The9

Agreed there's nothing wrong with pointing it out in that context. Repeatedly whining about it as some kind of scandal is the silly bit. The overall cost of matches went up 2013/14 compared to 2014/15, but the balance of the Categories didn't skew towards Cat A matches - there was one more of those, but also one more Cat C. So there's not even the case that matches overall cost more as a result of this change, they didn't - they were already more expensive overall, but the extra Cat A was offset by an extra Cat C too. And then there's my point about charges being due to the cost of tickets at the club we're playing, and that we won't know if this is actually a "last match" thing unless they do it again.

Point A is far more to do with Lukaku not looking like the player he was for West Brom and Everton's problems than anything defenders have been doing. Agreed regarding his tendency to go tight - or as I've noticed, on occasions fly straight past the guy. I think he's improved that bit a lot since he's been with Saints, but notsomuch his heading.

It's the only match I'm not going to before the end of the season, my logic being... that I couldn't really be arsed. I've never actually seen Saints there, but having gone to Stoke v Brighton on the day Rochdale v Saints was called off, I can confirm that even without the hassle of being an away fan it was a fairly unpleasant place and a pain to get around, and that I don't really need to revisit it. Might wake up tomorrow feeling like a 370 mile drive but prob not.

Fair enough, I'll be sure to pay particular attention to his heading going forward.

Just like Saints did at Chelsea a couple of weeks ago then.

It is, however, completely irrelevant to a discussion in which the overall prices have been set for at least 10 months within the parameters of overall costs to fans that were decided months before that. They've already decided next season's STs, so they'll have already decided how much per game it is for Cat A, B, C next season too - most likely the same. It will be interesting to see if we stay with the 7A-4B-8C balance of this season, especially if Bournemouth come up - as that's the closest thing to a derby we're getting for at least another 2 and a half years (and God forbid it's that soon as it involves us getting relegated).

It's never been guaranteed to be a Cat C before just as it's never been guaranteed to be a Cat A before. There are still the same number of matches evening out at the same cost, you have no argument.

I am not in a position to access the endless footage of him misreading headers which led to us signing Lovren at the end of that season (and Forren, and Gardos since) and then getting Alderweireld in the year after, so that's all you're getting. But yeah, true, he did play full back in that game, I remember him chasing Benayoun back as they played in behind him. [Edit - that was the second goal, see below]. Hey, but would you look at that, he was centrally defending for Noble's free-kick which floated straight over his head into the back of the net... (about 2:30 here http://www.downvids.net/west-ham-united-vs-southampton-4-1-highlights--262022.html). Oh, and he went under a header out on the touchline after the throw in leading to their 4th. But anyway. I don't make this stuff up.

I think we're just waiting on Saints to say "we're definitely playing in the tournament on July 11th". There's no other date involved, that's clear from both the Werder information and the Salzburg stuff. That'll make a nice 5th Anniversary surprise for the wife.

Obviously all clubs determine their match by match charges before they release ST details in order to balance the cost per game against the ST amounts, and the negotiations will go on for a while behind the scenes to set who is in which category. Some decisions will be easier than others. Apart from that, I heard the specific rumour about the reason for the cost of the Villa tickets long before it was mentioned in this thread. We shall see anyway. Not that I have a problem with the Cat A thing even if that is what they do. Nor would I have if I wasn't an ST holder.

Stoke on last game of the season was Cat C, I believe. Already been through all this, it has never been the case that the last game of the season has been a Cat A game for being the last game of the season before... assuming that's why it is this time (which I remain unconvinced of until next season's fixtures, and possibly beyond that).

Not all of them even had umbro logos on their shirts, either.

I am about to stat-check that for you. Matches withS Davis W 18 D 5 L 9 As a %: 56-16-28 Matches withoutS Davis W3 D1 L3 As a %: 43-14-43

Ok, well I'll start with the West Brom game when we got completely done on the break by Lukaku, when he did it about five times. He also did it a LOT on his debut (admittedly this was probably because he was at right back). One of the reasons we were so susceptible to conceding goals under Pochettino was that the pressing game and pushed forward full backs left us with basically a back two, of which one could not win a clearance. He also got taken apart in the air against West Ham when we lost 4-1 there. And at Everton when Coleman's crossing did for us a few weeks before. Anyway, I'm still in 2012, this will get very boring, and he hasn't improved in the air since.

I'll believe that when we sell Schneiderlin AFTER we sign Clasie.

Don't be so nehstibe, Bear. You need to be more podotibe.

It's a discussion about Wanyama's future which begins with a post highlighting the amount of time left on his contract. What's, er, negative(?) about it?

I'm not even prepared to accept that this is a last game of the season pricing issue unless I see them do the same thing next season. Until then it's just about Villa's prices.

It actually annoys me that this STARTED with a letter to the FSF, who you would hope have better things to do than read letters from outliers. Then again, that might be all they do.

Um, it says the tournament is Saturday 11th July and Werder's training camp in Ziller is 12-19th July actually.

Erm, no, that was announced in August. Possibly July. Thanks for coming on here to tell us you won't be coming though, we won't have to look out for the whinging hypocrite.

So, using the wisdom of crowds, based on the data above, the Final table, only slighted skewed by everyone being pro-Saints and probably slightly anti-Liverpool and Spurs (which doesn't look like it affects the final standings) looks like this: Chelsea 89 POS: 1 Arsenal 80 POS: 2-3 Man U 76 POS: 2-4 Man C 75 POS: 3-4 Liverpool 69 POS: 5-7 Saints 68 POS: 5-7* from those who have specified pts. others have suggested 4th Spurs 65 POS: 5-7 Bit worried if that Saints/Spurs bias is the difference in the one result between the two clubs.

At least we still can, mathematically. Spurs can't.

Everest moon etc. We should be favourites to win in all 5 of those matches, albeit narrowly over Spurs.

But our performances against Arsenal (H), Man U (both games), and Chelsea (Away more than home) have shown us capable of winning that game - we need to be in a position that that match actually means something when we come to play it, and the 5 matches before it will be (only slightly less than) 5 times more important as the City game.