mrfahaji

The most likely alternative was Harry Redknapp, for all Hodgson's shortcomings I'm still glad he got the job instead. If 'Arry was in charge I would be wanting them to lose every game.

I didn't think it was possible for him to be any more of a hero...

I'm thinking that Bertrand and/or Clyne could conspire to set him up for a confidence boosting goal...

I think someone posted that finishing 7th in the Europa League would mean qualifying rounds whereas 5th or 6th would go straight to the groups. Finishing 7th and qualifying for Europe would be a fantastic achievement and add even more excitement to next season, but the prospect of qualifying rounds and being pipped by Liverpool and Spurs at the end would taint 7th a little. Having said that, it would be our best Premier League finish and it would mean six consecutive years of improved league position - surely not many teams can point to that sort of run? In summary: Top 4 = dreamland, 5th = amazing, preferably above Liverpool & Spurs, 6th = smug, preferably above Spurs but would also take Liverpool, 7th = objectively happy but tinged with disappointment of what could have been. 8th or below = hugely disappointing but would still try to look at the positives from a great season, let's hope it doesn't come to this!

No I wasn't referring to this squad in particular, just a general feeling since he's been in charge. Now the squad has been confirmed it's not an issue, but the mere suggestion of resting the Liverpool players would have been another example.

I think Hodgson's attitude towards Liverpool is something akin to Stockholm Syndrome. The supporters gave him such stick at Anfield and made his position impossible, yet ever since he's taken over the England job he always seems to be overly accommodating towards anything Liverpool. It seems to me that he wanted to show he had no axe to grind from his time there, but has taken it a bit far. I actually quite like Roy, but this is one of a few things that bug me.

While I don’t disagree with some of the points here, I can’t help wondering if everyone would be raving about him if he was still playing in the Under 21s without the 64 appearances to his name. He’s only 20 and central midfield must be one of the hardest positions to find your feet in as a youngster; Ross Barkley has been billed as England’s next star but at the grand old age of 21 he hasn’t exactly set the world alight. I too have reservations whether JWP will live up to the hype but for supporters to be slamming someone at this early stage in their career seems crazy to me.

Le Tissier vs Forest 1993. Magilton vs West Ham 1997. I don't feel confident we're going to wait another 17 years before we miss another though...

Unless you're an already-booked Nemanja Matic.

Was the Burnley one also down the middle? I thought it went to the side, and was a 'poor' penalty rather than a shocking one. Arsenal & Chelsea were awful, but they did go in... I know Lambert & Le Tiss were both also excellent free kick takers but I'm not sure it necessarily follows that the two go hand in hand, penalties require a lot more composure and nerve. Credit at least to Tadic for stepping up again despite missing the last one - for a player supposedly lacking bottle it would be easy for him to give someone else a go.

I'm not sure protecting a 1-1 at Stamford Bridge is the best time to give the likes of Hesketh and Isgrove a 'run out'. While I can see the argument for Reed, I think the purpose of having Djuricic on was to get someone who could keep possession and still offer an attacking outlet. We might have been defending well but when you just keep giving the ball back to them it becomes more and more difficult. Djuricic also won some clever free kicks to slow the game down. As for Tadic, he has been desperately disappointing over the last few months, but he showed in the first third of the season that he possesses quality. He isn't really the same mould of player as Lallana, less industry but more creativity, as well as being more of a wide player. I don't think he is always worthy of a starting berth at the moment but I'm still optimistic about his role in the team going forward.

And I for one am glad about that. I really can't stand the extreme levels of "success buying" Chelsea and Manchester City have shown over the last 5-10 years. I know money is always going to be a factor but whereas a team getting a cash injection for one or two new players can help mix things up a bit, I see the success that Manchester City are enjoying right now as something of a hollow victory, it's like completing a computer game with cheat mode enabled. That's what would make, although it is looking less and less likely by the week, Southampton getting snatching a CL place from one of the big clubs taste all the sweeter.

It's been rumoured that some players have been "giving a million per cent out there", so I don't see why we would should be satisfied with a paltry 110%.

Unfortunately the fact that anyone (including me) has reservations about being in the Europa League is a sad indictment of that competition, and the mess Uefa have made of it. Even when we qualified in 2003 it was an exciting to be involved. Now, as much as the idea of playing European ties is great, it is tinged with a "could we do without it?" feeling, which should never be the case - as otherwise, as some have alluded to above, what's the point?!

I think most injuries in skiing happen when someone crashes into you or by going to ski parks and doing jumps. I expect the players are skiing in a slightly more controlled environment, not just mixing it on the slopes with random holidaymakers. Hope so anyway. I know it's possible that players could run into each other, or someone could fall awkwardly, but I think once you take stupidity (from strangers or themselves) out of the equation it's probably no more dangerous than football training.

