OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint

Succinctly put Disconnect. We've bought a few players off Man City. Buy a couple of their lawyers and they'll soon put this nonsense to bed. Diving to get a penalty is cheating. Deliberately obstructing a player/goalkeeper from getting to a ball is cheating and much more likely to affect a game than someone watching a team practice. And since when has watching become a crime. If they want to train out in the open, then that's their lookout, but don't start squealing if someone takes a video and don't make it sound so precious. Every time a commentator says "and that has come straight from the training ground," I think yeah right! Anyway, we've already got 46 games to work out their style of play plus an ex Boro player and trainers.

Totally agree. They're not going to do that nor will they give us a points deduction. There's precedent. If proven, like Leeds, we will be given a fine. Take a leaf out of the Ruskies' books. The golden rule of spying is when caught deny everything. And even when there is irrefutable evidence (remembering the novichok Salisbury case), still deny everything and spread misinformation and doubt. That first half display yesterday was proof in itself we weren't spying on them!

So what's daughter saying:- "Mum, you're an embarrassment" or "Mum, don't bring your work to the game." Loved that's she's dressed in white to really make a tit of herself.

He was the weak link in that back four yesterday. There's a difference between sitting back and trying to catch them on the break and being swamped like we were yesterday in the first half and we got lucky. Got to have outlets and got to have people who can clear to those outlets and Wood doesn't do that. Agree with comments that on their days these are the two best teams in the playoffs. It will be a lot more balanced at St Marys and I'm not expecting a walkover by any means.

Yes. Weren't Leeds charging £48 per ticket two years ago? Lots of confidence among Saintswebers. Personally, I am concerned about us being too complacent. Yes, we are probably favourites to beat Boro over two legs but we got thumped in January when Tonda was in charge and that team was practically the same as the one we'll put out on Saturday (other than Baz was in goal, and that twat Armstrong was leading the line). Hoping we impose our superiority early and go after them. If we do, we can do a Wrexham & Charlton on them.

I have found I can record the game once the match is on Red Button is working but if you try recording in advance you get the pre-scheduled game - which looks like Ipswich. Would have thought it should have been Wrexham

It is slightly odd in that he's playing a strong team and the players I would consider most prone to injury (Scienza, Stewart, Wellington) are all playing - so he's not resting players for this team. But what's Charles doing going in for Bree? Is it a change of formation? Surely not when he's found a winning set up.

I like this summary. Made me realise just how effective his departures have been. As I see it, the big change has come when the club realised it needed a proper goalkeeper and it needed a solid centre forward. If Spors is the person who realised this and understood he'd dropped a clanger with Downs and directed the change, then good on him. I was at Tonda's first game in charge at Loftus Road when the players went around congratulating each other almost in disbelief that they'd held on for a win. Now you see a winning team oozing confidence. Maybe Spors had already given us many of the players; it just needed a manager to bring the best out them.

It started with Spurs and now everyone seems to have nicked our Oh when the Saints song. Derby did oh when the rams, Ipswich were singing oh when the something and while it's a bit irritating, it adds to the atmosphere when the whole stadium is singing the same tune ... albeit with different words.

I really don't. Ipswich looked a well drilled side tonight and they've come on a lot from the team we played at Portman Road early in the season. Thought the first half was a borefest but the second more than made up for it. Once again Jander played superb and put in some great tackles but they seemed to dominate the midfield. Where was Shea Charles? Larin had a great game too. And for those whining about our players being shoved when challenging for the ball, watch THB. If there's a one-on-one jump to header a ball, THB invariably holds back then shoves the bloke in mid jump.

Completely forgot Downes isn't back until the play-offs. I've got 14/1 for us winning and scoring four or more. They're whining about fixture overload and I think we've got the strength in depth to wallop them. Impressed they've taken their full allocation. Not often you see that on a midweek game.

Not too sure about being empty emotionally. If anything, these guys have just gone head to head with the best team in the country and will be confident they can put any Championship side to the sword. My concern is more complacency. I expect Downes to be back to boss the midfield. Up front Larin and Stewart can share the workload. Would also prefer to see Stephens in for Wood but Jack is evidently not right at the moment.

We have divided opinions in our house on Azaz and while I like him, I had to admit he did go missing for much of the game today...but that finish made up for it. He reminds me of Tadic in the way he can do something memorable and then be a passenger for the rest of the game.

Yes, also wasn't sure about him earlier in the season but today he was my MOTM. Without Downes, I thought we'd struggle in the midfield, but Jandar was brilliant.

What we could do without is Middlesbro sneaking in to 4th and us finishing 5th.

Bottom line is this will work well for the play offs as he is our best midfielder by a country mile. Sadly, it's put a massive dent in our semi final chances but hey ho, that's more about the day out.

Personally, I really don't. Even when it's slowed down and even if it is deliberate, it still looks more like a check rather than an elbow smash. Put a deliberate elbow in at that speed and he breaks the guy's jaw. He didn't.

Ever since they moved the away end, the atmosphere and not the support seems to have changed. If you're in the Kingsland, you used to have the combined noise of the Northam and Itchen singing at you. Nowadays, if you're there or down the other end in the Chapel, it can seem quite quiet. If you'd have offered a FA Cup semi and a play off place at the beginning of the season, most of us would have bitten your arm off. Taking the positives, we came back twice from behind and our full strength team was all over them. Archer tried hard but was cack and I'm not a fan of Wood either. Hopefully Jack S will be ready for Wembley and hopefully Azaz will bring his A game because he was all over the place yesterday.

Saving Stewart and Scienza for Wembley. Like to see how Archer plays off Larin. As another poster once wrote, we're not asking fish to climb up trees anymore and surprise surprise, the players are playing to their strengths. Also got one eye on the Stoke Millwall game because if Millwall win that, I douby we'll be catching them.

The Green Man is the one I hear about the most with its massive beer garden

And in the playoffs, I'd be confident over two legs we can get past Middlebro or Hull, so it would be another Wembley outing. No-one can complain about two Wembley visits in a season.

Agree. Not spectacular but from his first game you could tell he has a good understanding of the game, can control a football and can see a pass. Apart from being a little lightweight, so can be pushed off the ball quite easily, I like him in our team - and his attitude seems to be excellent.

No thanks 😀 but what is Tonda doing to this squad that Will S couldn't? Even Archer is looking looking like a lethal finisher. I really don't mind if we don't get the automatic promotion. I'm a fan of the play-offs and they raise the excitement to another level. And even if we don't get promoted (which I want), I'll take away that this season has been one of the best I've ever had supporting the Saints.

Tonda Fucking Fuck Tremendous? Just like Derby last week. This squad doesn't panic when it goes 1-0 down. Happy happy times!

Seems all a bit messy. Players aren't so composed as usual. Still feel they can do this.