Nordic Saint

The screaming. It looks like Spurs practise their cheating in training. They are very good at diving, screaming and then mobbing the ref, with Kane constantly in his ear demanding cards for opposition players. The jumping up and backing into the goalkeeper to knock the ball out of his hands was another cheat they'd practised. Since the 1960s it has been 100% a foul to knock the ball out of the goalkeeeper's hands with any part of the body, but usually it's done with boot or head. By smashing into him backwards, they hoped to get away with it.

It's a rugby tactic: kick the ball into touch deep in the opposition's half then it's going to take them a long time to get back up the pitch. When you are down to 10 men and trying to hang on to the end of the game, it makes sense. As we've seen in our last 2 games, Forster is very good at 'game management'.

The whole team played well but Forster, Ward-Prowse and Walker-Peters were really outstanding. We have the makings of a top 8 team there.

I'd prefer to see him celebrating a goal. We are not going to catch Man United but Newcastle just might catch us. Maybe I'm being overly cautious as on the evidence of our last game, we aren't in any real danger of relegation.

Strike One. Now we need an injury to Saint-Maximin and 2 Manchester United goals.

A lot of it is based on prejudice rather than observation of how he played. His chipped pass that started the move for our first goal was superb.

We've won 5 of the last 8 Premier League game Forster has played and we finished 6th and 7th with him in goal. His stats for points won per game and goals conceded per game are miles better than McCarthy's. So, whereas all of the facts show that Forster is much better, and we get much better results with him in goal, you stick to your prejudice.

But, Saints have won 5 of the last 8 Premier League games Fraser Forster has played in so with him in goal you expect us to win.

Billy Beane, the man who invented Moneyball. Now if we could just get Paul Mitchell back what a combination that would be. But for that to happen we'd need Red Ball to merge with Red Bull. Yeh, it's probably going to be DaGrosa, DaFaka or some other chancer, isn't it, and we'll just end up with a Red Bill. Seriously though, I'm feeling optimistic about this takeover, especially as it looks like it's timed to happen just before the January transfer window opens. As for Paul Mitchell, good as he is, he doesn't stick around very long anywhere, does he? I'm not sure why he left Red Bull for Monaco but I guess it was for more money.

Gabbiadini is enjoying a purple patch like the one he had when he first joined Saints. He has scored in every one of his last 5 Serie A games. But another ex-Saint, Juanmi, is doing even better than that, with 7 goals in his last 5 La Liga games.

Our last win there. We had a much stronger team then: Report: West Ham 0-3 Saints | Southampton FC

Covid is hitting attendances: Chelsea 1-1 Everton Attendance: 13,933 Chelsea 1-1 Everton: Jarrad Branthwaite equaliser gives Toffees hard-earned point - BBC Sport

Yes, he looks as promising as Shearer did at the same age. Unfortunately, Chelsea can probably see that too.

Does that make Ward-Prowse the all-time greatest Premier League goal scorer from free kicks or just 1st= with Larsson? I'm not sure when this was last updated: Premier League Player Stats - Freekicks scored

He is a phenomenon. 49 caps for Portugal, all in his 30s, and I expect he'll win his 50th next year.

Goal machine, Juanmi scores his 5th goal in 3 games, as his Real Betis move up to 3rd in La Liga. Resumen de Real Betis vs Real Sociedad (4-0) - YouTube

That side is so poor that it really brings home how far we've fallen from the days when we had great players like Fonte, van Dijk and Mane. Most of the players we have now would not get into any other Premier League team's starting XI. Would they even be good enough to make the playoffs in the Championship?

How about Caballero-Lancashire-Walcott-Long? Championship or League One?

Best in Europe. With 22 duels won, Jose Fonte is the defender with the best percentage of duels won (76%) in the Champions League, ahead of Ronald Araujo (Barcelona - 71%) and Eder Militao (Real Madrid - 69%). Fonte's Lille team won their Champions League group.

As I'm sure the TV commentators will point out, we have never won a league game at the Emirates and haven't won any of our last 26 league games at Arsenal. Surely, we can't have a worse record than that anywhere.

From the BBC: "The deal to take total ownership could be worth in excess of £500m." "He said the 49ers' plans were "pure" and promised to make Leeds "one of the biggest clubs in the world". "He added they plan to keep Elland Road, but modernise and increase the capacity of the stadium." Leeds United: San Francisco 49ers have option to buy 100% of club and Elland Road by January 2024 - BBC Sport

Yes, but at least we should be able to enjoy the first half. Probably best to go the bar at half-time and stay there.

I was born in Fareham and went to school there so I know about the rivalry. That's why I know that Pompey fans love us singing about them on TV. It makes them feel big. It doesn't help our team in any Premier League game we are playing. It simply gives Pompey more media coverage than other League One teams get, thanks to our gullible fans. Every home game at St Mary's the first song the Northam/Kingsland corner starts is always about Pompey. I've seen televised Newcastle games and not heard songs about Sunderland and I've seen televised Pompey games and not heard songs about Saints but every single televised game at St Mary's everyone can clearly hear the songs about Pompey. As I said, it is small time and embarrassing and gives far more credit to a lower league team than it deserves. We are bigging them up and they love it and this is a team that lost its last home game against Harrogate in front of just 7,000 fans. WHY do fans of clubs like Liverpool and Man United need to hear us singing about Pompey as if they were at the same level???

Little Pompey being battered by non-league Harrogate at an almost empty Fratton Park: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/59521674 It's really embarrassing that our fans still sing about such a small club at every Premier League game. It's like Newcastle singing about Hartlepool or Liverpool singing about Tranmere.

Juanmi scores yet again to beat Barcelona today and take Real Betis into the top 4. Only Real Madrid's Benzema has scored more goals than him this season: Resumen de FC Barcelona vs Real Betis (0-1) - YouTube