CB Fry

I already cannot wait for the build up to the Sheffield United game so you can pretend you think we should drop the entire team to concentrate on the league. It was hilarious the last fifty times you've done it, so can only be even funnier next time.

The Man U "narrative" also included a lot about "they haven't played anyone good yet" in the weeks before their Chelsea match last weekend. Of course no one here noticed this as they think the media only ever say that kind of thing about Saints. The big clubs get slated by all sections of the media all the time: over the last couple of days it has been Pelligrini's turn. Liverpool have been hammered. Arsenal hammered all the time. It let's not ruin the fun.

The media fears him so much he's in every newspaper and all over the TV pretty much all the time. He's was on Match of the Day hugging Big Sam the other day. "The Media" see him no more than decent box office. Nothing to fear here.

It's a great read. Very proud of the way our club does things. Well done Les and the team.

Hands up, I missed the word two. Either way, the likelihood of us making the Champions League is utterly miniscule and I am not worried about us ever achieving it because it almost certainly never will happen. Winning the League Cup can happen and I would love it if we did. And despite what you say it will live long, long in the memory of me and many Saints fans. And, it gives us potential European trips too. Funny that.

I'm happily convinced we won't win based on two pieces of copper bottomed infallible pieces of football logic. 1. This can't go on forever. 2. I am going. So a draw against those monumental odds I would be happy with.

I think your comparison of us winning the League Cup this season - a realistic achievable aim - with a fictional European campaign where we go on a unparalleled tour of every major team in Europe in one season deserves no more than sarcasm quite frankly. And you've "conjured" that bulls h it comparison "out of thin air" yourself as the debate on here is about finishing sixth or fifth or the league cup, not League Cup vs a multi match run in the Champions League.

There's a quote on this thread that specifically mentions Mickey Mouse, so you're wrong there. But then you think 9 points from 10 games is "the level of performance needed to finish 5th/6th", so you're wrong about a lot of stuff.

Who can forget the unforgettable thrill ride of the last five games of last season. Clearly the cups have no magic anymore, and you can see why. No magic whatsoever. Wembley day out? No magic. Trophy win? No magic. In contrast, the thrilling climax to our season last year, culminating in the unforgettable last weekend knife-edge clash with Man U, and the "We finished eighth" street parties that celebrated that truly magical achievement. Easily the most magical time of my life that was, even above the birth of my children.

The only people I have seen, read or head reciting this "narrative" are people on this forum with their usual "the media hate us" persecution complex. No one actually says it. It's a bit like the "when he wins he's British, when he loses he's Scottish" Andy Murray fallacy. The "media" (as a whole, which it isnt) would be absolutely delighted if we end up third or fourth, even just to be in the mix come spring. They'd effing love it. People on here need to get their chips off their shoulders.

How would Saints winning the League Cup "instant success" like Birmingham and Pompey? Wouldn't qualifying for Europe in the league in the same season (this one) be just as "instant"? I think it jolly sweet that you are carrying on with the laughable assumption that our current players are going to turn down £100k a week pay packets at the likes of Arsenal to stay at Saints because we managed to finished sixth. Dream the fu ck on. Bring on the cups. Despite what you want, our manager wants to win the League Cup. So suck it up and stop whining.

What can Saints do that would send shock waves through the world of football? Finishing fifth in the league?

Sometimes I think it's all pointless but occasional comments like this give me the strength to keep going.

You "can't recall" statements you posted, yourself, even when they are quoted directly back at you. So not sure you are a reliable witness. My favourite posts of all are when the forum's geniuses get together and pretend "no one ever said that". Nice to see the tradition is alive and well. No one ever described the LC as Micky Mouse on here. No one ever said that.

Why do you care what clubs "people compare us to" anyway?

You're seriously going with that argument? Seriously?

I think you should avoid accusing others of strawman arguments when you come out with this stuff. When I say disparaging I mean disparaging. Not the strawman stuff you cobbled together. Little hint: pretending people were "apoplectic with rage" is far harder to prove than my simple remark that folk were disparaging about both cups. Luckily I am not going to ask for "Examples?" because that's your style not mine. Look up disparaging and then note that handily Turkish has already put some specific quoted disparaging remarks up, that's what I am saying, and that is what happened.

Not Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool then?

Almost all of the League Cup winners over the last twenty years have been from the biggest clubs in the country. A mite different to the Johnstone's Paint Trophy.

"People remember" the teams that finish fifth/sixth do they?

Hull fans will be convinced Long will score, and I think he will oblige.

Plenty of people were disparaging about both cups last season, especially the league cup. Despite this being a forum for supporters of a club who have won one major trophy in its entire history. One.

Nice draw. Start my new job that week and only 40 odd minutes away from Sheffield, so pretty perfect. Ronald has just said "it [the League cup] might not be the most important title but for us, it is the most important". That's my kind of effing football manager. Lets win this thing.

Any one of the Championship teams or Sheffield U at home. Or Derby away. And the remaining "big" teams drawing each other.

That it was.