Thiago

Funny enough, Sky did a feature the other week about Southampton engineering breaks in play (I think around the 70-75 minute mark) by feigning cramp and the like. I think one example they used was against us at St James' Park. IT did look like we used a similar tactic just to stun their momentum.

Wow. Fair play, I never expect us to boss every game we go into, but to see us manage that game so well is a huge bonus. They dominated the ball, but we limited them to few real chances and exposed them in transition well. That winning goal is going to be on loop for a while, but the defence deserve tremendous credit. Howe deserves a boat load of credit for adding steel to this group and getting them to believe again.

I'm convinced he had no idea who he was joining He's playing in his own box, taking the piss, and then back heels in his first goal. I love him.

10 points above the relegation places.

No Joe or Maxi and Salisu starts. I still back the lads but that's like loosing three coin flips in a row

From a purely sporting sense anyone is going to be awful compared to Abramovich. No one is going to just throw money in at a loss like he did.

Can someone condense for me what this means short term?

Makes sense. This is his last big deal in reality and in a World Cup year he won't want to be near the Championship.

Unless it's a generation defining talent, what's the need? Even Botman was keen to come in January knowing we were in the shit. Everything I've heard about Kamara is that his attitude stinks. Throw in he also said no to us in January and I'm not desperate.

Him, Boubacar Kamara. Anyone really.

Sir Edward Howe took time to settle and you should afford Lampard similar. In theory, his form should start to pick up now. For all the talk of our January signings, Howe started at a much lower ebb, and I think our squad on paper was much worse January 1 than his is now. There's no doubting this will be a hugely important moment in his managerial career. He has to decide how much pragmatism factors into things. Is he choosing a style because he thinks it'll win or is it because he wants to do it his way. Everton have potential fall guys in Leeds and Brentford, but if it goes tits up he's relegating a big football club. They may not have achieved a great deal in the modern era, but they're a fixture of the top flight. I genuinely can't picture them in the Championship.

I'd steer clear of someone that didn't fancy it first time round.

Yes mate, my point is they've got a game against Watford on Sunday. When you consider their style is so physically demanding it seems a big ask for Salisu to play two games in four days when he's only just coming back from a tight hamstring. EDIT: And they've got the cup too. Big ask.

If he's had hamstring tightness it would be bold to push him to play twice in four days. I think they might be doing what we did with ASM before West Ham. Either way we go to try and win.

Did he confirm if Salisu is fit?

I love him but I'm not sure he's as adept in tight spaces as Dembele, but I also think he's better defensively.

Fleetwood down to 10 now too. That'll be a win tonight and you'd bank on one Saturday against struggling Crewe. I'm sure they'll be all for Neill after that.

Fleetwood denied a pretty clear penalty too.

They could drop as low as 8th tonight.

The thing with Burnley is they remind me a bit of those UFC fighters that only want to wrestle. If they can get a hold of you and take it to the mat that's when their experience makes it a turgid affair that's hard to win. I think their games are so hard to call for that reason.

I still like the lad. I decided to watch the goal back. I think it's easy to blame Dubravka but I think his focus is split between the ball coming in and Trossard jostling with Murphy right in front of him. That's what allows Dunk to nip ahead. That's also where I think Wood has to take responsibility for losing him so easily. You can't always win the header but you can make it difficult for your marker and he just didn't.

Defending stats may just suggest one is more busy than the other and doesn't really factor in styles/setups etc. That said, based on what I've seen I'm very happy for him to be here and hope he stays.

Am I alone in thinking Lampard looks like shit? Poor bloke looks like he's in his 50s.