mikec

I think it was the Skates that rolled over - and we would have been relegated anyway. We should probably thank WBA for the precious 6 points

Yes I wouldn't rule out Stoke getting something at Swansea on the final day. Look at Sunderland's 3-0 win over Wolves yesterday to see what can happen with a relegated team when the pressure is off but they still have pride at stake. Admittedly Wolves had nothing to play for, but it's a straw to grasp at.

They had nothing to play for in the league, but they had an FA Cup final the following week so the hope was they would rest some key players. I remember my heart sinking when I heard the line-up before the game - Rooney, Giggs, Van Nistolroy and so on. I think Fergie really wanted to send us down that day.

I didn't think the atmosphere was too bad either, even though I was on the top tier with loads of empty seats around me but there were quite a few vocal fans up there. The problem at Wembley is that the vocal groups are split all around so it can be hard to get a coordinated chant going other than a few rounds of OWTS. I am not a keen stand up-er but there were some pointless arguments near me between a couple of small groups who wanted to stand and the stewards trying to get them to sit. There were masses of empty rows behind them - and even if someone was sat there, they could easily haved moved seats.

Odds of 11/10 mean that the market still thinks there is a less than 50% chance of us going down. I wish I was that confident.

A Roman walks into a bar and asks for a Martinus. "Don't you mean a Martini?" asks the barman. "If I wanted a double I would have asked for it!" he replied.

FWIW the chances of a quarter-final draw where the "big four" avoid each other are 24/105 - or around 23% - so not that surprising really. (I'm a lot of fun at parties)

You could have saved some typing by writing "only people like me should be allowed to attend games" ?

Well, a repeat of last season's "treble" is still a possibility: - 8th place finish - cup final appearance - manager sacked I suspect only one of those will happen though.

I think ART may have meant buffstream.com and yes it is a good stream

I think the idea with cutting the halves is to keep the overall time to complete a match about the same as it is now, but to prevent a winning side from running down the clock by delaying set pieces and throwins, taking ages to complete a substitution and so on. In theory the ref should allow for all this anyway but they often don't seem to. I think the proposed change could be a good idea and is definitely worth trying. I agree with you on the penalty thing though. I don't see the point of that at all.

"Someone at wikipedia" just means "someone with an internet connection".

Interesting. It seems that we are still likely to finish in the top 10 even if we lose our last 2 games. I suppose it helps that Bournemouth play Leicester on the last day so they cannot both overtake us unless Leicester beat Spurs on Thursday. Watford play at Chelsea tonight and they would need to win there to stand any chance of moving above us.

...along with the person who said "You've missed a bit" which I thought was quite funny.

According to this article the FA could in theory be fined for arranging games on European nights but it sounds like there is some flexibility, particularly when it's hard to avoid. http://www.eurosport.com/football/premier-league/2016-2017/premier-league-says-moving-game-to-champions-league-night-was-unavoidable_sto6084798/story.shtml

Didn't we once have a 4-4 draw there? On a Boxing Day if I remember rightly.

Martin Tyler started his commentating career on "Southern Soccer" on Sunday afternoons in the 70s. His first match was a game at the Dell between Saints and Sheffield Wednesday. I'm sure he will be supporting us

Or you can get the same line from Gerrard's Cross or Denham (just off the M25). I did this for the JPT final following someone's suggestion on here and it worked out really well. Saves having to drive or tube across London.

Quite. It's like going through the checkout at Tesco and them adding a couple of quid to the bill saying it's to cover the cost of the tills and the checkout person's wages. These things aren't free you know!

She mentioned us on the bulletin on around 7:40 and they showed JRod's goal.

And I wonder what they'll do if all teams end up with the same points and goals - something that's more likely to happen with groups of just 3 matches.

Liverpool are 2/5 to reach the final with SkyBet. If you take FF's bet and stake say £80 on Liverpool then I reckon you'd be in profit either way

Not if it's level after 90 minutes then we lose in ET or on penalties

I know it's unlikely to happen, but if the club ever invited him to St Marys on a match day (to visit - not to play!) I'm sure he would get a great reception.

TV aside, I think games generally just get moved to Sunday if one of the teams played on the previous Thursday.