mrfahaji

Ha! No, might seem an odd comment I guess, but some sponsors just look a bit naff due to the company name/logo. Look at the bet365 on Stoke's shirt, makes the kit look so... Stoke! Fortunately the veho logo improves rather than worsens the shirt in my opinion.

Pretty standard, but after the all-red shirts I'm not going to be too down on this. I think the look of the veho sponsor really enhances the shirt though - as it has for this year's.

This sums it up really. Only advantage we have is essentially a £2m discount vs all other clubs (if he is sold at all) and therefore slightly stronger bidding position. If we can get him for, say, £13m instead of £15m, I can see us going for it, but if it goes up to somewhere near £18m/£20m, then I can't.

Clearly there is a bit of Brent about him, but Barry Gale also reminds me a bit of Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords.

During his 2013 run in the side, we won 1, drew 2, lost 3. Not too bad really, but when you consider this nice statistic... 5.5 games (1 Dec Chelsea - 26 Dec Cardiff). Opposition shots on target: 16. Goals conceded: 10. Excluding the Newcastle game the ratio would be 'Shots 11, Conceded 9'. Impressive!

You're right, but it shouldn't really be that way, should it? Although they will be happy with 8th and ecstatic with anything above, we are the ones who actually sat second in the table at one point, and for at least two thirds of the campaign were genuinely in contention to finish in the top 4. The sheer excitement and joy that phase of the season gave us shouldn't be overlooked just because the final position doesn't reflect it.

Unfortunately it seems to take a club to become victims of Redknapp's deceit before a new crop of supporters realise what sort of devious character he is. Everyone else continues to lap up his "good ol Arry, one of the lads, tells it like it is" act, the media more than most. Everything he says and does is SO calculated to suit his own ends, yet most seem oblivious to it.

Agree with this. Davis has been poor of late, no question. However, he has never been a particularly creative player. When you have Mane and Tadic firing and creating chances, then you 'miss' Davis' industry and box-to-box play, but as soon as the team look for him to play as a 'number 10', he comes up short.

Before anyone picks me up on semantics, I realise that the 'last year in Champ' was also our only year (on the way up)...!

I think our attack last year is being a little overhyped with the benefit of hindsight. I remember countless occasions watching games thinking how we lacked a cutting edge - lots of possession in the middle third and even around the penalty box, but when it came to creating chances we were found wanting. The first half of this season we were more incisive, but second half it has dried up. I do recall games last year being bemused at how good we were, for example, Fulham at home (but perhaps that was also how bad they were). Where every time we lost the ball we won it back within about 10 seconds. And there weren't many games that we were outplayed by the other team (West Brom home springs to mind). However, this doesn't mean we were necessarily great in the final third. Also, Lambert may have been better than Pelle, but everyone could see he was on the decline (last year in Champ probably his best season), so not convinced that we'd have been better off keeping Lambert this year. Lallana is the only player we have missed, such a shame Tadic wasn't able to keep up his early season form.

I'm not Forster's biggest fan, but when your back up is Gazzaniga then of course you are going to miss your regular goalkeeper, no matter who they are!

Now, me and Adrian have had a few ding dongs in the past but I really dont see the point in what you have posted here tbh. Sorry to tell you that you've gone and wasted you're time again. Lovren was a excellent excellent CB for us, he really was and many of us feared him leaving as it didnt seem likely that he would be so easily replaced. Nobody could guess the complete capitulation in form he was going to have at Liverpool either. Now, Lovren, early season last year was performing as arguably one of the best CBs in the league, he definately tailed off towards the end but was still very good. Alderweireld however, IMO, is the best CB I have ever seen in a saints shirt, his athleticism, positioning, strength and ability on the ball is far far better than Ive seen. He really is quality. Agreed that two of the 'arguably' best 3 DMs in the prem infront of our defence, and now what seems like a very competant (yet on here much maligned) goalkeeper behind them probably makes their job easier. So no, I dont see what he has got wrong here at all I also think that playing alongside Fonte makes other players look better. Lovren could focus on his core defensive work, while Fonte did the talking and the organising. Maybe I'm kidding myself, but I have the feeling that Alderweireld would stay with us given the opportunity, but unfortunately Atletico will be the ones to make that an impossibility.

