John Boy Saint

Good vision to snaffle the ball, zip it out the "Master of the green baize" for him to stick it on his head for the third.

After the annoyance of a feeble performance on Tuesday, compounded by the miserable drive home in the rain, then listening to the Koeman interviews about whos out and injured, my view on this game has become less grim. We will put out a team, if we compete that's half the battle, on paper with such a decimated squad it could get painful................... but lurking in the back of my mind is a game against Leeds a good few years ago their talisman of a keeper at the time was out and they had to play some very little known nipper called John Lukic and most folks were of the thought "We can win this, especially with a novice in goal" but we lost mainly down to 18-19 year nipper only leaking 1 goal. Having seen how cool our nippers are anything can happen; As Greavesie often said "Its a funny old game".

Bring back the funny little Red haired Scottish chap, now he had them really fit last 10 minutes of games were always good with him around and when the 90 minutes were up most of the players looked ready for 30 minutes of extra time. If one of those chances had snuck towards the end of the 2003 Cup Final, we would have had Arsenal in extra time easily.

Ipswich

This quietness from the fans is not a sudden malaise it's been happening for years, Lawrie Mac said after being in charge for a while that the Saints fans are a quiet knowledgable bunch on the whole, and that the players need to get them going by their actions on the pitch, but once the players perform and get them going even the most gentile of Hampshire folk will become as raucous and loud as the biggest crowds in the land. so it's in our genes.

Fair play to Sheffield United they stuck to their task and delivered the goods. My drive home through the endless rain felt similar to the walk back over Northam bridge on a dull winters day when we were meandering towards the Championship trap door (and the edge of the abyss) and Saints had put in another less than sparkling display. Top of my mither list is this bloody faffing about when we get in the vicinity of the oppos penalty box, it's almost like we take a register of the oppos players to make sure they are all back in their defensive positions and then we proceed to pit-pat the ball about and either lose possession or pass it back to Fraser!! Sheffield tonight were Hmmm it's raining the pitch is a ploughed field and slippery let's blast one when we get in and around the box and see what we get. Shane Long you are a professional Football player with many years of experience yet despite your trickery and pace how the bloody hell can you be offside like you are . Mane if you want to save yourself for the African Cup of Nations master the technique of really taking someone out and get a straight red that should keep you rested and safe from injury till January. The most worrying factor of the night is that we could have played till midnight and quite honestly you could not see where a goal was coming from. I like to think of myself as a glass half full kind of chap, when I eventually got home I felt like someone had stolen my drink.

If what I witnessed tonight is a guide.......... I think I might get merrily drunk before entering the stadium for this game!!

How did Lamela walk off the pitch v Swansea without his details in the refs book?!!

Football fans are mere disposable trimmings as far as Football is concerned at PL level, no one gives two hoots about Saints fans having to get to Newcastle on a Friday night, when you consider that the last TV contract was so vast that not one football club actually had to increase the price of a ticket to see the games, at the end of the day in reality it doesn't really matter how many folks spin through the turnstiles as they contribute a tiny financial reward overall. Having said that it does matter to clubs like Saints who thanks to FFP need to maximise every revenue stream. Still if it ain't too much of a chore getting to a game a Friday night game does open up the whole weekend to do other stuff.

We don't need a Prima Donna who can no longer hit a cows @r$e with a banjo.

That'll look pretty in the New Forest on Saturday shame those going to Burnley will miss it!! OttawaSaint: I'm looking forward to Sheffield Tuesday........... Hat - coat : don't let the door bang on my @R$e on the way out!

Mick will have them giving it a go to give his boys a taste of playing in the Prem. Just like big Sean did with Burnley where he let them loose then reined them in for the job at hand.

The one frustration is no matter who the Manager is or is wearing the shirt Saints DNA is constructed to faff about in front of goal 1-2-3-4 touches too many, trying to be clever with flicks to no one, trying walk the ball into the goal. We have plenty of good players it just baffling, as Ron said "we were not clinical enough". The first goal was gift wrapped for a predator in front of goal, the second considering how far out the free kick was taken from the fact the RVP had time to ghost in at the back stick when he should have had someone all over him like a rash. That said I don't think the new super bright LED lights are helping as there were a few occasions when the ball was dropping past them and the player it was coming to slightly miss judged the first touch, that free kick looked like it dropped out of the lights. And Mr Friend was a bit crap tonight too, which does not help our cause Man Utd players were a bit physical, yet if we farted within inches of them Friend was on the whistle, the longer this goes on in a game the more the team getting the rub of the green off the ref will just carry on, whereas the opposition being pulled up willy nilly for the same offence then become nervous of getting stuck in, yes we beat ourselves tonight but boy did we get some poor decisions against us........ I bet Mane felt pretty bloody good about putting one of theirs in the air late on. Still every team has a wobble now and again let's hope that ours is short lived. .......... Yes Batman the M3 was indeed a bloody joke tonight: frigging Cone Trolls!!

