John Boy Saint

Cracking goal too

Very strange day out, even if it is in the cup the win was a refreshing result. Good bit of humour when we scored, about 5 minutes of fans bouncing around singing "we've scored a goal". Kept the chill out if anything. Folks moaning about the booing when PEH was subbed it was a case of WTF. He had been playing well and looked happy out there, by contrast pretty sure Davo would had been glad to come off as he put in a shift with fire extinguisher in hand. Højbjerg acknowledged our disapointment (probably mirroring his own) which turned the boos in to unanimous applause for him. Redmond replacing Boufal was understandable but in reality it was a wasted sub because quite frankly Redmond was pretty pants, I think his confidence is shot, a spin out with the nippers might actually do him a big favour. Also those questioning the fans calling for Gabbiadini, just about everyone except the bench could see that Long had run himself into the ground and was pretty much playing on vapour. Taking Højbjerg off has to be the most baffling of all because anyone with half a brain can see he is becoming the hub of midfield, so much goes through him successfully. Aside from the football the pork and leek hotdogs, whilst making you wince at the price, have to be by far the best tasting hotdogs I have had in a very long time: seeing Mrs JBS's vanish as fast as mine rubber stamps their billing. Stepping off the train in Basingstoke at 6:30 was quite a surprise too, normally takes that long getting home from a home game.

Just take care as you dismount your horse it looks awfully high.

But you have just written off Sam Gallagher!!?? Gabbiadini has pretty much been a flash in the pan in all reality, scored for fun in the first few games then has pretty much vanished off the score sheet. So you would splash the cash on what looks like potentially a MKII version of him, and totally ignore we have a striker out on loan who for the last 2 seasons has been short changed in the quality of teams he has been loaned to, yet on both occasions he has shone through the dirge he has been playing with. One thing is for sure get Sam back and you won't be suffering with having to settle in a foreign land, having to get your family to settle too, learn a new language get up to speed with the rigours of the Premier league. The lad knows the league and would probably benefit from the higher quality of service he will no doubt get. If anything this Guido guy is playing second fiddle to "mercurial" Falcao - and boy did that lad set the Premier League on fire!!

Heard they are a good pairing, a bit like MacDougall and Boyer.

I'm with you on this, why piddle a shed load of money up the wall on another Carlos Kickaball who ain't getting a game at Monaco, and doesn't seem to have sparkled anywhere he has been. Get Sam back give him a spin, can't do any worse than what we have. And before we get all this "he has no experience" cobblers, everyone asked questions about Rickie Lambert in the prem, seemed to do alright when he got there.

Nothing new, been mentioned before by Lawrie McMenemy that he told the players that it was up to them to get the fans going not the fans getting them going. So it runs a bit deeper than a new Stadium and more tourists.

What if Gabbi's goal in the cup final hadn't been scrubbed off, and we won 3-2 securing Europa league footie, Puel probably wouldn't have been binned off..........................

The only game we have had postponed for a waterlogged pitch was against (funnily enough) Palace, where the combination of a Spring Tide and antiquated drainage outside the stadium resulted in the system becoming overwhelmed by the volume of rain across the city. Bizarrely when the stadium was built one of the big claims was the pitch having a super dooper pumped drainage system that could handle a downpour of 8 inches of rain in an hour, but apparently it wasn't connected when they made the discovery that the drains outside had no spare capacity for such a system emptying into them!

Probably came for re assurance that things aren't quite so bad in his world.

Maybe the contracts Les and Ralf are on are rolling ones but like the managers (football always has been run in a weird way) and given the clap trap spouted by Ralf yesterday, which at times sounded like he was sticking his head right above the parapet. Sack me pay me (us) up for the remains of the contract as we aint likely to get as well paid a job as this in the future. None of this is fact just a random thought, slightly triggered by reading into the Ralf interview.

Given the way him and his posse have dicked us around for the past 6 months, if this is what happened, good that we have had the last laugh......... especially if money was the overiding factor in VVDs decision making and City slapped a few more quid per week on the table than liverpool.

No surprise really first day back at work for many, Christmas is over for many, like you say being pretty pants no doubt has an influence obviously. TV has really pigged up Christmas Fixtures Spurs played Boxing Day then nothing until tonight! then again Thursday!! Think West Ham are similar.

Happy New Year x

That's Baggies wall had more holes in it than Swiss Cheese!!

You would hope that after the experience of that fruit loop Osvaldo we would be steering well clear of another one. I just hope we ain't going to do as Spurs did with the Bale money and run around like fools in the "sweet shop" ending up with square pegs for round holes.

Because everyone loves an old boy footballer who is still being a scallywag who, in the modern game, still sneaks in the little cheeky sly digs on opposition players, how can you not fail to love a little feint to make it look like you have had a shove in the back to mask an elbow in the guts of an oppo player, and having gotten away with that leaving one on Shane Long as you leave the scene of the crime!! All while wearing a Man U shirt is top sport. Thought JWP had a good game, if he has the space to whip one in more of our players should be breaking their necks to get into the box and get on the end of it.

Thought the defence felt comfortable with Alex between the sticks, almost like they could rely on him doing what goalkeepers are supposed to do rather than having to wonder if he was going to actually move.

Just a little bit off the contact with the ball from Long and that would have spooned off De Geas boot and in......a worm popping his head out of the ground would have been handy too. De Gea knew he got lucky.

That was funny

Ex Saint Lloyd Isgrove comes off the bench to whip in a cross that Barnsley equalise from at the death of their game. MK Dons been playing for what must feel like days with nine men 1-0 up and having to play 9 minutes of added time!! PL table looks a bit grim!

I was thinking the same especially as he isn't even on the bench - he did look a bit piddled off at being taken off when the TVs camera picked him out.

Having met him a couple of times I always thought what a nice chap, but also felt Velvet Glove - Iron Fist. I have mentioned this before, but many readers will remember Dennis Rofe - ex player - came out on the pitch at half time sang songs and did the Kenzie bit back then, then he found his way onto the bench on the coaching staff, you always knew he was there as he was the only nutter when the temperature was minus 20°c in a training tee shirt and shorts - memorably squared up to Souness in one game. In the relegation season he was taking turns on the pitch with Kevin Bond to give a pep talk as the players were doing exercises on the floor, pre that fantastic game v Norwich Rofe was whipping them up, couple of weeks later final game Man U Bond was doing the geeing up by comparison, it was weak and weary just like our capitulation. If Kelvin can spark a bit of fire into the team, then seeing as Pellegrino is seemingly living on an extended Honeymoon period, I want to see a bit of fight and if Kelvin is the man to do it then fair play to him. Sammy Lee always came over as a nice fun chap, but showed lots of passion on the touchline, as Koemans said, half the time we don't understand a thing he is saying - but he does enjoy using the word f**k at every opportunity.

Well that's fallen down then because 95% of the time the ball is often played to where the player was when the thought to pass was made or to where the player would be on Playstation. An Arsenal supporting mate, who hob knobs with folks behind the scenes at Arsenal confirmed its been mentioned.

I was about to say Michael "Killer" Svensson hasn't had a mention yet, not only was he a great CB but he also got Claus to stop being distracted by the Butterflies that often fluttered through his mind when he should have been concentrating on his defensive duties at critical moments. Celtic then at Saints he has been a big fish in a small pond, now he enters the big sea be interesting to see how he fairs.