raynesparksaint

I agree he did well... pressurised the man on the ball, chased down balls and basically did what he does best. Lambert coming on was what I'd call a massive impact

I think massive impact is stretching it a bit. He did alright

As a Japanese international, he seemed a good signing at the level we were at that time, now we are at a much higher level we need better quality. Simple.

Second goal was awesome, what a run by Shaw and a first-class finish by Punch. However I've seen a few posts that suggest that Ramirez's flick was intentional? For me, he mis-controlled it as the cross was a tad behind him.

It's actually in Fulham

You forgot Red-Light Jumping...

Paul Telfer is said to be waiting patiently by his phone

They can't mean that shot surely, an effort from 9 yards out against the foot of the post. Certainly not a "long-range effort crashed against the crossbar." The summary on the home page linking to the report says "Rickie Lambert's penalty gave Saints three vital points as slumping Villa replaced them in the bottom three". Shoddy journalism. On any other day this would really annoy me.

From the Guardian report: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/jan/12/aston-villa-southampton-premier-league?commentpage=1 Did that actually happen? I must have missed it.

Ole ole ole Goofy... Goofy

Credit to Stoke for their work-ethic, persistance and all of the other over-used superlatives, but it's so frustrating that we can't defend a lead, particularly against ten men. We can't sit back and invite a team like Stoke to pepper our penalty box, we needed to cut off the supply from the flanks a lot better and play a higher line. An unexpected point, but I can't help but rue the two we dropped. As good as the first half was, we really needed to capitalise on the good fortune and get the points in the bag.

Are they going to make a fourth series of Him & Her? They should do, plenty of mileage left in it I reckon. Build-up to the wedding(s) etc Random trivia - the actress that plays Laura (def the best character in the show, she sums everything bad about birds) is the younger sister of Russell Howard Also - Christmas special is on tonight apparently!

In case anyone cares, the Guardian reveal how they compiled the list: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/dec/20/guardian-world-top-100-footballers We asked each of our 11-strong panel (for the full list, scroll down) to give us their top 30 active players in the world and rank them in order of preference. Once the lists were submitted, players were scored on their ranking by each panellist: a No1 choice allocated 30pts, No2 29pts and so on down to selection No30, given one point.

I think it's obvious that Mayuka's ranking is down to his appearances for Zambia at the ACN than anything he has done at club level. The people putting the list together obviously thought they have to put a promising young African player in there somewhere to cover all bases.

It's growing on me more and more each time I watch it. Soulful AND melodic, such a rarity in this day and age. You lot with all of this "he's just a talentless MacManaman lookalike", is just wide of the mark

Ben God seems to be getting a tough time and I think it's a little unfair. He's not a sh1t Mick Hucknell like a lot of you are implying. He is the heartbeat of the heartbeats. He has filmed a music video at Farley Mount, interspersed with footage of dogs eating at dinner tables... what have you lot ever done?

Norwich looked solid enough, we were a little lacklustre for the home side. 1-1 fair result

Everyone in the game knows stability is the key to a good defence, a back four and a keeper that have had consistent game-time together and understand each other positionally. Particularly with our defensive record, chopping and changing keepers each week isn't going to breed that understanding within the defence. I know the Premier League is not the ideal place to keep having to learn from mistakes but I honestly think with a run in the team, Gazza will gain confidence and we'll see less of those errors. Of the 3 keepers, he is by the strongest in terms of kicking and agility. The Swansea mistake was more to do with poor decision-making rather than accuracy in his kicking, which is the type of mistake that can be eradicated over time. We're unbeaten in the last two and the back four are showing signs of beginning to look up to the task. I know it sounds obvious but a clean sheet would do the whole defence a world of good, it's been long overdue!

If they had our results so far, and we had theirs..... they would still be better than us.

Ah ok, fair enough. Although I thought in the first game at Man City he looked pretty solid.

To say "very" is a strong statement and I think a little harsh. He has been playing alongside a jittery back 4 for the most part, and aside from the slips and slides already mentioned, has acquitted himself very well defensively in my view.

First class performance. Far superior than them in every position. F***ing enjoyed that! Thought they might have made a game of it when Mackie came on, Cisse was so isolated in the first half it was ridiculous. Puncheon's best game for Saints by a stretch.

Look at the scoreboard mate. Guly is the guy that's notched both goals..

People seem to think that Mayuka's pace will automatically win a game. For the last 20 mins Swansea sat back, let us come on to them and hoped to hit US on the break.. pace wouldn't have made much of a difference. We had no problem getting into the box, we just couldn't get in shooting positions often enough. If we could have kept it at 1-0 towards the end with Swansea coming on to us, Mayuka would have been a good option.

If that's true we could get a fine, Spurs got one last season for showing an incorrect offside decision