John Boy Saint

I think that is a coaching thing, FF many times last season staying close to his line just an intimidating massive unit between the sticks (when he did make a dash for it called it wrong) Stek this season seems wary of exiting the 6 yard box, Kelvin who also liked to steam off his line seemed caught betwixt and between on Saturday. When he did confusion reigned in our defence which is possibly why staying close to home is being coached. The one thing with Gazza over Kelvin is his distribution from his feet is superior, Kelvin has never been great at that which is probably why we went to playing out from the back more often than not, as we saw on Saturday most of our players were upfield positioned for the ball only to see the punt upfield take them out of the game as the ball landed 20-30 yards away from them.

Worth the bump for this alone

The officials were carp enough not to flag VVD so even if Maya had been standing in the other half they still wouldn't have flagged. Get off the Guys back, there were bellends behind me blaming Yoshida for the bizarre back pass from Manė which nearly gave Vardy another free hit if he hadn't been surprised himself.

Not long been home from school, phone rings, my mate Willy from round the corner: "you've just signed Kevin Keegan!!". i told him not to be so stupid he says "watch Newsround in a minute if you don't believe me". Certainly was a day when football had a double take in our direction. Lawrie Mac said that the following season after him signing Saints wacked up the ticket prices and no one flinched, opposing teams had their biggest gates against Saints that season just to see KK, I guess it would be comparable to Saints signing Lionel Messi today!!

Read it again David, we are in the 82nd minute, 1-0 up to win the title, all the 3 subs are used, goalie gets a severe smack in the chops and is stretchered off down the tunnel, we only have 10 outfield players to replace him............

At Saints he is a great player who plays in a team with an ethos of always trying to play it out from the back and being technically very capable with the ball at his feet has the ability to spot a pass and invariably make it, which makes him a midfield hub (this season he has been more combative too). I must admit that I haven't watched much England U21's, but when I have and JWP has been playing I have often wondered how he hasn't come off the field needing a neck brace from just watching the ball flying 30 feet above his head from the keeper up the field. In which case you don't need an able technical midfielder but a bloke like that Alli chap tall gangly fast who will chase a ball like dog after a ball thrown for it. The way the Senior team plays is similar Joe Hart.... Boom... Up the field more often than not, England Uraguay in the WC, after Hodgson had watched so much playing out from the back from his seat in the Itchen he played the first half like Wimbledon of old just Bang it up the front and run after it, not once was it played out from the front. It seems Southgate plays in a similar old fashion way where technically able midfielders aren't really needed just blokes who can run at defenders from a ball dropping out of the stratosphere. Until the time that mindset and style changes JWP will sadly be an in betweenie player for England: which is a travesty.

We went for my Wife's Birthday in November about 3 years ago, she had no idea where we were going until we got to check in. We struck gold with the weather as apparently it's normally a bit grey in November. And the hotel we stayed in also had Wellingtons for loan to guests should the tide come up over the paths. One thing that was accepted from the off was that it wasn't going to be cheap, but then neither is going to London for the day. I booked a shared max 8 people speed boat transfer from the airport through Venicelink which dropped us right by the hotel, and picked us up for our return is was something like €100 return, but there were cheaper options. We stayed in the Hotel Canal Grande, high up on TA, which was a small Boutique hotel near the bridge onto the island from the Train Station, it was in a nice Piazza overlooking the Grande Canal, again not cheap as we stayed Fri-Mon but it was very very nice. Our room was in the annex which made us look like a local when we came and went. Just round the corner was a very nice local Pizzeria called Antico Forno and it's still high up the Tripadvisor rankings, when you have been up since the crack of dawn flown in had a wander round and ready for a quiet evening it was just the spot. 8 sides of A4 choices of Pizza in the menu!!! Something we did do was buy a 24 hour Vaporetto ticket, which allowed you to hop on and off the water taxis at will, we bought it later in the afternoon which gave us plenty of time the next day to go to Murano and back with plenty of time to mooch around. A Gondola trip is pretty much a must do in Venice, the guys operating them are professionals and controlled by the local government, when we were there €80 for about 25-30mins was the norm, we struck lucky though when we returned from Murano and walked back over the bridge from the railway in one of the back water lanes there were a couple of Gondoliers touting for trade I asked the young lad how much he said €50 for about a trip of a kilometre, deal. And what a great trip we had he was just out of Gondolier School (bit like doing the knowledge) but learning languages the history of the city and "driving" the things. All the Gondolas are personally owned and cost back then just over €20,000. The fun bit was stopping to rest our feet and get a drink in Bacaro Jazz a great bar with a most interesting ceiling, watching live Premier League Footie getting slowly puddled on Bellini's which were on 2for1 (along with other drinks in on the deal) Enjoy

That old sports stars challenge thing featuring Matty was on the box tonight. The Daughter said he won a goal keeping challenge last week, which reminded me that there was something about him being pretty good in goal and that he was the emergency goalie if we had used all our subs and the Keeper got crocked. Most of us remember Dexter Blackstock between the sticks at St James Park. More recently I recall it being mentioned that Morgan was the emergency keeper should he be needed. I wonder who has that job in the team now he has gone?

