Lallana's Left Peg

Football attracts a wide spectrum of people and with football being a social game many of them feel the need to impress their opinion on others around them. It's the same home and away. The worst I've seen this season is a bunch of well oiled morons at Wigan away who were having a go at Ramirez all first half and got into a fight with the people in the row behind them. The people in the row behind them told them to get behind the team during the game as the negativity doesn't help, and even if they didn't like Ramirez shouting it at the game was pretty stupid. This then caused a fight where the people having a go at Ramirez then tried to sarcastically get behind the team in the second half to prove a point over something and of course they ended up looking like idiots as Saints played very well and in the end they got into it and behind the team.

More than one way to skin a cat so not to say Adkins wouldn't have been able to achieve the same results but Pochettino has us set-up considerably more aggressively than Adkins plus it appears any efforts to stop the opposition playing is based on a default framework he likes his team to play whereas Adkins will change far more tactically to counter the opposition.

At 27 and a reported 30k+ a week I suspect the club will be looking to move him on in the summer no matter what. I wondered if he'd get a chance under Pochettino as he has the sort of energy we were told Pochettino likes, but it appears many of the existing first eleven players have been able to adapt quite well so the chance for players to come into the team are minimal.

I expect any lift Reading will get from Adkins will be negated by the determination our lads will have to win for their new Manager, to beat Adkins, and just to beat Reading anyway. I don't think Adkins will be given a choice to sit back at home - they sacked a Manager because he did that so if it is an open game then you'd like to think it would come down to quality and we'd win.

I always had the view that he was a bit of a panic signing after our pursuit of several wingers came to nothing during the summer. Not to say he is a winger by trade, but it was clear we were after a forward with pace who could also play on the wing. It is very confusing not to see him more involved - I appreciate he may be one for the future but he doesn't play for the u21's, he isn't going on loan, and he doesn't log minutes for the first team. So what is the point?

Gallagher has been injured for a lot of the season, only really come back into it since February. Also well done to Jamal Branker who today played for the first time since coming back from a very bad ligament injury that has kept him out for the best part of a year.

You've misinterpreted what I've said. I don't want Sinclair as I've think we've got prospects in the youth team who can make the step up to the first team squad. I am happy with Lallana / Rodriguez / Ramirez / Puncheon contending for those three spots behind Lambert. Sinclair wouldn't join us from Man City to sit on the bench, and whose place would he take in the team? However if we were to buy a winger I'd prefer Matt Phillips over Scott Sinclair for the reasons I stated.

Not too enthralled by this link. I think we'd be after someone a bit more powerful than Sinclair. Plus we've prospects in the development / youth team who need a pathway. Would prefer Matt Phillips if I am honest - cheaper, cost less in wages, and got that element of potential about him which makes him quite appealing.

I think there is little doubt that the club owning playing style and transfer dealings is better than being 'all in' with a Manager, however the hard part isn't determining that it is implementing it. The writing was on the wall for Adkins ever since we got promoted. On that basis you would maybe understand why the club did not favour Adkins input into some things given perhaps they did not see him being around too much longer. It will be interesting to see where we go under Pochettino - and in particular whether a level of trust from the club in his management of the team sees him more involved (or at least having more influence) than Adkins.

He's nothing like Lambert. Seager is shorter, quicker, and sits on the shoulder of the last defender shoulders looking to make little runs in behind. Seager is the sort of player who will get his chance in the first team on the wing before he does up front on his own. Sam Gallagher is more comprable to Lambert, but only through his size and height.

I was gutted when Adkins went as there was an emotional attachment to him as a fan after the few years he had given us. I also felt more relaxed about relegation - not because of our prospects, but because of the view that relegation wouldn't be so disappointing if Adkins wasn't there - again because for some reason there was less attachment to the Manager and wanting him to do well. But to be honest the afternoon of the Pochettino replacement I was focussing on the future and what it would be like. I'm very impressed with Pochettino - I like his ideas and aggression in the way he plays. I like that we are the team taking the game to our opposition. It looks like the players enjoy it too. I would imagine Adkins would have the same number of points at this stage, but long-term I think Pochettino is likely to be a better option - not that we'll ever know.

Not sure why you would think that. Using that logic Chelsea (who have nearly their entire first team squad on international duty) won't too well in their next match (against us) as well. No harm in the development squad training with the first team. Many of them get drafted in when we have injuries anyway, and it is standard to always have at least one of them training with the first team as a part of their development. Plus at this time of year thoughts are turning towards scholars getting contracts, and those who have contracts either being promoted to the first team squad or staying where they are so the club and Pochettino will get an awful lot out of it too.

