Shroppie

Depends on how many of the family descend on us. The food/booze bill can be horrendous. But got it sorted this year, hopefully. Going to visit them instead

Just hope it works. Guess which block I'm in?

4 0 already.

What I was told when I phoned earlier.

Just down the road from me. Was going to see it but left getting a ticket too late. Sold out.

Arsenal definitely included - that gives me my 5. Strange lack of consistency since future matches weren't included when applying for Arsenal.

Tickets bought. Train sorted. Shame I can't do an overnighter but should be a cracking day out.

Many thanks.

Any suggestions - don't know the area.

Second thoughts, you're probably right. I don't think he's either brave or astute enough to consider different approaches.

Do you think that Hodgson had some misguided idea that choosing a couple of Saints would instantly turn England into a high tempo pressing team? If so, it's a sad reflection of his understanding of how complex Saints' closing down is, and how it has to be a whole team philosophy. O e or two players doing it without support will always get torn apart.

Saints are better than England.

Looking forward to this one. Never been to St James Park. Tickets for the trip to Newcastle United in the Barclays Premier League will go on sale from Tuesday 19th November. The team’s last away match before Christmas takes place on Saturday 14th December with a 3pm kick-off time in place at St James’ Park. Tickets will be sold under the following criteria - Tue 19th November - Season Ticket Holders who have attended at least 5 Away games from this season. Thu 21st November – Season Ticket Holders who have attended at least 3 Away games from this season. Mon 25th November – Season Ticket Holders who have attended at least 1 Away game from this season. Wed 27th November – Season Ticket Holders Fri 29th November – General Sale All sales dates are subject to remaining ticket availability. Tickets will be priced as follows – £37.00 for Adults £33.00 for Over 65s and Students £22.00 for Under 18s We will receive an allocation of Wheelchair tickets, and an allocation of Ambulant tickets priced at £13.00 with the Enabler admitted Free of Charge. Please also note that for any concessionary ticket purchased, proof of age will be required on entry into the stadium. Read more at http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/article/newcastle-away-ticket-details-1176381.aspx#mGWIvQWfUMps7Kx4.99

Probably, and with good reason. We're challenging the accepted way of playing in the PL. For seasons the belief has always been that you have patient build-up, possession is vital no matter how many times you go backwards and, if you lose the ball, immediately drop back, keeping shape and wait patiently to get the ball back. Now we are doing things very differently and it seems to work, so it's ruffling a lot of feathers and making other teams wonder if they can dare to consider that their way isn't the best way after all.

3 0. Obviously a pointless trophy

That was a serious lol. Caught me unprepared.

Good points. Looking forward to Arsenal - think it should be a cracking game.

One of my favourite Nigelisms was "don't get too low when we lose, don't get too high when we win". Confidence is obviously great in the team now, just hope it's not too high and ready for a crash. Can think of a few posters who are clearly on a massive, and perhaps not quite realistic high at the moment. Losing the next two and then seeing how they respond against Villa would tell us a lot about the manager's and team's strength. Has MP got as good a blue line as Nigel? Having said that, draw at Emirates and win at Chelski and move calmly on would be fine. Not lumping anything on us winning the league though. Still think we'll dip at some pint and finish about 8th.

The view that we'll struggle to pick up points in the next few games isn't unrealistic. We've had a run of easier games, but at least the points are on the board. This is the critical part of the season. Take our confidence (which is one of the biggest factors - look what happened to VW when his went on Sat) into the next 2 and pick up points and we'll carry on flying. Two or three losses and we'll see what MP is made of when the chips are down.

The most upsetting thing about this result was losing my unbeaten match-thread-starting record.

Agreed. He always sets out to win every game. Even after Manure he said the draw was ok but we aren't happy unless we win. But I'm sure he seriously thought we could have won with that team, and if we'd had the penalty we should have and had a bit more luck, we would have. And he obviously balanced the risks/rewards of playing the first team and made up his mind.

Wasn’t going to bother posting but can’t resist replying to some of the misguided (IMO) comments on here. Firstly, as has been pointed out by a few sensible posters, winning this game would not have given us a particularly good chance of winning the cup. We would have faced Chelsea at home, then a two-leg semi and final all against, in all probability, top teams. And if we had won, the dilemma of what team to put out against Chelsea would have been even greater. Obviously the “win a cup at all costs” camp would have expected a full strength team and I agree that progression would probably have been unlikely playing the team we had out tonight. Two points about that are, firstly, whether it is fair on the B team who have got us so far to be replaced once there’s the chance of actually winning something? And secondly, the next round falls a few days after what will be a long trip and probably tough game away at Newcastle and before Spurs at home. Not an ideal time to have the first team playing an extra game, and potentially 120 minutes. Add to that the risk of injuries, cards and suspensions and it would have made a difficult decision. But more significantly for me, to win this cup we would have to beat (probably) Chelsea and two out of Man City, Man Utd and Spurs. Is it really more likely that we could do that in the cup than in the league? And if we can do it in the league, who can say 4th place would be out of the question? Also can’t help wondering if some of those disappointed at the loss last night (I’m disappointed, don’t think I ever like Saints losing) are just sorry to be missing out on a chance of seeing Chelsea. I don’t expect to change any opinions but I agree totally with the team put out last night and the philosophy of using the Capital One Cup to give fringe players game time and the chance to impress, blood youngsters, rest key first team players and minimise risk of injuries and suspensions. Move on. Three points on Saturday!

Or maybe not ....

All over.

Got a feed at last. Seem to be on top now.