mrfahaji

Even if they gave it to a Liverpool player, I'd be inclined to say Lucas has been their best player.

Gassist! This is it, the turning point for Ramirez! :-p

We seem to have lost our shape since JWP came on and also look a little tired - not sure if that's fitness or related to the shape not being right.

Whilst I am unable to comment on today's game as I didn't see it, I have been banging the 'not fit enough' drum for a while now, so am disappointed that there is more evidence of it. It just strikes me as odd that the benefits of fitness are so plain, and any team can get fit (not to mention we were at a high level), so why would you allow it not to happen?

Started watching Saints when we had Shearer, Wallace & Le Tiss up front but unfortunately I was too young to really remember them. One of my earliest memories is the Pink (think it might have just been the 'Football Echo' then) running through the candidates to replace Chris Nicholl. My Dad wanted Ivan Golac who was his favourite player, but we ended up with someone called Branfoot...

Was thinking exactly the same - I'm sure it used to be 1 or 2 ACL/MCL injuries per league per season (they were certainly infrequent in the Championship Manager days, when 'damaged knee ligaments' was always the worst news you could receive). Now it seems like every team is suffering all the time! There are also a disproportionate number of injuries during the international break - perhaps this is a reflection of how finely tuned athletes footballers are now, and slight changes in training and conditioning can cause an injury.

I don't understand all his decisions but you could make a case that Hodgson has done a decent job with a distinctly average England side. International football is generally pretty dull and uninspiring.

Ha, yep that's definitely before my time - I was there 2005-2008 and it was very much a Sainsburys. If I recall I think there are still some training pitches there though...

I heard somewhere that Portsmouth FC have been valued at £5.5m. That's less than half a shlong. Still, I doubt Portsmouth would score against Germany.

I actually think their opinions hold more weight. They're not necessarily right, because lots of idiots attend the matches, but you can pay attention to things at a live game moreso than watching on TV. I don't go very often anymore but when I do I feel I have seen more than I would have done otherwise. Doesn't make your opinion worthless just because you didn't go though. I think that our tactics under Koeman sometimes isolate our centre forward more than when we played with Lambert, and therefore Pelle has more games where he doesn't do much. I don't recall many games where I've thought "we were fantastic but Pelle was terrible".

I think Koeman is trying to give Rodriguez time whenever he can because he's clearly way off the pace at the moment.

Magnificent performance. Pelle MOM for me, one of his best ever games for Saints. Mane was tremendous, Van Dijk a tower of strength and I probably said "well in!" about Cedric more than any other - delighted with his performance against Hazard as there have been questions marks about him. Am regularly a defender/supporter of Tadic, but would say he was 7/10 today rather than being one of the best players, but in a game where everyone steps up to the plate that's not really a problem. At 1-3 on 87 minutes, my thoughts were "well, coming away with a draw from Stamford Bridge is still a good result." It's what a lifetime following Saints does...

I'm from Kings Worthy originally, played for Worthies for about 10 years. I'm sure there are people on this forum I played with or against at some point in the Tyro league!

Dulwich Hamlet were my local team for a few years - I used to go to the gym that overlooks the pitch!

Exactly - the outcome of the 'favourite second team' or 'least hated team in Premier League' survey that was doing the rounds a few weeks back explains these results.

Have always kept an eye out for Bournemouth. Maybe Brighton but our League 1 scuffle soured my view on them a little. Hoping Eastleigh get promoted so I can say I used to play for a Football League club (albeit only at youth level)! I used to despise Fulham when they bought their way up the divisions (though that spending seems smallfry now), but as they are now quite local to me would like them to do well. Can't bring myself to want the same of Chelsea though. Wouldn't describe any of these as being a "second team" though - more that I look at the results and think "oh that's good" or "ah well, never mind".

I've been starting to wonder if the opposite is true, and have now come round to wanting every English team to lose in Europe. Even though it is bad for us in terms of getting in and progressing, it might shake things up a bit if one of the traditional top clubs suddenly don't have that income and exposure anymore. The league is tightening up every year and fewer CL spots can only help that. I think a lot of the problems with football now stem from the Champions League, and the Premier League has shown in recent seasons that it's not exactly dependent on success in Europe to remain popular. I know it's counterintuitive to want something that makes it harder for Saints, but in the long term we could (perhaps I'm misguided or quixotic for thinking this) find it easier to finish further up the table without the 'top 4'.

For a chant to catch on it has to be a tune that most people know and can sing easily. Unfortunately the Oasis one isn't that recognisable to people who aren't Oasis fans, even if the words work really well. There does seem to be a lack of originality nowadays though, which is a shame. I'll always remember the Man City fans (as much as I dislike everything about that club) singing "We've lost that Terry Phelan, but it's Vonk, Vonk, Vonk" (Righteous Brothers) when the Phelan-Vonk substitution was made Now the entire league seems to have two or three tunes with which to fit every player into!

Indeed pretty loathsome but my friend sent me a message last season saying he saw Clyne parking his Bentley in a disabled space in Southampton, so unfortunately JT isn't the only one...!

I know we're talking about 6-0 away wins, but on a tenuous link - I didn't miss a home game at the Dell from 1992 until St Mary's, except one. I was too ill to attend the midweek FA Cup replay against Luton in 1995. 6-0. Typical.

Mane off at HT IF we're up by at least 2 please!

People who continually write off Tadic despite the fact he is one of the few players who can actually beat his man and create chances probably love Shane Long and once idolised Brett Ormerod for their endless running. Not saying there isn't a time and a place for the latter type, and I can understand the frustration at times with Tadic, but to label him a "waste of space" seems pretty bizarre to me - seems like some people are sitting on their hands just waiting for a sub-par performance so they can criticise, but don't give the same treatment to all the players.

The strange thing is, I think Yoshida actually had a decent enough game overall. His individual mistake is evidence of why we cannot depend on him, because he has that in him potentailly every match. However, the general poor performance from 35 to 85 minutes was due to the entire team's lack of fitness, which leads to a lack of composure and shape. If we play like we did in the first 45 we will win more often than not. Unfortunately when we play 'lesser' teams we seem to struggle to raise our game to that level.

Not sure how I feel after that - a good start, but questioning why we changed approach. Were thoroughly second best in the second half and yet only went behind due to a catastrophic mistake. Add to that the offside decision and a few blinding saves from de Gea and I'm left wondering if I should feel cheated or frustrated at our performance. Adriansfc is always having a pop at Yoshida because of his "at least once a game" slack passing. It's something that you have to say, is true enough. Sometimes he gets away with it, but other times it costs us the game. My main misgiving is our apparent lack of fitness. We ran out of steam after 35 minutes for goodness sake, and were found wanting for most of the game, albeit a spirited attempt at the end. It's a lot easier to stay fit than get fit, so it's bitterly disappointing we haven't maintained anything close to the level that Pochettino, as much as I hate him, got us to.

I definitely do not agree with a trickle-down argument for wider economics and would prefer not to have my comments on football used to align me with a Conservative government. My point was that when you consider how much money there is in the game, I would much rather see it banded about in the form of transfer fees than player wages, as there is an element of 'trickle-down'. As Vectis and Buctootim point out, it does exist in football, but perhaps I should have referred to it as 'wealth distribution' rather than 'trickle down', as even if it doesn't go to Bristol Rovers and Blackpool but instead to Watford and Nantes, it still gives another team a chance to improve and possibly spread the money further down or across. If your opinions on sports was representative of your political leanings then the USA would be truly compromised, they basically employ a socialist system in their sports!