They actually played at the old Wembley in 2000, in the Carlsberg Pub Cup final against Earl Soham Victoria. It's pretty hard to find much record of the game, but I know they did because I was there! They've come a long way since then.

Didn't Manchester City get given their stadium too?

Someone should release a statement along the lines of "We would be interested in a part exchange deal with Tottenham if the deal involved Hugo Lloris, Christian Eriksen or Harry Kane. However, while a move to Southampton would be a step forward for them, we realise that these players should be, and will want to be playing Champions League next season, something that unfortunately we, nor Tottenham for that matter, can offer them."

I think this is a key point in your analysis, plus the league does tend to tighten up as everyone starts sussing each other out, teams play more cagily due to pressures at the bottom, or because they are missing key players. In addition to this coinciding (could also be the cause) with probably our most creative player (Tadic) and our biggest goal threat (Pelle) both losing form.

I think most of the team was a hit for the first half of the season, but second half a few have dropped to a par or even a miss. Mané is probably the exception, in that he looked a bit iffy back in golden months but when the team started to struggle a bit, he really came into his own. Surprised to see people giving Tadic a hit and Pelle a miss, if it's just about how well they have performed, as I can't recall too many games where Tadic was good while Pelle was terrible. For me, the difference between them is that when Tadic was on good form, he showed attributes of being a player of real quality, whereas Pelle always felt a bit more of someone on a hot streak.

Totally agree with this. I guess being a goal up with our defensive record and against a team with relatively little to play for makes the loss especially deflating - it's the hope that kills you!

The presence of Woodward was also just the story Redknapp needed as to why it didn't work out for him here. I think he said something like "I always felt I was keeping the seat warm for someone else", it really is astounding how the media continue to lap up his never ending excuses and self-promotion.

I thought the same with Shaw too - I figured we probably wouldn't find anyone as good, but as long as they were solid defensively and could at least get forward now and again, we'd be ok. As it happens, Bertrand has surpassed all expectations and has actually improved the team!

Pos Team P GD Pts 1 Chelsea 38 41 89 2 Arsenal 38 38 79 3 Man Utd 38 34 78 4 Man City 38 36 74 5 Liverpool 38 16 69 6 SAINTS 38 28 68 7 Tottenham 38 6 65 8 Swansea 38 -3 55 9 West Ham 38 1 51 10 Stoke City 38 -4 51 11 C Palace 38 -3 47 12 Everton 38 -5 43 13 West Brom 38 -20 40 14 Newcastle 38 -22 39 15 Aston Villa 38 -24 36 16 Burnley 38 -23 35 17 Hull City 38 -20 32 18 Leicester 38 -22 32 19 Sunderland 38 -29 32 20 Q P R 38 -25 31 Had Burnley for a last day win, but that relegation zone looks nailbiting to say the least. Wasn't overly harsh on Spurs, yet still only get them to 65 - they have a tough set of fixtures. On the flip side, Liverpool and Man City have a fairly straightforward batch.

I remember that game showing that Fonte wasn't going to cut it in the Premier League...

Not giving him all the credit, but was one of the reasons I was unsure of our chances, as well as that Goodison is not exactly a happy hunting ground. There are always turning points in the game, and 'what if' moments, but Everton have been poor at the back this season, yet they held out pretty well against us (excepting the odd wonder save) - some of that credit is down to the manager, even if it is apparently easy to beat us.

I also think Martinez is an excellent manager in a 'one-off' situation (I think he's quite good in general, but there are still question marks over some things). The international break gave him copious amounts of time to prepare specifically for a game against us, and as we are currently a side with limited options and ideas, that played into his hands.

I saw the caption on BBC's newsfeed, "Spurs stay sixth after goalless draw". Ridiculous.