St Landrew

Yes, it does seem frustrating, but there is an argument to make a change at an appropriate time. It's possible that starting with 4-4-2, for example, will lose its impact over the game. I'm sure Pardew's idea is to play 4-5-1, and keep things tight, away from home; only changing to 4-4-2 when the situation demands it. Yes, after changing to 4-4-2, Saints came alive, but they must also learn to play well with 4-5-1, because there are always going to be situations where it is the best tactical formation.

What a turnaround. Just weeks ago, my chin would have been on the floor. But today, despite the deficit, I had real hope that we'd get something from this match. Yes, a pity we didn't win, but the slight tinge of regret just shows how far we've progressed. Excellent lads.

Been up a ladder since the second half began, with the radio on, and nearly fell off the roof. Ricky Lambert, you absolute beauty..!

I don't get that reasoning mate. Button validated his WDC by getting more points than anyone else. That's good enough. He could come last and it wouldn't matter a jot. I know. It's the British way. Not only must he win his title, but he must appear to do it effortlessly.

Yes, but the World Wide Web, is half that age, and is how we can all correspond with each other at a moment's notice. Admittedly, when I first got onto the Web, the notice wasn't exactly a moment. But Happy Birthday Internet, all the same.

The annoying is, is when you sail into Portsmouth Harbour, it looks slightly impressive. Whereas, sailing up Southampton Water, you're greeted first by a couple of grain silos, and nothing much impressive after that, unless a few liners are in. And I say that in full knowledge that Pimply supporters are reading this and clinging onto every plus they can muster.

All Laid Back And Stuff - Andy McKee It's as beautiful as a Le God goal:

Electronic money it is then..!

A mate of mine has a tiny Marshall replica amp and speaker which he puts on his jeans belt and plays electric guitar with. He uses it just for the occasional practice. I had forgotten that. Perhaps there is very little advantage for an acoustic at all, unless it all about preference of sound. The acoustic sound, played well, is very beguiling. I can't play well, so there's an end to that.

IN.

Funnily enough, Al, I was chatting with a knowledgable friend about the various orders and actions of Robert Mugabe, earlier this evening, and the thought of him being taken out by a Jackal like figure entered the conversation.

Yes, you have a point.

Didn't watch the link, Arizona. I will do later. FWIW, good luck to the bloke. He brought a bit of sparkle for a short while, even if he didn't live up to the hype. It wasn't of his making. This was always fun:

Nice to see that Liebherr isn't one of the hopefully-if-everything-goes-right brigade. He means business, and good for him.

So was I in the last race. I know he was playing the rookie role, but he showed some character, like he wouldn't be taken for granted. Yes, he was verging on dangerous at times, but that's racing. It's not a knitting contest.

Blimey hamster. Far too much knowledge for me. Good read though. All of my Kentish experience in Rainham and the Medway seems like a distant fog now. I didn't know about the Cat's Eyes, but we did walk up to the big Memorial occasionally. As I said, mainly we'd walk or drive to Dickens locations, like Gad's Hill House, The Bull [Good House, Nice Beds] in Rochester, The cornerstone of the pub which says Bull Stumps, His Mark, the cemetery where Dickens came upon a whole family's graveset, with the smallest one of a mere baby. He used it in Great Expectations. There was loads of stuff like that. I do remember going to Uni every bloody day on the train. On the opposite side of the platform were the packed London commuters, jostling for position. I remember saying to myself that I would never, ever be a slave to work or career as they obviously were. To me, it was an ugly sight, and I was thankful to be going in the opposite direction in every way. Thankfully, I only caught the train for the first year, and then we moved to Egerton. Full days too, for 4 years. None of this 3-4 day week malarky with endless hours in the student bar. I would get the Suzi out, in the morning, thinking what kind of mood it would be in. Some days it would crackle into life at the first touch of the button, and I'd be off upto Charing Heath, then Charing, along the brilliant Canterbury Road through Challock, Molash and Chilham, and by the time Thannington came along on the Canterbury outskirts, the bike had finally decided it had had enough, and usually gave me notice of it. Many's the time I'd have to jump in the car instead, which made the journey thoroughly boring. Trouble was, I had no time to tinker with the bike. Wish I'd had the Viffer then. You could rocket down a few sections of that stretch to Canterbury. But the best the Suzi could manage without sounding like it might expire at any moment was about 85mph. It was easy 100-130mph territory. Perhaps I should thank the old rattler for keeping me alive, in some respects. There were some lovely sweeping bends which the Suzi would wobble through, but the Viffer would have eaten them for breakfast.

Bit sorry to have missed this evening's little banter. That was an interesting read hamster, especially as I suddenly realised your Brompton references meant the Medway region, as I lived in Rainham for a year in a converted oasthouse. That was before we moved to Egerton Forstal and I bought my crappy Suzuki from a bloke in Bearsted. My wife used to work in Gillingham Borough Council, and went to Uni in Canterbury. We used to walk on the Great Lines occasionally, and because we both liked Dickens, we'd walk or drive to all the Kent based locations for the storylines. I liked your childhood memories of your Dad kicking over the Cossack. It read like an H.E. Bates snippet. Perhaps it's you who should be writing the stories. BTW, are you sure it wasn't a 650..? Most of them were, I thought.

I certainly agree with that. The only advantage acoustic has over electric is that you can pick up an acoustic guitar on a whim and start strumming.

Well how about that..?

Because most of the time he was a bit player. Truth will out. Great FA Cup goal, but let's leave it at that.

No that's a gesture to Pompey fans. If anything, that would have even more greatly endeared Beatts to Saints fans. The article talks about a game against Charlton. Personally, I think that Beatts reputation among Saints fans has been lessend by a few individuals who probably had a few encounters with the bloke and didn't find him as welcoming as they thought he should be. A relative of mine spoke to him once in a Chandler's Ford supermarket. She didn't know who he was, until told later, but found him very obliging and polite. Not the Beatts that gets whinged about here on occasion. The bloke was in the Southampton public eye for most of his time here. He did his job very well, and scored a fair few goals. I tend to cut him some slack, and give my respect, even if he doesn't have it from others.

Couldn't find a decent argument to disagree with most of that table. Michael Svensson, I would have included, but I can see why the author didn't. But Micky over Matty..? Nope, can't do it. Micky was MY ERA, and I can tell you he wasn't as good as Matty. Micky was very, very special, in the same way as Terry Paine and Ron Davies. But he wasn't a genius. That's Matty's plateau. Room for one only. Thoroughly entertaining read though. I was supposed to be arranging some new furniture this evening, and that has completely gone by the board.

Was talking in another thread about Tom Jenkins, and how frustrating he often used to be. Such skill, yet he often would try to beat just one more player. The Times snippet brought it all back. Have to admit, when he was on song, he was a joy to watch. Another forgotten Saint, by today's crowd.

By the way, Hamster. You say there is not another bike which would put a bigger smile on your face than a Cossack Ural 650, yes..? Is that a challenge..?

I remember the 250 Hustler... just. It was the 250 version of the famous T500, which also sold in its millions. Looks pretty much the same too. Very smokey, so not my cup of tea. But I appreciated the get-up-and-go of these bikes. Jap 2-strokes were killing off the British 2-stroke engine manufacturers, i.e. Villiers, etc... and rightly so. They were simply more sophisticated [no manual petroil mixing] and better performing. Although the Villiers 250 Starmaker engine was excellent in a Greeves.