Make no mistake, Shaw has been known by the big clubs for a few years. The media linking him to clubs now is just based on their visibility of him rather than any club going 'This Shaw kid looks good, who is he?'. I was sat next to a scout at the Youth Cup tie at Bolton last season (I think the scout was from Arsenal but he wasn't wearing any official club gear) and all he was doing was making notes on Shaw. Shaw himself cruised through the game like he was playing a computer game on easy level. He didn't particularly stand out but everything was easy for him. There was one moment when a winger shoved the ball past him and steal a few yards as well but Shaw still got back to the ball before him and with some time to spare too. In the car park after the game there were a good two dozen Range Rovers, I'm assuming scouts and agents checking up on talent and many of them there for Shaw. To be honest I think more than any affinity for the club or Manager, it's Cortese who has convinced him about where we're going and what part he can play in it.

Swindon away last season in the Carling Cup.

Pretty much how I feel as well. Quite confident we'll get enough points to survive, though in what games I don't know. Quite liable to drop points at home in a game we think we should win, just as we are to pick up points in a game we thought we wouldn't get anything from.

Pretty sure we had a thread on this at exactly this time last year. Tends to pull his shots quite a bit, he never really hits them like he backs himself either. That said, it's a minor gripe as long as he plays like he did yesterday.

Pretty much to form of what we were told he'd be like when he arrived. Does not care much for stifling the opposition as long as we do our job based on the way we play. A few changes here and there but the base style of playing is the same home or away, against top or bottom teams. There is an undercurrent of controlled aggression with this where we are the protagonists in the match and that is a nice feeling. A big few weeks coming up for the development and u18 squads - plenty of them will be training with the first team members not on international duty and some will be playing for contracts, some will be playing for promotion to the first team squad next season.

Looks like Mark Clattenburg is replaced by Lee Mason for the Man utd vs. Reading match tomorrow. Apparently he is 'injured'. I have my doubts. He's more likely been given the week off after last weeks effort.

Genuinely surprised by the number of people who don't rate Ramirez. Don't confuse the perspective that the money would have been better spent elsewhere with the quality of the player. I can tell you irregardless of the fee when he does leave us, it will be for a far better club. Of course there is more to come from him but if you can't see the quality he has you need to watch more football. If our club wants to go anywhere we need to hang on to him desperately and get in more players to help him.

Would be gutted if he left, quality wise he is miles above anything else we've got. You can see it when he plays. Hope we stay up and can get in a few players who will compliment him.

I don't know if Jay Rod is going to end up being one of those 'hustle' strikers who snatch at chances all their career or if he'll develop his game with far more composure and end up being a very good all round player. I am quite encouraged by what I've seen but I would be unhappy if there wasn't far more to come. He has the tools - its down to him now.

Take less than half the chances we created in the last two games and we're not even worrying about 90% of what is in this thread. At the end of the day we must do better in the final third. I don't know why the last two games we've been so wasteful - whether it is nervousness or apprehension about the situation we're in, but the only thing to worry about is whether this is something we think is going to remain until the end of the season. I suspect it won't, but until we sort it out it'll be a worry since if we can't score we've got no chance.

The whole incident was bizarre from start to finish, and absolutely made for Clattenburg who is the most egotistical and melodramatic referee in the English game. Firstly, Holt grabs at Shaw to get ahead of him. Then as the ball goes sailing over their heads he makes sure he is in front of him and then slams on the brakes with the ball well out of reach, feels contact and then star jumps to the ground. The Lino doesn't give a thing and just waits for the ball to go out of play. Clearly Clattenburg wasn't satisfied with this lack of drama so from a position of half a pitch away decides to give a foul which shocks the entire ground and once the focus is on him he proceeds to stride to the edge of the box like a big gay hair-transplanted **** and inspect the crater Holt left outside the box before pointing to the spot with the verve and drama that Louis Spence would be proud of. Quite rightly Saints went mad and I would do the same. You can't respect Referee's when they behave like this. The Saints reaction then drives Clattenburg to doubt himself so he goes to speak with the Lino who showed no interest in any foul when he was 10 yards away from it. So Clattenburg then decides to consult him, and by consult him I mean tell him what he is going to do and it doesn't matter what the Lino saw or thought. Foy was stood down the week after his 'performance' in the Newcastle game. Clattenburg needs the same treatment next week - he needs to remember the game isn't about him at all.

Two keys for us making the most of possession: 1. Better distribution from the back 2. Better movement up front Sometimes there is poor movement up front, and sometimes the defence really struggle to pass the ball forwards well enough. It's only Ramirez who is going to create something out of nothing - his layoff was lovely for the Jay Rod shot which led to Lambert slashing wide from the rebound.

It's obviously a bit of a fun thread but lets not forget than Ben Reeves got minutes at left back in the Premier League this season.