Saintmike5

I think I'm right in saying we've never won a home PL game on the opening day. Hope to buck that trend today, come on Saints!

Back in the top half, woohoo! Fun fact, that's only the third Premier League game we've won after conceding an equaliser since we got promoted! Can anybody name the other two?

Maybe best to give our normal feeder club Celtic a miss this year... http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36761213

Only a few weeks ago we were persuading players to sign 6 year contract extensions, now we can only manage 5. Shows what a step backwards the club has taken.....Les out! OK melt over! Fantastic news, one of my favourite players of the last 2 years. I think it's entirely right that we prioritise spending a decent amount of our incoming transfer and TV money rewarding the players for the job they have done, and keeping a happy and committed team into the bargain.

Worth saying that Portugal conceded 5 in 3 games before Fonte and Soares played, then just the 1 in 4 games after they came in, 3 of which went to extra time. Both made a genuine difference and thoroughly deserve it.

If the scoreline stays the same then Wales will have won as many tournament knockout games in 6 days as England have in 20 years!

Nice one Isgrove and nice one Barnsley. From rock-bottom of the league after 20 games to promotion, they've had a better 2nd half of the season then even we did!

Finishing ahead of Liverpool and (potentially) Man United, 2 clubs who spent a combined £115 million on Southampton players over the last 2 seasons, now that's satisfying! Well done to Ronald and the team.

That's no way to describe Joey Barton! Although having said that... Dyche always strikes me as a sensible and decent bloke and a good manager, possible Koeman replacement if and when he leaves?

Lawro finally predicting Liverpools first defeat of the season! What's going on there? Almost certain we won't win it now.

This time a month ago we were a point ahead of Norwich and 7 behind Palace. It's shocking how quickly things can change, and should (but won't) be a lesson to people in not getting too ahead of themselves with the hand-wringing and doom-mongering whenever we are in a bad run of form - and by the same logic we shouldn't start thinking about top four, at least not yet

Haven't got used to the weirdness of watching a Chelsea Man U game and wanting a draw to keep one team within range and the other well below us! Talking of weird, was I the only one to hear Thierry Henry say on Sky Sports "I didn't watch the game, I was busy doing something with an under 18"? Need to get Op Yew Tree into that pretty sharpish

I heard a rumour that he was the worst player since Ali Dia and I want to confirm whether there's any truth to it

Wow, Wilson really is part of the Saints PR machine now isn't he! Not saying it's a bad thing by any means, it's nice to have one of the main 'broadsheet' journalists on-side and pushing our point of view. I know from his previous articles he's got a soft spot for us and is not a fan of Levy, but a lot of that could have been written by old uncle Les himself! Enjoyable read though - anything that helps further undermine that tight-fisted slimy bald snake is OK by me.

Long in for J-Rod otherwise unchanged

Great result, decent (but not stunning) performance. Hope Clasie is OK, seemed to get a bit of a knock. A bit of a subdued start from him but he'll come good no doubt. Vic is a beast, Tadic showed some creative touches which we missed when he was subbed. Cedric started well and Mane was unplayable for some of the first half but maybe tired a bit in the second. Long and Pelle were their usual selves and we looked fine defensively. Happy days!

I know he's a bit on the short side but surely that's not the answer?

Schexy schtuff! Right, who's next?

Chelsea's on-the-beach mentality is a f**king disgrace

Go Bournemouth! Surely that's that now. Lovely second goal.

A thousand times no. Not saying I'm expecting 4th or that I'd be disappointed with the team if they finished 6th or 7th, but this is realistically the only chance we might ever get to break the top four, and the difference in reward between 4th and 5th is potentially huge. If we can get our best players and our style of playing back then there's a chance - Man U are playing poorly, Liverpool and Spurs have a much more congested fixture list and as for Arsenal ... well they'll probably end up top four to be honest but while there's 2 spots to fight for we have to believe!

When Lallana makes his inevitable substitute appearance at SMS, rather than just generic booing which doesn't really signify anything (as let's face it most clubs do this for former players) and to the uninitiated watchers on tv would make us look spiteful and ungrateful, surely it would be better to bring back out the "there's only one Rickie Lambert" song for one final time. Hopefully that might make the guy realise there are certain ways to leave a club and still be considered a legend, rather than completely stuffing up a 10 year association by behaving like a **** at the end of it. Any sign of Lovren meanwhile should of course be accompanied by raucous derisory laughter.

11 away wins would be a good showing for any team to get in a season. Given the fact that this is Saints, in the EPL*, and in the second week of February it is extremely impressive. Only Chelsea can boast the same I think. *yes I know 4 were cups, my point still stands

Everton really are such a poor side to watch now, can't believe it's basically the same team that got over 70 points last year. Barry and especially Lukaku have pretty much mugged them off by playing so well last year on loan, then signing permanent contracts and now look pitiful shadows of their 2013-14 selves. If Liverpool don't win this they've only got themselves to blame, they're by far the better team today though it pains me to say so.

With Long out I expect we'll do everything we can to get Mane ready to play a part on Sunday, agree it will prolly be from the bench if at all though with Elia keeping his place in the XI.