Nordic Saint

I think we have if we play a back four of Bertrand, Bednarek, Danso & Cedric and we'd still have Yoshida to slot in either of those central defensive positions when needed. It seems to be taking Ralph a long time to realize that Vestergaard is a problem, not a solution. Sometimes managers get too impressed by players who perform well in training when there is less pace and pressure.

Red Bull have proved very good owners at both Leipzig and Salzburg. I wonder when they'll start looking for an English club? Perhaps Mitchell could point them in our direction.

"Elyounoussi struggles" https://tbrfootball.com/celtic-fans-react-as-mohamed-elyounoussi-struggles-against-rennes/

He's on the subs bench tonight for Norway v Malta.

N'Lundulu scores again!

It does feel as though a great weight has been lifted from the club now that he has gone. He was about as trustworthy as a shady used car dealer. The constant stream of negative PR 'leaks' about players and managers he had fallen out with created a very bad atmosphere at the club, undermined team morale and bitterly divided the fans (let's not forget, there was a minority of fanatical Reedites who regarded him as God and hated all the players and managers he wanted them to hate). Just glad that he has gone.

I'll be there too and the ticket prices are the cheapest at St Mary's so far this season. My first ever international game at the Dell involved the country Kosovo was once part of: England U23 v Yugoslavia U23 2-1, in 1965. Yugoslavia had a winger playing for them, called Dragan Džajić, who remains to this day one of the best footballers I ever saw play.

Hopefully, he has been fitted with incontinence pants.

Ours is one which is rarely played and so more similar to Stoke v Port Vale https://news.sky.com/story/eleven-arrests-after-despicable-violence-at-rare-stoke-vs-port-vale-derby-match-11571967

Tadic v Fonte in UEFA Champions League Group H Chelsea Ajax Valencia Lille

Revenge for 2010! Premier League Saints at League One Pompey. We've got them at the right time.

Revenge for 2010 at last!

On the one hand, I like to see Pompey lose every game; on the other hand, I'd love to see us thrash them at St Mary's. Failing that, any lower league team at home. As we know, this is a competition we can at least reach the final in.

José Fonte captained his Lille team to a 3-0 victory over Saint-Étienne tonight.

Second consecutive away win and two clean sheets. We're on a roll.

Classic Shane Long miss from a yard in front of goal. It's what we've come to expect from him.

A free-kick in that position is when you want Boufal rather than Ward-Prowse taking it. But, Ward-Prowse hogs them all.

Credit to him. He's worked his socks off.

Obafemi + Djenepo, Danso and the improving Boufal and Redmond and you can see things really picking up again.

Obafemi! He's a real star in the making.

Someone with a bit more oomph and pace to replace Ward-Prowse could be the key. He doesn't create much so nowadays his main role seems to be to battle in central midfield but he tends to get easily overrun and outpaced. I think we were all hoping he would turn into a real team leader but the fact is he tends to get bypassed by pacy opposition and doesn't offer much in the way of leadership. Boufal seems to be our main midfield battler tonight. Pity Ward-Prowse doesn't let him take the free-kicks as I think he'd be better at them too. Anyway, as long as we win, it's all good.

Boufal is doing a lot of defensive work.

99 times out of a hundred, league clubs in dire financial trouble are saved at the brink or reborn under a slightly different company name so the odds are that they'll both survive in some form or another. The worst case scenario is probably that one of them might end up reborn in the National League North after a short hiatus. The rise of Salford FC in an area already dominated by Manchester United and City hasn't done Bury any favours though.

That looks like a very exciting starting lineup for Saints. Happy with that. McCarthy Cedric Danso Bednarek Romeu Ward-Prowse Hojbjerg Boufal Djenepo Redmond Obafemi

I have fond memories of our last 2 home games v Bury: the 2-0 FA Cup win in 2008, when they brought a fair number of fans down, and the 6-2 league win at the Dell in 1965 (4 goals from George O'Brien and 1 each for Wimshurst and Chivers in our promotion season), when they didn't. There must be a few posters here who were at the away game at Gigg Lane that season, which we won 3-1. It must be tough for both Bury and Bolton trying to survive in the ever growing shadows of the two big Manchester clubs. Bolton have always been a bogey team for us though and I remember some trouble with their fans up there on the way back to the station in the late 70s, which was reciprocated when they played down here.