Mrs JBS is just as hard to buy for, she never wears the expensive jewellery I have bought for her through the years, there is still cellophane wrapped perfume in her drawer sometimes I will spot something or she will comment about liking something seen on the TV. Thankfully being practically minded she wouldn't mind something useful for round the house, which is how I got away with buying her one of those cordless Dyson's the other year. Something I did stumble on a couple of years ago after a trip to New York was a Photobook from these Cewe people 30 x 30 opening out to 60x30 opted for nice quality paper and set about building the book using their software and 100's of photos I had taken on our trip. With modern digital photos these things just sit on a stick or SD card somewhere and to see them you have to fire up your device to view them so they just get almost forgotten. Turned out to be present of the year. Last year we went to South Africa for a family wedding then on Safari so pushed my luck and built another photobook which probably went down even better......... It's a bit different and personal.

After a decent goal to matches return for the past couple of years, like most strikers when the goals hit a lean patch they get a bit windy, and the longer it goes on the harder they try. Wednesdays smash for example if he had scored last week would have been more controlled. Add to this he has just broken into the Italian squad late in his career, all sorts of Devils are possibly dancing around between his ears.......... Stick one in the Onion bag next game and their music stops playing.

Blyth Spartans if only to fill their boots. FA Cup legends

Would you expect any less from Mariner after the humongous rickett he dropped sending off Gibbs instead of Oxo, the bloke shouldn't be anywhere near an Arsenal game but then with Old Mother Riley at the top of the refs it's no surprise. All this mithering about the depth of squad, the way we have been dealt a crappy hand regarding our midfield losing 3 midfielders in the space of 2 games is a pretty rum deal, there are not many teams who could cope with their midfield being decimated like this: should be interesting to see how the pack gets shuffled.

Pretty much as has been said above, driving in Belgium the standard really does fall off a cliff particularly after driving in Germany. If you are tempted to test how fast your car goes down the Autobahn make sure your car is up to it regarding tyre pressures condition and general mechanics especially brakes. 100mph equals almost 150ft per second, if you ain't use to driving many miles and very fast just be careful as any idiot can drive fast, it's knowing what to do if something goes wrong .......... North of 80mph things go wrong very quickly so at100mph+ It's often too late.

I have noticed that a lot of dead ball deliveries this season have been pretty shabbily from most teams, corners especially as many teams seem to be working these short re delivered passes to a runner outside the box to hit, as 9 out of 10 times they don't pass the first man, Palace seem to loop the ball into the box but it gets so much airtime that the keeper has done the Times Crossword then trots out to pluck the ball from the air: I think having the roundest ball ever this season is the reason.

All a bit Déjà Vu for the same time last year......... Ah well C'est la vie

Jesus Corona? Sounds a bit foreign............. Nah I'll stick with Cream Soda thanks. ​just for DT and Wurzel

"Er I support Saints cos they is the second bestest team in the land at the moment" "my seat in front of the TV is very comfy and a 75" flat screen before my eyes is just like being at the game (which is exactly what the nice man in the shop it would be like". As has been said already elsewhere, God help us if we lose one or even two in a row!! They will be fishing bodies out of the Itchen for bloody weeks. Some folks really need to stop thrashing their 2-3 year old kids or Granny at FIFA whatever year it is or Football Manager on XYZ BOX, and actually watch some proper live football where the blokes running around on the pitch on BOTH sides actually have an input into the game............ By the way the bloke who runs across the pitch with his lap top at Half time, doesn't have his game controller in his pocket either.

I think Ronald had them sand bagging ahead of Sunday and the visit of Citeh, the only spanner in the works was a typical Villa goal against us. Villa also had to stop the rot. and finally I think the players were confused wearing the same coloured yellow shorts and socks as the referees shirt!!

Quite amazing really how quickly the calendar turns to December in the Turkey Shed in here. It was just one of those things even Koemsn said "we are Human people, we make mistakes", but Gabby Agbonlahor despite getting on in years is still one of he fastest players in a straight line in the league and running straight at you speed perception goes right out of the window Frasers stutter in the decision process emphasised that. Just like Nats goal, Guzan was all over that, what thwarted him was the pace of the strike he had no distance perception until it was too late. As for the flap folks are getting upset about, if Fraser was 5" shorter the ref would have blown for the foul that was made on him to cause the flap. Like has been said above he has spent a lot of time this season twiddling his thumbs between the sticks, and as the old adage goes "practise makes perfect" well he ain't been getting much practise for 90minutes on a Saturday afternoon: which is my only concern when he is suddenly called into action from a cold start.

he really should have known Vertongen is a spawny slime ball and resisted the urge.......... But there is absolutely nothing to like about Sours.