Thing is Blind came into a bit of a pickle, I can't see them binning him off so quickly, bit like Woy after the Italian buzzed off.

Talking to Dutch Friends in the summer, one thing they said was Holland and the team was ready for Koeman. Koeman was ready for Holland but the KNVB had other ideas and went in a surprising direction. Koeman was pretty upset as good money was on him to get the job after the miracle of Feynoord. He made it known he was interested but they cast him aside, the Dutch are a bit stubborn in somethings and as much as he wants the job he will turn it down as they had their chance and why should he go and clean up their mess......... The fact that Danny Blind got the job also shows the stubbornness is working the other way "if we get Koeman in now we will look stupid". If what fellow countrymen said is true then I can live with that......... And get his contract extended pronto

Glenda did grate a bit, he said something all positive sounding surrounding prep for his WC in management which left you thinking as a Saints fan "yes but the most feared midfielder in the land spanked in a hat trick in such a weighing up your options game and you left him out in the cold".

I think you enjoyed writing that........ As always the best Saints match reports on the planet.

Thought Steklenburg dealt with the situation very well, as soon as he realised that Falcao was going quicker than he thought and then had pushed the ball wide, while still sliding on his side he knew the tart was going to drag a leg and hit the deck so he pulled everything he could that might make contact out of the way.............. Cheat exposed.

I think the comment about Spurs and their frittering away of the Bale money on tat, probably didn't help his cause either. Maybe it's Advocaat, leaves Sunderland because they are a bit hard work, turns down any contract ending monies because Liverpool have already agreed a golden hello.

And that children is why you don't base all your research for your homework on Wikipedia.

I think the City game where we went into it as cannon fodder and had all those mega bucks players looking at each other, and the manager, 1st half not knowing what to do as we hit them with a tornado, Gareth Barry getting sucked right up in the funnel with a lovely finish. That thought brought a smile to my face as standing on the concourse chatting with friends pre match someone asked A general question of what the result would be, when 2 of us said we would win everyone looked at us like we had just come out of the funny farm. Sunderland was special as they were beaten but we kept our foot on their throat and ripped them apart, just like Villa, yesterday was very good in a similar way, they are in a dark place right now and we ruthlessly exploited that without mercy.

Sorry Whitey the bloke had absolute stinker, Ramirez taking 4 goes to get a card despite trashing Saints players with vigour twice in his opening contacts, Romeu clips Hazard early on as he has done him for speed covering defender in place, bang in the book instead of a polite word. His performance can summed up by Pelle making a solid defensive block on Hazard in the middle of a skirmish of players goes down like he has been taken out by a sniper in the floodlights yet again, ref books Graziano yet he hasn't had to have one single word with him for 80 minutes about fouling anyone. I think when he got home to his wife for tea he probably told her that he had a bad day at the office, when she asked. (And that ungrateful whatsit still had the temerity to criticise him post match).

Score draw for me

Errrrrr Where is JWP? He put in a cracking shift second half.

Come on folks it's an FA directive Chelsea need to be in the top table mix to make the product work.

Still a bit strange that they are flapping about down in the bottom half 8 games in, especially as they have pretty much the same high quality players they did last season, you would expect them to be in the top half by now. Ok they are only a point behind us but, ignoring the Guardian piece, something is awry with them and has become worse since the Eva Canavaro kerfuffle....... I would like to think that as a team we are in a better place than them, and if we lose far better equipped as a team and fans to handle the disappointment than they would be if we win especially on the eve of a 2 week break.

Not so sure, you have already commented that he will see red soon and this game has the potential to be the one as he might be of the mindset "look what you let go". He hasn't quite mastered the art of battering someone off the ball with the finesse of Victor which the Koemans might viewas a liability.

Wouldn't worry too much Part time Gibbs has that position sewn up tight in the absence of Shaw and Baines , and not forgetting winkle Jones is ahead of Ryan too.

Well they obviously needed help to find another song aside from that 104 points cobblers they have on repeat (well however many points it is)

Bury due to cousins being ST holders at Gigg Lane......... Pretty sure I got dragged along there by one of them donkeys yonks ago when I was in short trousers.