I am confident that Ralph will get more out of this team than the previous 2 managers and produce more entertainment than the previous 3, but less certain about how good we can be....though we do have a mixture of decent and good players. Remember that if Saints' fans got suicidal every time we lost 2 opening games, we'd have none left by now.
Anybody remember Mickey Evans who saved us from the drop one season with some vital goals?. He looked like a right country bumpkin (and I was born in Devon!). I think the end of season away fancy dress theme was his sideburns and straw hats, I stand to be corrected though. Funnily enough we also had a Micky Adams around about the same time!
I have now seen the highlights and Mane was in open country, when he received the ball, in the corner of the penalty area. No one within 5 yards of him, when someone really should have been breathing down his neck, not giving him space to turn.
I read, recently, that Sky have always had the right to release mini highlights, but just haven’t done so. They must have had a rethink.
Better player than Salah, imo, and I've always said so. He struggled after his first, dynamic season with us, but he did his knee in against Everton and missed about six months. By the end of the season though he'd got back that incredible pace (is there anyone quicker from a standing start?), and he really has developed his passing and finishing now. Absolute steal we got him for, though as I remember your chairman was keen to sell at that price, and it was just a matter of if he chose us or Uniturd. Makes up the money you fleeced out of us for Lovren though... And no wonder you wanted every penny more you get from us for VVD. Once bitten, and all that, though there wasn't the animosity on the Mane sale as there was with the VVD and Lovren sales, was there? Fantastic three points for us that. We knew how hard that would be, and I'd have settled for a point before the game. Great miss by agent Ings…
Good resort. You can't swim in the sea as the waves are ten foot high, but aside from that it's paradise. And the way the pound is tanking you just have to go all-inclusive nowadays. Maybe I'm getting old. Only probs we had last time was that the pool was closed three days out of fourteen as (British) kids had **** in it. My sister had a magnificent flounce about how hard she works to pay for her holidays, and you need to teach your effing brats to **** in the toilet by the side of the effing pool, not in it. She was quite right though.
Not watched the incident back about Djenepo diving, but staying down, getting the physio to help him off the pitch and continuing to hobble afterwards showed an incredible dedication to the craft.
I wouldn't say we were keen to sell him at that price, we just knew we had no choice. We remember how we got him in the first place which is him refusing to play for Salzburg. I think the club pretty much knew when we bought him that he was aiming much higher. He never made much of a secret about it. So when big clubs started to come for him, we knew he would refuse to play if necessary and things would get nasty and that we would kind of be breaking the implicitly understood terms of the agreement. But I have nothing against Mane. He never claimed he loved the club. I don't actually recall him saying anything negative about us publicly. And in fact, I think he could have forced his way out earlier, had he wanted. We were a stepping stone for him and we knew it. He earned his way out by playing well, which was mutually beneficial. I think the club would have screwed him if they could, but he had us by the balls. Good for him. I wish we had handled the VVD move the same way we did Mane's.
No animosity towards Mane, as after wanting away the summer before, he knuckled down and gave us one more season before getting the move he was promised. Van Dijk, on the other hand, signed a 6 year contract, spent half a season injured (he was happy enough to take our money then), and as soon as Liverpool showed an interest, basically refused to play, and hung around stinking the place out until he got his own way. Two brilliant players, very different characters though. You can keep Lovren. And Lallana (I have nothing against Adam btw, but plenty of others do).
Mane told BBC Sport about scoring against Southampton: “I'm sorry it is against my old team and sorry I have to score but I'm wearing a Liverpool shirt now. “Southampton was a very good step for me, I have big respect for this club. It is an amazing place. “I learned a lot here and they are very nice people. But it is part of football and you have to deal with it.”
Mane next summer is gonna be interesting I'm pretty sure top European clubs will be fluttering eyelids at him. I can't wait for him to say how they were a great club but a stepping stone for him. Hopefully he will end it with "had they shown more ambition "
To be fair mate, Liverpool are European Champions - for the sixth time. I know it gets a bit tiresome when Liverpool fans bang on about history, but there really is only one other club in Europe with a higher profile than them, and Real Madrid appear to be in some disarray.