play 'from' positions instead of 'in' positions idea and Lambert, Osvaldo, and Jay Rod will rotate but the whole thing has the potential to be a disaster. At least it won't be a boring game though. And I hope I am massively wrong about it not working.