Sadly ex Saints idol Adam Lallana seems set to miss out on a return to St Mary's after picking up a groin injury on England duty this week.

The Ex Saints side rolls into Southampton on Saturday to be greeted by the usual abuse from the Saints supporters directed at those who defected to Anfield from St Mary's.

Usually the main targets would be Adam Lallana and Dejan Lovren, however Lallana looks set to spare both his groin and his ears further punishment by missing out after straining the former at Wembley on Tuesday evening.

Personally I can understand why Dejan Lovren receives so much abuse, after only one season at Saints his comments about his head already being in Liverpool etc grated the Saints supporters and although we made a tidy profit on our initial investment the feeling was that Lovren was a mercenary who was showing no loyalty to the club which had given him his big break.

Yes Saints could have forced him to stay, but you felt that his personality was such that he would not have played to the standards he had set himself, certainly he hasn't set the World alight up on Merseyside since his move and he remins the weak link in the side, indeed Ian McCulloch or legendary Liverpool band Echo & The Bunnymen commented at their gig in the city at the Engine Rooms last week that he wished that Lovren had stayed in Southampton.

But the reason most Saints fans are angry with Lallana is far different from the situation with Lovren, here was a player who had come through our youth ranks and been loved by the supporters and then suddenly he wanted to leave us and what hurt was the way he communicated that fact so desperately through the media, we could understand why he would have his head turned by Liverpool, but not why he was so desperate for it to happen so quickly.

The answer was that Brendan Rodgers had delivered him an ultimatum, indeed as Lallana seemed to have his focus on Anfield and not Brazil for the forthcoming World Cup he did not impress Roy Hodgson who suddenly relegated him from his role as certain starter to bit part player in those 2014 finals.

Sadly for Lallana and I mean this sincerely, the whole situation seemed to set his career back and it has only really been this season and a new start under Jurgen the German that he is starting to realise his potential and not only be a part of the Liverpool side but establish himself as an England starter.

But to most Saints fans he is still publlc enemy number 2 (Lovren is 1) we loved him and he scorned us and that hurt and he would be normally welcomed back with the vitriol that most divorced people reserve for their ex partner, hell hath no fury like a football fan scorned !

But he is set to miss the clash at St Mary's with the groin strain and I am pleased for two reasons.

Firstly he was on form and the fact is that he has been key to Liverpool this season, so for him not to play has to be good for Saints chances of repeating last seasons epic win.

But secondly I don't like to see him receive this abuse, yes I was as hurt as the next Saints fan as to what happened, but I don't think he is to blame as much as some would make out, he had given good service to Saints, he had stayed put in our dark days when it would have been easier to have bailed out, but he stayed and played two season's in League One and was instrumental in getting us out of that league and indeed the Championship.

That being the case he had paid his dues and as much as Dejan Lovren did not deserve a move as he had not been at the club long, Lallana had given us eight years service as a first team player, in doing so had played 235 League games in his time here as well as countless others in the cups, he deserves to be a Saints legend and it is sad that he is not going to be remembered as fondly as many others who gave far less service to the club than he did.

So I am glad that he will not be here to be abused, personally I think it is time that we forgave him, he has been gone nearly three years it is time to draw a line under the episode and although he will not be welcomed back with the warmth tht say Rickie Lambert has been, we should take account of the fact that ultimately Lallana did exactly the same thing as Lambert in going to Liverpool and that the situations were not that far different, Rickie went with just as much haste, indeed we never got to have the pride of seeing him play at the World Cup as a Saints player, the only real difference was that Rickie had the excuse that this was his boyhood team he was joining.

So yes Adam Lallana will not be the Saints legend that he should have been, but he still made a vast contribution to this football club and that being the case does deserve a little bit more respect from us than he is getting now.

Photo: Action Images

schatfield added 13:39 - Nov 17 Lovren I always got why he got abused, but not Lallana. Lallana stayed with us when we were in dire financial problems, and always played his best. He is a good player and went on to now become even better. Are fans going to boo Mane too then? He is the one player I fear coming back to St Marys....that pace will rip us apart
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highfield49 added 14:39 - Nov 17 I think the amount of abuse is proportionate to the amount of contempt shown to the club and supporters when players jump ship.
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JGH added 15:14 - Nov 17 These guys left over 2 years ago. Are we really not over it yet? The club and team are far stronger now than they were when either player was there, let's focus on the current side rather than the tiresome booing which sends the message that we're just a bitter little club.
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ericofarabia added 15:19 - Nov 17 Wot Highfield said.! You could see it in his weasley little eyes, as he received award after award at The End of Season Awards ceremony that he was already off, had been dreaming of playing for them for half of the season, but didn't have the decency to come clean, or have the guts to put in a transfer request (thus losing his "loyalty" bonus/ % of the transfer fee, then the shirt signing fiasco in Brazil whilst still officially captain of us. Copybook well and truly blotted ... all the good work undone ... and the final insult .. The Echo Page, you can possibly put that down to his PR team, but screw him everytime he plays against us. Having said that I hope he establishes himself in The England Team. Also a blessing that he misses the game on Saturday, we can focus on our team, anti Skates songs and Lolvren instead!!!!@@@@!!!

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LordDZLucan added 15:33 - Nov 17 It's not whether you leave Saints that gets the fans backs up it's how you leave. Rickie did it the right way, Adam and Dejan and to a certain extent Sadio did it the wrong way. But we should keep those feelings to ourselves. We have moved on and progressed as a club and we should put our energy into supporting the current side rather directing abuse at those who have left.

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SaintBrock added 16:30 - Nov 17 Too much talking us down through suggestions that we only have a chance if half their first XI regulars are injured. The stronger the side they put out the better in my opinion, you have to beat the best to become the best. If we can't match them and get a result and of course we couldn't match Chelsea then so be it, we'll know exactly where we stand and more importantly what's needed to improve us. I am apprehensive about Saturday but not fearful, VVD is far more than a match for Sad Man and a fit Ryan will stop Clyne's little game. The one area that truly worries me is the marking of Coutinho especially early on when he is often frantic until he gets knackered. We will have to sacrifice forward wing back runs early on and Clasie needs to be at 100% to try and stop Coutinho before he gets at Martina, Cedric may be fit but not match fit and Puel would be taking a huge gamble to start him. A likely outcome? 0-3. We'll never stop them scoring and one has severe doubts that our strikers will suddenly hit a rich vein of goal-scoring form against such formidable opposition. They will bring a full allocation of support and it will be a continuous wall of noise from them which we may find hard to stifle as our fans tend to disappear when the going gets tough. We are 11 games in, everyone knows where we are on S & W's and we have nothing up our sleeves to pull out of a hat. Nevertheless as long as our lads give 100% and love that ball a little more than they have been doing of late and CONCENTRATE all the time an upset may just about possible.

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NewburySaint added 16:47 - Nov 17 He doesn't have any of my respect Nick for the way he left as per the reasons you have detailed above-he was/is old enough to think and speak for himself. And let's never forget the awful, awful egotistical personal double page spread he paid for in the Echo. I actually have more respect for Lovren because at least he had the balls to say he wanted to leave and handed in a transfer request thus forsaking some monies. Having said all that I've never been 1 of the ones to boo these as I prefer to just not acknowledge their existence at all when playing against us!

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SanMarco added 18:55 - Nov 17 None of these characters care two hoots whether they have our 'respect' or not. I am pleased if he doesn't play because he is a very good player. Did Mane go to Africa last/this week? I hope so - I seem to remember he was usually only a sub for Koeman on such occasions because the poor dear was tired out...
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Lazz added 07:22 - Nov 18 We are gonna win this one you wait and see
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