Key points of Mauricio Pochettino's pre-Stoke press conference: - Calum Chambers had a dead leg against Fulham - Victor Wanyama picked up a knock against Fulham - Chambers rejoined training today - Wanyama has been training all week - Dejan Lovren and Gaston Ramirez are recovering quicker than expected - They have rejoined the other players on the training ground and will be back sooner rather than later - This is a tough time for Sam Gallagher, the entire Southampton family are with him - We believe he should be with his family, they should be united at this difficult time - We offer him our heartfelt wishes and will give him all the support he needs - Sam will not be involved for the Stoke game - Gallagher will be with his family until Monday - Laughed and gave no comment on Real Madrid rumour - Doesn't talk about intangible and unrealistic things - It is very flattering for the work of everyone at the club - It is the players who make Southampton such a great football club, in that sense it is flattering - Said that Real Madrid is a fantastic club and you never know what might happen in the future - Reiterated that he is fully committed to Southampton Football Club for the duration of his contract - Has not spoken to or seen Katharina Liebherr since they last spoke about ten days ago - Understands the club is currently restructuring and he is prepared to be patient - People need to adapt to their roles - The club needs to complete its reorganisation process - He will talk about his contract and future at Southampton when those people and the owners are ready - Says he has a contract until the end of the 2014/15 season at Southampton - Lallana is one of the greatest talents England has - Lallana is "a special talent" and "an amazing player" - Said he does not see Cork/Wanyama as back up and starter - Told Cork at start of the season where they stood, and was honest - Cork has always worked very hard and he has been playing very well - Wanyama and Cork push each other on and it makes them better players - We are very fortunate to have both of these players at our club - The weather and forecast this week is similar to when we played at Stoke, so we must stay fully alert! - Last time was an accident from Artur - Still aiming as high as possible and would like to qualify for Europe - In order to do that, we must maintain our focus and attitude - We need to just focus on beating Stoke, then Hull, then our next game and so on
Do we believe Wanyama really had an injury? Or is that just a cover story for substituting him at half-time?
Didn't bother with a cover story the other time it happened. It might be covering for "I put him in before he was ready and don't want to take the blame myself", of course.
If you watched the game or saw the replays you will have noticed that Victor got flattened twice just before half-time, I suspect he took a substantial knock on one of the occasions?
Have a feeling that Charlie Adam is going to put in a horror challenge in on one of our players this weekend, he tends to lash out when the game gets too quick for him, and I think if Cork plays he will definitely be flustered from his constant harrying. Saying that, I'm probably just talking a load of ****.
Are they a less physical side under Hughes? For some reason I'm less worried about them than Sunderland.
He got injured in-between the two big Fulham chances for Bent. Was limping for about 10 minutes before half time. I was surprised Pochettino waited. He was carrying a knock, on a yellow and playing poorly
Adam got a bit of a reputation because he had the audacity to tackle Bale a couple times, and the primadonna didn`t like it.
I agree. Stoke are a hard physical side but Sunderland under Gustavo Augusto Poyet have become a rather nasty bunch of dirty bastards. In just over a weeks time our treatment room will be overflowing.
