The9

I wonder if Lee Molyneux got pelters when he came on in the 82nd minute? Somehow I doubt their "scummer detectors" would have activated.

Cheers to Morecambe for Tuesday's hilarity... and also for last Saturday when they lost at home to Newport County. Just out of interest, I've had an email from Newport's ST this week following the FL's official approval of the fan takeover announcing elections to the Board, are we still waiting for the PST to transparently announce this? Also, Newport just got a huge windfall from Peterborough selling Conor Washington, which the club has announced "will follow the Exeter model of investing the money 1/3 into the playing squad, 1/3 Academy and 1/3 Infrastructure" (or something like that). ...But apparently it's the Skates have built some kind of club-ownership fan model that everyone is aspiring to.

Now now, it was only TEN changes (I don't know who had the pleasure of keeping their spot). Let's not forget they also beat an Ipswich reserve team in the previous round too.

Absolutely, and Mitchell and Pochettino probably had a lot to do with it, and they MIGHT continue on that path - but too many people are swallowing this as a completely new Spurs, and erm, one summer doesn't make a swallow.

Ashley's transfer policy can be summed up fairly easily. January: If near 40 points, sell best players If near relegation zone, buy attackers and attacking midfielders. Summer: Sell best players and buy attackers and attacking midfielders.

Good to see Wanyama picking up his game significantly in the last 3 matches, my cynical head says performances against Man U and Arsenal just show what we're missing when he isn't trying to put himself in the shop window though. Romeu continues to be excellent defensively but occasionally misplaces a more difficult forward pass (still better than Wanyama on those though) and Clasie is starting to show his qualities now he's got used to the Prem and the level of physicality too.

Hey, look at that, here's my response about Long, Shurlock - you must have missed it. Also from this thread, someone having a pop at me for saying we didn't have a RB problem... One month later - Hey, look, we don't have a right back problem after all. RE: Antonio, I have revised my opinion a bit from watching him a bit more, he has added some nuance to his game, for instance I can't imagine him scoring that nice header from midweek when he was with us (though he did score a few more straightforward headers). He's also got a better first touch than Long, and he's stuck around the Prem for years.

Seeing as 8 and 7 aways have to buy before 8:30am on Monday to get their guaranteed tickets they must know there are some left over for the "6 aways" on Monday. I can see it selling out on Monday despite the restrictions, especially as people don't have to work out how to get to a place in mid-Denmark, or collect tickets when we get there for probably our second-smallest allocation of the season which were the things that put people with that kind of attendance off Midtjylland. Though of course the number of games needed is calculated on 2/3rds of the season, as opposed to all of last season.

The only disappointing thing about Tuesday was that I'd invited Crab Lungs to the pub to watch the game, and he couldn't make it.

Nice that, with the hallmarks of a Saintsweb original if someone can did out the "song for Cedric" thread from the summer...

City have got it in the bag. Not saying which City though.

Yeah, especially Spurs, well known for their sensible and successful transfer deals, particularly spending the Bale money.

I think Forster has already shown his injury hasn't impacted his longer term prospects and it's unlikely to be a factor to put others off, not sure Rodriguez can say the same and was probably a lot more keen to extend his contractual security at this level. I could see Forster going to Man U if De Gea eventually goes, or Arsenal as Cech is probably on a bit of a slope at the very top level.

He was also incorrect, because his "10th, unless Palace..." was a condition not in the original criteria. So, yeah, 11th would be very unlikely, but it is possible.

Bloody Cortese.

Mignolet made the same top corner save last night and no-one's talking about how great he was against Leicester! Also, I said "most" not "all". It was an excellent performance, I just think Kelvin's was better (albeit against worse opposition).

One great performance in those 4 matches, he still had sod all to do in the others. The impact of having a decent defensive midfield again has been massive. Wanyama has put in a shift for the last 3 games, whilst the change of formation was a big factor against Watford. The most obvious difference since Stekelenburg was in the team is that Saints defenders and Wanyama are busting a gut again and making last-ditch tackles and making the attacker's options predictable. The best save he made was the one from behind an attempted block where his view was obscured, but there were at least two further saving tackles that prevented shots which would have tested any keeper. He's improved though, he's more mobile and slightly leaner (whilst still being massive), and his early kicking problems in the Watford match are long-forgotten as he's back to consistently booming them into the other half.

I think Seager will do better than any of our other loanees this season IF they give him a chance. He's a good finisher, might be a bit more suited to Saints' style soon as well, and yes it's his first loan. He got 10 minutes against Millwall on Saturday off the bench, but as Crewe only Marcus Haber up front (who was dire against Saints for Stevenage in the League Cup a few years back, all fluff and no finish), he's got a chance of getting a start. Haber has 4 goals in 33 matches including Canada internationals.

Sign them all to extensions except Gardos, if they'll sign (I'm expecting Pelle and Mane won't. Long and Forster might).

Kelvin made at least one daft "diving back towards his own goal after making initial save" save which he had to recover from. A lot easier to have good positioning when you're only facing one shot rather than rebounds. Still Forster's best performance for Saints, better than the one at Chelsea last season which I think was his previous benchmark. He seems to have slimmed down slightly and is more agile as a result, without losing the natural mass he has always had which comes in handy for deflecting stuff. I was most impressed with the save at his left side near post last night, where his reaction time must have been affected by the defender closing down the shot in front of him. Tight angle for the striker but only 7 yards out and he still got both hands up to it to deflect it out for a corner. The defence as a whole seemed more committed though, the margins between Wanyama and Van Dijk getting their last-ditch tackles in and Forster having to face unpressured shots from relatively close range were tiny.

Yup, sounds about right - as with last season, but when we were seriously talking about it last year Chelsea had already won the League Cup and we were still in the top 4. Liverpool beating City in the League Cup is not THAT unlikely, and puts the mockers on 7th. We could finish 6th, but are unlikely to finish above that based on the teams which are above (and the lead the one most likely to drop off already has). Plus if you look at the table, we're only one point more ahead of 15th than we are behind 6th at the moment. Completely agree with you on Payet, btw. The last time he was out they didn't win in the next 6 matches, which included playing West Brom, Swansea and Villa.

Actually, having looked at the table again after their win against Liverpool last night, I can't now see them coming below 5th - I can't see 6th place West Ham overhauling the 11 point gap by the end of the season even if Leicester lose to Manchester City and Arsenal in their next two aways, and we're another 5 points back from that. I can see the teams within 10 points catching them, but no-one below West Ham. So they should get top 5. But every game against a side that could potentially upset them and doesn't is a big step for them. What they've been good at so far is beating the rest of the league - like we were last season for so long before keeling over at Stoke, Leicester and Sunderland at the end of the season. If they can at least draw with the teams around them they've got a chance of staying up there, but Man City go top by beating them on the weekend, and assuming Arsenal win at Bournemouth on the weekend too, they'd then overtake Leicester by beating them as well.

I've had £10 on Man U for the title at 28/1 if that's ok with you, much better odds for a cash out if they're in the top 3 come April. Mind you I offset it with £20 on Stoke to win at Old Trafford from 2-0 down, not having seen Wollscheid had gone off and Bardsley come on...

My expectations this season were top half and see how far we could go in Europe. After we got knocked out of Europe it was "get to a Cup Final or finish 7th and hope the top 4 sides hoover up the Cups again". We won't get into the Europa even coming 7th unless Man City win the League Cup (or Liverpool do and finish top 4, which is as unlikely as us coming top 4), and one of the top 4 (top 6 maybe, can't remember?) also wins the FA Cup.

You're thinking of Pellegrini.