Lallana's Left Peg

An awful lot.

Not fussed either way, don't see why people get so worked up about it however it is mildly amusing when the fans of a self-declared 'special' club do it

We had no problem breaking Sunderland down - they were absolutely atrocious. We kept our shape and that was enough at times to create very dangerous 2 vs. 1 situations on the wings and it only took a little bit of movement up front to pull them apart as well. On Saturday it was the final ball or final decision that was massively lacking - to the point that in the first half certainly Pelle, Mane and Tadic were all arguing with each other after a move broke down. They just weren't on the same wavelength and it probably cost us scoring loads. Our crossing was very bad on Saturday too which didn't help. Everything up to that point though was brilliant - the way our defence and midfield would move into space to create situations where we could switch play and create overloads was brilliant - we pulled them all over the place.

Before the game I was worried about the set-up in defence and midfield but Koeman got it right - we controlled the ball in midfield and our lack of height and physical presence didn't matter as Allardyce didn't bother using his midfield at all in the game apart from to stand 3 yards in front of wherever the defence was. As it turns out it was the front three that nearly lost us the game - Sunderland are the worst team I've seen us face in the Premier League since our return and only the lack of cohesion and understanding in the final third was a threat to us not winning the game. For whatever reason they weren't well enough in sync and time after time the final pass or cross was missing. Sometimes that happens I suppose. However, they kept going and we got the goal we needed and that was that. Though VvD was immense - it was fairly standard stuff for him to deal with but considering Fletcher is so good in the air I thought he treated him like a little kid at times - just brushing himself when Fletcher was looking to physically assert himself. At times the only way Fletcher could compete was to foul VvD. Also love the way VvD was orchestrating things at the back when we had the ball - he is clearly leading Fonte and seeing what is in front of us and passing the ball accordingly. Sunderland are terrible but we still had to win, and I suspect we won't be facing Sunderland again at their place for a few years. They are doomed unless something very dramatic happens.

I think what Koeman said was in good faith. The lad is squatting a lot on that knee as well:

Fair enough - saw the Solent tweet he suffered a set-back in training today.

Shane Long injured in training again today apparently? Another 3-4 weeks?

I agree with you but there are a few things that will mean that we'll continue to hit Pelle long once we're comfortably ahead and defending a lead: 1. As much as footballers are trained it's still human nature to hit it up to the big man. 2. It feels these days with Saints (and I suppose with football in general) that you are more likely to concede a goal the moment you lose possession rather than if you cleared your lines and got up the field a bit (but still organised). Thus if we (when under pressure) were to try and play our way out of defence and move up the field as a team and then lose the ball I would suggest that leaves us more vulnerable to concede than if we just cleared our lines knowing the ball was going to come back at us again. 3. We don't really have the defensive midfielders to either a) beat a man when we have the ball to carry it upfield, or b) be enough of a 'midfield general' and stitch the play together to move the team up the field. Therefore without the personnel the risk of losing possession becomes even higher. 4. The midfield has been sitting really deep when defending leads recently, I don't know why but it basically means no-one is there to go and meet second balls in midfield anyway when we do get it clear.

Allardyce will get them back to basics and they will play percentage balls and seek to unsettle us a bit. Quite frankly if we can't rise above that and show some quality we'll end up pointless. I'd say it's 50/50 whether or not we bring any points back home.

I think it's hard to determine which is best. I suspect a stronger first team but weaker squad will likely yield a similar league position to a weaker first team but stronger squad, but there are so many variables at play it will be very hard to prove the reasons either why it did or did not happen at the end of the season. It does seem logical to have a bigger squad given the number of games we were expecting to have at the start of the season. Of course, the six (at least) less Europa league games put a dent into that strategy but by then we were already committed. The key for me is ensuring the depth we have isn't at the cost of an emerging young talent.

When I said do more with the ball I did indeed mean keep possession. Give us a chance to get up the field and reset etc. We definitely made mistakes in the second half and those you highlighted are big ones - we needed to do better but overall our second half approach was not bad - just that the execution of much of it was. I have no issues with the premise of it.

I think the truth is somewhere inbetween. A better team would have scored at least one, but then again a better team may have evoked a different reaction from the players on the field. When you are defending a two goal lead against a poor team it is only natural to sit back a little and soak up the pressure as you don't feel like you would be punished for doing so - you can play within yourselves and defend diligently enough to see the game out. I think Saints will be disappointed that they didn't do more when they had the ball (as they invited more pressure which was unnecessary) but managing games and adapting the way you play to the situation is an important part of the professional game.

It is a bad deal on the face of it but when you take into the account the circumstance then it isn't so bad. It was a deal we had to make in very short timescales and it is also a local firm which goes some way to undoing some damage done by Cortese. However if we sign a deal for anything less than £4m next season the club have messed up.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/aston-villa-defender-aly-cissokho-reveals-that-bad-teeth-were-to-blame-for-his-failed-move-to-ac-9746035.html I'd imagine him being **** these days is more of a reason he won't get a move. Imagine how good Dowie could have been with a decent set of teeth

Great read - thanks for finding

I would stab my eyes out with a rusty nail covered in lemon juice if we became one of those teams who threw away Europe every year in order to concentrate on the league and qualify for Europe. We are a LONG way away from being the likes of Spurs or Liverpool who would see the Europa League getting in the way of Champions League qualification aspirations (not to say the size of the squad to support such a strategy without completely ****ing off supporters).

Bournemouth's second half reaction reminded me of the ones Saints would have most away games during our Championship relegation season. Only when the game was over did the rally begin, and it rarely yielded anything positive. And that is the problem with Bournemouth - when they aren't 'on it' they ship goals like its going out of fashion and when they are they aren't scoring goals. When you play well and don't score it's a huge problem and it is why they are going down. As for Saints we did what was required of us and it is nice to see the team settle down and get back into things in a way we're accustomed to these days.

Osvaldo?

Nice left foot, nice eye for a pass, but very slow meaning he was never going to go much further. Nice to see him do so well with Bournemouth though. But the fact he is in the middle of the park for them is one of a number of reasons they are going down.

Svensson

That'll get them going

More chance of getting boo'd by his own supporters I think!

Confirmed - live on Sky on Wednesday 2nd December.

I was fairly sure that VvD's reaction clearance as a result of that air kick was a cheeky side heel or something like that too

He's more than welcome back at St Mary's any time he wants - just so he can see for himself how the inevitable demise of Saints that he was telling all his favourite players in his last season never happened.