Nordic Saint

It's more likely that Ralph does know the reason, as this occurred less than an hour before kick-off when they were together in the dressing room, but is being disingenuous.

You could be close to the truth there. Cedric clearly travelled to the stadium with the intention of playing today, probably with a great deal of confidence after his performance on Tuesday night. Then one hour before kickoff something happened. Ralph later said that the reason he played 3 central defenders was in reaction to the Spurs team selection, which was announced one hour before kickoff. So, I wonder if Ralph's last minute defensive reshuffle with Cedric being asked to play out of position, like the defenders were against Bournemouth, upset the players.

What does Ralph see in Vestergaard? Should have been Valery for Cedric at the start and certainly at half-time. Then Ward-Prowse would have been released to play in midfield.Tactically, the same type of defensive mistake as in the Bournemouth game. At least he got it right for the Pompey game.

It's free to all Sky users, on the Sky Sports Mix channel, even if you don't pay for Sky Sports.

Hampshire finish 3rd. Our best finish since 2008. Do you think we have a realistic chance of winning our 3rd championship next season? Somerset must be gutted. If we hadn't beaten them, they'd have won the first championship in their history.

Struggling to even get into the team at Alkmaar. It's amazing that he's managed to make a lucrative career out of football without ever really being good enough to play for the clubs paying him. http://sportwitness.co.uk/player-unhappy-with-his-spell-at-southampton-finding-difficult-at-new-club/

Maybe he wasn't filming himself but video phoning someone back home who he wanted to celebrate with. I guess if you look closely at a couple of thousand people for two hours you are going to find one or two examples of odd behaviour but you don't know what the real story is behind it so it's possible to put any spin on it you like.

What is almost as weird is that there must have been Pompey fans filming every move Saints fans made and then combing through it all afterwards looking for something like this. As for the News, they know that any story which bigs up how 'hard' and 'passionate' Pompey fans are and how 'plastic' Saints fans are will sell well in Portsmouth. For the 'hardness' bit all they could find was one of their fans hitting a horse, which according to a thread on one of their message boards proved he was hard. They studiously avoided any mention of the Saints fans wading into theirs.

This is going to be a massive story in Portsmouth for years to come. Like the cancelled fundraising match story and the mythical dock strike it's going to be dragged out by them before every derby game. https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/football/portsmouth-fc/southampton-fan-branded-plastic-for-waiting-to-celebrate-goal-until-he-got-his-phone-out-during-portsmouth-game-1-9086034

He repeated the story about the 'Welcome to hell' banner on the motorway half a dozen times along with the bit about some of his Southampton team mates turning white on the centre circle in the pre-match warmup. And, as you say, didn't say one positive word about SFC or its fans. All of the Sky Sports team seemed desperate for Pompey to win. Let's face it, it's all a load of bullsh!t. The Pompey Boo Boys are notorious for turning against their own team and regularly boo them off the pitch in their league games, and as for any fighting, about the only blows that have ever been struck in anger been landed by Saints fans, apart from the one to a horse. At least one Saints fan ended up in prison for punching Pompey fans when they were being escorted to the ground the last time they visited St Mary's. This might explain it. From his Wiki: Higginbotham rejected a new contract and as a result was placed on the transfer list in July 2006.He told the local press that he felt disrespected the way Southampton chairman Rupert Lowe had handled his contract – he had taken a pay cut to move from Derby, a 40% pay cut following relegation, and then the new contract offer was lower still than his current contract.

They already have. They were chanting "We want Jackett out" in their last league game and have been regularly booing their team off this season even when they've got a draw. https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/forum/245616/boos-ring-out-at-fratton-park/#30

I was thinking the same thing. The dream draw: Pompey at home this season with a repeat of the FA Youth Cup score.

Haunstrup and Close played in this game as well so they've seen their team concede 11 goals in derby games and score none. How they must love south coast derbys: https://www.southamptonfc.com/news/2013-12-10/saints-7-0-pompey-fa-youth-cup-report

You obviously don't remember 1996, the last time we played them at the Dell. Their players got it just the same. David Beckham said the Dell was the place he hated playing at most because of the crowd being so close. Ultimately, it doesn't seem to help the home team much as, historically, Pompey have one of the lowest home win percentages in the Football League.

The 20 sure looks good: https://www.soccerbase.com/teams/head_to_head.sd?team_id=2049&team2_id=2471

They all played well but special mention to Yoshida. He was superb and led the team from the back.

He's shot himself in the foot there: Pompey finished 8th in the Premier League once. That's all.

Great result. Winning by 4 clear goals away from home in a local derby is something few teams have done, including little pompey, who probably never will. A Saints fan, Danny Ings, scoring 2 of the goals goals brings back memories of another Saints fan, Steve Moran, scoring at Fratton Park. Credit to Ward-Prowse who was clearly chuffed to bits with the result in his post-match interview and who said he will be "celebrating on the way home". Man of the Match should be shared by Yoshida and Ings, who, whatever else happens, will always be Saints legends after this.

Until the rivalry became more bitter and intense in the 70s, we used to play each other nearly every year in friendlies, which were usually testimonials for the 2 clubs' players. My favourite was when we beat them 7-0 in the John Milkins Testimonial at Fratton Park.

He was a great character. I used to be one of his young followers in the 60s & 70s. I remember when Man United invaded the pitch and came charging towards the Milton Road end. He ended up standing in front of the wall, with one United fan armlocked under each arm. They decided then that perhaps it wasn't such a good idea to try to get into the Milton.

I was there, in the Fratton End, singing with Dougal & co, when we beat them 5-2 in the league and when we beat them 7-0 in a testimonial.

I'm currently near Fareham. It's a beautiful, sunny afternoon.

Kevin Friend, who reffed our 2-0 win at Brighton this season and gave one of their players a red card. Last season he reffed our 2-1 win v Spurs and 2-2 draw with Man Utd and the season before that our 4-1 win v Everton and draws v Spurs and Newcastle. The last games he reffed Pompey, they lost 0-1 at home to West Ham and he gave a Pompey player a red card, 0-2 away to Reading, 1-2 away to Forest, 0-2 away to Spurs and 0-1 away to Stoke. The only time they managed a draw was at home to Sunderland when he gave a red card to a Pompey player in the 9th minute. They've never won a game when he's been the referee.

Pompey have one tactic, which is to try to get an opposition player sent off early in the game, then hang on for a draw. There are a phenomenal number of red cards in their games. So, the secret is NOT to get dragged into a physical game. We need our fastest and most skilful players for this one. I generally like the look of your team. Vestergaard and Ward-Prowse will not be suited to this game. In fact, I could see Ward-Prowse getting a red card early in the game if he plays. The experienced Cedric might be better than Valery as it's the wing-backs who get it most from the crowd.

Calum Chambers has just scored for Arsenal. A few on here wrote him off too soon. He was Fulham's Player of the Season last year. He's still only 24. We could certainly do with a player like him.