Ted Bates Statue

Any love for Tall Paul this week? I don't think I have ever commented about him before, but my stance until recently was that we had three managers look at him including Nathan Jones who signed him, and none of them thought he was a genuine option up front in the PL so I had written him off. But it sounds like he had another decent cameo appearance so I expect he will be starting games for us before long.

Even the magic dossier is too good for us now. It's being harnessed by England these days.

This is you, but you don't know it yet

I remember people frothing at the mouth when Sven joined, but they all shut up after we smashed Germany away. Nobody over here seems to mind Grealish and Rice ditching Ireland to play for England. Speaking of Martin I find it mad that he played for Scotland but he actually admits that one of his biggest football memories growing up was supporting England in Euro 96.

I liked the one after Newcastle of RM threatening Adam Lallana. Suspect it will take on an extra dimension when he turns out to be our replacement manager.

Exactly. Performance in the league is basically unofficial seeding for cup competitions. Forget about winning cups if you're in a lower division or hoping to avoid relegation, but once you break the top 10 and you don't slip up before the quarter finals, then you have a chance of doing something that will be remembered for generations. It's no coincidence that both cup finals in the last 25 years came when we finished in the top 10 and I still think of how big those missed opportunities were when we failed to reach even a semi-final under Pochettino or Koeman. It's been a long time since I felt we could beat anyone on our day.

I was thinking the same and was wondering why he didn't show up on the Saintsplayers website. @beatlesaint has the correct answer, Zhu Yifei won a competition as did Swanborough for the RM XI. https://www.southamptonfc.com/en/news/article/penalties-decide-eight-goal-extravaganza

Hughes made Hasenhuttl look like Jurgen Klopp. Hopefully our appointment will be more along the lines of Ralph, Poch, Pearson or Burley in terms of getting us closer to safety. Also, Claude Puel is available 😉

The question is, who is he being replaced with

Managers are like flies on shit for a PL club on the lookout for a new broom. The trouble is we are shit and as you say, not sure that we're attractive enough for someone decent to give us the lift we need.

Easy to mock but other teams are doing the same to an even greater extent. I went corporate hospitality at another ground recently and they're getting loads of revenue off people who want to watch a bit of live football with their tapas in a trendy bar. If the club can extract greater revenue to keep up with the rest (preferably without raising the price of my cheap seats in the corner) and invest it wisely in the squad, then that's good news in my book. Personally I draw the line at queuing up and buying a pint in the stadium. The match ticket cost can present more than enough punishment on its own.

I'm truly disappointed that nobody has suggested Tuchel this time around.

I've been thinking for over a year now that it's only a matter of time before one of the basket-case big 6 clubs swoops in for him. Why are Aston Villa allowed to have nice things?

Worth a shout. I think he will go far, but probably not with us. Didn't he leave here under a cloud?

Good to get your perspective, as ever. It's been a grim start to the season.

I haven't been yet, but from photographs they seem too low to be of any use. Building regs say staircase railing height should be 900-1000mm and balconies at 1100mm height, but I believe there is no standard for stadium safe standing. I think 1100mm would be comparable and sensible, but obviously it's cheaper to use less aluminium (and paint, for that matter)

Weren't we able to phase JWP in a great deal more, considering he wasn't quite as highly rated as the others mentioned who we played as often as we could in the relatively small amount of time they spent with us? Having said that, after they left us neither Bale and Walcott were exactly first names on teamsheets at their new sides. I don't think a few months playing Championship football at that age would significantly affect a footballer's long-term career prospects.

Surely they must realise the match is in two days, as opposed to two weeks' time.

Don't forget it's also a case of his shoulder being in the right place.

I think he had a serious budget by our standards, and I expected more from him. Funnily enough, I felt that the forum was unusually patient towards him in a way that hasn't really been seen with others. The win percentage thing is a classic argument, but of course Burley's record was better than managers like Strachan or Hoddle as they were managing us at a higher level. Definitely better than Dodd and Gorman though, but I think the stats tell us more about them than GB.

Could well be a plucky draw, before we get our arses handed to us by the next midtable side we face.

Propaganda football, this is exactly what Strachan was on about. Last weekend Brentford were making plenty of mistakes like we do, but then they were also pinging out perfect diagonal balls to the wing and bearing down on goal having almost bypassed our entire defence. That's the kind of possession I'd prefer to see us attempting. I remember him, isn't that the striker we were hoping to sign from Peterborough back when we were in League 1?

Highly incisive questioning, I give it 16/16 for gatekeeping combined with front-footed passive aggression

I've seen a couple of Brentford matches this season and on Saturday was in the opposite corner, where a pigeon was providing some of the early drama in persistently encroaching onto the pitch. Saints fans were in very good voice especially first half, maybe not quite as loud as Palace a couple of weeks ago but that lot are very heavily organised with their singing nowadays. A few pompey songs after the standard 10 mins but I thought it was encouraging to note that after at least the first two goals conceded, I could clearly hear OWTS cutting through the Brentford cheers. No surprise to hear "we scored a goal" at the end, but otherwise sure it got a bit quieter in the last 30 minutes whereas a couple of seasons ago there was non-stop "we never win at home and we never win away" which might have helped lift my spirits more. Pretty sure we can take squatters' rights over that one. I expected a muted reception for Adam Lallana but he was welcomed back with "He's one of our own". Brentford's West Stand were a bit louder than I expected, giving BBD grief right from the start and then for the second half got straight on Ramsdale's back with "shit David Raya" to which he applauded them like a returning hero. Later, "he's got the score on his back" and I sensed he was feeling a bit rattled, or perhaps I was projecting. It was hard to put up with their "olé's" during injury time just to emphasise that we'd got fucking schooled, with a bonus lesson in proper possession football. I think the make-up of most football club support is generally the same wherever you go in this country. 3 stands buzzing with idle chit-chat, various individual empty vessels bitching and moaning until going 2 or 3-0 up, most only getting vocal for the goals or refereeing, one home stand behind a goal balancing out the away fans if you're lucky. Palace fall into this category too.

No no, it's all good. It's important to be diverse and inclusive regarding all kinds of intolerance. Anyway, I for one would be fine with a fully blown fascist if it meant he could score like Di Canio