It's hard to think who else could anchor the team at centre forward bar Pelle, but do we actually need someone to do that? We'd have to adapt our tactics a little, but I think we have the players to play a slightly different way, with more focus on player movement up top. Mane and Long could interchange playing through the middle and playing wide.

Ok, while these stats are evidence that you don't need to have hauled as many points this year, it still doesn't mean that the top teams have gone backwards, it can equally be true the entire league has got stronger. I just mean that when United fans write off LVG as being "lucky that everyone else is rubbish", they might be missing the point that he's done well to win the games he has (admittedly by not playing that well). PS I am chastising myself for using you're instead of your in my previous post. Oh god, come on West Ham, hold on...

Is it actually true that their competitors have underperformed though? Chelsea are better than last season, City are above them, Arsenal never meet expectations, Tottenham are better and we are also up there having a really good season. Liverpool are probably the only side to have notably dropped off, and I would say that it was more that last season they unexpectedly overperformed. I hear a lot of comments on the radio from people (particualrly United fans) saying that Premier League is worse this year - but I would argue that top teams are dropping more points it's actually that the league is getting stronger - and if you're competitors are dropping more points than you are, that means you're doing well, rather than the general consensus that everyone else must be rubbish.

I like it when people get them mixed up. I heard a Man United fan (with a Southern accent, naturally) on the radio once during a run of a couple of poor results, where he proclaimed that Ferguson would be angry with the team "in between closed doors", and that the team really needed to "buckle up their ideas".

I believe Saints have never finished higher in the league standings than Liverpool, would be nice to put that right in the season when a few of our key players joined them in acrimonious circumstances. However, after last year's heroics, this season has been somewhat disappointing for Liverpool, even if they put on a good run and finish in the top 4. As much as I don't like them, Lovren's spectacular fall from grace has been highlight - any success they now seem to be enjoying is coming in spite of him rather than because of him. Therefore I have to go with Spurs. I felt bitter about Pochettino's departure, but trying to look at it objectively, he did do a good job with us, and we've gone on to improve further. A bit like getting dumped by a girl only to meet someone new who you prefer anyway - you're never going to overly happy to see pictures of her new boyfriend, but as long as you can look back with good memories, that's the important thing... Unfortunately though, Pochettino has been extremely smug of late, particularly his disparaging comments about our current success. Whereas Liverpool finishing fourth would not be an improvement for the scouse defectors, 4th for MP would be a huge success, and I cannot bear to witness such smugness and revelry at Spurs. Don't even get me started on their efforts to prise away Morgan for £10m. If Tottenham try to sign him we should just offer him to Arsenal for less money just to spite them.

I did like 'One Vision' at The Dell, but I think the compact nature of the ground also lent itself to an intense buzz for when the players ran out.

He was poor tonight, and it's frustrating, but he doesn't want to play s**t, no-one "deserves stick" for being out of form...

As someone pointed out earlier, not sure how there were only 5 minutes of added time. Although it felt like we could play all night and still not stick it in the net. Pretty frustrating, the only thing that could have made it more frustrating would be watching on a stream that had to buffer every 5-10 seconds. Fortunately I had that too. Although going down to 10 men virtually nullified West Ham as an attacking threat, they are well versed at that sort of scenario and were always going to make it difficult. Think Mane would have scored if Adrian hadn't had his 'moment of madness', so perhaps it wasn't so mad after all.

I think this could prove to be the difference (hopefully not!). Pelle has been great, and when you consider the price we paid for him, also a bargain. However, I'd probably class him as a 'good premier league striker' rather than a top class one. Unfortunately, there are only a handful of these players in the division (maybe even in the world), and they all cluster at a few clubs. The best you can hope for is unearthing one and keeping for a couple of seasons. Look at Bony - not even sure whether he's in that top bracket, but he's been stockpiled by City nonetheless.

I think it's pretty disgraceful for a player to get stick, whether they're playing poorly or not. It could be fair enough if there is no effort, but I don't know if I recall a player who has shown such enthusiasm for playing for us as Graziano. I remember the start of the season - he was struggling a bit, and while a few groans of frustration might be natural, some idiots were even ironically cheering him against West Brom (his first home game!) when he did something well. Credit to the fans at Millwall who really got behind him (despite some wayward finishing) - I genuinely think the support he received there played a big part in him becoming such an important player for us this season. It's hard to think of a situation where berating your own players will actually lead to an improvement, but sadly it is more common in football now as fans have a greater sense of entitlement.